The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1889-03-20

An Authors Contract-Agrceing tn u Sale
OF Waste Paper.

An Authors Contract-Agrceing To u Sale
OF Waste Paper.
The rewards of authorship are not
inviting. The publisher has the add
vantage.
When a man Cor woman, ether goes
to trade away the children of the brain
the publisher is going to drive hard
bargain; and genius ought to have a
good bargain driving faculty.
When you have had your book accept
ed, you viii be asked to sign formida-
able document from which L am going
to make quotations. 1t, is printed on
beautiful paper and presents some
what the appearance of mortgage ION
your BRAIN and somewhat the appear
ance OF passport Ito fame). After
the usual "agreement" between the
party of the first part and the party OF
the second part, the party of the first
part, who is the author, "hereby agrees
that the party of the second part, who
is the publisher, shall have the ex-
elusive right to print and publish said
book during the full term of the copy
right thereof, and also during the full
term or terms of any and all renewals
of said copyright. "
The author then agrees that he will
not write, print, or publish, or cause
to BE- written or published, any Other
edition of said book, revised, corrected,
enlarged abridged, or otherwise, or
any book of a similar character, thus
delivering after-thoughts and Trecon-
ceptions along with his whole mental
product and equipment children
of the brain, "hoofs, horns and tallow."
That done, the author must further
agree that he will protect and defend
the publisher against all suits and
other actions at law in consequence of
any infringement of copyright" After
making complete surrender, he must
become protector and fight for the
hanl that enslaves him.
On the second page of this beautiful
piece of parchment, the publisher on
his part agrees simply to print and
publish and report semi-annually the
sales and to pay the author-here
blank space is left, which is usually
filled with the words 40 per cent. of the
price OF the books sold"-"provided
that the said party of the second part
to make any payments until they shall
have sold sufficient number of copies
of the said book TO reimburse them for
all moneys expended in manufacturing
and publishing.the same"
The climax of this series of "provid-
ed howevers" is this: "If, after the
said book shall have been published
two years, the said party of the second
part cannot sell the said book at the
cost of paper, printing and binding, he
shall then shave the privilege of dis
posing of all copies for waste paper,
and thereupon TO cancel this agreement
without paying the said party of the
first part Ghe author) the sum of
money herein before provided, or any
other sum"
This is the form of agreement made
with the authors by one of the largest
publishing houses in New York. With
difference in details all forms are sub
stantially liz e this. 1t is not once in
ten years that a copy of this interest
ing kind of document finds its way into
print, for the very excellent reason
that no author, after h has signed it,
cares TO have it made known, and the
publisher before it is signed does not
care to brighten off all writers whom
he has not thus bound to him.
1t is but fair to say that these extra
rigid provisions are but seldom carried
out. The upshot of the whole trans
action generally is that an author in
trusts himself to his publisher with the
childlike faith that distinguishes the
craft, and awaits the accidents of pop
ular favor with what composure he
can. When the first semi-annual re-
port is made, the novice of an author
concludes that the whole first edition
was given to the press to be reviewed.
1t is on the second and third Of tn re
ever come second and third semi
annual reports that he must base his
hope of a cash payment. If you ex-
cept the few successful professional
authors, and they are few, the amount
of money paid over by the publishers
to the average writer of book is not
enough e. buy pens, ink and paper.
The most difficult question to answer,
therefore, in modern life, is this: "Why
do so many people insist on writing
books ?"-DGUid JpechSler, i1e Brook
J,a,