Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-02-26
The Profits of Authors.

The number of books published in
| this country last year was 1859, of
which about one-quarter. or LIS,
were works of fiction. Add the books
described by the publishers as juven-
| lies, which are mostly stories, and we
get about oue-third of the whole.
OF the new novels, about one-half
were by merican authors and one-haif
by Europeans. 1t appears therefore
| that even without an International
copyright law our novelists are not dis
couraged and beaten down by the COM
petition OF foreign story tellers. They
are holding their own handsomely.
Nobody seems to be driven from the
field by English reprints. Probably,
too, ten times as many novels are
written as are printed. Newspapers,
and magazines, literary bureaus.
journalistic syndicates, and publish
ing houses. are flooded with manu-
script stories who's aggregate must be
mucn greater than all the rest OF the
domestic literary productions COM
bined.
This is the department of our litera-
ture which suffers most from the ab-
sence of international copyright, if we
are to believe the strenuous advocates
of that measure. The books by A mer-
lean authors most likely To be reprinted
in England are novels. Comparatively
fe W of our works in any other literary
field are wanted for publication there.
Yet we find that the production of do
mestic fiction goes on at a rapid rate
without the stimulus of international
copyright. In quality, too, it is as
it would be if it could obtain both
American and foreign copyright, for
already it is as high as it is able to get.
Ia mere amount it is not desirable that
it should increase. The supply eX-
ceeds the demand, and no legislation
can change the taste of the people in
fiction. Too many novels are written
already, and it is not probable that
any more of them would be published
or publishable under an international
copyright than are printed now. If
they were worth publication, they
would be published as the copyright
law is.
Neither can the American novelist
expect to make much, if any, more
money if the new law passes. If it
puts up the price of English reprints,
how is he going to gain by such a re-
suit? People will not buy fiction of
domestic production simply because
the foreign costs as much. They will
only buy it because they prefer it to
the foreign. If novels are dearer, few
er of them will be read in book form,
| whether they are English or American.
| The competition between the two will
not be lessened, and the taste which
prefers the foreign article will remain.
An English copyright also is not like.
| ly to be of much practical advantage
to our novelists whose stories are in
demand on the other side of the water.
BY arranging for priority of publication
i'll London they already get about as
good terms as they could hope to get
under copyright law.
Moreover, the business of book pub
lication has undergone great trans
formation Within recent years. For
long time past novelists of distinction
have found their chief source of in
come in the serial production of their
stories in magazines. Now the news
| papers are competing with the maga-
| zines in purchasing the right of using
novels for such purpose, and the COM
petition conduces greatly to the profit
of the authors, both domestic and for
| eign. The newspaper is becoming
more and more the vehicle for the use
of writer's of fiction of high merit, and
| this demand will not be influenced by
| the absence or the existence of an in
| ternational copyright. 1t depends on
| Iy on the quality of the production aud
priority in its publication. Whether
| the book is by a home or a foreign
| author, is a matter of no consequence.
| Whether it is what the people want, is
| the only question. This demand is al
so increasing rapidly, and its growth
| and extension are OF far more practical
| interett to novelists and all popular
| writers than any international copy
right law can be. 1t will bring them
substantial profit in cash, and not the
merely sentimental gain which is about
all they can hope to get from the pro-
posed legislati ton.
The only argument in favor of inter-
national copyright which is worth
much consideration is the sentimental
argument of justice in allowing the
author to get a royalty on his produc-
tioh in both England and this country.
The additional material profit which
such a measure would bring to writers
would be insignificant. AS a stimu-
lus to high intellectual production it
would be even less valuable. We do
the best we can in that way already.
The department of literature in
which, next to fiction, the greatest
number of books was published last
year was theology and religion. The
popular interest in those subjects is al
ways great, but never before has it7
been so deep and general as 1T is now.
Would international copyright have
any effect on production in that field?
Presumably the rewards for whicn the
writer's look are not the corruptibie
treasures of earth. but the celestial
approval of sound religious and theo-
logical views and opinion, and the self
| e t.x,i, e.. Il iIr..,
ing their fellow men into the ways OF
truth and righteousness.-N York
Sun.