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Show BOOK AGENT? J J What? Yet, why not? Es- 1 1 peclally since an ambitions boy, ' with selling ability In him, J I stands the chance of making a ' ' " mighty good income as a can- , , , , vasser or a manager of canvass- ' ers, or field selling agent for a ,! , publisher, and In other ways ' ' ; How a boy may start as a book . , ,, agent, how he will be trained, J J and how he may go up the . . ladder of success rung by rung J J ; Possible Income at different pe- 1 1 riods In his development as an II expert seller of books, either personally or as a manager of other agents. i 1 ' By C. W. JENNINGS. T IMMMH tmMMIHtl A WHAT'. Book agent! Let my ftSEW D0V be a bok agent for his VV.W$ life work? Why, that isn't fesC an occupation! A book y y agent is nothing put a peddler! ped-dler! Who ever heard of a book agent that amounted to anything or had any money?" Thl3 Idea is quite general throughout through-out the country among people that haven't had opportunity to know much about the publishing business; who. Immediately the subject Is mentioned, think of a comic picture they saw somewhere depicting an Irate house-Veeper house-Veeper emptying the contents of a Ishpan over the head of an offending offend-ing book canvasser. It is doubtful if a book agent ever had such an experience ex-perience as that or one at all like it No, the proportion of successful men who have made their place In the world through the medium of selling books, particularly during the present day, Is probably as great as in most other lines, and if your boy has it in him to be a good salesman, and takes up the selling of books seriously as a calling as he would other lines, he has a fine and promising field all his own. - This might be called the book age; for never In history has there been such a tremendous printing of books, and, as practically all of them are made to sell, and their publication rests primarily upon that fact, it stands to reason that they are sold. Also, such a great proportion of them are sold by direct canvassing that this gives employment to an army of book agents, who are seen in all the highways and byways of the country. The latest figures show that 150,000 volumes are published In the world every year, of which 10,000 are turned out in the United States and an equal number In Great Britain, with which our country maintains close commercial commer-cial and publishing relations. Now, we shall take it for granted that you have Investigated the business busi-ness carefully, have overcome your opposition to it, and that your son is willing to give It a trial. It is important, impor-tant, as already said, that he possess natural ability as a salesman; but this Is one of the commonest traits in American character, particularly as nearly every material success Is based upon it, and there Is much more than an even chance that your boy does have this ability. It is easy enough for him to find an opportunity to try his hand at book selling; for every publishing house that does any canvassing, and most of them do, is anxious to get good agents, and will respond instantly to an inquiry. in-quiry. All you have to do is to pick out the book and the house and write a letter to the publisher or selling agent In all probability you or the boy will already have read dozens of advertisements asking for canvassers, an answer to any one of which would bring an instant reply. If your boy is in earnest and Intends to take up the work seriously, and so Informs his prospective employer, the latter will arrange a meeting with one of the experienced general agents to give a series of first lessons In book salesmanship. I had almost exactly this experience when working my way at college. My name was handed to a general agent seeking a likely representative at the college to handle a somewhat popular book, and the agent thereupon arranged ar-ranged to give me three weeks' instruction in-struction in the business of selling. I spent a couple of hours with him every ev-ery day, my teacher each day using the part of a probable customer one day a housewife, the next a busy lawyer, law-yer, then a merchant, then a farmer, then a worklngman, etc. until I was equipped, so far as technique was concerned, con-cerned, to sell a book to anybody on earth. In the meantime I was trying my hand among real people, with the result re-sult that, soon after the general agent had departed, I was able to average selling three or four books any afternoon after-noon I went out As this particular book was sold for $3.50, and my commission com-mission was 50 per cent, I was able to make from over $5.50 to $7.50 each day. This was not, and is not, at all unusual, even soon after the .beginning, .begin-ning, and I do not know another occupation occu-pation that offers such large early financial rpturns. But I was not content with these results re-sults and my success soon attracted the attention of other students who were tired of taking care of horses and furnaces and sawing wood to pay their board bills while att3nding college. I gave a number of these the same training I had received and sent them out during the summer vacation as canvassers, keeping 25 cents on every volume they sold. The result was (hat the next year, as several of the students remained out to accumulate accu-mulate enough money to pay their way without work on the side while studying, study-ing, 1 had an independent income of several dollars a day without doing more than to cash these subagents' money orders and send them the books. And then the publishing hou3e offered me a salary of $125 a month and expenses to go out as establlsher and trainer of other agents. This opportunity, in the present day, twenty years later, is still open to an ambitious boy, and he can figure on an income of 40 to 50 per cent on the gross amount of his sales. No money whatever Is needed at the start, except enough to pay his board, and he can take up his work while still living at home until he accumulates accumu-lates sufficient to take him elsewhere. A publisher will give him a limited territory exclusively, or he can go all over the country If he wishes, as every ev-ery man and family are prospective customers, and there are some 20.000.-000 20.000.-000 such In the United States. After succeeding as canvasser, which your boy can demonstrate within u comparatively short time, say a year or so, he will probably wish to be a sort of general or special agent, the man that gets other agents and puts them to work, in which case he will receive ten per cent, commission commis-sion on all the books these agents of his dispose of. Suppose he has the ability to find and keep in the field an average of twenty canvassers, selling sell-ing a book that retails at $2, and that these agents average four sales a day each, on which they clear 50 per cent. Your boy's commission of 10 per cent, or 20 cents a volume, brings him an income of $16 a day, or $9G a week. Out of this he has to pay his hotel and traveling expenses; but even so he is getting what many would think a very fine income. In all probability the next step taken tak-en by your boy will be to arrange with a publishing house to take care of the canvassing in a large specified territory terri-tory such as two or three northwestern north-western states, for example for one or more books, on the basis of receiving receiv-ing 65 to 70 per cent, of retail price. Out of this he has to pay his agents their 40 to 50 per cent, and all expenses ex-penses incident to the agency. His earnings, depending entirely upon his ability to find good salesmen and the popularity of the book, which rest3 largely upon the ability of these salesmen, sales-men, may amount to thousands of dollars dol-lars a year. Of course this has established him in his own business, and he will in all likelihood remain in it as the achievement achieve-ment of such success before he Is thirty or thirty-five will be sufficient to keep him at It instead of taking charge of the sales department of a large publishing house at a salary. If your boy should choose to remain in direct canvassing himself, he will socn grow beyond any mere $2 or $4 book, and will take to selling entire sets, or anything or everything that the publishing house he is connected with turns out. Or he will make himself him-self a roving canvasser with connections connec-tions with a number of leading publishers, pub-lishers, to get a commission on everything every-thing ho sells. The writer Is acquainted ac-quainted with one such who thought nothing of calling on a stranger and coming away In half an hour with an order on which his commission amounted to anywhere from $25 to $100. Indeed, this particular agent had built up a following among rich clients who took practically anything he recommended that they could add to their libraries, and in many instances in-stances he actually selected and shipped to persons suddenly become rich the entire contents of their libraries, libra-ries, which cost them from $20,000 upward. up-ward. Still other canvassers make a specialty spe-cialty of handling only rare and de luxe editions, which retail from $100 upward, building up a following among rich book collectors. Whichever specialty your boy may choose, he could not find a more respectable re-spectable business, nor one in which he will deserve and receive greater welcome more times than otherwise. Many millionaires have given orders to their employees to admit their favorite fa-vorite book agent without announcement, announce-ment, as in this way they know they will not miss the opportunity to acquire ac-quire the best works in the b ook market. And at the same time the book agent is absolutely his own boss and can increase or decrease his income in-come at will. (Copyright, 1910. by the Associated Literary Lit-erary Press.) |