The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-20
Refusing Lorna Doone"

working day
Refusing Lorna Doone"
But apart from the physical impos-
sibility of such a feat for the existing
staffs of readers. 1t Is quite unneces-
sary to read every word of a work
before judging whether or not it is
suitable for acceptance. with many, as
with the curate's egg. the first taste is
sufficient. The book, also like the egg.
may be good in parts" it may have
redeeming qualities; but from the first
page 1t fails to satisfy the 'reader's'
palate and that is quite enough for him.
1t goes. without further exploration, to
swell the army of the rejected.
'As rule I can tell from the first
chapter of a novel, often from the
very first page, what It's fate will be:
but, of course, / never recommend a
story without reading 1t conscientious
ly from the first line to the last or
condemn it without an adequate ex-
animation You see, 1t is a great re-
sponsibflity either to accept or re-
iect; for in the former case you may
be accepting responsibility for what
proves to be failure-the public taste
is as capricious and as difficult to fore.
cast as a woman,s moods-and in the
latter you may give the cold shoulder
to what may prove brilliant sue
cess.
MANY a reader has had good rea-
son to be sorry for some such blunder
he has made. At least half dozen
would have nothing to say to Edna
Lyalls We Two which brought a
small fortune to the publishers who
ultimately accepted It, Lorna Doone,'
refused by Smith, Elder & Co., and
accepted by Low, ran into its fortieth
edition within very short time.
Hall Caine As "Reader"
Not one of Mr.. Bentley's readers,
including Mr.. Hall Caine. had a good
word to say for Miss Corelli's Romance
of Two Worlds all the chief publishers
of London turned scornful backs on Car
lyles 'Sartor Resartus;' and Uncle Toms
Cabin had to face at least a dozen re-
jections before to Mrs. Stoves delight
Messrs Jewett & Co. undertook to pro-
duce it at their own risk, whereupon
Professor Stowe, the authors husband
remarked, I shall be well pleased If Har-
riet gets a good black silk dress out of
it You may picture the amazement of
the simple minded pair when, a few
months later, a check for $4,000 arrived
the first fruits of a rich harvest to fol-
low.
"But one can easily recall scores of
cases in which world famous books have
thus belied the Judgment of readers
from Vanity Fair and The Professor
which wandered for months among pub
fishing houses, vainly seeking hospitality,
to kinglake's 'Eothen,' which its author
at last in disgust presented to Pail
Mall bookseller. and Kiplings Plain
Tales in which several readers saw
nothing but vulgarity. Thus you see
how easy 1t is even for the professional
sampler to make egregious blunders, and
how important it is for him to exercise
the utmost care.
Justice for the Unknown Writer
'1t is the greatest possible mistake
to imagine that the work of the unknown
author has little chance of justice being
done to 1t. It is, as matter OF fact,
as carefully considered as that of the
writer whose name is a household word
even more so, for publishers are always
on the lookout for new authors of merit
and promise, and for reader to miss
one would be a serious matter Any pub
good novel from an unknown hand than
Usher would much rather produce a
a mediocre one from a well known pen,
for the reason that his margin of profit
is so much greater In the former case
than in the latter, and in rare cases he
may thus exploit a veritable gold mine.
But, of course, thousands of volumes
are declined every year, not through any
| lack of merit. They may be excellent
! books but they don't suit the particular
publishers list. Thus, some firms do
not care to touch historical novels others
| fight shy of stories dealing with theatri-
| cal life; a biography, which one pub
| Usher would eagerly accept, another
| wouldn't even look at, and so on. Each
| publisher has his own well defined re-
quirements, and won't go outside them.
Thus, rejection in hundreds Of cases is
no reflection on the merits of a work;
| 1t simply means that the author has
| 4oT-1 mo raf
again, publishers are wary of any
book that breaks fresh ground. The
reading public is very conservative and
does not take kindly to any great de-
parture from it's normal dishes The
book may be brilliantly clever; it may
achieve big success; but 1T is an ex-
| pertinent a speculation, and as such
dangerous to handle Two striking ex-
| amples of this are 'Vive Versa and
| Bottles Baby both admirable Stories
and destined to great popularity, but
| each was coldly received by one house
after another, simply because it was
something quite out of the beaten track
and thus full of risk.
"In fiction, it should be remembered
| 1t is the telling of the story that counts
principally. OF two novels one of which
contains fresh material and an orig
| inal plot, but lacks brightness and
style, and the other runs on familiar
1
manner. the latter has a greater chance
of acceptance; for, as have said, the
reading public is very conservative, and
| so long as a story holds them fascinated
to the end, the mere fact that they
have read the same kind of thing a
dozen times does not seem to matter
at all.
| "When the reader has carefully
sampled his book, he writes his report,
| giving an outline of the plot, with his
observations on the various charac-
| ters and the style and his verdict. And
here his duty ends. 1t is for the pub
fishers TO decide whether or not they
will take the book up, and to arrange
terms with the author. But even at
| this stage there may be, and often is.
a slip betwixt the cup and the lip.
The terms offered or demanded may
not be acceptable; the negotiation falls
through. and the manuscript continues
, its round until it finds a home.
There is probably no man more mis-
| understood and abused than the liter
ary faster, but / can assure you and
from what / have said you must see,
that although he is human and fallible,
he does his very best to do justice to
every manuscript that is submitted to
4 him"