Bernard Chasan wrote:

>In this connection Phillip Roth estimated some years ago that there were
>60,000 serious readers of novels in the USA.  Allowing for population
>growth, maybe there are 80,000.  Yet good novels continue to be written
>-trust me, I am a novel nut.  Allowing for differences in taste, I would
>say that there are at least 50 serious and productive American, English,
>and Indian novelists in this category- just counting the ones written
>in the mother tongue.

I wonder, how many serious listeners of classical music are there?

I am reminded of the market for film music, not just the film score of
the month, but serious film music collectors, people who have heard of
the likes of a David Raksin, and who know more that just his "famous"
theme.  I once asked one soundtrack producer, Lukas Kendall, how many
serious film music collectors there were...his estimate was about 3,000.
He gets rights to press and presses 3,000 copies of the material he
releases.  He has sold out on only a few titles.

Karl