Word: scherman
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Whenever things got dull along publisher's row, bookmen could always amuse themselves with a guessing game called "How Much Is Harry's Take?" The Harry in question was Harry Scherman, 59, founder and president of the Book-of-the-Month Club. The take which interested bookmen was B.O.M.C.'s profit on the $25 million worth of books it distributed last year (over $13.5 million in actual sales, $10.5 million given away free). Scherman could keep it a secret because he and three members of his family owned almost 94% of B.O.M.C.'s stock (Vice President...
...Opera (Sun. 7 p.m., Mutual). The third act of Puccini's La Bohème, in English. Thomas Scherman conducting...
...them. He set up a board of five cultural experts, to choose a book a month for B.O.M.C. members. B.O.M.C. now has 900,000 members; they usually pay the regular retail price for books, but get a book free with every two bought, and one for joining. President Scherman can afford the dividend...
Exactly how much Scherman's club makes is his own trade secret. But the retail value of all books distributed by B.O.M.C. last year, including book dividends, was $25,000,000. Because of the dividends, bookmen guessed that B.O.M.C. did not take in more than $15,000,000. Of this, they estimated that no more than $3,000,000 was spent on advertising, promotion and mailing; another $2,000,000 for royalties; another $5,000,000 to print the books. Bookmen concluded: of the remaining $5,000,000, a substantial chunk was profit...
Nevertheless, energetic Mr. Scherman is not satisfied. This month he will launch a new advertising campaign, which he hopes will boost B.O.M.C. members over 1,000,000, make it the biggest book club...