The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-03-07
Confessions of a
Successful Author
By WILLIAM CHANDLER

] rum ttauli. classic authors who
Wruie IN the English language. L
thought that in order TO succeed my
work must Ice up to their standard.
and had sense enough TO believe that
this was beyond the bounds of prob
ability.
After spending several years writing
/ novels, into which | put my best ef.
forts. and having failed to secure
publisher for any one of them it oc-
Cured 10 me that the public taste re-
| luired something with less literary
merit and more calculated TO excite the
curiosity and other similar human at
/ tributes. | therefore turned my atten-
| tion to deteetive stories and extrava-
! ganZas
| The fate Of unsuccessful authors is
! usually that they are condemned to
4 judge Of the works Of others strug-
Cling for literary fame. In other
words, they sink into positions of
/ editors Their own failure fills them
with natural prejudice against the
| works of those who are endeavoring
/ 10 come up behind them. was con
! Scientious enough To struggle against
| this feeling but | soon learned that. 50
/ far as the publishers were concerned.
/ literary merit had little to do with the
matter. and | sought for sellers"
From the editorial chair sank into
/ the position Of furniShcr OF that lit
/ erary fodder on which the public feeds
! as a horse eats corn or hay In this
way | managed TO keep body and soul
J together for ten years. one morning
when l had become somewhat indie
/ pendent from having received prompt
/ pay for grinding out copy the mail
! brought me letter from publisher
/ asking mo If | had anything on hand
/ in which he would he interested SUP
1 posing that the letter was catch for
printing that | would hc expected to
/ pay for, | returned his letter to him
/ with the Endorsement that never
I Paid the expenses for publication Of
my works He replied that lie would
/ publish anything Of mine. If ut all. on
4 a royalty
Now. if ! had achieved literary fame
! this would not have been surprising
As it WAS could have been knocked
/ down with feather Unfortunately
/ tie opportunity. II such il would prove
/ to he. came too late. | had fallen heir
/ To small property. and the income,
( together with what | made at produc-
ing literary fodder supplied my wants.
| was ha; disposed to write anything
more taking the risk of its being lie
I clincd 10y the publisher, and | was sat
isiiel that nothing | had on hand would
meet the public demand.
/ My grandmother on my fathers side
. bad become a chronic invalid and was
confined TO her room with nothing to
occupy her. She had never shown any
literary taste, though she had been a
voluminous reader of cheap novels
Some one suggested to the old lady
quite likely to relieve those about her
of the task of keeping up her spirits
that She try her hand at scribblng.
She listened to the suggestion, and
the result was novel in manuscript.
one day when | visited the old lady
She suggested that |, being a man OF
bellies lettres / objected to the term
and suggested literary hack instead
might find a publisher for her novel. |
1t happened that this request came a
day or TWO after | had been asked by
Dowlcy < Co, publishers. for some of
my work | told my grandmother that
| would submit her novel for her and
took ii away with me. and without
reading il sent il to the DOwleys as
my own work OF course ! expected /
thar il would he returned with thanks /
and an explanation why ii was not /
exactly what the firm was looking for. I
Within week i received notice that I
my novel, Arabella' S Wooing,' was nc /
ccpted, and | was offered a 10 per +
my grandmother with the news That .
fixed me rs the author of "Arabella's 7
Wooing. The old lady would have
disowned me-and was down in her
viii for $4,000 had spoiled the OPP
portunity by confes ing my imposition
on the publisher
felt obliged 10 consent TO the pub
lication Of my grandmother work IN
der NV own name without having read
it, Ii VAS is>ued in dse time and
opened a copy Of it. | confess with
dread But was not prepared for
what | found ia IT, Gteat heavens.
Was this maudlin effort of woman
in her dotase. this hidcous effort 1T
sentiment. 10 20 forth as my workt
Rather would | offend my grandmoth
or. rather would | forego the legacy.
teleplioned Bowling X co. to know
if the book had been issued intending
if it had not been to urge its suppress
sion Too late, \ first edition Of To-
600 copies was on the stands
By a few friends | had been regard
ed as real literary man, and they had
great respect for my opinion on books
Whom These met me n ftpr the Dublica-