The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-03-09
Confessions of a
Successful Author
By WILLIAM CHANDLER

misgivings Having formed my ta>tr
from reading classic authors whh
wrote in the English language.
thought that in order 10 succeod nv
work must be up TO their standard
and had sense enough 10 believe tha'
this was beyond the bounds Of prob
ability.
After spending several years writing
novels. into which | pui my best a. .
forts, and having failed TO set-.e
publisher for any one Of them IL o.
Cured TO me that the pubic ,asie re .
auired something with less i'"r'r
merit and more calculated To excite tLt
curiosity and other similar human al
tributes. | therefore turned ny atten
ton to detective stories and cxtrava
ganZas.
The fate of unsuccessful authors is
usually that they are condemned to
Judge of the works of others struS
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 endcayorins
TO come up behind them was con
scicntious enough to struggle against
this feeling, but soon learned that. 80
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 furnisher 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
together for ten years. One morning
when / had become somewhat indie
pendent from having received prompt
pay for grinding out copy the mail
brought me letter from publisher
asking me If | had anything on hand
in which he would be Interested. sun
posing that the letter was a catch for
printing that | would be expected to
pay for, returned his letter to him
with the Endorsement that | never
paid the expenses for publication OF
| my works. lie replied that he would
publish anything of mine If at all. on
royalty.
Now, IL had achieved literary fame
this would not have been surprising
As 1t was | could have been knocked
down with n feather Unfortunately
the opportunity. If such 1t would prove
to be. came too late. had fallen heir
to a small property. and tire income,
tnuothar xx.ifh hat I a1a M npnlna-
ing literary fodder, supplied my wants.
was not disposed to write anything
more. taking the risk of its being de-
clined by the publisher. and | was sat
isfied that nothing had on hand would
meet the public demand.
Ny grandmother on my fathers side
had become Il 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
vouminous reader Of cheap novels.
Some one suggested to the oil lady
quite likely To reiicge those about her
of the ta~l, of kecPinG up her spirits
! that she try her hand ut srribblnc
i She listened 10 the suggestion. and
the result was novel in manuscript.
One day when | visited the old lady
4 she suggested that |, being man of
bellies lettres objected to the term
aud suggested literary hack instead
might find publisher for her novel
1t happened that this request came
4 day or two after had been asked by
Dowley X Co, publishers. for some of
my work. | told my grandmother that
| | would submit her novel for her and
took it away with me. and without
reading it | sent il to the Dowlcys as
my own work OF course expected
that ii would be returned with thanks
4 and an explanation why ii was not
| exactly what the firm was looking for
Within u Week | received notice that
my novel, Arabplia $ Wooing,' was ac-
cepted and | was offered a 10 per
cent royalty Like fool. ran off To
my grandmother with the news That
fixed me as the author of "Arahela's
Wooing." The old lady would have
disowned me-and | was down in her
will for S1o0o0-had | spoiled the op-
portunity by confessing my imposition
on the publisher.
| felt obliged to consent to the pub
lieation of my grandmother's work un-
der my own name without having read
it, Ii was issued in due time, and |
opened a copy of ii. confess with
dread. But ! was not prepared for
what | found in It, Great heavens,
Was this maudlin effort of a woman
in her dotage. this hideous effort AZ
sentiment, to 90 forth as my work?
Rather would offend my grandmoth.
er. rather would | forego the legacy.
| telephoned Bowling x Co. to know
If the book had been issued intending
If it had not been 10 urge its suppress
sion. Too late, \ first edition of 10.
600 copies was on the stands.
BY few friends had been regard.
ed as real literary man. and they had
great respect for my opinion on books
When these met me after the publica
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