The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-07-21
BOW TO PLEASE THE EDITOR.

of the disappointed contributor is heard in
the land
The cry of the rejected one is always
audible to a certain extent, but II seems 10
me that lust now 1T is more far reaching
and plaintive than u-ual. Moreover there
is a querulous note in the lament which
| suggests the charity of little advice, and
as one who mad his manpsc' lot returned u
him from nearly every Office in the city. |
| consider myself well qualified TO discuss the
matter. | eau truthfuliy say. also, that !
harbor no feeling of resentment against he
various editors W tn whom l have beel
brought in contact, and can write of them
and their methods with perfect good humor
and with kindly compassion for their
faiings
I shall take as text for my discourse an
article which read lately, in which the
writer described her experience IN trying
to sell story to certain magazine Editors,
who, according to her account, returned
her manuscript in several instances with
out having read it through.
Very likely they did / have seen a
great many articles whose first pages gave
| lndisputable evidence Iof utter worthless
ness. There was no use in reading beyond
| thu first chapter But if o the other hand
editors can get the sort of matter that they
want they are only too glad TO buy it and
pay literally for it. The first duty of the
young writer Is TO Iluu Oub WldJ the maya
| zines really want, and the next is to supply
it.
Richard Watson Glider. the editor of the
Century magazine, is a remarkable exam
pie of a man who knows exactly what ne
wants and is willing to pay good price for
it when he gets it. In the conduct of the
magazine Mr.. Glider has followed the d-
tinctly outlined policy adopted by his pre-
decessor, Mr.. Holland of never publishing
auVthincy that COuld yive OfpauSa 70 q nv
class or race of people, The only excep-
ton he has made to this rule has beea
in the case of George Ke 7nans's Siberian
papers, which have given otfelse to a very
large class of people in Russia and effectu-
ally stopped the circulation of the Century
in that country.
The editorial staff of tho CentuI-u is very
large. and doubt if any publication in the
world has more luxurious quarters than
those which overlook Union square Mr.
Glider sits behind screen in little pr.
vate Office that looks more like c0mbina-
ton of parlor and library han anyching
else, while in an adjoining room ars his half
dozen assistants and tyne writer who is
attired to harmonic with the office aud Is
a faint reminder of one of Elhu Vedder'S
pictures.
All manuscript brought TO the Office re-
ceives careful consideration aud is turned
over at once to one of the numerous Tread
ers" who carefully peruse it TO see if there
| is anything in it that could possibly offend
anybody. That is the first consideration
not to give offense. II there is nothing
in the article to provoke the wrath of a
Baptist OF a teetotaler or hard drinker or
an Ohio man or barber or a car conductor
or anybody else on the face of the earth the
| reader furnishes favorable report and the
manuscript is given TO another member of
the staff whose duty 1T is to see if there is
anything calculated to please the Centurys
large and varied clientele. If the article is
| accepted a check is sent to the author and
the manuscript Is put away in tle office safe
to remain for several decades Mr.. Glider
has now enough matter bought and pad
for to run the magazine for three OF four
years.
But if the article is declined it is returned
to the writer with a printed letter which
| acts as a salve to the wounded feelings Of the
| disappointed one. The first time | received
one of these letters it left in my mind the
impression that the entire Century staff
had gone into mourning because their mag
aZine was not up to the level of my story
| If it ever falls to my lot to edit Mr.. elders
works of poetry and fiction | shall include
among the choicest of his productions his
Balm for Wounded Contributor bit
| of prose composition with which nearly all
| the literary men in this country are famil-
lar.
The editor of Harper's Magazine has al
ways made a careful study of current
thought and opinion and aims to supply
his readers with popular articles, arguing
that anything which will please the Ameris
can public must be good. He has shown
much skill in selecting articles on foreign
affairs which possess an interest for Ameri-
can readers, and has published two or three
successful serials by English novelists. But
in bringing forward new writers he has not
accomplished nearly as much as Mr. Glider
has.
Mr.. Burlingame of Scribner'S has not
been magazine editor long enough to
know exactly what be wants and is in
clined to make a careful study of the other
magazines and their methods rather than
adopt any startling new departure for his
own publication. The Thackeray letters
and the series OF railway articles printed IN
ScribnerS proved extremely successful and
were largely instrumental in building up It's
popula Y. In his selection of short stories
Mr.. Burlingame has not always displayed
the best judgment, many of them having
been. far beneath the average magazine
story.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich edits the Atlantic
Monthly with one eye fixed firmly on the
exalted Literary circles of Boston society in
which he moves, while with the other he
carefully scrutinizes the female semnaries
or the country, fearful lest some story in
his magazine should bring blush to the
cheek of innocence. As the circles of ad-
vanced New England thought aud the pri-
meval simplicity of the maidens' boarding
scnool are about as remote from one an
otner as the two poles. his task is by no
means an easy one. Stories of people who
have representative souls but no bodies
worth speaking of, and poems relating TO
an intellectual form of love are in constant
demand in the Atlantic Office. Elizabeth
Stuart Phelps may be mentioned as the
ideal contributor to this monthly. All the
magazines which have mentioned paw for
manuscript on acceptance. instead of wait
ing for its publication. Their rates, which
are always liberal, vary according TO the
name of the writer, the merit of the CON
tribution, ETC. The editors are disposed to
be liberal in their dealings with authors. in
spite of what some of the disappointed ones
may have to say on t subject, and can re-
call inSta ces 10 which when poem or
story achieved an unexpected success they
have acknowledged it by sending the writer
an extra Geek.
The comic papers have. within the past
decade, opened up a new and lucrative
field far writer's, and some men who have
devoted themselves exclusively to this
branch of the profession have found it ex.
tremly profitable. / have been inf irmed
that Bill Nye's income from writing and
lecturing amounts to nearly $4,000 year,
but he is man of exceptional talent and