The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-08-26
u.
PROFITS IN TEXTBOOKS.
h Kind of Writing That Pays Best.
Money In Cookbooks.
Especial Correspondence

money HI AoVhhophH.
Especial Corrcspondcnce.l
New YotS, Aug. 1~i.--Thcre are thou
sends OF men and women of middle age IL
the United States who in their school day
learned to know well the name of Pinnco
for Pinneo's grammar. pinnco's arithmetic
and other textbooks furnished the ground
work for the education of many who have
become famous and rich, and of many wo
men who now preside, some OF them ovel
humble homes and some of them over arts
tocratic drawing rooms. Since the day
when DR.. Pinneo published these school
books other writer's of textbooks hay,
arisen, so that his name has lmost been
forgotten, but some of his old scholars aud
the students who learned from his text
books, many of whom are now gray haired
men and women, will be surprised to learn
that DR.. Pinnco has been alive, although in
retirement, all these years, and was only
brought to his deathbed early in August,
he being at the time of his death the Oldest
graduate of Yale college.
The death of DR.. Pinnco suggests the
question which was once asked the writer
by a young man who had some thought of
making literature u career by which he
could earn his living, and that question
was, "What kind Of writing paysthe best?"
DR.. Pinneo's career and that of many
others who wrote textbooks for the schools
furnish q complete answer to this ques-
ton. There is no writing that begins to
pay as the compilation Of successful text
books does. 1t brings a sort of academy
fame, and 1t brings in a great deal of money
as we'll. DIR. Pinneo's royalties from his
textbooks enabled him to live in comfort
in his old age.
Mr.. W1lliam.Swinton, who gained a wide
reputation during the civil wal as the cor
respondent Of one of the New York news
papers, might after the war was over have
earned q handsome salary in one of the
several newspaper Offices with which he was
invited to connect himself. But he was adj
vised by a friend, who was also a publisher,
to write u textbook for use in the schools.
He did SO. The book was well received,
and thus beginning Mr.. Swinton continued
as q writer of textbooks until his death a
year or two ago He accumulated a for
tune in this work. Some of his royaltiA
were as great as S15,0 oo q year, and no work
of fiction, excepting possibly "Ben-Hur,'
has ever paid such royalties as that-at
least year after year as long as the copy
right lasted. Nh. Swinton at his death was
estimated to be worth more than 800, 900, |
and hethas also hvedlike one who possesses
a handsome income during the years when
he was writing these books.
HNoah Webster had been able to receive
the usual royalty paid'for textbooks, it is
estimated that his earnings and those of his
heirs from tho sales of Webster's spelling
book would have amounted to over $40, OOO,-
OOO. The publishers OF the United States.
at least those publishers whose names are
familiar n who are atthe head of great |
business institutions, declare that If it were
not forsthelr profits upon the sale of school |
books and other educational works they
would ~becompeled either to go out of the
business or very greatly to curtail their ven
lures. There are a score or more of text
books which ave earned more money for
publishers and for their authors than any
work of fiction ever published in English,
with perhaps four or five exceptions. Pub
fishers are unanimous in the opinion that a
writer who conceives a new and popular
method of placing any of the departments
of education before scholars will find tina:
the pecuniary rewards are greater than
those to be obtained from any other form
of writing.
One OF Harriet Beecher Stoves sisters,
having written some essays which caused
her to be regarded as even more brilliant
intellectually han the writer of "Uncle |
AollA SdDll, OtlLlu tldU uCr earnings |
from these essays hardly paid her for the
pen, ink and paper which she used I'D IN
writing them, and complaining of this to n
publisher he said to her, Miss Beecher, if
vol will write a textbook for schools, or
will compile even a cookbook, 1 will guar
antee that yon can earn enough from it to
support you as long as you live
She was amazed at this suggestion. but
her father, the distinguished DR.. Lyman
Beecher, advised her to undertake it, and a
few months later Miss Beecher's cookbook
appeared upon the market. Its profits were
not as great as those of ''Uncle Toms
CABIN" but they were greater thai any
thing else that any of the Beechers ever
wrote, excepting possibly Mr.. Beecher's
Star Sayings" which had a very wide sale.
Star Sayings" itself was simply a compila-
tlon OF brief essays and common sense slg-
gestions, and Mr.. Beecher's profits from
This publication were greater than those
which he received from his single novel
Norwood, although Robert Bonner paid
him a lump sum of so, 900 for the serial
ofthat story.
Since Miss Beecher's compilation was =
Published there nave been two or three !,
put upon the market by pub
fishers which have returned great profits
to them and very handsome sums to the
writer. One of the most successful of liy-
ing authoresses was tempted to issue such
a work a few years ago, and it has been the
belief in publishing circles that she received
a larger sum from the sale of this book
thai b royalties Of all her novels put to-
gether gave her.
The prizes awaiting the writers of ro-
mances and love stories are very few and
are won frequently by narrow chance. but
there is always a market for textbooks, for
compilations winch render the work of the
ousew1te.the farmer, the mechanic or any
other wage Garner easier to do, and there
have been morefortunes made in the COM
pilations of poems which have appeared
now andthen upon the market than any
writer Of poetry, excepting possibly Swim
burne, ever received. Il. j. EDWAPDs