Both plays were highly successful; they ran for weeks in succession, and each evening Bok had circulars of the books in every seat of the theatre; he had a table filled with the books in the foyer of each theatre; and he bombarded the newspapers with stories of Mr.Mansfield's method of making the quick change from one character to the other in the dual role of the Stevenson play, and with anecdotes about the boy Tommy Russell in Mrs.
Burnett's play.

The sale of the books went merrily on, and kept pace with the success of the plays.

And it all sharpened the initiative of the young advertiser and developed his sense 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.