ut what
people will take the book, and advertise it to them. The process of
emasculating your presentation of it by cutting out everything that
would keep _anybody_ from reading it is a dangerous one. The dislikes
of the world of readers are too many for one to be able to dodge them
all, and, after all, most of us like a positive rather than a negative
volume. Just because many people do not read essays,--to take an
extreme case,--is no reason for avoiding the statement that yours is a
volume of essays. Fortunately, there are thousands upon thousands of
people who do read essays; and if the book is a good book of essays,
they will bring their influence--that word-of-mouth influence which is
almost as powerful as a "puff" by President Roosevelt--to bear upon
non-essay reading people, and you will be the gainer by that much for
your wisdom and honesty.

These observations are germane, and worthy consideration because
commercialism and the endeavor to produce big sellers are always an
influence to overstate, misstate, and be extravagant in the praise of
a volume. But such extravagance always discounts itself in the mind of
the reader, and experience has pretty definitely proved that what a
prospective buyer wants is a straightforward concise indication of the
story and its quality. A word of praise quoted from a review may help
him make up his mind, yet he probably knows it is a pretty poor book
of which _some_ newspaper doesn't say "Holds the reader's interest
from cover to cover" or "We hail the author of this volume as one of
the most promising of our American writers."

In considering the practical details of publicity, it will be clearest
to take them in chronological order. First: The book should be
thoroughly and critically read. The person in charge of the publicity
ought to have every volume put into his hands as soon as it is
accepted. When he has read it thoroughly and has formed his idea of
it, he discusses it thoroughly with the person responsible for its
acceptance. From this discussion, in which the sales department is
represented, evolves naturally the "editorial attitude" upon which
every line of future publicity and every sentence of salesman's talk
will be based. Without a complete understanding throughout the
establishment of the "editorial attitude" the entire publicity will be
aimless and unconvincing.

The first work in publicity on a season's book is probably the
catalogue, which must be had rea