Anticipating similar sales, Viking shipped 27,000 copies of The Odyssey to bookstores and 10,000 copies of a tape of the actor Ian McKellen reading it.
Viking was certain that The Odyssey would flop, so they only printed 5,000 copies so they could feel out the market.
mnli hypothesis: Viking was certain that The Odyssey would flop, so they only printed 5,000 copies so they could feel out the market. premise: Anticipating similar sales, Viking shipped 27,000 copies of The Odyssey to bookstores and 10,000 copies of a tape of the actor Ian McKellen reading it.