Wow, Anna! Math scares the crap out of me, so I am hiding under the blankets. I love learning about all of this stuff you are telling us about publishing, and thank you for taking the time to do it! Let's say someday I or a friend or someone I knew (no agent, no nothing) was offered a contract. How dumb would it be to take the first offer if the author was just so happy to have an offer? I feel like I would jump all over any offer @ all. I agree with lepapillon. Those numbers are scary. Really scary.