Robert Haas, who was once president of the Book of the Month Club but left to form a publishing partnership with Harrison Smith, set the book world all agog last week by announcing that the firm was about to embark on a “new” idea in book selling. Most of the publishers and all of the book sellers felt like so many deflated balloons when the gentlemanly Mr. Haas unfolded his scheme which turned out to be nothing but a book club, the members of which would receive five newly published books at a cost of ninety-five cents per book. Mr. Haas further stated that in addition to the ninety-five cent edition which would be sent only to subscribers, the same book in a better format might be procured in a book store at the usual price of $2.00 or $2.50.
Whether such a plan is tenable, is highly doubtful. Booksellers will show little willingness to push a $2.50 book that can be gotten directly from the publisher for ninety-five cents. Another objection will be the books selected for distribution. Certainly a publisher who has a salable book on hand will not submit it to a club and ruin its sale at a higher price and unquestionably Mr. Haas will not see a set of galleys until the other book clubs have turned them down. The only thing the new club will do will be to make the matter of book prices more confusing to an already puzzled public who never have been able to figure out why they can buy five dollar books for fifteen cents and must sometimes pay five dollars for what seems to be fifteen cents worth of reading.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
