Book traveller

PROFILE of George Fabian Scheer, 56, a travelling book salesman from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Scheer's territory is the South & Southwest; he & his associate Roger Foushee cover 12 states & 12,000 miles. Writer joined Scheer in New Orleans on one of his 2 major annual trips. Scheer works an 18-hour day while on the road; writer reports his routine, describing the various bookshops they visit, & the way Scheer deals with the buyers. As a commission man, Scheer works for anywhere from 8 to 12 different publishers at a time; he represents medium-sized & small houses. He is selling "trade books" which account for only 25% of the wholesale book the primary problem in trade-book publishing is book distribution. Scheer is a historian (co-author, with Hugh F. Rankin, of "Rebels & Redcoats"), a writer of children's books, an editor, & a book reviewer. He also acts as a publishing consultant, & literary agent. He is concerned about the future of small independent bookshops, without support from the trade-book publishers Scheer feels they will disappear, leaving only mail-order houses & chain bookstores.