Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1886-09-14
TEsE CHEAP NOVEA. MARKET.

TIE CHEAP NGVEH. MARKET.
NO Stories Wanted" reads the large,
| red-lettered sign at the entrance to the pub
icalion Office Of a leading New York story
paper On the plastering above are the fol
lowing words traced in pencil: whoever
goes up this winding stair shall meier come
down again" Besides these discouragere,
the whole region about the entrance wears
an extremely uninviting appearance as
| though the purpose were 10 deter aspirants
for continued story" fame from entering.
To reporter. who inquired if these precau-
| tions had the desired effect, the manager of
the concern said YEARLY mot altogether ::
that sign protects Us ia some degree from
city people, although some Of them disre.
gard it but against mail Invasion we baye
no means of defense. My assistants and l
! are the hardest worked men il New York.
Cur chief duty is to repack and return the
heaps OF manuscript we receiye daily, and I
assure you that it is work Of no little mag
| nitudc. Dozens OF stories Of varied length
come to Us every day by mail or express.
Ihey come from every section Of the coun-
try ana from persons in nearly every coGdi
ton OF life. OF course it is impossible to ex-
anime all the manuscripts, but we must re-
turn them with polite notes, anyhow. Why
return them? Well, if VIC did not the crcu.
iation Of the paper would drop ofin no time,
because all these would be contributors are
subscribers, and fwe were thus TO Offend each
one now long do you suppose we could con-
tinue business? Every reader nowadays con.
siders himself capable OF writing novel if
he once puts his mind to it. I have no
doubt that there is not tolerably educated
man or woman in New York to-day who
does not firmly believe thGt he or she could
make a good living by the pen were the ne.
cesslty TO arise. Ii seems that most of those
who send us stories are Of that class-peo.
pie who have been reduced in circumstances
and take 10 writing in order to increase their
meagre incomes.
but these are not the only ones who
shower their favOrs on us. Stories come in
from young men and women who care moth
ing for financial recompense. They write
Just to see their names in print and to be
able 10 show OF their productions 10 friends
School girls are our especial prosecutors.
Not g week passes thut We do not receive u
work Of fiction from some feminine board
ing school, with delicae!y scented note
informing Us that the author bas determined
to allow Us to publish her first work and
that compensation IS no object. Young
school teachers are even more troublesome
They rate their productions 20 highly and
enter into such m!nnte calculations about
the pay that their letters would be quite
amusing If they were not SO numerous. We
do not even escape ths attention Of persons
who lack the ability 10 spei correctly. In
fact believe We have been favored with the
| literary products Of every class of humanity
| n t,E, L..
girls"
do you read any Of the manuscripts re-
ceived?''
Very seldom. We're we III need Of mat-
ter 10 ill up space we would probably ex.
| anime the more promising OF the works
| submitted, hu5 every story paper has its reg
| uiar stall OF writers who contribute all the
matter that is wanted These writer's have
been selected from tho men and women who
| has already made regulations by publish
ing successful stories. We cannot afford to
| give space to new people Of whom our read
ers never heard. 1t is true that occasional
| ly we accept brief poems and one column
articles Of interest from unknown writers,
but most Of those woud-be authors are
above such trivial work. They are satisfied
with nothing less than twentyweek Sc
rial"
"Are not nearly all contributors women %
"Ies. Women are monopolizing fiction
at present, not only in the story papers but
in published books as we'll. This is espec.
tally the case in England, where fully nine.
| tenths of the popular novelists ere women.
Why is this? Probably because men are
taking to the grayer branches of literature
as becomes their character, and are leaving
the lighter vein for the delicate handling OF
the other sex-iust as they do in the ply
sicsl work of life Any how, the fact re.
mains that the masculine novelist is fast
descending to the stratum of extinct ami.
mals.n
What salaries are paid to your regular
| contributors ?"
THAT depends entirely Oh the degres oil
their popularity. Although weekly story
papers are considered inferior from literary
point of view, | venture to say tina. they have
paid better than the highest magazine pub.
Iished Of course you have heard of Henry
Ward Beechers Norwood For this story,
which was Of no considerable length, the
Ledgcr gave him $50 000-the largest amount
ever paid by any paper or magazine for sim.
ilnr work. The Ledger also paid Fanny
Fern an enormous price for her writings
She was engaged to write several columns u
week at SlOO column. James Parton, Rev
John hall and others received almost equs
pay for their contributions. Mrs. E. D. E
\. Southworth, the most noted living writer
for story papers, receives $4,000 yeal
from, the Ledger, and has light work. too
she keeps story running throughout the
year, but she is SO prolific with the pen that
she could I'LL half the Ledger week y with
out over.exertion.
"Ot the other story writers OF the ,lsv. III,
best paid are Mrs. Alexander McVei.s
Miller, who receives $1,000 year from III,