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Originally Posted by Dulin's Books
that is a number i made up for example- most books don't sell out their entire print run immediately. and they may get a discount per book by printing a larger quantities. I imagine decided how large an initial print run will be is a significant task.
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I can tell you from experience that it is one of the most time-consuming and difficult tasks for a publisher. True if the author has a track record the guessing is easier, but for new authors, determining the appropriate print run is a nightmare. (I used to run a publishing company and know from experience how difficult it is to accurately predict the initial print run.)
One other thing that is rarely mentioned. It is not unusual for the makor distributors like Ingram and the book chains (including Amazon) to refuse to stock a book unless a minimum print run is done, regardless of whether you think it appropriate for a new author. We had to decide whether it was worth the risk of no exposure by not having the major distributors handle our books or the chains carry them by doing a low print run.