The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1912-08-04
INSIDE FACTS ON PUBLISHING BUSINESS
ARE TOLD BY MAN WHO WORKED WAY UP
Hewitt Hanson Rowland, Literary Editor of Big Con.
Germ, Tells How Advertising Helped Earnings
of Prominent Authors
BY JAMES B. MORROW.

OF frOmIle
BY JAMES b. MORROW.
Indianapolis. Aug. a-Authors-scrib-
bling gentlemen in arrears to patient
and impatient landlords-anciently dedi-
Gated their looks to wealthy and noble
patrons and solicited subscriptions
among their friends. The publishing
business by slow degrees became a digni-
fed and established industry. but It was
hushed by the solemnity Of letters and
walled in by ethics. being regarded as a
profession instead OF simple and useful
manufacturing EFFORT.
Men and companies grew rioh by using
ink and paper, by giving to an eager
and cultivable public the particulars Of
their medicines, machinery. and other
merchandise. but the publishers, persons
Of ink and paper themselves. stood aloof
in their decorum and made no energetic
or skillful attempts to push their goods
or create new markets Books could not
be profaned by common commercial
methods. In the meantime pillmakers
were buying yachts and villas, and so
frivolous a commodity as chewing gum
was turning broken-down doctors and
candy hawkers into millionaires. Even
bankers, sovereigns and despots through
the generations began to act like human
beings and to hustle for depositors and
borrowers.
The new epoch in publishing, long
overdue. opened In indianapolis. Hewitt
Hanson Rowland, a slender young man
with brown hair, bachelor, and bach
elor STILL gave II movement and thrill.
I'm 1885," he told me, "we-the Bobbs-
Merrill Company = published When
Knighthood was in Flower by Charles
Major. People. We argued. buy food and
clothes that are advertised In the news
papers. Books, we thought, are as" neces-
sary to the mind as are shoes to the
feet or meat and bread to the physical
strength. Up to that time publishers
made brief announcements In the month
ly magazines. Newspapers, We said. are
printed every day. So we gave Majors
story a tryrout In the daily press. The
results were immediate and startling
Other publishers were shocked. but
gradually they adopted the idea, and now
newspaper publicity is an established
practice in the bookmakiIg business.
Must Pick the winners.
Professionally. Mr.. Rowland is a liter
airy editor and adviser. He and his as
sistants render judgment on 1900 manu-
scripts a year-sixty week, or ten a
day. or him II is required to pick the
winners and reject the failures. Tom
Hoods Song OF the Shirt" was refused
by a dozen publishers. Washington Irv-
ing was compelled to print the Sketch
Book at his own cost. The literary
editor must have taste, business ability,
and a sure insight into human nature.
He cannot be a dull man, nor clustered
from the world. Life, booming now in
the twentieth century. must be a part
of his study, A mistake might cost his
house a fortune in profits lost to some
competing establishment
Critics and EDITORS" Mr.. Rowland said.
"blunder to-day just as they have blum
dered. and always will blunder. The
decision of any man may be made mac
curate by a restless night or a bad
breakfast. A prize comes to a reader
desk. 1t is his business to know 1t when
he sees II. But his eyesight is often bad.
'Queed,' for instance, novel that had
a large sale. was sent to a certain pub
Usher. The editor may not have been
normally cheerful the morhing the man
uscript was put into his hands In his
Judgment, so it is said, the story was
too long. and, besides, II was poorly
typewriter.
THE second publisher to whom the
manuscript was submitted also objected
to it's length, and probably to many other
things. He returned 1t with suggestions.
Change it, he wrote the author, along
the lines 1 have indicated. and 1 shall
be glad to consider it again This sec
ond publisher failed at that crisis to
recognize some of the peculiarities of
mankind, at least of author-mankind
Now comes the third publisher. Your
story is accepted he wrote. He was a
shrewd Individual. Your story is ac-
cepted" right at the very beginning OF
a letter are the greatest words that can
be addressed to a writer. But come to
my Office continued the third publisher.
and let's talk the matter over. the
author promptly called, and. I am told.
willingly agreed to work his story into
better form. All this is. Of course. mere
trade gossip. 1 couldn't vouch for any
OF IL. We, am glad to say, did not
play either the first or the second pub
fishers part / am sorry We did not
play the third; then 1 could tell you all
about II"
Mfngling with the World.
Book-n,arketing. of course. is simply
merchandising. Art alone would soon
ruin the business. Mr. Rowland is more
than a student of literature. He Is an
early example. albeit a young man OF
the new literary expert. His father died
and only his brother could go to college.
the family fortune permitting no greater
expenditure. He worked in a bookstore,
clerked in a railway freight office at
night and finally became a merchandise
broker in this city. A publishing house,
learning Of his ability as a critic. sent
him a manuscript and requested a report
Others followed. Mr.. Rowland sold his
business over fourteen years ago. and
since tnen has given himself up to liter
allure. He numbers among his friends
many prominent authors, and he is wide
ly recognized as one Of the most accom-
plished. energetic. and successful book
experts in the country
Are authors I asked him -ss tenn
peramental as actors, musicians, and
stump oratorsT
ct don't know just how tempersmental
that is" Mr.. Rowland answered, but
writing people are much like other cul-
tured people, who do not write. They
are for the most part simple, unassum-
ing. and free from any high-faluting nom
sense. Naturally. they are more or less
self-centered. Henry James is the most
detached man I have ever known. He
is In the midst Of the throns, but he is
no part of it. He watches life as It
parades before him, but keeps himself
bottled Up until he puts his hand to pen
and paper. All authors have something
of this gift Ct detachment. story may
be unfolding itself in the mind OF a
writer while you are talking to him.
Manifestly, he is too preoccupied to be
unnatural or temperamentally eccen-
trio"
What is the physical condition Of
James whitcomb Riley?''
Mr.. Riley's general health was never