Show I I HOW PUBLISHERS READ READI I MSS TOLD BY EDITOR I Tricks and Mistakes s of New Told Authors-Told by Editor of fm Americas America's Oldest General ene al Publishing House 1 How the the writing public looks looks' to toan an an editor will be from W. W J J. J Z a New York next next week b by bs Van yan VanTassel an Tassel Sutphen one of the e editors editor of t Harper Bros Hros Mr Sutphen has bas been een reading book MSS for tor Harpers Harper's for twenty five years ears which is long enough h to learn all the tricks and mistakes of tho the amateur author Although the French have a proverb proverb proverb pro pro- verb to the effect that it is not necessary necessary necessary essary to eat the whole of otan an egg gg know that it is Dad says Mr tr Sutphen Sutphen Sut Sut- ut- ut phen man many Amateur authors think themselves unfairly used if MS is not read from the first to the last word And so they lay traps for the reader to prove has not done his duty The commonest of these Isto Isto is isto to reverse certain pages In loose leaf leat MS 1 If these aie are not turned to their to-their their proper r positions It follows that they have not been read Other tricks are areto areto to lightly gum together the corners cornerS' of ot two pages pases or to lay Jay pressed leaves leates or orbits orbits orbits bits of or bright colored worsted between the sheets If It these are found undisturbed undisturbed undisturbed on the return of the MS to the author it is convincing evidence that his work has not received due consideration When I was green at atthe the busIness I used to swallow all this bait carefully reversing the leaves throwing away ay the garbage t r mean the movable variety and variety and so forth Nowadays I prefer preter to leave the traPI traps traP I I wish to save the e author the I trouble ie of t resetting them Even worse th than n eccentric longhand from the readers' readers point of view says saya Mr lr Sutphen is bad typewriting of ot 1 which there is a great reat deal Some people appear to think that any copy which comes through a writing machine machine machine ma ma- chine must be all right But it Itis is often orten virtually illegible either the ink ribbon ribbon rib rib- bon hon Is too old or the type face is too worn to give a a good impression This is poor business for tor naturally the reader is prejudiced Against the thoughtless author who thus adds unnecessarily un un- necessarily to his the readers reader's la la- la bors hors Another abomination to be sedulously sedulously sedulously sed sed- avoided is the illegible carbon car car- bon hon copy especially when it Is made on semitransparent paper car I Most 1 MSS are unavailable for the simple reason that they have no literary literary lit lit- merit I according c to Mr Sut Sut- fhe phen hen But he says now n v and d then thena I a book comes cornea along that is rea really 11 powerful 1 creative r e work and yet jet Im Impossible impossible im- im possible a t to print b because nl Its s subject bl t I matter lies beyond the pale of or what ia justifiable in literature The most notable specimen of this class was sas sent to ua us' us several years ago from a a. small Massachusetts manufacturing manufacturing man man- city a city a shoe shoed town as the thet natives t call it It was wasa a truly re remarkable re- re e rm piece of literary workman workman- ship chip a veritable masterpiece But the s subject The tory purported to tob tobe b be a narrative of the last fortnight in the lives of two t human derelicts who had met at the edge of ot the abyss an an Immoral woman and a black blacksheep blacksheep blacksheep sheep English younger son a remittance remittance remittance re re man Juan as the phrase goes That mart mait could write He himself must have been the black sheep to have plumbed as he tU utmost depths of despair and degradation The pictures of ho horror were too o. o terrible for for- fora a normal mind d' d to gaze caze upon It Its I into the very was as s like looking down pit of hell There Thre was but one thing to to oo-to do to skim It it over as as' as rapidly aa as possible and get the dreadful thing out of the she shop But nut mind you It was literature and literature and great literature too It was the kind or of book which I the devil himself might have written and It came Clime in the ordinary way by express fr frem m a dull and decorous New i iI I England town I 1 never heard of it i again j The most extraordinary example of literary Imposture that ever arrived at l Franklin square squar was an n MS ten in longhand with numerous erasures era era- and Intel interlineations all the the- thear ear ar- ar marks of or a piece of work TIle The subject matter seemed oddly cent although the names and localities localities localities ties were ere wholly commonplace e Another An An- other page or two settled tile the question The story was nothing else than Mary Shelleys Shelley's famous fantasy Frankenstein Frankenstein Frankenstein Franken stein Evidently the ambitious would- would be author had f found und an old copy of the book tucked awa away n i some som austy neglected and had been daU duly impressed t l with the somber power r and j horror of the tale book look belonged to a past pt age ae and le the thief thIe must I have concluded that it had been en entirely entirely en- en I forg forgotten so O with wh- infinite la labor labor la- la bor the whole thing had be both been h copied off oft In longhand with the substitution of or American names of persons and places We declined and not po po- How about the chance of or the tho young author with the established book bk houses Mr lr Sutphen asks and answering an an- his own question queston says Well Vei it st stands to reason that theold tho the old favorites are going to die off In time or stop writing and then new blood must be had had As a matter of or fact tact all al publishers are on the lookout for forthe th the new writers and every MS gets careful and competent attention that Is Is merely good business sense ense Does it pay to Geal with literary I agents Well Vei the reputable agent if i he de decides ldes to handle your manuscript at at all al will wl save sa you trouble and the pain ln of reading the Inevitable rejection rejection tion ton slips Occasionally he will wi drive a better beter bargain bargin than you can tb do 10 yourself and ni fee tee of 10 per cent centi l i U not exorbitant B Bilt BOt t beware of or the the fake Cake agents who demand a cash fee fe for service and the snide manuscript man clearing houses house which guarantee a asale sale They may charge you sou a fee tee of 10 or 15 11 and then return you a a. apay 3 pay check you nave navo naC no re redress ress Is it worth while taking a study course In the trade of or authorship Well Vell these pundits will wi teach you jou OU how to paragraph and and punctuate and what whatnot whatnot whatnot not to do But they cannot supply the all al essential of straw which underlies underlies under under- lies les the outward form of or your lit literary literary lit lit- bricks Ella Ela Wheeler Wilcox tells teUs o of o a a. manuscript su submitted to her by an aspiring y young oung oun woman writer The author was evidently evi evi- dently denty in some d doubt as to the In Intrinsic intrinsic in- in merit melt of her production for every here and there In the manuscript manuscript manu manu- script appeared a star and at the bottom of or the page the annotation an an- notation Here I think I 1 need an anide ide Idea Precisely an Precisely an Idea But that Is the tho whole bag of ot tricks |