A printer charged him $250 for 5,000 copies of these little books, and after giving one of each to 500 new subscribers of his paper, he advertised them in his own and other papers, and sold the remainder at 10 cents each. When the supply was exhausted, he had more of the books printed and continued to sell them until he had realized a profit of $2,000 from them.
By this time his weekly newspaper had grown in circulation and advertising value so that it was bringing in a good revenue every year, but he kept on advertising and selling books with good titles, as he found this source of income was well worth the additional effort.
PLAN No. 167. MARKETING A PREPARATION
By a carefully considered plan of furnishing a number of drug stores with free wrappers for their bottles, boxes, combs, brushes, and a host of other articles which every druggist sells, an enterprising young man who had the formula for a preparation of unusual merit, but with no money with which to push the sale of it, succeeded in getting it so thoroughly advertised in his home city that he was soon able to open a handsomely furnished office and employ a number of assistants to put it up. The preparation was exceptionally good or it would not have brought the “repeat” orders it did.
He began his plan by offering free to each druggist 1,000 circulars setting forth the superior qualities of his preparation, these circulars being the proper size for wrapping all ordinary packages that come from drug stores, that is, about 9x9 inches, but with the printed matter set in a space 51⁄2x71⁄2 inches, and at the bottom of each set of circulars the words, “For Sale by,” followed by the name of the druggist using the wrappers and having the preparation for sale. The man who owned the formula thus got his preparation well advertised at practically no expense, while the druggists realized much benefit from it.
PLAN No. 168. DEALING IN NUT MEATS
You would hardly think that cracking various kinds of nuts and selling the meats would be much of a business, yet a young lady found that it paid her very well, and brought in many dollars during certain seasons of the year.
She lived in a section of country where nuts of all varieties were very plentiful, and had noticed the waste in shipping unshelled nuts in bulk to the market. She believed it would save considerable in the way of transportation costs if only the meats were shipped. Besides, the difference in the prices would mean a neat profit to anyone doing the work.
Walnuts and hickory nuts were the principal kinds growing in her neighborhood, and these she gathered in great quantities when ripe, removing the outside hulls by pounding them lightly with a stout stick.
Providing herself with a good nut cracker and set of picks, besides a dozen or so glass jars, she began cracking the nuts, aiming to extract the meats in halves or as large pieces as possible, and placing them in the jars which, when full, she covered tightly with tops so as to exclude air and dampness, and found that in this way they brought the highest prices in the market.