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The hyperthyroid auction era arrived in 1972, when Avon Books spent $1 million for Thomas Harris' I'm Okay, You 're Okay. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's All the President's Men sold for $1 million in 1974; two years later their The Final Days fetched $1,550,000. Other notable $1 million-plus books include Erich Segal's Oliver's Story ($1,410,000), E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime ($1,850,000), Dorothy Uhnak's The Investigation ($1,595,000), William Safire's Full Disclosure ($1,375,000) and McCullough's phenomenal The Thorn Birds, which nearly broke the $2 million barrier.
Unsuccessful bidders for Puzo's new work have grumbled that many of these books are the equal of Puzo's in earning power, and that the re-reprint rights for The Godfather were generously underestimated to ensure the record sale of Fools Die.
A case of sour grappa? Possibly. The figures paid for books are impressive, but to recoup a multimillion-dollar investment today, paperback publishers must tout their products like new cars. Record-sale publicity is one way. And, of course, there are gimmicks and advertising blitzes for the soon-to-be-made-into-a-major-motion-picture that augment the hard-sell paperback commercials on radio and TV.
The show-biz approach was inevitable as the paperback business grew: some of the largest paperback houses belong to conglomerates with movie and television interests. In addition, inflation has pushed the cost of paperbacks higher than the average for most commodities, demanding more aggressive salesmanship. In the past six years the cover price of a rack-size book has jumped 77%, from an average of 930 to $1.65. The consumer price index for the same period rose 44.8%. Where will it end? Inflation is not likely to vanish and neither is the desire of publishers to secure bigger blockbusters. This is almost certain to cause new records in paperback auctions. Says Putnam's Webb: "There's no ceiling. God knows, there's no ceiling."
Last year Bantam Books President Oscar Dystel spread a little gloom among his colleagues when he cautioned that net unit sales—the actual number of. paperback books sold—have remained fairly static since 1973, William R. Grose, editor in chief of Dell, takes a grimmer view. "I used to think there was a ceiling on paperback rights. Now I don't know. The consumer is the one who pays for all this nonsense, and the consumer doesn't seem to have balked. Everyone you talk to will say it's an unhealthy situation, but no one knows what to do."
But even though costs are spiraling, a paperback remains an exceptional entertainment value. As one reviewer once put it, "Shogun is a summer vacation." So are most other bestsellers. The trick is to book readers into the right vacation. N.A.L. hopes to sell more than 10 million copies of Fools Die and their edition of The Godfather. There are already 13 million paperback copies of the Mafia classic in print.