Potter and Warne agreed to publish cheap 5,000 copies. The next year, an official contract was signed in June 1902. Potter worked hard in the process of publishing the story—she drew her pictures again when she needed to, made small changes to the writing, and corrected the punctuation. Even before it was published in early October 1902, the first 8,000 copies were sold. By the end of the year there were 28,000 copies in print. By the middle of 1903 there was a fifth printing, and in the same month, there was a sixth printing. A year after the first commercial publication there were 56,470 copies printed.