The record-union., 1898-11-20
IS A NOVEL READING CITY.
SACRAMENTO rs JUST LIKE ALL
THE WORLD.
Interesting Facts About Authors,
Publishers and the PICKLE
Reading Public.

ilization has yielded one or more SUBJ
jects for authors. Of course, history
has usually come first, along with
travel and adventure. Following this
there have usually been more or less
fanciful productions, with scenes laid
in the country in question.
A visit to the City Library, confirmed
by thegreports from Libraries elsewhere.
as we'll as by the sales at book stores
and news stands, confirms the fact that
the masses still love fiction above all
else. In spite of the lectures of men
like Ruskin, the efforts of college pro-
fessors, the inyectives of ministers and
Sunday-school superintendent, the
masses Of men, women and children
like to read the productions annually
ground out by men who create char
acters from the realm of imagination.
This is true in Sacramento, as we'll as
in London and New York
The vast mass of books taken from
all the libraries Of the country are
classed as novels or romances. What
ever is woven into dialogues and de-
scriptions that are full of human Incl
dent holds the masses. Sacramento is
novel reading community. The State
Library, being essentially a reference.
rather than a circulating library, per-
haps forms marked exception to this
rule. though there is a large call for
the fiction there.
The unusual demand for fiction that
has characterized this generation has
already given birth to an unprecedent-
ed list of aspirants for literary honors.
According to the Putnams, Of the old
firm of G. P. Putnams Sons, the land
is full of scribblers, who are scattered
all the way from Maine to this coast.
In work called Authors and Publish
ers," issued by the Putnams, it is said
that "a majority of the productions
submitted to publishers as the offspring
of brains, bear very slight traces of
their supposed origin" They might
have gone further, and stated that a
large percentage Of the books for sale
on trains and at news stands through
out the United States are as sensational
and devoid of literary merit, or whole
some ideals, as are the illusions Of
some of the intensely superlative yellow
journals of the country.
The conclusions set forth in this vol
ket is fitful and tickle. Merit is by no
means a test of sales, and really merit
orious works appeal to small percent
age of the population. In this connec-
ton it is shown that the advertisement
of a book in conservative home news
paper that does not run to extremes
and sensations, or in a religious Or
home weekly, is far more productive Of
sales than an advertisement in fam
boyant sheet that pretends to have a
circulation that encompasses the earth.
From these causes it is concluded
that there are many works of really
high literary merit that are wholly I'M
available as a. commercial product.
Again, there are many books of a
class" or special character, as works
on pottery, ethnology, ETC., etc. In all
these the sales must be to special
class only. Names often do much to
sell a book, for which reason the works
of an unknown author, however good,
are seldom published at the risk of the
publisher. 1t is usual for the author
to put up at least half of the expenses
in advance. If he puts up all the ex-
penses on a book that a publishing
with, he is usually allowed to have all
the profits save reasonable commits
sion to the house for the use Of it's
name and its machinery Of publication
and distribution.
There are a great many errors preva-
lent as to the profits of authors, and
many authors have an idea that they
are robbed by publishers. For example:
A book that sells for a dollar is sup
posed, if it reaches sale Of 10000
copies (Which is quite large. and far
above the average of even successful
books) to produce a large income for
the publisher and the author, at least
for the former. Now the facts are
something like this: A book that sells
for dollar, costs, in lots of 10000,
about 80 cents. This includes type,
plates, binding, etc. Then there must
be added to this a few cents to each
book as its percentage on advertising,
press copies, etc. The book is then
sold to the wholesaler at a sum dis
count of at least 40 per cent from the
retail price, say for so cents, perhaps
for 55. The wholesaler sells to the
retailer at something like % or 80 per
[. IL. l.,
under favorable circumstances, the
profit to the publisher and author must
be taken out of the difference between
about 40 cents and the SO or 60 cents
for which the book is sold to the whole
saler. In other words, there will be
about 20 cents to divide between author
and publisher on each volume sold
Hence, royalty of Topper cent of the
retail price is fair pay to the author.
On cheaper books the profit is corre-
spondingly less.
1t is estimated that half of the books
published even in the most conserva-
tive way. by reliable business houses,
fail to return the cost of publication
Of those that remain chat is the other
half 80 per cent. fail to return any
profit, leaving the other half, or a
fourth of all the books published. to
bear the expense of the publication
business of the country Three books
in four fail to become productive, and
the fourth one may yield a profit.
1t is true that publishers sometimes
refuse gems in prose, as well as in
poetry, but their Judgment is remark
able, considering how few of the books
refused by reputable houses ever sue
coed afterwards when published by the
authors. The imprint of a reliable
house, which has existed for genera
tions, is great aid in the sale of a
good book, but it cannot make a poor
one succeed. A house like the Putnans.
which was the literary godfather of no
less man than Washington Irving;
a house like the Houghton, Miff7in
Company, which brought out Emerson's
works, is likely to put a new writer in
the most favorable light, for it's cata-