Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1904-07-28
HOW JACK LONDON aAHHNsn!-
Popular Author Struggled Hard Tor
HIGH Positlon He hcIdn.

FoPu'oT rutHVF otTu9Dteu F1ApN y0kas
High Position He Holds.
Jack London. the fascinating short
story writer and brilliant war CORE
spondent. now at the front. II 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 tho pages
OF the magazines. from The Century
down, are open to him.
The story of how he arrived"
how he first set foot upon the
steppins vf3re 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 Tor some good
Samaritan to tell you. but dig It cut
yourself
Fiction pays best OF all.
Don't write too much. Don't dash
on 60o0-word story before breakfast.
Avoid the unhappy ending, tho
harsh, the brutal, the tragic, the horri.
bie--if you care to see in print the
| luiHSs you Write.
Keep notebook. Travel with It.
eat with 1t, sleep with 1t. Slap into
1t every stray thought that fiutters
up into your brain.
AS soon as 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 It 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 not 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 Sunday supple
ment. that 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 1t right away.
1t seemed sacred thing. IT con-
tanned the written words of an editor
of big magazine. When. modest AZ
ever, he had figured in his mind what
the offer for this 4000-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 In
J habitant. Five dollars! When? The
I, 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 1t:
Nothing remained but to get out
7 and shovel coal. | had done 1t be.
fore, and earned more money at it
| resolved to do 1t again, and I GER
t1tAtty oAodid AdfG dOuG ltS Hh0 III HQt
been for The Black Cat
yes, The Black Cat The post.
man brought me an offer from 1t for
: a 4000-word story which was more
lengthy than strengthy, II / would
grant permission to cut it down half
Grant permission? / told them they
could cut 1t down two-halves Ii they'd
only send the money along, which
they did, by return mail. As for the
IS 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 fis e-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 It's most recent, the $1,000
prize was won by young Texan who
hho AitNCi bVlli0 WiiAtCti . 1toAys n1n
the second, $1,000, went to lawyers
wife in an obscure Missouri town.
, 1t has Just inaugurated another con.
. test in which $4,000 will be paid to
writer's In sums OF from 500 to s., 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
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 may earn $40 by giving time
ly tip to some friend who can.
But all should bear In mind that II
will be entirely useless for any one
to send story to The Black Cat
without first reading and complying
with all the published conditions
Here Is chance for the reader to dig
dollars out Of his brain. for what life
does not at least contain one tale
worth telling?