The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-05-12
BUSINESS "wRITE.uPs."

1
| terprisinK Writers.
| A pencil Is one Of tho cheapest things
man can buy.
And yet thcre Is fortune in it for tho
right man.
To uso it profitably requires push
not mere physical movement. but the
brainy, electric push that shoves great
enterprises forward, startling and daz-
cling the world.
Hundreds OF sensible and well-odu-
Gated young follows seize their pencils
every year and rush into journalism and
literature, determined to win fame and
fortune. They do good work and make a
bare living, and are lucky if they hold
their own at that
They lack tho pushing quality or
push the wrong way.
II a writer wants to find fortune in
his pencil he must recognize the fact
that this Is a business a,e-business
dominates every circle and it has lit
erature OF its own that has money in it.
We are living in an age Of gigantic
enterprises-of phenomenal industrial
development Material progress is the
thing, and it occupies the first place in
the minds of men.
This is the field for man who Is mas
ter Of his pencil. There is work, and
pleasure and profit in it The mon who
are building towns and railways, devel-
oping mines, turning the Wilderness
into gardens. erecting FORCES and fac
tories, and inventing labor saving ma
chimes arc in search of historians to
write mp their work and place it before
the world in tho proper light, and they
will pay we'll.
Many writer's have found this out, and
they arc growing rich.
An advertising writer who was here
at one OF our expeditions makes $4,000
yoar. lie confines himself to no one
paper, but enjoys rowing lifo. He left
Atlanta to go to Australia-a country
where the newspapers arc oven larger
than ours.
A young man established himself in a
Western city as an advertising writer on
commission for big daily in the East
In two or three years he had an annual
income of 5000
a Southern woman grew dishearencd
trying to mako living out of tho ordi-
nary routine OF journalism. In despair
she tried writing up towns and enter
prises for Now York paper. She now
makes SIS, 600 year and travels very
often in a special car.
A well known humorist who has writ
ten and lectured for years. making very
little money, is now devoting himself to
what newspaper men call ''write-ups,"
and for tho first time in his life has all
the money no wants.
The college graduate who wants to be
an editorial writer may sneer, but these
business writors make $40 whore he
makes ono.
1t is mistake that these progressive
and pushing writer's lack tho ability and
culture of the gentlemen who work in
editorial sanctums. They are brainy and
gifted writer's and the world is indebtod
to them for suggestions, facts and figures
that are OF incalculable Value.
1t is another mistake to suppose that
they can succeed in their special line il
they have only average ability. Thoy
have to invest their "writc-ups" with
the charm of an attractive style.
These special writors soon grow en-
thusiastic. They know that their pom
ellis are important factors in the devel-
opmont of tho country. They apprcci-
ate the magnitude Of our material inter
ests They know that their articles may
shift population, build up business GER
tiers, influence industry and commerce
and turn long neglected resources into
millions Of money. They know, too, IL
they are careless and unreliable they
will find themselves out of employment,
while if they are honest and truthful
they will command high wages and DO
quoted as experts in their various fields
of work.
the average young man may think it
a bigger thing to write political editori-
ais. stories and poems than to write up
folds, furnaces, factories and trade mat
tiers. All right, let him think So AT
tho ond OF ten years he will be at work
on moderate salary, with nothing else
in view, while the youngster who started
out to push his pencil in a business way
will be able to own a good paper and
hire others to do his work. Plenty Of
brainy, business push will make a pom
Gil pan out like little gold mine!-
Wallace =. Reed, in Atlanta Cons ii tuition.