Evening star., 1938-08-28
|AUTHORS OBEY LAW OF DEMAND
Magazines Balance Conditions Against Public Interest
Agony Of Spain ard Chna-Wrter Wonders Why So
Many People Want o Write for Publication

the general literary performance Of
the day. seems to be easier than doing
honest work.
Mr.. Bell would have it that it Is
extremely dificult to succeed in writ
ing because the talented output of
established geniuses is more than suf-
ficient for publishers needs, and q
newcomer must therefore have some
thing overwhelmingly good to show
or he will be lost against the brilliant
background OF his peers. To this the
reviewer can only say that Mr.. Bell
is either deliberately protecting the
mysteries Of his profession or has
done remarkably little reading.
For any one who watches, season by
season, the arrival of highly touted
and worthless first novels, and reads
the miserable stories which appear in
magazines from time to time under
the editorial accolade Of being "firsts,"
can certainly be pardoned for imag-
lining that he can do as we'll, provided
only that he have a moderate under
i
the writing profession will not support
all those who would live by it the
reviewer agrees. Mr.. Bell is correct
in that. But the reason Is not, as
he would say, that the standards Of
that profession are too high to be met
by any save a gifted few. 1t is, on
the exact contrary, that the lowness
of the standards has let in such a
number OF practitioners that the avail
able market is already glutted.
M. BELL admits this overcrowd-
ing. He says that the average
number OF novel manuscripts sub
mitted to publishing house in 4
season is 5000. "Out of this appalling
mass" he continues, perhaps dozen
will be worth publishing"
Well, if that is so. the reviewer has
clearly done her reviewing in of years.
She cannot remember any season to
which she has given attention when
any house has brought out IL novels
that were, as Mr.. Bell puts it, worth
publishing" She cannot, indeed, re-
member year when the combined
output Of all the houses showed IL
novels worth publishing. What Mr..
Bell means is that publishers list
will call for no more than IL works
Of fiction in season, 80 that the other
1888 must go ''unrecognized." There
is no place for them-literally no
place. But the level of the published
work is so low that it is hard for any
one to believe that that OF the rejected
scripts is much lower. Indeed, it Is
quite unlikely that history would be
altered in any respect If publishers
made up the body Of their lists by
blind shufie.
There is probably no profession in
the world so surrounded with high
and naughty hokum as is writing.
Any Of the arts, OF course, throws over
its practitioners . sort of awful
glamour, but the writer gets the
heaviest share Of this because his work
is the most commonly seen. Few peo-
pie trouble themselves about paint
ing, sculpture or music But every
one. alack, can read. Well. there are
in America today perhaps so writer's
whose work can be accounted arts
hundred at the greatest stretch. But
! the awful wonder of art still sur
rounds the output and personalities
| Of the thousands Of others who merely
put words on paper. Even writer's of
ad copy come in for 1t. And look at