The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-23
REWARDs or LITERATURE.
A Veteran Holds That They Are PaltFy
and Uncertain.

ahhAN ~ -
To rHE EDTroR 90 THB suN-Siy: The
experience Of Black and white" with an
article OF Klplings, which they sent to vari-
Gus publications only TO have II returned 70
them. Is not novel. for the same thing has
been dom with extracts from Paradise
Lost" Shakespeare. &C.: but ! never could
zee the use Of II myself. or what It proves In
any event. I havs been afty years writing
for money, eighteen years upon one periodi-
cal .Cmy own, and now. when past three
score and ten. having seen all sides OF thu
business. I say deliberately that any one who
devotes his life to literature without having
an assured income for his bread and butter
In Roing 70 b disappointed. for there Is no
calling out Of all those that men follow for
. living which In 40 uncertain or 80 poorly
paid ~ that % literature.
Even II writer's sold all their articles they
would be In receipt Of very smah incomes.
nothing like 90 much o. o bricklaysr gets for
his work-70 cents Al hour-st the average
rate for unsolicited contributions. 81 per
1000 words, Ind not all publishers pay so
much. Add to this that the writer's are held
up for payment Until their Arttcles are pub
llshed. which may be more than . year. and IL
viii be seen that ! hAv not exaggerated In my
statement that II 10 folly 70 attempt to live
by writing for publication. II further proof
10 demanded. consider the probabilities OF
having N unsolicited article accepted. A
few months ago II wss stated editorlally In
o prominent ma xaxine that the publishers
had received 1900 manuscripts In the past
twelve months. all Of which had been read
and carefully considered" How many were
accepted wa not told, but II the full capacity
Of the magazine had been taken. less than
aSo contributors would have been successful
out OF the %. 600. not I per cent. out OF the lot.
one chance In 30, 900 OF having an article
taken. Is that lottery worth taking .
chance IMP Il trow not
Black and White" furnish q list Of sixteen
ma gaines TO which they sent their expert
ment, all Of which pay for matter at some
time or other. A few pay upon receipt OF
COPY. but they are the exception; most OF
them do not. l have one article out now
which was accepted last April but ls hung
up" until an estate In settled" When that
will be no one knows. II only %. 1000 articles
are received on an average annually by these
sixteen magazines. there are at0. 200 con-
tributors who have entered the lists In the
probable hope Of getting q paltry $50 check
In the future, and more coming all the while.
row ~ 20 the reading OF manuscripts
not 70 speak Of their contents or literary
BY title 5000 msnuscripts, picking up one
boy 6esS' has aaO' aid tSemsS Five minutes each:
$500 hours. With a working day OF sig hours
S mO SS's chan ana year q T for one n " mE an merely sraS to Q handle
them in the most ~perfunctory way. II this
work is. divided among ten persons. say. II
Ts.d ii1ls 0R Which 500 some snf pSbiiSSsrs say they
EiTe %SnusG FTP ,s SGm %. Ior Of article. ar.
not read at all, not even scanned. The titles
d 6 ? then a. nth the ;ts5s usIT6sss OF F me Paimy
sysl Forest 4SS c.s without nas Csrs end SLvt The s sbsSt
: ao.. I tSs fatal niit aiscu fSst and aay bS SGs s coSe: 80 the ss
manuscript. / know, TOR have been there
and seen e a9ps and have also seer care,
they were at the time unit to appreciate Il.
A publisher once wrote. In returning an artl-
than that Which he rejected. and it was very
tSs oiaes. Journal q 4: IND (. i 4. G SSS,1t5y.
which hsd been there from two TO three years,
Of course. MSn's lnhumanity to man makes
countless thousands mourn
The salaries paid 10 literary men are ridlcu,
s sSSdf c sS hin nsf Fifty Years ago I had ! posi-
ton as sesociate editor on a Journal for which
for Tss ss'd a&n sS 4 yea ssAls MSn c% : SfSS.s9% a. and
were %e%Csnc.rae%y al ths. s.s r%saairsfd We;
that post for years. until I left. II for a better
one. Living end social requirements were
dHouSt wRether there are many associate
EDITORS to-day who receive 1000 a year
for their work. Within a Few. weeks l have
been asked to revise en- encyclopedia which
bristIed with gross technical errors in a GER
tain department, for the very immOdest rate
Of half a cent a word: not only revise II Tor
correctuess, but write in as many words as
l cut out, so as not to have to renumber me
paRea-a proposition which was fully
d~ecIned-because 1t was a far more arduous
task than getting up new matter.
For reading the revised pages OF a certain
dictionary in n special department where
disputed definitions were in question, in 2
particular profession. l received 500. Nnlcn
was not excessive. but satisfied me, particu-
larly ~ I caught q gross, ooscenity IN one
definition in another fellows department
| that would have made copies Of the edition
which contained II a kissing and a byword.
To return to my caption. the rewards Of III:
erature: I have no reason to be dissatisf ed
with them, fov I have made considerable sums
by II, hut I had q crutch in the shape or a
pfofession to lean on. II had depended upon
literature alone there would have been many
lean yests to wallow through somehow. l
dc not think. however. that depending. upon
casual contributions for anything at AL.
abort Of d casual suit OF clothes, oners
anv hone Of success; certRtnly not WITH the
| nrksent Aystem 81 reading" contributions,
Editors pretend that they are Always glad
/ to receive new writer's articles. but that 10
only q manner OF speaking, for they publish
iiSts Of names covering all the well known
writer's in. the country 70 whOm thSy have
mort "a eed their columns nr pages twice over
fof we've months; where does the new writer
come in? EGBeRT p WATSON.