Arizona republican., 1906-04-29

want to write. The publisher must publish what the public wants, or what he believes the public wants. If he did not do this he could not be in the publishing business. unless he conduct cd 2 philanthropic concern.
 Success in authorship depends in the l first place upon quality, but it must be | admitted that while the name or rep utation is built upon intrinsic merit | the stability of a manuscript often ! depends more upon the authors name or reputation than upon it's real worth. | This may seem to be unfair, and so ir 1 is; yet 1t is natural, to an extent. at | least. The author with a remarkable name or reputation obtained that name ! or reputation by furnishing intrinsic values, consequently the public has reason to consider the authors name and reputation a part of the name of the book. and # does.
 Every reader has one favorite author, or several, and he reads everything l that that writer writes; therefore the author of reputation has a clientele in advance of the publication of his book | The publisher knows that a book by ar author of reputation will sell. He does not know whether or not it will make q hit but he knows that a reasonable number of copies will be sold: there fore, the publisher takes the minimum of risk. Seldom does an author of rep utation produce an entirely worthless ] work. That which made his reputation refuses to allow him to do anything | poorly although there may be a great | diversity of quality in his writing. 1 There is no more honorable noble and goOd-doing profession than that of authorship. To this profession. as much as to any one cause, civilization nk4rs ror.f. literature, whether he be a novelist. a poet, a historian. or a producer of scientific matter is true philanthro- pist, and one of the greatest and mo- blest products of the times.
 While every author is entitled to a comfortable living. not one in one hun dred receives it from literature. He is the subject of conditions as they are not as he wants them to be. Author ship is one of the poorest paid of pro- fessions. only those of much ability and of great proficiency can expect to make a living at it. and comparatively few of them earn more than that There is no profession so over crowded, or so filled with failures. This con- ditiOn is largely due to the fact that so many people want to write, and that so many people write whether they can write or not. This gluts the market
 anu tlldDltS tie I1ISlLlOlllOuS DuDlSl- CT to obtain all that he needs. and of every grade of material, except the highest, for nothing. or at merely nom inal cost. Ninety per cent of our writ CTS today, whether they have ability
 or not. would rather write for nothing than not to vr:te
 l would not advise anyone to at tempt to become an author if he must depend upon his pen for his bread and
 butter. He would better take up some Iother. profession and give his spare time to writing, depending upon his salary Or income for a HvlihoOd. If he has great ability. and gains a name and reputation his writings may even
 tually make him supporting; but
 he cannot, no matter what his ability. expect to earn his living with his pen
 until several years after his first pro-
 duction.
 The author cannot be made. Success
 in authorship is impossible unless
 there be actual capacity. All the cor- leges and all the other institutions in
 the world combined. and all the books read, and all the learning possible for one brain tO hold. cannot produce
 genuine author or an author capable of producing any work Of originality or any work with real soul and color to
 it. I doubt if any one can be able. even
 Nf ltLl tilutdll'll anu Ilt'iltlltt-t lt pro duce historical or scientific works and
 do his subjects full justice unless he $ first of all a natural writer. His work although mechanically correct. will not have that life in it, that something which makes il live, that something which appeals to the reader and shows
 the reader the character of the author
 Embryo literary ability is harder t1 discover than almost any other kind Of
 
 let him write. It may do him good. even
 if he never becomes an author. It will either develop him along literary lines
 Or il will show him that he is united for authorship. The business" boy is not likely to blossom into the littera- teur The boy who does not think, who
 is very matter-of-fact, who cares little for books or for study, who never
 dreams. who is without any pronounce ed ambition, is not destined to travel nor will he want to travel literary
 paths. The mere dreamer. who is sell
 dom on earth. will doubtless remain failure in literature.
 The successful author is usually
 composite individual one who both dreams and works. one who ignores
 neither sky nor earth, but who weaves his fabrics from the webs of fact and
 theory The author is both a man Of !
 vision, in that he knows how to read and to see beyond the present; a man of fact. in that he can utilize what he thinks and what he feels, combining
 the real and unreal into substantial whole. The author, or tO-be-authOr, is
 seldom a worshiper of money. He may ], love money but the getting of it is not his chief endeavor. He seems to have
 a mission, and he is sure to have an Ir,,, l. is looking for experiences; his experi-
 ences leave deep impressions upon him. He is student of character. He finds something in everything he sees. Yer with all these apparent prerequisites, many a boy may have no literary tal- ent whatever. and may lack that pow [ CT of using what he has accumulated. One condition is reasonably certain: | If the child has literary ability he will 2 show it before he is out Of his teens, [ and he will write against all obstacles.
 aS well 1pt1l9l capac-