The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-12-22
ALL WRITE STORIES
THE OVERSTOCKEO CONDITION I
THE CHEAP NOVEL MARKET.

THE CHEAP NOVEL MARKET. -
Chat with the Manager Of Leading
New York Story PaPer-The Heaps Of
Manuscript That Are Received Daily by
Mail. 90
~No Stories Wanted reads the large,
red-lettered sign at the entrance to the
publication Office Of a leading New York
story paper. On the plaster above are the
following words traced in pencil: Who
ever goes up this winding stair shall neer
come down again" Besides these discour-
ayers, the whole region about the entrance
wears an extremely uninviting appear
ance as though the purpose were to deter
aspirantS for continued story" fame from
entering. To a reporter, who inquired if
these precautions had the desired effect,
the manager of the concern said YEARLY:
Not altogether; that sign protect US in
some degree from city people, although
some of them disregard it; but against
mail invasion, we have no means of de-
Tense.
MY assistants and l are the hardest
worked men in New York Our chief
duty is to repack and return the heaps OF
manuscript we receive daily, and l assure
you that it is a work of no little magni-
LutIe. DOLGl5 OF stories Oh NdEleu EcuGlH
come to Us every day by mail or express.
They come from every section Of the coun-
try and from persons in nearly every con-
dition of life. OF course it is impossible
to examine all the manuscripts, but we
must return them with polite notes, any
how. Why return them? Well, if we did
not the circulation of the paper would
drop off in no time, because all these
wOuld-be contributors are subscribers, and
if we were thus 10 offend each one how
long do you suppose we could continue
business? Every reader nowadays con-
siders himself capable of writing a novel
if he once puts his mind 10 it. | have no
doubt that there is not a tOIerably edu-
Gated man or woman in New York to-day
who does not firmly believe that he or she
could make good living by the pen were
the necessity to arise. 1t seems that most
of those who send us stories are of that
Catastrophe who have been reduced in
circumstances and take to writing in order
to increase their meager incomes.
BOARDING SCHOOL MISSES.
"But these are not the only ones who
shower their favOrs on US. Stories come
in from young men and women who care
nothing for financial recOmpense. They
write just to see their names in print and
to be able to show off their productions to
friends. School girls are our especial per-
don't receive a work of fiction from some
feminine boarding school, with a deli
cately scented note informing US that the
author has determined to allow us to pub
lish her first work and that compensation
is no object. Young school teachers are
even more troublesome They rate their
productions so highly and enter into such
minute calculations about the pay that
their letters would be amusing if they
Of w do ,nt
escape the attention of persons who lack
the ability to spell correctly. In fact,
believe we have been favored with the lit
erary products of every class Of humanity
excepting, perhaps, IabOrers and kitchen
girls.
"Do you read any of the manuscripts
received"
Every seldom. Were we in need of mat
ter to fill up space we would probably ex-
anime the more promising of the works
submitted, but every story paper has its
regular staff of writers who contribute all
the matter that is wanted. These writers
have been selected from the men and
women who had already made regulations
by publishing successful stories. We can
not afford to give space to new people of
whom our readers never heard. 1t is true
that we occasionally accept brief poems
and one column articles of interest from
unknown writers, but most of these
would be authors are above such trivial
work. They are. satisfied with nothing
less than a twenty-week serial"
Are not nearly all contributors
women ?"
eyes. Women are mOnopolizing fiction
at present, not only in the story papers
but in published books as we'll This is
especially the case in England, where
fully nine-tenths of the popular novehsts
are women. Why is this? Probably be-
cause men are taking to the graver
branches of literature as becomes their
character, and are leaving the lighter
vein for the delicate handing of the other
sex-just as they do in the physical work
of life. Any how, the fact remains that
the masculine novelist is fast descending
to the stratum of extinct animals. New
York World.