Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-03
THE BOOK MARKET
BY FREDERIC ]. H.4SKIN.

were issued. But books OF poetry, the
drama and biography have greatly ih-
creased, poetry and drama books last
year revealing ESQ titles, while the IlVes
of an entire regiment NJ inolvlouais,
no less than 1913, made up the 1873
avalanche of biography. 49,
AS might be imagined from tne
attitude toward reading displayed by
the American people, the largest sale
Of books is of those the reading OF
whichT Is compulsory. Text BOOKS Ior
school use lead all with the imposing
total of 83, S49, 664 copies, ACCORDING %
the last census of manufactures IN
1927. That is much more than Twice
the number of any other class PeI-
hans these text books will teach enough
students to read to brig about an
increase in sales in other classes.
Trade Lacks High Pressure Methods.
Fiction comes next with S6.553,SOT
and then juveniles with 31,047,OS4 cop
les. How many juveniles are reao Is
an open question, such tones 1requeh1y
rusal. A very large class. as might ne
expected for q Nation of puritanically
minded people, Is made up OF BOOKS on
religion and philosophy, which num-
bered 22,22O,536. Poetry and the drama
produced 6,2slI (many doubtless
published at the authors expense) ana
biography S,O75,l2l. "a.
Europeans, 1t appears, are more catn-
Ollie in their reading. Whereas In 1927
the American publishers put out 1913
titles, Great Britain issued 1880 ana
France 1882. Editions abroad are
enormous, many books appearing Tor
the first time not in the expensive bind
ings purchased by the American pubic,
but in paper-covered editions, such as
the famous Tauchnitz editions, which
have been falling over Europe Ike Au-
tumn leaves since about 1910.
One reason attributed to the lack OF
expansion in the American publishing
industry Is Its lack of organization. An
other and perhaps soundef one, Is the
Discrimination of the American people TO
read Obviously the former disability
could be more easily overcome, ana at
tempts have been made in the last few
years to improve retail sales methods.
There are some 100 established book
publishers in the country and each firm
| Is practically independent. There Is no
| book trust. Some of the larger pub
! fishers, in an effort to bring about
greater distribution, have set up fetan
stores in various cities. But one dim
Guilty of this system is that while IL Is
perfectly feasible commercially for an
automobile tire manufacturer, for ex-
ample, to establish stores in many cities
to sell his tires, that cannot be true OF
book publisher. No single publisher
puts out a sufficiently large and varied
list to maintain q store. He must use
his own selling outpost to sell the books
! of his competitors as well, for the pub
lie is never sufficiently accommodating
to confine its purchases to the outpour-
| ings of one publisher.
| The actual out-of-pocket cost OF ~
novel Is $l.l5 on an average, but retail
booksellers must be given 40 per cent
discount from the retail price and the
book clubs have forced a 10 per cent
discount. Thus the publisher Is left a
pretty small margin of profit. Some
publishers and booksellers are fighting
the book clubs and will not sell to them
on any but regular terms, If at all,
And every book a publisher puts out
| is a gamble. 1t Is never absolutely GER
tain that book, even though by
popular writer, will be a success. The
public verdict must be awaited. Most
| books sell to the maximum in their
first year. A few of lasting merit which
! has been slow to sink in will increase
| their sales as years pass. When Web
ster's Speller" first came out, Just before
| 1900 the sales did not amount to very
much, hut by the time 1t had been SUE
perseded, in 1890, more than $4,000, 900
copies of this one book had been SOLD.