The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1904-07-01
now JACK LONDON ARRIVED
,.. Author struggled Hard for
ro u;rh position He Holds.

story writer anu VI :, b,,f
snondent. now at the 'front.' 10 80
twenty-eight years old. Ihree
400 he was unheard of by the reaulns
world. To-day he is read eveTy"ne- y
is sought by publishers, and the pages
of the magazines, from The oen'ui'
down, are open to him.
The story of how he arri'eu'
how he first set foot upon tno
stenning-stone to success, he
tells in The Editor, the Ne"
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 soou
Samaritan to tell you, but dig IL OUT
yourself.
Fiction pays best of all.
Don't write too much. Don't dash
off a 6OOO-word story before breakfast
Avoid the unhappy ending, the
harsh the brutal, the tragic, the horrl-
ble-if you care to see IN PRINT INC
things you write.
Keep a notebook Travel with IT,
eat with it, sleep with it. Slap INTO
it every stray thought that tutters
up into your brain.
CAS- soon as a fellow sells two or
three things to the magazines, says
Jack London, his friends all ask MIN
how he managed to do it, and tnen
he goes on, in his own racy way, 10
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. lar
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 Sunday supple
ment, that a Slinimum rate of $40
thousand words was paid, and figured
on earning $500 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 a big magazine. When, modest as
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
habitant. Five dollarsl 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 it.:
Nothing remained but to get out
and shovel coal. 1 had done it be-
fore, and earned more money at it.
L resolved to do it again, and l GER
tainly should have done it, had it not
been for The Black Cat.
eyes, The Black Cat. The post
man brought me an offer from it for
a 4O00-word story which was more
lengthy than strengthy, if l would
grant permission to cut it down half.
Grant permission? 1 told them they
could cut it down two-halves il they'd
only send the money along, which
they did, by return mail As for the
50 previously mentioned, i finally re-
ceiVed it, 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 fye-dOllar editor paid,
Nor is Jack London the only writer
who has been lifted from obscuritv tn
prominence by the lucky Black Cat.
which, as the New York Press has
,ruly said, has done more for short
story writer's and short-story readers
nan any other publication.
Each of its famous prize CONNECT.
Ions has brought new writer's TO the
ront- In its most recent. the s2.1Oo
prize was Won by a young Texan who
lad never before written a story. and
he second, $1,000, went to a LAWYERS
VIE IN an obscure Missouri town.
1t has just inaugurated another con-
est IN which $4,000 will be paid to
writer's in sums of from 800 to 400
This will, no doubt, add many new
names to the list of those who have
arrived" through its recognition.
The conditions are announced in tho
issue of The Black Cat and
VIII also be mailed free to apy ona
'y the Shortstory Publishing Com
'any, Boston, Mass. Even those who
'annot write winning story them.
selves may earn SO by giving a time.
UP 10 some friend who can.
But all should bear in mind that II
VII be entirely useless fo= anv one
o send story to The Black Ca
Without first reading and co-,,I-.;-