If the advertising manager gets rate cards from a hundred publications, he will find probably forty or fifty different shapes, sizes, and styles. Several spasmodic attempts have been made to induce publishers to adopt a uniform size for rate cards, with but little success. In the effort to produce something striking, the convenience of the advertiser is very likely to be overlooked. One publisher will use a 3"×5" card--the most convenient size; another, in order to better display the artistic ideas of his own copy department, uses a card 6"×9"; a book of rules is issued by another; the result is a miscellaneous collection that does not fit any size of file made. To insure uniformity in their files, advertising agencies have been obliged to design rate sheets or cards which they send to the publisher to be filled in. Some large advertisers now follow the same plan, requesting publishers to enter rates on special forms. But whether or not he uses a special form, every advertiser should have his own file of rate cards--even if the information is written on a blank card. The special information needed is shown in Fig. 12. This can be on a card, or if preferred, a sheet to be filed in a loose-leaf binder can be used. The cards or sheets should be indexed alphabetically, under the names of the publications. [Illustration: Fig. 12. Index Card for a Record of Advertising Rates] If full and satisfactory information is not obtained from the publishers, it is well to supplement it with information from an advertising agency. The successful agency, through observation on behalf of a number of clients, usually has more dependable information about a given publication than can be obtained by any one advertiser. All sources of information should be made use of; if the article advertised is sold to the trade, much valuable information can be secured from local dealers. In planning a daily paper campaign for a certain commodity, a letter was sent to each dealer contiguous to each city asking what morning and evening papers had the largest sale in his town; at what hour each was received; and the general trend of local political sentiment. This brought a gratifying response, and helped in the selection of papers which covered, not only the cities, but the small towns. Another advertiser secured some very satisfactory reports from his traveling salesmen, relative to the value of local papers in which he contemplated advertising. =Advertising Contracts.= Contracts for advertising are usually made once a year, in advance. Most publishers of magazines and newspapers grant certain space discounts, based on the space used within one year, and in many cases, to secure these discounts, contracts must be made in advance. Some trade paper publishers allow space discounts, others maintain flat rates, all of which must be considered in making contracts.