Yes, some subscription publishers printed leaflets that gave explicit 
instructions on how to make a sale, what so say and when to say it, etc. 
There are several good books on subscription publishing but I don't recall 
off the top of my head which ones have citations to these instructional 
leaflets. Ham Hill's MARK TWAIN AND ELISHA BLISS and the Michael Zinman 
catalogue of prospectuses would be two good places to start looking. There 
are also several accounts by subscription agents that are informative, and I 
can supply those citations if you like.

For a comic modern take on door-to-door bookselling, check out that old 
episode of the TV show `Taxi' where poor drug-addled Jim tries a new career 
and shows up at a lady's front door with a large box. He throws a huge clod 
of dirt on her floor and begins his pitch on how he has the solution to 
cleaning up this mess. Then he opens his big box and suddenly remembers that 
he's selling encyclopedias.

Kevin
@
Mac Donnell Rare Books
9307 Glenlake Drive
Austin TX 78730
512-345-4139
Member: ABAA, ILAB
*************************
You may browse our books at
www.macdonnellrarebooks.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alan" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2010 1:07 PM
Subject: Prospectus


>I am wondering if there were any guidelines for salesmen when presenting=
> a book prospectus to a client. As telemarketers today follow a script, di=
> d the book salesmen who hawked The Huck Finn prospectus, for example, 
> have=
> any instructions how to proceed in reeling in a subscriber?
>
> Alan C. Reese
> Instructor
> Towson University
>
>
>
> -----
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