The Washington times., 1901-09-08
THE MODERN BOOK AGENT.
Latest Type of the Abused Sales
men Is a Wonder.
a Good Tniker Well ycrsca i'm Cur
rent Literaturc-Pntiencc md Per-
severance HIS Iotto--Many Cam
vasscrs who Earn Large Salaries.

l
The book agent has made his appear
ance in a new form He is well, drs sst d.
and carries his stock with him In suit
case. His books are tales of travel and
adventure, such as always interest boys.
and when he comes to a place where 4
number of youngsters are at play ne
opens his case, shows the books. which
are bound and illustrated to catch The
fancy OF the boy, and usually makes q.
sale.
1T is only natural that the book can
vasser should break out in new style &C.
casionally," said a large book publisher.
for he has numerous and powerful COM
petitors, and he must he moving to keep
up with the procession. The man selling
books on the street is the only one Of his
kind today, but If his scheme is success
ful there Will be others within short
time"
There has been much Improvement in
the composition Of the book canvassiny
fraternity, according to the statements
OF the publishers, and the prejudice
against the man who has book for sale
Is growing less. "Of course" said enc
publisher. lit will be a long time before
people will take down the signs In the
Railways of p.t,i.c buildings excluding
book agents. but it will take long time
| to stop the mother-in-law jokes also
Book agents may have been bores and
almost nuisances once upon time, bat
the class has improved, and the can
| vasser OF today is usually a supeffor
| man, who combines the qualities Of a
salesman with more than average edtca-
| tion. In the days when he was an OBJ
Jeetionable visitor, who could not be in
suited. and who came in by one door
after having been shown out of another,
his earnings were small.
To-day the average canvasser makes
$3.50 year, and there are many men in
the business whose income is $1,000 or
$4,000. Canvassers have their regular
customers. and so over the same route
regularly. like men who travel for COM
rnercial houses. The canvasser is usually
a commission man.. who receives pay in
Keeping with his sales. We may see him
every day or VIC may not see him for
months. He has no authority to use our
name, and We are not bound by prom
ises which he may make. We have
clause in our subscription contracts to
that effect. because there are still some
men in the business who need watching
The great trouble is that people do not
always read the contracts which the book
canvasser hands them to sign and then
when things go wrong they blame the
publisher.
The book agent or canvasser has usu-
ally had experience in other lines OF bust
ness. and many of :he men who have been
successful in that calling have failed in
other vocations. There is probably no
line of business outside of insurance"
said the publisher, in which one can find
more elderly men who have been unsuc-
cessful than in the book canvassing line.
But many of them get down to work
harder when they enter than they ever
did before, and they succeed. One man
of this class makes expensive publications.
a speciality. He handles no book that
costs less than $500, and from that figure
up to the highest. He has a large trade
and makes big money. There are many
canvassers of that class who are known
to the big publishers. and when they have
something to put on the market they send
fer these men and agree on terms and
know that the stock in question is as well
as disposed of. The sign No Book
Agents Allowed has no terror for these
people. They go to the Office of a busy
lawyer Or a Wall Street broker with the
assurance of a client or 4 customer: they
are admitted. their story is listened to
and they usually go away with an order
There are hundreds of busy men in New
York who love books, and buy many. but
never go to book store. All their pur-"
chases are made through agents They y
are known to the fraternity, but it would
be useless for Brown to see a man to
whom Jones usually sells, for these Gus
toners belong to the book salesman. We
saw this demonstrated recently. A man
who mad a good trade gave it up to take
nlsE
turned his list over to another man who
was good salesman. and a man of good
address. but the trade did not take to him.
and his sales nothing like those of
his predecessor
The most conscientious book agent ia
the woman She attends to her business
closely and is usually successful! In the
early days OF canvaSsing the woman who
engaged in the business thought it nee
essary to wear black. to have a tale IF
woe, and to give her customers chancs
to mix charity with business That class
of canvasser has grown less every year
and it is now almost extinct. The woman
canvasser of today is usually bright, y
clever, and. in most instances, hand some q
woman, who makes customers no matter
what the quality of the book she is selling
may be. The income of one of these
women last year from commissions on
books sold was more than S00ol.
The name of our calling is against us.
said q man who is known as one of the
successful sellers of subscription books
Having q good book for sale and know
ing man who wants just such book is
only half the battle. because some people
have a prejudice against book agent
which is strong that they will not ad-
nit one to the house. l sent my card to
such a person recently. 1t was simply a
visiting card. and when the lady APP
peared and looked at me she said: bs.e
You are not a book agent, are you?,
'' DO 1 look like a book AGENT
Excuse me she said. apOlogeticaliy,
and then began to talk about my book.
thought you said you were not a.
book agent ts bn
No, / simply asked if I looked like
one and according to your notion of
such people. l did not
We'll. / sold the woman my book, and
made a customer of her.
The book agent who has set OF books
IN his hands which a customer refused to
AXE which he Will sell for half price. the
nan who in order to get a good name
IN his book will sell 500 work for $50.
md the agent who will agree to throw
n another book free of charge just to
make a sale are among the people who
make it hard for the better class of can
-assers to do business.-New York Trib-
Inc.
Popular Christian Names. ff-'
Some romantic parents love to christen