Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1904-07-09
HOW JACK LONDON ~ARRIvED.-
Popular Author Struggled Hard for
HIGH Position He Holds.

High position he f7ofoS.
Jack London, the fascinating short
story writer and 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 the 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 q
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 6OO0-word story before breakfast
Avoid the unhappy ending. the
harsh, the brutal, the tragic. the horri-
ble-if you care to see in print the
things you write
Keep notebook. Travel with it,
eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into
it every stray thought that fiutters
up into your brain.
"As soon as a 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 1t 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 a minimum. rate of SO
thousand words was paid, and figured
on earning $500 a month, without
overstocking the marbet.
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 40OO-word story
would be at the minimum rate-S4O,
of course-he opened the letter. Five
dollarsi
Not having died right then and
there, Mr.. London is convinced that
he may yet qualify as an Oldest in
habitant. Five do;larsi 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. had done it be-
fore, and earned more money at it.
resolved to do it again, and 1 GER
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, if 1 would
grant permission to cut it down half.
Grant permission? l 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
SIS previously mentioned, 1 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 fiye-dollar editor paidl
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-
tons has brought new writer's to the
front. In it's most recent, the $210O
prize was won by a young Texan who
had never before written a story, and
the second, 1900. went to a lawyers
wife in an obscure Missouri town.
1t has just inaugurated another con-
test in which 1000 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
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 SO by giving a time
" tip to some friend who can