The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-07-28
HOW NOVELS ARE JUDGED.
manuscripts Are Read by Three Ex-
perts Before being Passed
Upon.

With the advance of education the
number of men and women aspiring to
authorship increases. Chicago seems to
be particularly prolific in this line. Not
day passes but the book publishers in
this city reject manuscripts by the
dozen. But still they come, the num-
ber seeming to increase in proportion
to the number of reflections. "Since the
first of the year have averaged about
1s novels a day." said a quiet-loohng
gentleman to reporter. The quiet
looking gentleman holds the position of
reader in one of the largest book-pub-
fishing houses in Chicago, and he was
referring to the works of fiction upon
which he passed sentence daily.
"Of course, / don't pretend to read
that many novels" he continued, "for
the availability of nearly three-fourths
of all the manuscripts we receive can be
determined in the first few pages. If
the start is hopelessly bad 1t would be
folly to waste time on the balance.
When strike anything that is the least
promising run through it rapidly, and
IL my first impression Is confirmed lay
1t aside for careful rereading. Should
my opinion still remain favorable
prepare brief written report and turn
1t over to another reader, who subse-
quently passes it to third. The matter
| of acceptance or rejection is then de-
termined by the two heads of the firm,
having before them all three of the re-
ports.
ut sometimes happens that I en-
counter a story totally unsuited to our
purposes, yet well adapted to the needs
of some other house. For instance, we
do not handle any light, sensational
novels of the Duchess brand, but now
and then something rather clever in
that line is submitted, and in such cases
l usually take pains to suggest the
name of another house to the author
Other readers do the same thing for us
and in that way we are frequently OF
considerable mutual service.
Just at present there seems to be
quite a drift among writer's toward the
religious problem novel, and we re
ceive great many manuscripts of thai
character. I noticed the same thing
after the success of Robert Elsmere
and The Story of an African Farm, bu
1t died down, and 1t is only lately tha
1t has experienced a revival. That re
minds me, by the way, that readers al
ways look for what they call first an(
second crops after the appearance of
successful book. / can explain th,
thing best by an illustration. Whel
Rider Haggard's She made such a hi
some Years ago all the big publishing
houses were Immediately deluged will
tales of adventure introducing the su
pernatural element. Then there was
lull, followed, five or six months later
by another downpour of the same kim
of stories. The explanation is exceed
ingly simple. The first lot of manu-
script was old stuff that the writer's hat
already on hand or had possibly marked
over little to suit the reigning fad
The second output represented tn
stories that were conceived and writ
ten after the furore created by Hag
CARDS books, and were obviously the re
suit of suggestions. 1t happens 81
every time, and when any new worl
scores with the public we prepare ou
minds for the dual aftermath. Chi
cago Chronicle.