Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1904-07-08
HOW JACK LONDON ARRIVED
Story of Early Struggles Toward Sue
cess of Brilliant War Cor
respondent.

Three years ago he was unheard OF
by the reading world. To-day he is
read everywhere, is sought by pub
fishers, and the pages of the maya
zines, from the Century down, are
open to him.
The story of his early privations and
hardships-his boyhood on a Califor-
mia ranch his years before the mast
in the waters of the Golden Gate, his
struggle for learning, and the daring
trip to the Klondike, from which he
returned with more knowledge than
nuggets-is known to most of his ,
readers now. 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 Civ
ing the latter class some excellent ad- |
vice. Here are a few of his terse, |
pregnant sentences:
Work! Don't walt 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 off
a 6,000-word story before breakfast.
Avoid the unhappy ending, the
harsh, the brutal, the tragic the hor-
rible-if you care to see in print the
things you write.
Keep notebook. Travel with it, eat
with it, sleep with it. Slap into it
every stray thought that fiutters up
into your brain.
This valuable advice is appended to
the story of his own struggle for
recognition. Every one likes to know
how the successful succeed.
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
not know what an editor looked like.
But he sat down and wrote. Day by
day his pile of manuscripts mounted
up. He had vague ideas, obtained
from Sunday supplement, that
minimum rate of ten dollars thou
sand words was paid, and figured on
earning 5000 a month, without over
stocking the market.
One morning the postman brought
him, instead of the usual long. thick
manuscript envelope, short, thin one.
He couldn't open it right away. 1t
seemed a sacred thing. 1t contained
the written words of an editor of big
magazine. When, modest as ever, he
had figured in his mind what the offer
for this 4,00O-word story would be at
the minimum rate-S40, 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 inhab-
liant.
But, by and by. in the course of it's
wanderings, one of his stories reached
an editor who could see the genius of
Jack London, and had the patience to
penetrate beneath the husk of wordy
introduction and discover the golden
grain-the capital Story. with capital
S, and-rarest quality of all-the busi-
ness sagacity to offer an unknown
writer more for good story than he
would pay for commonplace one from
famous author.
Here is the incident that proved the
turning point in Jack London's liter
diy SSLGeI, 60 Ae So SIdpulcally
tells it:
Nothing remained but to get out
and shovel coal. | had done ii before
and earned more money at it. I re-
solved to do it again, and l certainly
should have done it, had it not been
for The Black Cat.
Eyes, The Black Cat The postman
4
4000=word story which was more
lengthy and strengthy, if would
grant permission to cut it down half
Grant permission? l told them they
could cut it down two-halves if they't
only send the money along, which they
did, by return mail. AS for the five
dollars previously mentioned, | finally
received it, after publication and
great deal of embarrassment anC
trouble. l forgot my coal-shovelins
resolution, and continued to whan;
away at the typewriter"
And the rate he received for hi
first Black Cat story was nearly 9
times what the five-dollar editor paid
Nor is Jack London the only write
! who has been lifted from obscurity t.
. prominence by the lucky Black Cat
which, as the New York Press ha
truly said, has done more for short
story writer's and short-story reader
! tIan any other publication.
Each of it's famous prize competi
tions has brought new writer's to til
front. In its most recent, the $40
/ prize was won by young Texan VIII
had never before written story, an
the second, 81 300, went to a lawyer
, wife in an obscure Missouri town.
I 1t has just inaugurated another cor
test in which $4,000 will be paid t
writers in sums of from S100 to 81 ,50t
This will, no doubt, add many ne,
names to the list of those who hav
. arrived through its recognition.
, The conditions are announced in th
current issue of The Black Cat, ar
will also he mailed free IN any ono n