Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-23
BEST SELL,".lG BOOKS
New York Opinion Of Nine
Tenths Of Novels.
A REPUTATION VALUE
GENERAL ERRONEOUS IxPREs-
SION OVER THE DEMAND.
Experiences of the Story writers-How
One Author Attained Success
and Fortune.


NEW YORK, November 10. 1904.
| The literary reviewers and the fiction
reading public are not alone in pronouncing
nine-tenths of the novels that have poured
| from the presses during recent years mere
| hopeless trash. o
| The publishers themselves know It,
1.-TWO books that bear my imprint now
| figure among the six best sellers of the
week." remarked a noted publisher to the
| writer the other day 'Both of these books
are utter rot. They are equally distin-
| guished by the dead-level of dreariness that
| causes me to marvel how any normal man
| or woman of today can possibly wade
| through their pages. Yet they are among
| the six best sellers The answer? Well.
the writer's of these two books are prosper
ing upon the regulations they made through
| their initial efforts at the making of fiction.
Their respective first novels were genuinely
clever Neither of them has written, any
thing worth printing SINCE But, with the
name, they get the readers I can't myself
understand why they are willing to go
along turning out such inferior work when
| they are admittedly capable of higher
things but that's the way it stands"
This same publisher, however, Is strong
in the expression Of his willingness to pub
lish meritoriouS works of fiction even II
the writers of them have never been heard
of Before While he admits and repre-
bends the fact that the early editions of the
books of writer's of established reputation
are sold out to dealers as fast as they can
be taken from the press. he is positive In
his declaration that this doesn't prevent
publishers from giving willing and even
eager consideration to books of any sort
of promise at all that are submitted by en-
tirely unknown aspirants to fortune ana
fame as manufacturers of fiction
Some of the most absurd notions prevail
as to the general obtuseness of publishers
of fiction" he said. People who partake
of the so-called literary scrappie hashed up
by critics of publishers who never saw the
inside of a publishing house are asked TO
believe that publishers never even open the
manuscripts sent to them by unknown writ
ers that no matter how clever the un-
knowns book may be it has no chance IN
life to see the light unless the writer pays
the publisher to bring 1t out, and all that
sort of dismal nonsense.
Competition of Publishers.
Common sense alone should Delay the
pens of persons who spread such foolish
tales as these. The competition among pub
fishers for what is colloquially known as
good stuff in the shape of books has be-
come keen to the point of savageness. we
are all but at each others threats over
the matter. Some publishers deliberately.
and without any sort of attempt at con-
cealment, endeavor to steal successful
writers of fiction from the publishers who
originally printed the books of the success
full ones. They offer them heavy advance
royalties and larger royalties on sales. Inc
competition has become so acute that this
sort of thing is no longer viewed as mean
and contemplate undertaking. as 1t GER
tainly would have been viewed by publish
ers only half a dozen years ago.
eve are in the market for stun that sells
all the time and when we light upon man
or woman who knows how to write stories
that look like sellers we are. as dehghtea as
~ xxyhn a
more So in fact, because Of the promise OF
financial profit to US. When 1t has come 10
pass that the publisher who gets out the
work of a successful new writer Is applaud
ed and looked upon as a discoverer and to
a certain extent sharesithe glory OF the ne"
writer, and when such a discovering pup
Usher stands to make big money when ne
has the luck to get hold OF winning ne"
stuff is 1t reasonable to suppose that pub
fishers have not got their lines and baited
hooks out all the time for. such materlal9
so anxious are most OF US 70 pc tne
original exploiters OF new people that
during recent years quite a few or us
have been stung through the operation
Of the advance royalty system am at
tracted. say. by the magazine OF even Ine
newspaper writing Of some pen-wielder
who strikes me as having 1t In him to
put together a good novel get into
communication with him. see him, and
press him to undertake the writing OF a
book for me- AS an inducement. If think
highly enough of such an tndividuais
ephemera1 work, offer to let him nave a
piece of advance royalties 1t Is the
sheerest sort of gamble whether the
work he will produce will be worth
printing, but [ take the chance. 1t Is an
other gamble whether the man SO treated
will ever turn in anything or not. some
men that 1 could mention have received
advance royalties in this way without
ever having turned in a line to make
good. 1 have been strung myseI Dy
number of constituencies individuals or
&lx1, Oh, pCfn q
1t has come to be regular scheme, l
might almost say, among clever put I'M
scrupulous chaps who know the inside or
the publishing business TO write pfomis-
ing scenarios of novels, and perhaps
couple of the initial chapters of the novel.
and then turn this stuff into the hands
of publishers and obtain sizeable advance
royalties on books that they never com
plete nor even have an idea of eomplet-
ing when they put up these peculiar jobs
There is no chance for publisher to get
back the money thus obtained by these
schemers. They have simply to declare
that they mean to comply with the terms
of the arrangement in time, and nothing
whatever can be done with them.
A False Impression Of Demand.
THE general impression that the sup
ply of readable. fairly well-written nov
els exceeds the publishers demand in the
ratio of about 100 to Is an impression
that does us a great deal of harm. 1t
serves to keep many a clever man and
woman out of the literary hunt. In re-
cent years some novels that have had a
success that might almost be described
as colossal have been written by prevf-
ously unknown writer's. Lessons such as
these have taught even the most con-
sentative publishers to scrutinize every
thing that drifts their way In the. fiction
line with the hope OF capturing prizes.
We are, in consequence, taking more
chances In the lottery than we ever did
before the boom period of the unknown
author set In.
Another idea that does us a great deal
of injury is the fool notion that publishers.
as rule, don't know a good, or even
saleable. piece of fiction when they see 1t
in manuscript. 1t would be fully as senst-
BILE to say that men who make a business OF
dealing in paintings don't know a good pic
ture when they see 1t. You'll often hear
these incompetent persons who are skep-
teal as to the comnetencY Of publishers to