Mexico Missouri message., 1904-07-07
HOW JACK LONDON "ARRIvgD."
Popular Author Struggled Hard for
High Position He Holds.

spondent, now at the front. is but
twenty-eight years old. Three years
ago he was unheard of by the reading
world. To-day he lie read everywhere,
is sought by publishers, and the pages
OF the magazines, from The Centlry
down, are open to him.
The story Of how he arrived
how he first set foot upon the
stepping-stone TO success, he
tells in The Editor, the New
York magazine for literary workers,
incidentally giving the latter class
some excellent advice. Here are n
few Of his terse, pregnant sentences
Work! Don't wait for some good
Samaritan to tell you, but dig it out
yourself.
Fiction pays best Of all.
Don't write too much. Don't dash
on e000.word story before breakfast
Avoid the unhappy ending. the
harsh, the brutal, the tragic, the horri-
ble-if you care to see in print the
things you write.
Keep a notebook. TraveHowith Il,
eat with it, sleep with It. Slap into
1t every stray thought that fiutters
up into your brain.
"As soon as a fellow sells two or
three things to the magazines" says
Jack London, his friends all ask him
how he managed to do It," and then
he goes on, in his own racy way, to
tell how 1t happened to him.
He had many liabilities and no as
sets, no income and several mouths
to feed. He lived in California, far
from the great publishing centers,
and did rot know what an editor
looked like. But he sat down and
wrote. Day by day his pile of manu-
scripts mounted up. He had vague.
ideas, obtained from a Sunday supple.
ment, that a minimum rate Of $40
thousand. words was paid, and figured
on earning 5000 a month, without
overstocking the market.
One morning the postman brought
him, instead Of the usual long, thick
manuscript envelope, a short, thin
one. He couldn't open it right away.
1t seemed a sacred thing. 1t con-
tanned the written words of an editor
Of big magazine. When, modest as
ever, he had figured in his mind what
the offer for this 4OO0-word story
would be at the minimum rate-$40,
Of course-he opened the letter. Five
dollars!
Not having died right then and
there, Mr.. London is convinced that.
he may yet qualify as an oldest in
habitant. Five dollarsI When? The
editor did not state.
But, by and by, in the course OF its
wanderings. one of his stories reached
Jack London, and had the patience to,
penetrate beneath the husk Of wordy
introduction and discover the golden
grain.
Here is the incident that proved
the turning point in Jack London's
literary career, as he SO graphically
tells 1t:
Nothing remained hut to get out
and shovel coal. l had done 1t be
fore, and earned more money at it..
l resolved to do It again, and GER
tainly should have done it, had it nor
been for The Black Cat.
Yes, The Black Cat The post.
man brought me an offer from It for
a 4000.word story which was more
lengthy than strengthy, If l would
grant permission to cut it down half.
Grant permission? | told them they
could cut it down two-halves if they'd
only send the money along, which
they did, by return mail. AS for the
IS previously mentioned, finally re-
ceived 1t, after publication and a great
deal of embarrassment and trouble"
And the rate he received for his first
Black Cat story was nearly 20 times
what the fve-dollar editor paid!
Nor Is Jack London the only writer
who has been lifted from obscurity to.
prominence by the lucky Black Cat.
which, as the New York Press has
truly said, has done more for short
story writer's and short-story readers
than any other publication.
Each of its famous prize competi-
lions has brought new writer's to the,
front. In its most recent, the S2,10O
prize was won by a young Texan who
had never before written a story, and
the second, 81 300, went to a lawyers
wife in an obscure Missouri town.
It has just inaugurated another con-.
test in which $40, 800 will be paid to
writer's in sums OF from 500 to 81, 800.
This will, no doubt, add many new
names to the list OF those who have
arrived" through its recognition.
The conditions are announced in the
current issue of The Black Cat, and
will also be mailed free to any one
by the Shortstory Publishing Com
pany. Boston, Mass. Even those who
cannot write q winning story them
selves may earn, $40 by giving time
~ tip to some friend who can.
But all should bear in mind that Il
will be entirely useless for any one
Il nnnA 49,. sIAl. I. -. L..