p. 17 | Canvassing for Subscriptions by E. M. Graham

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 21, 1914

Canvassing for Subscriptions

By E. M. Graham

WHILE good results will be obtained from the regular sale of periodicals from house to house, attention should also be given to obtaining subscriptions for them. Once paid for, the periodical will go to the house for a period of time, during which there will be given considerable light on this message.

"A mistake has been made in soliciting subscriptions for our periodicals for only a few weeks, when by a proper effort much longer subscriptions might have been obtained. One yearly subscription is of more value than many for a short time. When the paper is taken for only a few months, the interest often ends with the short subscription. Few renew their subscriptions for a longer period, and thus there is a large outlay of time that brings small returns, when with a little more tact and perseverance, yearly subscriptions might have been obtained. You strike too low, brethren; you are too narrow in your plans. You do not put into your work all the tact and perseverance that it deserves. There are more difficulties in this work than in some other branches of business; but the lessons that will be learned, the tact and discipline that will be acquired, will fit you for other fields of usefulness, where you may minister to souls. Those who poorly learn their lesson, and are careless and abrupt in approaching persons, would show the same defects of manner, the same want of tact and skill, in dealing with minds should they enter the ministry.

"While short subscriptions are accepted, some will not make the effort necessary to obtain them for a longer term. Canvassers should not go over the ground in a careless, unconcerned manner. They should feel that they are God's workmen, and the love of souls should lead them to make every effort to enlighten men and women in regard to the truth. Providence and grace, means and ends, are closely connected. When his laborers do the very best they can, God does for them that which they cannot do for themselves; but no one need expect to succeed independently and by his own exertions. There must be activity united with firm trust in God."—"Testimonies for the Church," Vol. V, page 399.

This work of soliciting subscriptions for periodicals may be taken up in connection with the house-to-house sale of the papers, or may be made a regular business. There are workers who take a few sample copies with them and devote their efforts to securing subscriptions. They say it is almost as easy to obtain a subscription as to sell a single copy, and much more profitable, for then the visits of the paper are insured for a length of time. It accomplishes more in a given time than the house-to-house sale does. Both methods have advantages, and each will reach some people that could be reached in no other way.

E. M. GRAHAM.