, 1885-02-05
BRITISH ~B00K-MAKING
WHAT IT COSTS TO PUBLISH AN
ENGLISH NOVEL
Peeaiiar1tIss Of the HLibrary sssssm-
Why Books are Not Bought In Eng
land-Ths Thres-volums Novel
Some Kseent Prices.


Some seem to be under the impression that
It Is easier TO get a book published here than
In America. l think thsy must have very
little IDEA OF the vast amount OF writing that
Is done in England The publishu viii tall
you that the getting out OF a three volume
novel will cost 800 pounds sterling and that
be Is willing 10 stand half the cost II you
will stand the other half. To a person who
knows little of paper or print
ing this may look like a fair offer.
but the fact Is that the Publishing
Of the frst edition does not cost anything
like half that sum and tho 100 pounds
sterling you send the publisher will pay all
CO Is and leave him a handsome profit be-
sides whether the book sells or not It
amounts to this: You pay the London pub
Usher a good profit: IL the book sells he
gobbles the lions share OF the income; IL Il
doesn't you lose all the money and he has no
risk at all, Perhaps American publishers do
business the same way; perhaps they don't
But there is one thing you have not in
America and that is the literary monstrosity,
the three-volume novel In your spare
moments thank your stars for that
] presume you have never seen a three
volume novel have several Of them here
before me as l write. They are from Nudes
library. The three volumes cost 81 shillings
and 6 pence. That is about $3.50. You
might say the English were fools to pay such
a price for a novel. They are not such fools
as they look, for they don't pay 1t and the
book Is put at this price so that they won't
pay IL 1t seems n queer way Of doing
business that a publisher should doliber-
ately put such a price on his book for
the very purpose of preventing people from
buying II. Whopays it theni Nobody. The
price Is simply a blind. The Libraries buy
the book at a much less figure than that
given above. / have 1t from a publisher that
the price the libraries pay is about 81 for a
t~hreo-volume novel and the chances arc that
in many instances they pay less. The pub
Usher generally gets out an edition Of 500
copies. II 800 OF these are sold the publication
Is called 4 SUCCESS. Tho bill the publisher
will show you Is $500 as the total cost OF the
edition.
Then II 800 are sold at $500 each that
would amount to 5000 and would leave about
tlo.0 90 to divide between author and pub
Usher. II the other 200 sell the author Will
net about $500 from his book and will then
publish it in cheap bound form at o ~shillingz
on 81. 50, thus appealing to an altogether diff
ferent class OF readers. II that, in turn,
takes and several editions are sold tho book
will be published at n shilling OF perhaps six
pence.
Lady Brasssy was the first in England to
issue her book at a sixpence while tho copy
right still hold good. Others have followed
her example. Now, / would say that the
figures given in tho above statement are
copied from tho bin OF a genuine London
publisher and II any author is DESTROYS Of as.
tonishing the great British public by appear
ing before them in print I will guarantee to
get up his three-volume edition for Just
about half what is charged here. 1 know
about as much about printing and paper in
London as any publisher and will got out
ths book In quito as good style as the one
for which the above bill was charged. Now
rs to the throo-volume novel itself. | Will
take the one for which the above bill was
charged. Each volume measures i've inches
broad by seven and a half long, and this Is
tho general size Of the three volumes Theirs
are only five lines to the inch on the page
and each page Of print measures five inches
by three. Largo type and big margins are
used to make up space. Volume l contains
2T1 pages; volume II, 30, and volums III,
2SS.
On each Of these books Is pasted a yellow
card which says: "Mudis's select library
limitedl, 500, $40, 511 New Oxford street,
and 20 and u Museum street, London Sin.
gle subscription, l guinea a year" Nude Is
the man who has demoralized the book-buy-
Ing propensities Of the Britishers. For s5 q
year you can get a now book every day II
you want 1t, or you can keep It for two
weeks II you pay another extra guinea the
books will DO delivered at your door twice a
week This sum gives you the whole range
OF literature, old and new, from the most
profound scientific treatise to the fashiest
and latest novel. This Is certainly o good
bargain for the Englishman. and II a person
does not object to read n book that has been
thumbed over by somebody else, he has the
literature OF the world at his for
s. a year.
This system places the author much more
at the mercy of the critics than l imagine Is
the case in America Nude VIII not order
a book that is CONDEMNED by the critics. II
tho AthenRum and tho Academy condemn,
the others generally follow In their wake,
and from that jury there Is no appeal. The
books are left on the publishers hands and
there's an end The author cannot End a
publisher who win got It out in cheap form
while the unsold volumes lie on the first pub
lisher's shelves When a book first comes
out Nude will order about thirty copies;
Smith on the Strand will take tlwentyt
the Grosvenor Gallery library, on
aristocratic New Bond street, viii order
ten. These are the three great
libraries that lend books, The thousands OF
smaller libraries all over England are gener-
ally affiliated with Nudes or the Grosvenor.
They pay from $50 a year upward and get a
certain number OF volumes e week, which
they re-lend TO their customers. Smith, on
the other hand, docs a large provincial
business. evory book stall on the railroads
being an agency and the ~entsrprising Sir
Joseph Porter will deliver books at any
station in England II the critics speak well
Of the book the libraries will at once order a
fresh supply. II the praise becomes general
and very warm the presses and binders have
to work night and day to keep up with the
demand.
r.. r,u,.,aa,