Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-12-18


Of readers The reading public is every
body
2. Ia the changed attitude toward the
novel 1t hasn't been so very long since
novel reading was considered an UNI
profitable if not wicked waste OF Tune.
Our parents frowned upon it, the church
condemned 1t and very few found their
way into our homes.
! 8. Is the cheapened cost of production
and the free circulating libraries which
have made the world of books dnclud-
ing fiction) accessible to all classes
4. Is the increase of women readers--a
point that needs special emphasis as one
| to which masculine critics do not at
| tach sufficient Importance. 1t is an I'M
deniable fact that among book readers
the proportion of women to men is two
! to one. and the same proportion runs
thru the public schools, libraries, study
classes, churches, concerts, lectures and
theaters If you doubt 1t. invade those
places and observe for yourselves. Men
read the newspapers and magazines. but
| II is women who monopolize the books.
If YOU would know who are the patrons
of the book department of the pubic IL
braries watch the school girls on their
way from school. Observe the large
army of working women from the shop,
store and Office as they pass the public
library. Then turn your attention TO the
horde OF society and club women VINO
place with the local dealer their orders
for new fiction, and you will soon learn
to discriminate the book from the news
paper part of the reading public. Now,
how many of these women, think you,
search the advertising pages of the cur
rent journals to find out what to read:
She doesn't care q fig for the ad. nor
even for the notice. Mr.. Talcott admits
| it is not the notice that sells a book, but
insists that the advertisement sells 1t.
The public he says, cares nothing
| for criticism, but knows and follows out
| its own desires. This public makes and
mars a book and not the critic. who is
successful only so far as he anticipates
the mass vote" And so is the ad sue
cessful only so far as 1t promises to gra-
tify the mass appetite. A huge ad may
| induce woman to buy felt slippers"
that she doesn't want, but it can never
make her read what she doesn't want.
!, She knows exactly what she wants. No
one knows better unless 1t be the au-
| thor, who recognizes the fact as critics
do not, that women constitute his best
patrons, and he writes chiefly to please
| them. This accounts for the various
vogues in fiction that appeal most
strongly to the feminine mind-such as
the historic, romantic. love-letter and
garden phases. The appetite is already
there and waiting for a certain type.
The author creates the type. the huge
l = A. IL q a
straightway this feminine reading pub
| lie falls to and devours 1t.
| But granted all this, it doesn't answer
wholly the main question, Why is fic-
ton read so greatly in excess OF other
works." A few hints will suffice for q
reply:
| Why do children prefer fairy tales to
facts? Why do most people prefer the
4 crama to the lecture? Was there ever
a time when the public didn't prefer
that which appeals to the heart, the i'm
agination, sympathies, affections and
iemotions rather than what appeals to
| the intellect or reason? The reading
public is not made up Of philosophers.
In mind culture most OF US are still
overgrown children, feeding on the
sweets OF fancy.
But aside from this fact, there is in
| our twentieth century environment
abundant reason why we should turn
more and more to fiction, and light at
that rather than to solid letters. The
strenuous life of rush and worry so ex-
hausts brain and body as 10 render inn
possible the thought and strength re-
quired for solid reading. The busy man
and woman of today find In fiction their
sole relaxation from the ever-increasing
strain of life. Fiction, like the drama,
contains those elements that act like a
tonic on the weary body, the faded
brain. The question is not why does the
public read fiction, but how can 1t read
anything else?
In view of the above figures, 1t is
easy to believe. as the Lounger in the
Critic tells US, that every printing house
in reach of New York, and some pretty
well out of reach, have more work than
they can do. That it is simply impossi-
BILE for @ man not a customer Of the
i larger houses to get any work done, SO
lcrowded were they with orders. One OF
4 the largest dealers says frankly that he
can not pretend to push any except the
most popular writer's. The new author
must wait until the public clamor for
him.
At this rate, why do not printers anG
publishers become rich? They do not
There are no millionaire publishers II
America who have made their money
In the publishing business. So the
Lounger tells us. and he would have u:
believe the royalties paid out to authors
together with advertising, eat up the
publishers profits. From $4,000 tt
$3.50, 900 per year is what the larges
American houses spend for advertising
The English publisher can't see 1t thai
way Twenty pounds is the average
sum he spends on advertising book
He certainly would get rich II his book.
sold; but then, If he doesn't advertise
|, how can his books sell
A great source OF annoyance and los
to publisher and dealer is the cut rat,
prices on books that have hitherto pre-
vailed. The chief offender in this respec
is the big department store which
doesn't pretend to make a profit OF
books, but puts them on sale at reduced
rates in order to draw a uertain clas
Of customers hoping thereby to make
handsome profit by the sale of othe
goods The big department stores IL
| Denver kept on Gale last year the popu
lar $1.50 new fiction at prices ranging
from SO cents to s1.25. The profit or los
on their book trade Ia an insignificant
. item In their general trade, but to tn,
l,ao,l dao Iar meant mir, and ha nj