"Never give free copies of books to friends, or lend them. The given book is not valued, the lent book is always lost—besides, the booksellers and lending libraries are your real friends."
"Never lower your price."
"Never attempt to raise your public."
"Never argue with a critic."
"Never be elated with good reviews, or depressed by bad reviews, or enraged by base reviews. The Public is your reviewer—It knows," and so on.
She shut up "Never," having included:
"Never give a plot away." Then she did her hair and thought of Bobby.
He had not fixed what hour he would call; that was a clause in the agreement she had forgotten—she, who was so careful about agreements, too.
Then she dressed and sat down to read "De Maupassant" and smoked a cigarette.