Grit is a
tabloid magazine touting itself as "the good news newspaper" that has for years advertised itself in
comic books and childrens' magazines everywhere, to young, unsuspecting
children whose
parents won't let them sell
Olympic or other "hey-kids-make-money" schemes.
The kids are given a newsbag and a certain amount of copies to truck around per week. They aren't penalized for ones they fail to sell (except if their numbers continue to go down, they will be sent less each week), and earn money and "prize points" for each one they do...which they can redeem toward neat-o prizes in monthly catalogs.
I used to sell Grit for a time, when I was in high school. I actually ended up drinking most of my profits each week when I stopped by a local soda fountain for a thick, rich malt...but I didn't really mind too much; it gave me an excuse to get out and about and bother people. I never topped 30 copies a week, though. If only I'd been able to bring my bicycle into town with me, I might have done better.
What was the magazine itself like? Not really worth writing home about. It read about like the human-interest section of a local newspaper, but with stories from all over the country. There was also a serialized novel included in the back, but never really a very good one.
I don't know if Grit is still being published. Toward the end of when I was selling it, the format went through some changes, switching from weekly at 75 cents an issue to bi-weekly at $1.50. In retrospect, that suggests that perhaps it wasn't selling as well as it used to.