This advice seemed sensible, and our hero determined to follow it.
“If I try my luck in smaller places what would you advise me to try to sell?”
“I have three works which usually appeal strongly to people in small places and in farming communities. One is a Guide to Health, a sort of family doctor book; another is a book on the diseases of all kinds of cattle and poultry, and the third is a set of thirty world-famous novels. The first two books sell at three dollars each, and are well worth it, for they are finely illustrated and contain much valuable information. The set of famous novels, which represent the best book of each of thirty famous novelists, sells for twenty dollars, four dollars when books are delivered, and two dollars per month until the entire amount is paid.”
“And what commission do you allow agents?”
“On the health book and the cattle book, twenty-five per cent., and on the famous novels, five dollars for each order which we accept and on which we obtain at least ten dollars.”
“Then you make an agent wait for his commission on the novels?”
“He has to wait for part of it. He can have two dollars of the commission as soon as we deliver the books and get our first payment.”
“Does an agent deliver the single books himself and collect?”
“Yes; we collect only on sets.”
“Do you think the center of New Jersey and eastern part of Pennsylvania good ground to work?”