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The First 100 Million $$$ Have you ever heard of E. Haldeman-Julius? He’s the man who about 70 years ago published the “world famous” Little Blue Books. And he finished up selling 100 million dollars plus worth of them sometime in the early 20th century. Who knows how much that would be by today’s standards. Either way, it’s a truckload of money. What’s all this got to do with today and how can it help you in your business? Well, plenty! The story of the Little Blue Books reveals hidden marketing insights that were important then, and are just as important today, and in fact if you haven’t got a copy of this hard to get publication do everything in your power to get your mitts on one. Simply because what people were interested in then, they are still interested in today. The Little Blue Books were a collection of a couple of thousand titles. All with blue covers, a little smaller than a Readers Digest. They often contained anything from 50 to 150 odd pages each, and the contents varied greatly. Most tended to be “How to” self help books and were sold by placing large ads in major newspapers and publications. Back then they sold for a nickel (5 cents) and you had to order a minimum of 20 of the titles you got to choose from. Guess what they were buying most of back then? You’ll find it’s no different to today. Little Blue Books about SEX. After all, if you look on any news agency shelf at the enticing titles on magazines, none of this will come as a surprise. Here’s a sample of some of the annual sales and the titles used: What Married Women Should Know............................................... 112,000 copies What Married Men Should Know.................................................... 97,500 copies What Every Young Man Should Know............................................ 95,000 copies What Every Young Woman Should Know....................................... 90,500 copies Man’s Sexual Life............................................................................ 78,500 copies The Physiology of Sex Life............................................................... 65,500 copies Plain Talks with the Married............................................................. 60,500 copies Modern Aspects of Birth Control..................................................... 73,000 copies The Art of Kissing........................................................................... 60,500 copies Catholicism and Sex........................................................................ 65,000 copies Prostitution in the Modern World..................................................... 129,500 copies Prostitution in the Ancient World...................................................... 84,000 copies Why I Believe in a Companionate Marriage...................................... 64,000 copies Illicit Love....................................................................................... 81,000 copies OK, that’s enough about sex for the moment, although I suspect judging by the statistics most of you rather I stayed on the subject. Let’s move on to “self help”, “how to” and “self education”. Here’s some samples of self help books: How to Improve Your Conversation................................................ 77,000 copies How to Improve your Vocabulary.................................................... 76,000 copies How to Write Letters....................................................................... 53,500 copies Hints on Public Speaking ................................................................ 46,500 copies Short Story Writing for Beginners..................................................... 36,000 copies How to Write Advertising ............................................................... 20,000 copies How to Pyscho-Analyze Yourself.................................................... 43,000 copies How to Fight Nervous Troubles....................................................... 39,000 copies Facts about Will Power................................................................... 38,500 copies Your Memory and How to Improve It............................................. 37,000 copies Your Talent and How to Develop It................................................. 35,500 copies Pyschology of Leadership................................................................ 32,000 copies As you can see “The First 100 Million” is a book that reflected at the time a measurement of the average American’s inner wants, frustrations, desires, needs and greeds. Frankly, not a lot has changed. Chapter VII entitled the Hospital makes for fascinating reading. It reveals how a simple word change in a book title resulted in 10,000’s of extra sales. It’s the same for you and your headlines for your products and services. Here’s a few examples of what a difference a word can make. “The Art of Controversy” never did very well. That is, until it’s title was changed to “How to Argue Logically”. It suddenly leapt to 30,000 copies annually. “Piano Playing” is an alright title. But when you add “How to”, in this case, “How to Play the Piano” or even “How to Teach Yourself to Play the Piano” sales leapt. Oscar Wilde’s “Pen, Pencil and Poison” seems a good title to put at first glance. But not so from the buyers perspective, as the sales records of this book showed. When it was changed to “The Story of a Notorious Criminal” it went from 5000 annual sales in 1926 to 15,800 in 1927. That’s a 300% increase. It really is amazing what the change of a word can do. “The Mystery of the Iron Mask”, when changed to “The Mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask” went from 11,000 copies to 30,000 copies. Another master of title change is my friend Melvin Powers. He spent a lifetime changing the title of books from losers to winners. It’s little surprise that a simple addition of “how to”, “the facts about”, “hints on”, “facts to know” or “art of” has an incredible impact on sales. I suggest you do whatever you can to get a copy of this priceless manuscript. It’s a treasure trove of information, valid then, valid today. I suspect nothing like it has ever been written before or will ever be written again, in such precise detail. Committed to Multiplying Your Profits and Guilty of Conspiracy to Committing Capitalism, Mal Emery
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