The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-11
BOOK AGENT OF TO-DAY
MARKED CHANGES IN METHODS OF
BIZ SUBSCRIPTION.
The Business Taken Up by First-Clnss
PubIfshers-Good Incomes OF
Successful Statesmen.
New York Commercial Advertiser.

dlQ lOQQdCltys anu was CotIt1OUiy iC6diu-
ed as a nuisance. Now. as a rule. at least
In the larger towns, he is an intelligent.
well-mannered person. representing a high
class house. and bringing it's production to
the attention of people who are often
pleased with the opportunity to purchase.
The general change in character of the
agent Is an incident of the marked deveI-
opment in the publication and sale of sub
scription books, which has been especially
notable within the last ten years. and is
still in progress.
With the exception of expensive works of
reference, and of some popular autobi-
Cgraphies. the subscription books of years
ago were chiefly of the Mother, Home and
Heaven" order, which caused subscription
works in general to be looked down upon
by the better class of book buyers and
publishers OF the exceptions noted, the
most remarkable was the Encyclopaedia
Britannica" the ninth and last edition Of
which was the first edition to be sold in
this country by subscription, and which
had a phenomenal sale, mostly between
1880 and 1890. Previously the work had
been sold only to public Libraries and per-
sons of wealth, while through the subscrip-
ton plan il was sold by agents all over
the country to professional men and others
who would never have thought of buying
IL otherwise. Still earlier, an American cy-
clopaedia had been sold by subscription,
hut works of this character and memoirs of
popular heroes were, with few exceptions,
the only frst-class books sold in this way
up to about ten years ago. The old-style
subscription books, of the inferior grade,
were usually bound in one or two volumes,
at 50 or $40; In the rare instances where
new editions of standard authors were
issued on this plan they were decidedly
expensive. The most striking feature of
the char sc in the last decade is the print
ing of standard authors, TO be sold by sub
scription only, and yet at a comparatively
low price.
EXCELLENT EDITIONS.
A number of first-class publishing houses
I'm this city and elsewhere have taken up
this line as a part of their regular bust
ness. They also issue libraries of vari-
Gus kinds, and series of histories and BIZ
~ographies. These sets, which include from
ten to forty Volumes, are much better than
the usual popular editions, being printed on
water-msrked paper, from new type, and
are illustrated by good artists. If an or
binary edition is sold over book. store coun-
tiers at an average price of $1.50 a volume.
the popular subscription set is sold at 81
a volume, and the subscriber gets a far
better work. Not infrequently, where
modern authors are concerned, he could
not obtain a complete uniform library edi-
ton In any other way. The belief is ex-
pressed that this feature of the subscrip-
ton business has come to stay" Book
buyers are being educated up TO IL, more
of the high-class houses are going into il,
and those already in are devoting more
money and attention to its development.
"A number of expensive high-class works
are now issued by subscriptions solely. One
prominent New York firm has lust pub
lished a new book of historical interest in
three editions, of two volumes eacn. at
$50, at 500 and at $3.50. There are 1,250
copies in the cheapest edition, 200 N the
next and only fifty in the most expensive.
The higher-priced sets have special fea-
lures, not only being printed on larger and
finer paper, but having extra Illustrations.
Art works, distinctively; which were popu-
in demand, largely owing. it is said, to the
fact that many inferior works of this char
acter were formerly imposed at high prices
upon people who were not good Judges.
Still, some high-class art works, of par
ticular interest to certain elements Il the
community, are brought out by Well-kno- IN
firms in Paris and this city, and sell we'll
at prices as high as $500 a set. One of the
most recent of these issues, which appeals
to the religious, the art-loving and the stu
dent of history. is published in five edi-
tons, ranging in price from $500 down to
$50.
OTHER NEW FEATURES.
Some houses which publish periodicals
sell certain sets of subscription books with
the magazine free for a year. the idea, of
course. being to secure the recipient as a
permanent subscriber to the latter. An
other comparatively new feature of the
subscription business is the sale of sets of
books called libraries" through clubs
formed by department stores of people who
send in their names in answer to adver-
tisements.
a representative of a high-grade publish
ing house said that the changes in the
character of sales by subscription had
brought about a marked change in the gem
eral character of the agents who sold the
better class of works. Their business was
better paid and there was a greater dispo-
Sition TO make 1T a regular vocation. For
merly, and now TO some extent, he said.
persons dropped into 1t because ii required
no capital, and because in it a man was his
own master, so tar as his time was con-
cerned. They often soon dropped out again.
after selling what they could to their
friends and acquaintance. Now the bust
ness attracted many intelligent and we'll
read men, including college graduates, who
worked up a regular clientage among their
customers. Several agents of the speaker
own house made 5000 a year by the sale of
comparatively low-priced works, and there
were probably exceptional cases Of men
who made more.
A member of a firm publishing subscrip-
ton books exclusively said: The subscrip-
ton plan makes IL possible to sell much
better editions OF books than could be sold
III SloleS, lor Anything ike the same price,
for two reasons. In the first place, they
are sold to many people who would not go
to the stores for them, and, secondly, they
are paid for on easy installments, only a
small proportion of the total price beine
required at the first payment. This method
greatly increases the number of pur-
chasers- Among the latter, however, are
many people of means and of the best
class. To deal with them an agent must
be intelligent and a gentleman. The DAYS
when a book agent went about with a
| frarraI SHIFT onI A-oKon A01t~ =
One OF my statesmen Can exceptional man,
Of course), has a drawing account of 500
a week, and averages an income of 81, 00C
a year. 1t isn't necessary for him TO use
a carriage in New York, but in smaller
cities he drives about in the best one he
can get. i know a woman agent in his
city, working chiefly for a Philadelphia
house, who makes more money than the
man I mentioned. She declares she has
made sales aggregating 100000"
HOW STRIKE Is N