chabot@miles.DEC (Bits is Bits) (04/24/85)
Jerry Hewett says Laser books gave away books at cons and this might be why they
went out of business.
Well, at Boskone XII ('75) a publisher was giving away Perry Rhodans (limit: 4
per visit), but the only people I saw taking them were a couple of
12-year-olds. What number is P R up to now?
My wild guess is that Harlequin wasn't getting nearly as big a return as they
get from their other book lines, and giving them away was an attempt to gain
a better name among science fiction fans, many of whom were biased against the
publisher. I also think that the publisher didn't have a feel for the right
audience for their books, and may have been aiming for an inappropriate age
group.
L S Chabot
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