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Print run is a term primarily used in book publishing, and less often in the magazine market (usually for the first few editions of a new title). It usually refers to the number of copies that will be printed of a forthcoming book that is aimed at the commercial market. It is sometimes called a press run.
A publisher hopes to recoup a large amount of the book's initial costs from the sale of book's first print run. A variety of commercial and logistic factors are thus considered in deciding the number of books in a print run.
Sometimes a print run will be unsatisfactory for some reason, particularly with art and photography books where reproduction quality is paramount. It is usually destroyed by being pulped, but occasionally a defective print run may be shipped to an distant overseas market and sold there cheaply, depending on shipping costs.
In book collecting, a first print run copy of a first edition book is usually the most valuable. This is usually because the printing plates often slightly deteriorate on subsequent print runs, although sometimes they reproduce less harshly and are therefore deemed better.
If sales of the book do not meet expectations, the remaining stock of a print run will be remaindered.
Seconds are imperfect or damaged copies which are set aside from a print run. These will usually have their jacket clipped or marked in some way.
When a print run is sold out the title is either reprinted or becomes out of print. With the advent of print on demand and e-book technologies, publishers can keep titles perpetually in print, and there are now few reasons why a book should ever become unavailable.
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