Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-11-14

! nest 10 these requires a great dt"l M
! work and care. This class includes
| those books by unknown writer's that
are not bad. one reader Will say thdt
| they are worth considering. The
next reader will say that they have
| some sort OF merit. Then the pup
| Usher must go slowly. A third per
son must read them. If the publisher
he an ideal publisher. he will read
them himself CThe weakness Of most
American publishing houses Of this
generation comes just hcre-the pub
! fisher himself does not read many
! manuscripts
IN the best publishing houses (this.
know. is the habit Of thrce) the re-
| portS on books of this class are all read
ut a meeting of the firm. or tbctter) at
| Il meeting OF the firm and of the heads
Of departments. a; such Il meeting
| the Judgment of d sensible man who
! is ut the head of the sales department
! of publishing house Is very useful.
! He knows by his every day work what
! sort OF books the public is buying.
Some Of them are books that the lit
F.; erary' world knows nothing about or
has forgotten.
: And three or four or five men. by a
little dis, u%NIoli. can reach clearer
ana s;lncr Judgment bout Il book from
! the reports OF three OF four readers
! than the readers themselves can reach
+ or than any one man OF any TWO men
VINO consider the reports could reach.
f, There is no subject in the world about
! which Il conference il likely to he more
hrlpiu. OIo mans judgment ABOUT
, the publishing Quality Of book may
: easily be wrong. The Judgment of
tNo men may be wrong if they look at
7 il from the same angle or with the
same tempe rdmcnt. But the judg
| mont Of three. four. or five men. if
! tlcy have the facts before them and #
! they indulge in frank discussion. j.
/ VERY seldom WrUGg. No book ON which
:, riouS work has been done ought to
be rejected or accepted without the
! l., ncfit of the independent reports OF
two or three scnsihl" persons who have
care fully read il, and without the dis
I cur-ions If these reports by three or
four Other persons of experience and
; Judgment. And in at least three
+ Ans rirtn publishing houses every
manuscript If amy value or promise
runs y course of hopeful consideration
SucI as this: for the publisher wants
! good ne hooks. he wants good new
writers: and he wants them badly.
Half i dozen popular writer's will
build 4 publishing house IT il.
therefore, doubtful whether any other
hrsiress is so carefully conducted with
reference to it's sources of supply.
In fact. all publishers make many
more mistakes in accepting books than
in declining them. They accept many
books from new writer's that they hope
may possibly succeed. but in which
they have not very strong faith. II
is the book manuscripts Of this class
that cause the most work and the
greatest tiouble-t!ie class that may
possibly succeed. 4 book of this class
by a new writer who shows cleverness
or some other good quality is often ac-
ceDted in the hope that the author may
do better With the next book 1t is
accepted as an enV0uragem and as
Il hope: it chiefly is for this reason
that 50 many books are published that
are barely good enough to warrant
publication. The publisher is trying
tn ''dI-N tlol'' an author.
Sometimes This method succeeds: for
Il sometimes happ. MS that a good
writer writes first book that is
merely 4 PROMISE Of later achieve
mellt. But this does not often hap
pen. In most cases the second book
is no better han the first--or is worse.
Then the publisher loses and the
writer is seldom heard Of again. The
number of one novel writer's scat
tered over the land would surprise the
world if ii were known. There is no
there ere not an embarrassing number
Of exceptions. Eut in most cases "A
successful writer starts with a success
full book. The hope that the second
book will be better is one of the rocks
oil which many publishing ventures
wreck.
But if the publishers put forth a
number of commonplace books tchief-
" novels) from false hope that they
may thus develop good writer's. they
also do a service of the opposite
kind. They save the long-suffering
public from many worthless books.
For if the public has thrust upon it all
on half or 4 tenth Of the books thar
ar. written. what dull world we
should have in fact
When okmanuscript has been
rejected the delicate task comes next
OF informing the author This task is
seldom don. as well as it onght to be.
1t is almost impossible for a publish
er-Who receives and rejects manu-
scripts as n matter of business-to put
himself in the place of writer who
has spent lonely weeks in her work.
TO send a mere business note is almost
an insult. Yet what more can the
publisher write? He does not dare
write hOnefJlly. If he does he will
give y degree of encouragement that is
dishonest. Yet the author expects q
long ana explicit letter telling why
the manuscript is unavailable. If she
does not receive such a letter she
jumps to the conclusion that her
manuscript has not had fair considera-
ton. Publishers letters of rejection
are the chief cause. suspect, of the'i
persistent notion that they are careless
in the examination of manuscripts.
Every letter of defamation ought to
be written Dy skilful mana diplo-