There are apparently few book dealers who have given this new field of business activity the close attention it demands. Some have been content to wait until the demand came—a most short-sighted policy that meant customers going elsewhere—whilst others have sat down and let the exhibitor reap the harvest.
I think it worth while for every book dealer to make a friend of the local motion-picture showman. The benefit would be mutual. The exhibitor could inform the book dealer well in advance whether he had any adaptations booked, so that the book dealer could lay in a stock to meet the demand. He could also announce outside his store that the picture was being shown at the theater in question, whilst all could obtain the book of the film from him.
The exhibitor would reciprocate the publicity thus given by announcing that the book was obtainable of the book dealer, or by allowing the latter to distribute circulars to the audience.
These are but suggestions. Other possible schemes may be devised by the wide-awake book dealer. It is, however, well to know that here is a source of revenue to be tapped.
XLIV.
SELLING REAL ESTATE BY THE FILM
The real-estate agent operating from a distance in selling vacant lots and houses is placed at a considerable disadvantage.
When a prospective purchaser comes along the chances are in nine cases out of ten that he has been so misled by some other members of the fraternity that all the arguments in the world will not convince him that a certain piece of property on your books is just the very thing he is seeking.
When you invite him to pay an inspection, he will probably say: “I’m not going on a wild-goose chase, so I want some tangible evidence that it is likely to suit me.”
The unfortunate thing about it is that the innocent have to pay for the sins of the guilty, and the only effective way you can convince such an individual is by a motion picture.
Then, on the other hand, there is the client whose time is limited and may not be able to make the trip on chance.