Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1888-10-25
WAYS OF BooK-AoENTs.
Ihey DO Rushing business and Ofte
Accumulate Snug Fortunes.

WAYS OF BOOK-AGENTS.
They DO a Rushing business and Often
Accumulate Snug Fortunes.
II any one by chance, having nothing
better to do, should read this article,
let them not be possessed Of the spirit
OF restless ambition. Not every man
can succeed as a book agent. II you
know all the best books by heart (and
you do not); If you have a passion for
literature; and if you can expound---
none SO wisely as you-on the merits
OF catalogue OF authors, you thereby
afford no proof of your own merit as a
canvasser Does the wissst critic enact
Hamlet, or paint Madonna Not by
so much as a ''cue,n or shadow of
hair And the most successful of book
sellers may be the least Of book-read-
ers. Some Of them are. There is
man who stands high in his calling Of
book-agent, who could not tell you
whether Shakespeare or Lord Byron
wrote "A Midsummer Nights Dream"
of Thackeray and other leaders of the
century's fiction, and he could not for
his life's sake tell you in what
book to find Colonel Newcome, or
whether Becky Sharp figures in DAN
lei Deronda" or Vanity Fair" and
yet this same solicitor earns as large an
income as Rev. Phillips Brooks. What
then is the principal requirement in a
book agent? Check" more than all
else
Subscription books are the money
makers. And the higher the price
the better for master agent. His COM
mission is goodly percentage-it
would be revealing sacred secret of
the trade to tell how much-and if he
finds half dozen customers a day,
he Is more than satisfied. With some
books, three or four customers day
are sufficient unto his needs, which
= are never modest.
Within the last decade the subscrip-
ton book trade has grown to enor-
nous proportions. But the harvest is
reaped by publishers and agents, be-
cause, as general thing, there are no
authors rights to be considered.
Editions are prepared of works that
are open to all corners. To be sure
there are occasions when living
authors or their heirs find the subscrip-
El1l al al, a.,
book and Mr.. Blaine's Twenty Years
of Congress" are cases in point. But
Dickens, Scott and Thackeray lead in
the order named. Ten years ago a
New Yorker started in the business of
publishing and selling Dickens works
by subscription. He is now million
aire. One agent, young man, has
sold 5000 sets of Dickens's works in
two years. AS subscription books sell
at a higher price than their fellows
that are to be bought in the shops-not
infrequently at so per cent. advance
the source of profit is evident. For all
that, one has yet to hear of the sub
scription-book buyer who grumbles at
the price. Ten chances to one he
rarely enters book shop. In these
rushing days people want every thing
brought to them-meats, vegetables
and books not excepted-and for the
privilege they have to pay. This is a
consequence that follows naturally
upon the possession of privileges.
Novels are the best selling books,
and there are but few cases in which il
does not hold that the novels of dead
authors sell better than those of the
living. Dickens, Scott and Thackeray
hold their own against all corners, and
here, at least, it will be seen that
the world pays some heed to the
advice: when a new book is pub
lished read an old one." Some authors
Mark Twain is one of them) own theil
pilates" and publish for themselves
but the stamp of success is required
before man can venture upon that set
of enterprise. L. p. Roe's books sci
at prodigious rate. Lew Wallace ha
the satisfaction of knowing that one o
his books-'Ben Hur"-has been SOLE
to over 200, 900 readers, and more thai
that, he has the supreme satisfaction
of solid proceeds. But Ben Hurn wa
unstable when first put on the mar
ket. The copies lay in the book-shop
uncalled for and undisturbed in 1880
Rnstcn establishment alone ha
sold over 1900 copies of the bool
since then, and the demand still in
creases. Happy author, to whom sucl
recognition comes while he is still
alive and in the enjoyment of all hi
faculties; happy, too, in knowing tina
an edition of his book has been pre-
pared for which as many people ca
get them are willing to pay $40 copy
Boston Herald.