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Selling Mark Twain



Selling Mark Twain
   

Do you remember reading in "Tom Sawyer" how young Tom talked his friends into giving up their time and their adolescent treasures to take turns doing one of his least favorite chores: white-washing his aunt and uncle’s fence? It was sales genius! For anyone who knows a little about Samuel Clemmons (the real name of well-known author Mark Twain), it's easy to see that sales is a skill that Tom Sawyer came by honestly.

Clemmons was a sales genius in his own right. In fact, while he was alive, his books were made available only by subscription. An uncommon practice today, subscription selling was once popular, and conferred many advantages to book sellers.

Subscription selling permitted publishers much greater control over their profit model for each individual book they published. As printing would not commence until orders flowed in, printing runs could be based on actual instead of estimated orders. This allowed those concerned with production costs to make profit-maximizing decisions based on real information.

As a result of the personal interaction during the sales process, subscription selling also resulted in higher sales and profits for publishers and authors. Quite often, the same texts were made available in as many as five or six different bindings. With proper representation, book agents could easily sell the better-quality bindings to more affluent buyers. Sensibly, the more elaborate bindings were offered for higher prices and, accordingly, commanded higher margins.

Another advantage of subscription sales is that it brings with it the ability to connect with an audience that does not shop through conventional channels. Clemmons recognized that the vast majority of his books were sold to a more “democratic” audience; one that did not visit bookstores as often as book retailers, publishers and authors would like. By sending agents out into the community, awareness for Clemmons’ books was much higher, and he could realize much greater distribution for each book.

The agent's tools were his prospectus and his pitch. Each book agent would be well trained in how to carry his samples, speak about, and illustrate Clemmons’ work. Deviations from the system were not encouraged. In Clemmons’ subscription sales model, book canvassing includes 5 progressive steps taken in the following natural order:

First: Thorough preparation
Second: Securing influence
Third: Gaining a hearing
Fourth: Creating a desire
Fifth: Taking the order
Samuel Clemmons built an immensely successful writing career on the subscription selling system. Can you make it work for you?


Selling Mark Twain - To learn more about this author, visit Robin Johnston's Website.

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About the Author


Robin Johnston
(Visit Robin's Website)
Robin C. Johnston is a speaker, author and executive advisor based in Asheboro, NC. Robin speaks on sales, marketing, customer loyalty and management issues for first-time entrepreneurs as well as established enterprises. Visit www.robinjoh nston.com for more information on Robin and his books and presentations.
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