Wichita eagle., 1888-09-05
DOES WRITING PAY?
TWO PROPOSITIONS THAT ARE
WORTHY OF CONSIDERATION.

| to Write and What to Write-Jewels Of
Rhetoric Not Wanted-Our Popular
| Writers-Wages.
This question I recently put to an old
friend who has successfully followed the pro-
fession Of literature through many year of
storm and stress. / say followed" because,
In his wooing, he persistently ran after the
/ fair and tickle dame ere he won her hand
and her dowry. Happily, he is well mated,
and has been married almost long enough to
have silver wedding. The answer re-
ceived may be tersely summed UP thus:
Writing pays If you know how TO write
and what to write" Now. the two PROPOSE
! tions contained in this answer are worthy Of
| brief consideration.
First, how to write: The young writer
usually starts out, think, possessed with
the one idea to get what he calls style! He
expects to make writing pay by the mere
elegance of jeweled words, high sounding
epithets and well balanced periods. Thus,
many promising writer has found himself
wrecked, at the outset Of his literary venture,
on his style. Plainly speaking, writing for
style does not pay For, remember that
there are too many literary lapidaries who
can cut, set and polish the jewels of rhetoric
with more subtle skill than yourself. Thou
sands of manuscripts have been returned
with thanks" with whose form and express
sion the most exacting editor could not find
fault. Indeed, many an editor has confessed
that it was with deep sigh that he tossed
the beautiful thing into the waste paper
basket. Again, what boots it to gid ones
writing with pretty colors, if the covering be
only brass?
Secondly-The writer who expects to make
writing pay must know what to write. He
should be quick to see what people ara will
ing and ready to read and what editors are
ready and willing to pay for. l sometimes
think that many of our popular" writers
have been not unlike the spies sent out by
Joshua to explore the land of the Philistines
These writers return and report strange tales
OF giants or give rumors OF the mysterious
Queen ''She- who-,nust- be-obeyed"-and the
people listen to them. Indeed, the Philis-
tines are really queer set at the best. They
call for edition after edition of "Ouidas"
writings, because they want to read about
red headed Circes who lure husbands to their
ruin. They want to learn, on the other hand,
how good goody' people talk and make
love, so they ask for 10000 and so, 900 each
of the late E. P. Roe's novels. They all read
Howells, because they want the minute de-
scriptions of my lady's wardrobe and of tenn
pests in teapots They all take James, be-
cause they want the viviSection Of butterflies
and the spicy talk of aristocracy They
want detective stories from the newspapers,
so they ask at the libraries for Charles
Reade; if it is a Fifteen" puzzle they want
they ask for the author of ''The Lady or the
Tiger~ They often do not know what they
want, so they take to some ''osophy,n
"ology," or else to the woods
Again, the writer who wants to make his
writing pay must take his wares to the right
market. Writing, it is said, is, in the eyes
of nearly all editors, a commercial specula-
ton. They only buy what they think the
people will read. Hence, writers find that
what viii not suit one will suit another
What should we think Of the farmer who
took his eggs to the butcher, and his meat to
the grocerl Is it any wonder, then, that
writer's go around knocking at the editorial
gates, vainly seeking admissions OF course
there will always be hundreds of poor Casau-
bons with their ''keys to ell mythologtes,"
which nobody wants. The plain truth is that
there are other requisites beside literary
merit essential in making writing pay. In
other words, like philosophy. writing for the
wrong market bakes no bread.
Now, there are great many markets for
the right kind of writing Whether as re-
porter, correspondent, or as special writer,
the reward is in proportion to the merit dis
played. The reporter would think that
writing did not pay if he earned less than
S25 week. So, too, would the correspond
ent consider himself i'll paid at less than
double that amount. The amount offered by
journals and magazines varies greatly at
cording to the standing; and name Of the
writer and the interest and merit of his |
article. As high as S500:has been given for |
a special contribution, while the ordinary |
price will be from SO to SIS page. The
newspapers pay by the column. which usll-
ally contains 800 words. Their price is, on |
the average, IS to S. a column for "space"
work.
The literary "syndicates" can Of course
afford to pay more than one Journal as they |
retail the writing out to a dozen different |
papers, for which each pays It's share. One
syndicate when it started paid several thou
sand dollars each to leading writers OF fiction .
for one story. At present the demand for /
good novels and novelties seems to be in
satiable, and the writer who can supply the
demand will make bis writing pay. l know
one writer who can spin off story as easily
as the Evolutionary fisherman can reel off a
yarn" l should imagine that his writing
paid, for he says that whenever he wants or
covets something he sits down and writes for
it, l know another who has made good
many hundred dollars each year by putting
in q taking" way. Yet
writing Is an honest vocation, as long as the
writer does not lie or foster base passions
Still, does writing paya-L. J. Vance in The
Epoch.