In the start of "The Bachman Books," King said using the "nom de plume" Bachman was to see if his success was due to talent or luck. King said he put out the Bachman books with very little marketing. He did his best to "load the dice against" Bachman. King never found the answer to the "talent versus luck" question. He said he let everyone know that he was Bachman too soon. The Bachman book "Thinner" (1984) sold 28,000 copies during its first printing. When it was told that King wrote the book, the sales went up by ten times. 