The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-01
THE LITERARY OUTLOOK
SOME UNPLEASANT TRUTHS ABOUT
LARGE BOOK SALES.

! The old Question. Does IL Pay fam
Author Who Has Never Published
a Line of what He Has Written.
Scientific NoveIists of Note-Nnme
Changes and what They Mean ina
Pubiicity-KiDling's Local POpu-
larity.
New York, Nov. 29.-Now that so
many best selling novels are being pub
lished and pushed upon the market 1t
is pertinent inquiry to ask how the
100000 sales are effected. Publicity,
many will say, and publicity is a good
word to mouthe. Advertising is a
much grosser term-too commercial for
the polite maker Of books. But public
ity or advertising is not entirely to
blame, though it has much to answer
for.
Not long ago one Of the reputable
publishing houses announced with a
great beating of tom-toms and accom-
paniment of trumpet blasts that the
first edition of Slash Bosh, the greet
historical romance, would be 100. 900
copies. The 100000 copies were, so far
as can be learned, actually published,
but only 10000 copies were bound up.
OF these 900 were distributed among
the booksellers of the country after
great effort, the publishers promising
to advertise heavily In order to move
the stock of congested book shelves
which these copies filled. Up TO the
present time only 10000 copies OF this
great historical romance have been
sold, and. as the book is now rarely
called for, the booksellers will, doubt
less, take advantage Of the return priv
ileges kindly granted them by the pub
fishers. AS a result IL Is beyond doubt
a certain conclusion that the only one
to profit from the publication of the
novel is the author, who of course, re-
ceived a royalty on all copies actually
sold. These royalty accounts with au-
thors, by the way, are the only sure
guides to exact results in book circula-
ton. Another publisher spent last year
$4,000 In advertising one book. Actu-
ally, Ii cost him over 81 to sell each
copy, as. with the utmost effort. the
sale did not reach 10000. The profit
in this case IS a little difficult to figure.
One day last week one OF the mem
bers of a publishing house called on a
large book seller and was greeted with
II want to shake hands with the
publisher who has six novels, each ex.
ceeding a hundred thousand in sale"
The publisher pulled a long face and
replied, rather sheeplshiy; II don't
know about the honor OF such a repu-
tation. It Is a rather expensive bust
mes, this publishing OF best selling
books. IL costs too much"
There are, Of course, some large sell
ing books which are exceedingly profit
able 10 the publishers, but the best and
steadiest income IN the publishing
business Is derived from the books
which are not widely popular. one
great reason why the selling and ad-
vertlsing Of books viii not soon be-
come identical with the pushing OF an
ordinary commercial article Is that
the margin Of profit IN book publish
ing Is not large enough 20 allow the
same methods. The sensational pub
fishers are realizing this more and
more. II doesn't pay them In the long
run 10 advertise more than the merit
Of the book calls for, and while much
Of the novel advertising is experiment
tal. II ~ bound ~ become more digni-
fed and less sensational.
champion Long Distance Writer"
h. the title which has been given 20 n
assf.s L.