Charlevoix county herald., 1904-07-23
HOW JACK LONDON ARRIVED"
Popular Author Struggled Hard for
Hiqh Position He Holds.

ago he was unheard of by the reading
world. To-day he is read everywhere.
is sought by publishers and the pages
of the magazines, from The Century
down, are open to him.
The story of how he arrived"
how he first set foot upon tn
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
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
off 6000-word story before breakfast
Avoid the unhappy ending, the
harsh, the brutal, the tragic. the horrl-
ble-if you care to see in print the
things you write.
Keep a notebook. Gravel with it,
eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into
it every stray thought that flutters
up into your brain. 81
"As soon as a fellow sells twoD0r
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 it happened to him.
He had many liabilities and 10 as
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 minimum rate of $40 a
thousand wofGs was paid and figured
on earning 5000 a month, without
overstockinG the market.
One morning the postman brought
him, instead of the usual hong, thick
manuscript envelope. a short, thin
one. He couldn't open it right away.
1t seemed sacred thing. 1t con-
tanned the written words of an editor
Of big magazine. When, modes as
ever, he had figured in his mind what
the offer for this 4O00-word story
would be at the minimum rate-$40,
of course--he opened the letter Five
dollars,
Not having died right then and
there, Mr.. London is convinced that
he may yet qualify as an Oldest in
habitant. Five dollars. When? The
editor did not state.
But, by and by, in the course of it's
wanderings, one Of his stories reached
an editor who could see the genius of
Jack London, and had the patience to
penetrate beneath the husk of wordy
introduction and discover the golden
grain.
Here is the incident that proved
the turning point in Jack London's
literary career, as he SO graphically
tells l.:
Nothing remained but to get out
and shovel coal. l had done il be-
fore, and earned more money aSnt.
l resolved to do it again, and l GER
tainly should have done it, had 1T not
been for The Black Cat.
Yes, The Black Cat. The post
man brought me an offer from it for
4000-word story which was more
lengthy than strengthy, il l would
grant permission to cut it down half.
Grant permission? ] told them they
could cut it down two-halves If they'd
only send the money along, which
they did, by return mail. AS for the
| S. previously mentioned, I finally re-
ceived it, after publication and great
deal Of embarrassment and trouble"
And the rate he received for his first
Black Cat story was nearly 20 times
what the fiy e-doIlar editor paid!
Nor is Jack London the only writer
who has been lifted from obscurity to
prominence by the lucky Black Cat.
which, as the New York Press has
truly said, has done more for short
story writer's and short-story re$Hers
than any other publication.
| Each of its famous prize competi-
| lions has brought new writer's to the
front. In it's most recent, the $1,000
prize was won by aXoung Texan who
had never before written a story, and
| the second, $1,000, went to lawyers
wife in an obscure Missouri town.
1t has just inaugurated another con-
test in which So 600 will be paid to-
writer's in sums of from 800 to 81 500.
| This will, no doubt. add many new
names to the list of those who have
arrived" through its recognition.
The conditions arc 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 a winning story them
selves maysearn $40 by giving a time
| ly tip to some friend who can.
But all should bear in mind that it
will be entirely useless 70: any orc
to send n story to The Black Cat
without first reading and complying
with all the published conditions.
| Here is chance for the reader to dig