Idaho Springs siftings., 1904-07-02
HOW JACK LONDON ARRIVED"
Popular Author Struggled kard for
High Position He Holds.

\ STORY WrlteF ana brilliant War cOrre-
| 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 is read everywhere.
is sought by publishers. and the pages
of sAe magazines, from The Century
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 .
few Of his terse.. pregnant sentences.
| Work! Don't wait for some good
Samaritan to tell you. but dig 1t out
yourself.
Fiction pays best of all.
! Don't write too much. Don't dash
on q 6o00-word story before breakfast.
Avoid the unhappy ending. the
harsh. tho brutal. the tragic. the horri-
ble-H you care to see In print the
things you write.
Keep q notebook. Travel with II.
eat with 1t, sleep with IT. Slap into
It every stray thought that futters
up into your brain.
'As soon As q 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 II happened to him.
He had many liabilities and no as
sets. no income and several mouths
e> AAA co1t F.~
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
msnt. that a minimum rate OF $40 a
thousand words was paid. and figured
on earning 5000 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 1t right away.
II seemed sacred thing. 1t con-
tained the written words OF an editor
OF big magazine. When. modest as
ever. he had figured in his mind what
NV DA'A AtA h4iiS fVV'-"tAa htoiF
would be at the minimum rate-s4G.
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 its
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 II:
Nothing remained but to get out
and shovel coal. had done 1t be-
fore, and earned more money at It.
! resolved to do it again. and | cer-
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
4o0O-word story which was more
lengthy than strengthy. II would
grant permission to cut IT down half.
Grant permissionf l told them they
could cut IL down two-halyes IL they'd
only send the money along. which
they did, by return mail. As for the
IS previously mentioned, | finally re-
ceived II, 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-
tions has brought new writer's to the
front In its most recent, the 81 100
, prize was won by y young Texan who
had never before written . story. and
the second, 300. went to a lawyers
wife In an obscure Missouri town.
1t has Just inaugurated another con-
test in which 310.600 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 are announced in the
current issue OF The Black Cat. and
viii also be mailed free to any one