The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-04-27


A peculiar feature of the spring is its
abundance of literary projects. During
the past winter many intellectual people
haye been thrown out of their usual EN-
ployment, and have taken to book making.
The variety of works thus produced is sur
prising, but they are chiefly tales and Ell
forts of fiction. OF course the largest part
of these productions will rever see the
light, but the authors are anxious to have
them examined, and hence the book pub
fishers are continually annoyed with these
offerings Seldom has so much brain work
been done as during the past hard winter,
and, alas, of a very unavailng character.
| The continual exclamation of book sellers,
magazine editors. and newspaper mana
| gers is, Don't send any more" 1t is pain
| full to discourage the efforts Of beginners,
| but such is the case, and the quicker IL Is
known the better.
WORD 10 YOUNG SOvErisTs.
As this class is rapidly increasing and Us
almost every village has its budding genius,
a word in season may not ls improper.
Young authors, YOU must De resigned to
your fate, Book reading : giving way to
the newspapers. The irlnense literature
of journalism has impaired the sale OF
bound volumes. Everybody reads the pa
| per. and hence cditps are making great ell
forts to increase their attractions. The
best writers hay found books less profit
able than Newspaper work. For instance.
it is probable that James Parton has made
more by whiting biographical Sketches for
the Ledg1r than he has by all his books.
| and this remark may be generally extended.
| The Tribune has On its list of contributors
| some of the ba,t book makers of the day,
who are gloi to receive $40 per column
which is better rate than their books pay
them The same remark may be made OF
thu EUen,hg Post, which has a wide range
II outside talent. Evening newspapers do
| not yield as high a compensation as might
be expected they generally pay promptly
and that is very important feature Men
can afford 10 work cheaper under such Ia
vorable circumstances.
A PECUSIARY VIEW.
Book making is seldom found to be very
| profitable business. Irving is admitted to
have been a very successful author, hut his
entire receipts during literary 1ifc, pro-
longed more than a half century, were
only 100000 This seems like large
sum, but had he been banker. or South
street merchant, would it seem large lie
house of his own until he was fifty. Al
this time he built Sunnyside, and filed il
with a large family of beloved kindred.
The contrast between the most successful
author and the most successful editor is
found in the fact that James Gordon Ben
nett left an estate estimated at $1,000, 900.
Raymond, who died at an earlier age than
that of Irving when he built Sunnyside,
left half a million, and Bryant is esti-
mated at S700,000. Bonner Is recKoneo u
millionaire, and so is George Jones OF the
Times. What author of books can stand
:, III o. row of literary grandees? Even
. our scnooi ok men, who have so great a
eaie ioi 'heir Volumes, cannot come near
D this goluen marx. NV-ertheless, we must
G have books, and authors as a class must cx-
I, list but they Will of Necessary take the
e penalty of their LOT to write and Perhaps to
! starve. The reason Of this is simply be-
cause book making does not pay. You can
not expect miracles to be wrought, and il
not in the nature of things that ali iitera.
, ture should be profitable
HOW BOOKS ARE MADE.
Formerly publishers, in issuing a work,
assumed all risks, but they found this was
not safe, and hence they now require au-
thors of accepted works to make their own
, stereotype plates. 1t will cost about 5000
to stereotype an ordinory novel, and hence
an author requires not only brains but
cash. The plan thus adopted is to divide
, the risks as well as profits. The author
, and the publisher in this way form spe-
cies of partnership. An author having
made his plates, is thus proprietor, and
; hence has perfect control of his produc-
tions. In thus being partner in the issu-
!, ing of his books, an authors position re-
! sembles that of Walter Scott, who was u
, partner in the Bannatyne printing house,
> which issued his works. He did not own
the plates, for stereotyping was then not
practiced, but he was a general partner in
the firm whose failure led to his financial
ruin.
COPYRIGHT.
When an author has showed sufficient
confidence IN his work to stereotype it, he
, will take out copyright, which secures
work to himself. To do this he applies at
the office of the United States clerk and
deposits title page, paying at the same
time fee Of : so. To finish the trans
action, he must send a copy Of the book TO
the congressional library at Washington,
within three months after its publication
The library is certainly unfortunate in be-
. ing thus encountered with such immense
, quantities of trash. Just think what u
, collection 1t must be when every copy
righted volume, good bad or Indifferent, is
, forced upon its shelves. This library con-
tains the first book ever printed in Amer
! lea, and of course it contains the last The
first is Eliots account Of his labors among
the Indians, and is thin volume of twenty
pages, dated 1860. This is next in rank to
Eliot's Indian bible, which is the first copy
of the scriptures printed in America. A
copy of the latter is in the library of James
LenoN.
PUBLICATION
Having got the plates in working order.
the publisher assumes the remainder of the
expense, if such be the agreement If the
book be of an interesting character, and
promise ready sale, he will give a com
mission OF fifteen or even twenty per cent
on the retail price. Out of this commits
sion the author must expect to meet the
expense of making the plates, and per
haps, he may have little over for his Toll.
1t will, however, be good book which
brings $500 for the latter, and, indeed few
n towels yield more than $500, while many
fail to pay the cost of the plates.
INEVITABLE RISKS.
There are few trades more liable to en-
cessive risks than book making, a fact
which both authors and publishers have
learned by sore experience. Some of the
most valuable WORKS have resulted in fail
ure. One of these was the 'Comprehen-
siye Commentary which is now much
out of use, but was in its day of great
value. AS an investment it proved heavy
loss, and this remark applies to many other
works of almost equal value. An expe-
rence of this kind is found in the ''Lifeot
Scott which is so full of grandeur and
misfortune. His publishing house issued
number of valuable works whose sale
was unremunerative, and, in fact, the loss
on these sunk a large part of The profit
made on the Waverly novels. In a like
manner our book sellers lose in one worth
less edition all the profits made ON half