Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-17

the hands Of my professional readers
don't pretend to be literary expert. but
can tell pig in a poke as well as my neigh
bor-that Is to say, my most ordinary in
telligence informs me upon the first view Of
manuscript whether IT is possible or not
and most of the novels submitted to ME are
50 badly. so palpably impossible that |
have not trouble wha tsoever In instantly per-
ceiving their impossibleness. to coin a word
Once in a while. however. I pick up a
manuscript that seems to possess some in
wiling features I look IL over quite casu-
ally and then l hand 1t over to reader No
1 If he reports that the book is fairish
or that II Is capable of being done over
fairishly have him pass it along to read
er No. . who. in turn, hands II to reader
No. 3. Then the three readers have a little
vote. and If two of them report TO me that
the manuscript is worth taking a chance
with. out l bring II. just soon as the
plates be made. If I score one win
out of fifty books thus published, and barely
get my investment back on the others ] am
more than content When you stop To re-
hect upon how many hCtion-publishing
firms there are. and how many works OF
fiction these firms bring out in the course
of single month, you Will be amazed TO
know that quite a few successful cloth
bound books have been published in this
country during the past three years that
have sold as high as 100000 copies. It is
against these Self-same enormously success
full books that we have to contend In bring
ing out books. book that sells 2:o.
600 copies eats a hole in the market that
has a most engulfng effect upon new books.
Folks seem to have just much money to
lay out for new books. and they lay this
sum out on the books that are being talked
about. that are the rage every time In
consequence the meritorious books that are
issued when two three Of the gigantic
sellers have captured the market have TO
wait for their success, II. indeed, 1t comes
to them at all.
The Matter of Royalty.
LET me correct few false impressions
that obtain with reference to the royalties
paid by publishers to the writer's of books.
The widespread notion is that publishers
are a cruel. grinding lot: that they merci-
lessly abuse the author IN the matter Of
financial returns for his work. and reap the
great harvest following success themselves.
Nothing could be more absurd than this 1t
Is the simple fact that the writer OF sue
cessful book makes pretty nearly as much
out of 1t as the publisher. In many cases
he makes more than the publisher. l will
explain why:
1.-The usual terms made by a publisher
with a writer are that the writer Is to get
10 per cent on the retail price of the book.
Now, that sounds like pretty small per
cent, doesn't 1t? But 1T isn't small. / ac-
cept book from an unknown author, say,
and undertake to bring 1t out for him. in
81. so cloth-bound form. l make contract
with him, in which undertake to give him
10 per cent on every copy Of the book sold.
after, say, 1000 copies have been sold, and
not including the complimentary copies
editorial and others. The reason I hold
back the 1000 copies on the author is that
1 very reasonably want to indemnity myself
for the bare cost of printing and making
the book before l begin to pay the author
royalties The LOCO copies do not. as a
matter of fact, come anywhere near pay
ing for the getting up Of the book, but that
is the Arrangement generally made After
I have sold 1000 copies of the book and
given away several hundreds of copies to
the reviewers-call 1t. in all. 1,5oO copies
the author begins to get 10 cents on every
copy of the book sold Now, have to sell
the book for Is cents to the trade-yet the
writer gets his 10 per cent on the list price.
$3.50 After paying the author. then. I
book-that Is. after paying for the making
of the book. But $3.50 book costs about
% cents to make. That cuts down my
profit per book to 50 cents. l have to ad-
vertise the book all over the country. and
advertising is pretty expensive business. I
have to all of the machinery Of my
plant to get the book on the market. H.
after doing this. and the book is go
contrive to make a profit of 20 cents per
book. I am very much more than content.
You are to understand. however, that 1
have to take the big chance Of failure-only
one work in fifty, as I say, achieving even
measurable Success-whereas the author
takes no chance at all.
Authors Profits.
There are very few successful writer's OF
fiction who do not make at least as much
as their publishers out of their good-selling
books, and many Of them, as 1 say, make
good deal more. The writers of reputa-
ton, as a rule get 10 per cent on the re-
tail price of all books sold, and this, Of
course, still further reduces the profit of the
publisher.
Don't take any stock In the whimperngS
of incompetent writer's. the mute, inglorious
Thackerays and Dickenses. who claim
that publishers don't even read. or have
read books submitted to them by unknown
authors. Publishers are only too anxious to
discover new people with Drains enough to
write successful books. They make foolish
decisions occasionally-as l mournfuly con-
fess did with reference to that book told
you about that has sold $4,000 copies
but they give proper consideration to every
manuscript that comes their way, and they
regard it as a personal triumph when they
are able to lift some unknown writer out OF
obscurity and push him along the highway
of success" G. l.. G.