Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1891-03-06
REJECTED MANUSCRIPTS.
An Editor Tells why 80 Many MaEa.ins
Contributions are Rsturned.

There is not much encouragement
for men and women who desire 10 win
lame and fortune by contributing to
the monthly magazines in the CONVEX
sation which the writer of this article
has had with the editor of one of the
widely circulated monthlies published
ia this city. 1t will be renlem bered
that the voluntary contributor has
wonderfully small chance of gettiag
hearing unless he offers something
of remarkable merit or originality. The
editor of magazine or newspaper is
supposed to keep his finger continuaI-
ly on the pulse of what he calls his
audience, and 10 know what they will
like and be eager to read better than
anybody else. 1t is doubtless true that
he sometimes makes mistakes, but on
the whole the chances arc strongly in
favor of his being right.
To come. however, to what the ed
itOr in question said. You ask what
opportunity IN unknown writer has of
securing the acceptance of any article
that he may offer To u.s." is the way he
began. well. suppose the best an
swer would be that it depends upon
the article itself Most of the articles
submitted to us do not repay the
trouble OF reading, but out of great
mass of chat We do occasionally get
a grain or two of wheat. 1t is tire
some and prOlitless cleaning, though.
as whole. just look at the situation
we are in. II writers would only stop
to consider it. they would see more
clearly than they often do why what
they offer is so frequently 'unavaila-
ble.' l know it is the fashion to laugh
at this word, bTt the fact is that it ex-
presses Ghe exact truth in very manv
cases. A thing may be good in itself.
but yet not suitable for our columns.
We never 90 into mourning bee ,use a
manuscript which we have rejected is
accepted somewhere else. aud it is
easily possible that the fact our re-
lection of it might not have influenced
the other editor in the least If the AIT
thor had been frank enough to let it
be known. But it is hardly necessary
TO say that authors do not have that
habit. Not available fits the case
better than any other expression that
i know of. and. though the rejected
may demur ut it. | am confident that
editors Gill continue to use it.
Il asked you moment ago to lcuk
at the situation in which we editors
find ourselves; and from one mara
zine Office it is easy to know all. We
print twelve numbers in each year. In
each number we print on an average
say twelve or fifteen articles or so.
Now, how many manuscripts do you
suppose are offered to us in the course
of yearP Something oyer 1000. If
we chose to make up the entire maya
zine from years beginning to years
end out OF the voluntary contributions
we should still perforce have to reject
3. 800 or $500 articles. There is no
escape from this arithmetic, rs every
would-be contributor can see for him
self.
Everybody knows, or ought TO know
If she undertakes to write for the mag
azine. that of the contributions which
are written in pursuance of contracts
made with tho editor that they are ar
ranged for long in advance aud that
the majority are furnished by men
who are skilled writer's or recognized
authorities in some field of ACTIVITY.
Suppose that we find ourselves able TO
use one voluntary contribution in each
number; that would be large proper
ton, but how stands it then with the
voluntary contributors? On the basis.
as 6gure it. about one-third of per
cent of the manuscript offered would
be used; but as matter of fact the
magazine does not contain. on the
average, one unsolicited article in
every issue. One-fourth of per cent
would perhaps pretty accurately repre-
sent the number of voluntary contri-
buttons that are accepted. ANY one
familiar with the 1aw OF chances can
figure out the probabilities in his own
case when he sends an article. Always
remember, however, what | said at tho
beginning of our conversation. Much
depends on the article itself. II it pos
sesses special merit OF any sort, the
writer may he pretty certain that it
will be found out. Nothing delights
the heart OF an editor so much rs to
make n valuable lind-such one. for
instance. as the atlantic Monthly made
when the woman who chose to call her-
self Charles Egbert Craddock began to
write for it.
DO you wonder then. that said ID
hardly pays us for the time and trouble
of handling the large number of man
hscripts which we receive? Fortunate
ly the great majority of them do not
have TO be read in full. A page or two.
or few pages at the furthest, are suf-
icent in most cases. Authors some
times try to catch the editor by past
ing the pages together or by trying
some other trick so as to determine, in
case he gets his manuscript back.
whether it has been read or not. Such
devices are useless. even stupid. Ed
itors read every manuscript sufficient
~ tn know what its quality is, whether
it requires the reading of one or a
hundred pages. l believe this is con-
scientiously done in every office.
But do aspiring writers ever ask
themselves what right they have to i'm
pose such n burden on defenseless edi-
torsp think it would be an excellent
thing for magazine editors to enter in
to an agreement not to read any man
uscripts that are not typewriter; and
if l could have my own way would
insist on charging an entrance fee for
every manuscripts much per thou