793. How to See New York.—Not a guide book, but one far more beneficial to strangers who want to see the great metropolis. It should contain at least three sets of directions for persons preparing to visit the city for the first time. These methods and order of sightseeing should be radically different, giving the intending visitor the choice of the three. The million or more people who come every year to New York for the first time would want the book, and half of them would doubtless buy it if freely advertised and sold for not more than fifty cents.
794. Map Making.—There is money in the making of town, county and state maps. For this you need the services of a good surveyor. Go to a map publisher and get his estimates of cost; he can inform you where to get a surveyor, and give you much other valuable advice. As a rule, maps sell in proportion to the smallness of the territory portrayed, people being chiefly interested in their immediate neighborhood. It is with towns as with boarders—there is not much money in one or two, but he who has the capital to work twenty towns at a time will do well. Jay Gould got his first start in this way.
795. Story of the Pole.—A score or more of great captains have tried to reach the pole, and many of them have told their story in captivating books, but we want a book in which each man’s story shall be condensed into a single chapter of fifty pages each. The thousands of people who like comparisons and admire hardy adventures would like a book of this kind.
796. The Making of a Mighty Business.—We have spoken of the men who made the business, but this book deals with the business itself. What a great book could be made of a few chapters each, one devoted to such themes as “A Great Railroad,” “A Great Sugar House,” “A Great Banking House,” “A Great Steamship Company,” “The New York Post Office,” “The United States Patent Office.” This book would appeal for interest to all classes, and ought to be very profitable to the author.
797. Heroes of Labor.—Now let the laboring man tell his story. A book to consist of chapters written by such labor leaders as T. V. Powderly, Samuel Gompers, Mr. Sovereign, and other Knights of Labor, relating the story of their struggles with capital. Technical matters, such as interviews with directors and tables of wages should be made as brief as possible, while strikes, scenes of violence and suffering, should form the chief matter of the book. Here is a chance for a gifted writer to make a second “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” a book whose sale in this country has eclipsed that of any other thing ever published.
798. The Elite Directory.—Some cities like New York have such a book, but other cities have not. Here is a field for the talent of the reportorial variety. It will be a delicate matter to decide who shall be included in the gilded circle and who shall be excluded, but if you are discreet and discriminating, careful to make your book contain the names of only the recognized people of society, these will in nearly all cases buy your book, and will not be afraid of a good round price.
799. Popular Dramas.—These have made the fortunes of their authors. A playwright often receives $100 per night while the play runs. More frequently the manager pays a sum outright for the rights of the play. The sum of $10,000 was paid recently for the right to dramatize a popular work of fiction, the author having already received a fortune from its sale as a novel. Eugene Scribe, the French dramatist, left at his death the sum of $800,000, mainly his earnings as a playwright.
800. Furnishing a Home.—A book on home furnishing, treating the subject from an artistic point of view, would doubtless find a market. Each room should have a separate chapter. The furnishing should be considered from the standpoint of expense, comfort, color and harmony. A book entitled “Inside a Hundred Homes” had a large sale.
801. Pretty Weddings.—Here is a field entirely unoccupied. Select twenty of the most stylish weddings of modern times, and give a full account of them. They should be, of course, weddings among the bon ton. The book would be a kind of fashionable wedding guide, and would be eagerly bought by every lady who expects to be a bride. The book also might contain hints and rules for weddings among all grades of social life.
802. Quotation Book.—One not classified in the old way, according to subjects, but in relation to occasion. Quotations for the business mart, the theatre, the church, the political arena, the dinner party, etc. If made to be sold very cheap it would have a good sale; or it might be combined at a higher price with a book on manners. See No. 770.