The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-07-20
Manuscripts by the Go to
the Publishers of Eastern Maya
zines and Periodicals.
MANY OF THIN COTE BACK
THE SUCCESS oE = PECULIAR BUSI-
NESS MADE POSSIBLE.
Agencies Wher Manuscripts Are
Read and RcViscd-Demnnd for
Short Stories.

DO You know. it's ny honest opinion
that half the People in indianapolis are am
bilious in a literary way?" remarked one
Of the employees of the po-totice the other
day while of duty. You would be as
tonished to see the vast number of bulky
envelopes that pass through the local mail
service on their way to the various maya
zine publishers all over the country. and
also the vast number of bulky envelopes.
with the names of the various magazines
printed in the upper left-hand corners. that
are delivered to people throughout the city
from day to day-rejected manuscripts, l
suppose. 1 don't know that all this is a
proof of the city's standing as a literary
center for the conditions may be similar
in other cities of the same size. but it does
strike me that there must be a wonderful
amount Of literary work going on in this
town. The addresses on the envelopes
which are mailed to the publishers are in
all sorts of handwriting. from the bold,
round hand of the business man, to the
faint. careful style of the schoolgirl. show
ing that all kinds of people are having oc-
casionaI literary inspirations"
The postoffce employe was probably right
in his surmise. for f. ]. Graham, who is
associated with a New York manuscript
reading concern, and who was in the city
during the last week. says that a surpris-
ing number of manuscripts are received by
his company from Indiana in general and
Indianapolis in particular, and that several
magazine editors have spoken to him of the
tendency of Indiana people of all classes
to make at least one effort at story writing.
= - -LA-+ So, -
this country that causes so many people TO
tackle literature. whether they are cut out
for that sort of work or not" said Mr..
Graham. "The man or woman that
wouldn't dream of undertaking the writing
of a novel or the composing of a poem will
dash off a short story and re it into some
magazine with perfect assurance, for
I've discovered that six Jut OF every ten
educated persons believe themselves capa-
BILE of writing successful short pieces of
fiction. I'll venture TO say that the re-
jected manuscripts received in this city
within one weeks time would, If strung to-
gether and printed in book form, make up
as big a volume as Webster's Unabridged
Dictionary. And in saying this / do not
cast any reflections upon indianapolis, for
it is becoming a w~ell-known fact that there
are a number of very successful story
writer's here.
MANY ARE REJECTED.
For every one manuscript that is ac-
cepted for publication by an editor. how
ever, there are a hundred or two that come
hustling back to their original owners just
about as quickly as Uncle Sans excellent
mail service can engineer the matter. It's
an i'll wind that blows nobody good, and
the fast-increasing army of struggling
short-story writer's has made possible the
success of a peculiar business that was al
most unknown in the United States ten
years ago. l refer TO the business of manu-
script reading. correcting. revising. etc, for
the purpose of making salabIe matter out
of literary stuff that had previously been
a drug on the market. Ten years ago
James Knapp Reeve, of Franklin, O., was
about the only person in America who con-
Quoted a business of this sort. OF course,
there were manuscript agents. making a
living by acting as middlemen between au-
thors and publishers, but there were no
agencies whose principal claim upon exist
ence was the dressing up and whipping
into shape of crude literary material. Just
consider how things have changed. There
are a dozen concerns of this kind in New
York to-day, two or three in Chicago one
in Philadelphia. one in Washington. one in
Detroit and two right here in Indianapolis.
You mustn't think that these agencies
are patronized altogether by writers that
have met with discouragements. however.
On the contrary. there are many literary
people who send their productions to the
company. with which l am connected. be
fore even submitting them to the maya
zines. Many manuscripts fail of accept