nd set up a
demand for publicity.

The financial end of Publicity is full of complexities. The question
of how much an expenditure per volume is warranted is one that cannot
be answered generally. There are many limiting and defining
considerations. First of all, the book itself. If it is the kind to be
a "big seller," a risk can possibly be taken on a larger advertising
investment than would be warranted in the case of a good book of finer
quality and limited appeal. Certain books of coarser, more obvious
qualities have a large public if it can be reached. In such cases an
exceptional effort will bring exceptional returns. By the risk of a
large advertising outlay the firm may get big profits; while a flat
failure, because the large, non-book-buying public had not been
reached through newspaper and lavish poster advertising methods, might
result if only a few hundreds were spent. Judgment of the finest kind
is required here, and it cannot always decide rightly.

How much to spend depends essentially upon the book, and there is no
hard and fast rule. Books have been known to reach their public and
reach good sales at an advertising outlay of about one cent per copy.
Others have had fifty cents per copy sold spent upon them, and fallen
flat.

The publishing business is not one in which there are great profits,
and the margin between the cost of manufacturing and the wholesale
price is small. This small amount must furnish the author's royalty,
the advertising appropriation, the publisher's cost of doing business,
and his profit. It can be seen then that the amount of royalty paid
on a book in a certain degree rules the amount of advertising that
can be done,--the publisher and author are, in a measure, partners,
and if the author demands a large royalty, he thereby cuts down the
amount the publisher can afford to expend in advertising his book. The
larger the appropriation for advertising, the larger the chance for
increased sales.

It is difficult to make any generalization on the amount that should
be devoted to publicity. Taking the $1.50 novel as a standard, it
might be said that figuring in all kinds of publicity--newspaper,
magazine, circular, literary notices, etc.--from ten to twelve per
cent of the wholesale price on the first edition of 10,000 would be a
liberal allowance. On more expensive volumes, handled as subscription
books, a much larger proportion would be the rule. On new books other
than fiction,