This is an inference question. The correct answer choice must be true based upon the limited information given in the passage.Among the more effective kinds of publicity that publishers can get for a new book is to have excerpts of it published in a high-circulation magazine soon before the book is published. The benefits of such excerption include not only a sure increase in sales but also a fee paid by the magazine to the book's publisher.
Which of the following conclusions is best supported by the information above?
(A) The number of people for whom seeing an excerpt of a book in a magazine provides an adequate substitute for reading the whole book is smaller than the number for whom the excerpt stimulates a desire to read the book. Correct. The passage states that allowing an excerpt to be published in a magazine will lead to a sure increase in sales of the book. It therefore must be true that, of the people who read the excerpt in the magazine, the number interested in reading the whole book (suggesting that these people will buy the book) will be greater than the number interested in reading only the excerpt (implying that these people won't buy the book).
(B) Because the financial advantage of excerpting a new book in a
magazine usually accrues to the book's publisher, magazine editors are unwilling to publish excerpts from new books. Out of scope. The argument is not about the willingness of editors to publish the excerpts.
(C) In calculating the total number of copies that a book has sold, publishers include sales of copies of magazines that featured an excerpt of the book. Not supported. What information in the passage indicates that sales of the magazines must be included when counting sales of the book?
(D) The effectiveness of having excerpts of a book published in a magazine, measured in terms of increased sales of a book, is proportional to the circulation of the magazine in which the excerpts are published. Not supported. What information in the passage indicates that the increase in book sales must be proportional to the magazine circulation?
(E) Books that are suitable for excerpting in high circulation magazines sell more copies than books that are not suitable for excerpting. Not supported. The passage does not compare the sales of books that are excerpted to the sales of books that are not.
The correct answer is A.
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