Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1899-08-01
gov NOVELS ARE JUDGED.
manuscripts Arc Read by Three 1Im-
pcrts 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 mum
Der seeming to increase in proportion
to the number of reflections. "Since the
first of the year have averaged about
is novels day." s:id quiet locking
gentleman to reporter. The quiet
looking gentleman holds the position Of
reader iii 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, I don't pretend to read
that many novels" he continued, for
the availability of nearly thrcc-fourths
or all the manuscripts we receive can be
determined in the first few pages. If
the start is hopclcssly bad it would be
iolly to waste time on the balance
When | strike anything that is the least
promising run through it rapidly, ana
II my first impression is confirmed Law
II aside for careful rcrcaGi:.g. Should
my opinion still rc:..;iin favorable
prepare brief written report ana turn
II over TO another reader, who subsc-
qucntly p;ssscs it to third. The matter
81 acceptance or rejection is then de-
termlned by the two heads of the firm
having before them all three of the re-
ports.
1T sometimes happens that l en-
counter story totally unsuited to our
purposes, yet Sell adapted to the needs
OF some other house. For instance, VIC
Go not handle any light. sensational
novels of the Duchess brand, but now
ana then something rather clever in
that line is submitted, and in such cases
usually take pains to suggest the
name of another house to the author
Other readers do the same thing for us
ana IN that way we are frequently of
considerable mutual service
Just at present there seems to be
quite drift among writer's toward the
religious problem novel, and we re-
ceive great many manuscripts Of that
character, I noticed the same thing
a1'er the success of Robert Elsmcre'
and The Story of an African Farm but
it died down, and it is only lately that
1T has experienced Il revival That re-
minds me, by the way, that readers al
ways look for what they call first and
second crops after the appearance of a
successful book. can explain the
thing best by an illustration: When
ltdcr Haggard's She made such hit
some years ago all the big publishing
houses were Immediately dcluced with
tales Of adventure Introducing the SUI
pernatural element. Then there was n
luil. followed, five or six months later.
by another downpour of the same kind
OF stories. The explanation is exceed
lngly simple. The first lot Of manu-
script was old stuff that the writer's had
already on hand rhad possibly marked
over a little to suit the rcieninr fad.
The second output represented the
stories that were conceived and writ
ten after the furorc created by IIar-
CARDS books, and were obviously the re-
suit OF suggestions. It happens 50
every time, and when any new work
scores with the public we prepare our
minds for the dual aftermath. Chi
cago Chronicle