DODGES FOR SELLING BOOKS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 312, 26 September 1908, Page 14

DODGES FOR SELLING BOOKS.

I Authors naturally wish their books to ho bought, and if theyibe unknown authors tho machinery for letting the public know when the book is worth buying is not always in perfect order. So tho publisher, when he thinks he has a good thing,| gives the author,special help in advertise,mopt, and it is well!known that_ publishers have sometimes created tlio illusion. of artistic_ success by the sustained vigour and conviction of their proclamations. Thero is nothing to complain of in this, as the custom is common to traders generally, but we view with somo alarm the modes of advertisement that are creeping into some parts of tlio publishing trade. For instance, a lady sends out her novel with a modest appeal to tlio public for advice and criticism. She is uncertain of her power to please, and as it would bo too bad to ask people to tako troublo for nothing, she offers £20 in thr'fio prizes for the best criticisms. . Of course-she is not "so unsophisticated as to permit to to suppose that nothing but eulogy will count, and wo are even invited to "islato" if slating can be done fairly. , All this is very nice and flattering to the reading public, but whatever may be the merits of tho particular novel, it is . a pity if a new element of chance is to confuse the already incalculable customs of book-buying. Wo may be sure that few competent and self-re-specting -writers will try these dodges unless they be forced into them by the recklessness of a public that is constantly oil the look-out for a combination of sport and gaiu. AVo cannot arrange our lives perfectly in a complicated civilisation, but it is possible to make some simple efforts to avoid enriching the wrong people and to discourage commercial successes that bear no relation to merit and utility.—" Manchester Guardian,"