for publicity.

One day while waiting in the anteroom of a publishing house to see a
member of the firm, he picked up a book and began to read it. Since he
had to wait for nearly an hour, he had read a large part of the volume
when he was at last admitted to the private office. When his business
was finished, Bok asked the publisher why this book was not selling.

"I don't know," replied the publisher. "We had great hopes for it, but
somehow or other the public has not responded to it."

"Are you sure you are telling the public about it in the right way?"
ventured Bok.

The Scribner advertising had by this time attracted the attention of
the publishing world, and this publisher was entirely ready to listen
to a suggestion from his youthful caller.

"I wish we published it," said Bok. "I think I could make it a go.
It's all in the book."

"How would you advertise it?" asked the publisher.

Bok promised the publisher he would let him know. He carried with him
a copy of the book, wrote some advertisements for it, prepared an
attractive "broadside" of extracts, to which the book easily lent
itself, wrote some literary notes about it, and sent the whole
collection to the publisher. Every particle of "copy" which Bok had
prepared was used, the book began to sell, and within three months it
was the most discussed book of the day.

The book was Edward Bellamy's _Looking Backward_.

Meanwhile, Mr. Beecher's weekly newspaper "syndicate" letter was not
only successful in itself, it made liberal money for the writer and for
its two young publishers, but it served to introduce Edward Bok's
proposed agency to the newspapers under the most favorable conditions.
With one stroke, the attention of newspaper editors had been attracted,
and Edward concluded to take quick advantage of it. He organized the
Bok Syndicate Press, with offices in New York, and his brother, William
J. Bok, as partner and active manager.

Edward's attention was now turned, for the first time, to women and
their reading habits. He became interested in the fact that the
American woman was not a newspaper reader. He tried to find out the
psychology of this, and finally reached the conclusion, on looking over
the newspapers, that the absence of any distinctive material for women
was a factor. He talked the matter over with several prominent New
York editors, who frankly acknowledged that they would like nothing
better than to interest women, an