correctness.
(4) The agreement should name a definite date on or before which the publisher is bound to publish the book. It should state the price of the book. It should also provide that the author receives six free copies, with the right to buy more copies at trade price.
(5) Some publishers insist on a clause in which the author indemnifies them against the consequences of any action for libel which may be brought against them in respect of the contents of the book. In principle this seems to me to be a just clause, but the author should examine the wording of it One well-known publisher reserves the right to settle or to contest any libel action entirely at his own discretion, but entirely at the author’s expense. This is manifestly wicked. Some publishers make no reference to a libel clause.
(6) The aspirant should not trouble much about American copyright. It is exceedingly difficult to obtain American copyright of a first book. But if by happy chance it can be obtained, so much the better.
(7) Some publishers will offer to publish a first book on the condition that they have the refusal of the second book on the same terms. Such a condition is not to be recommended, but there are occasions when the author may be wise in submitting to it. He should, however, on no account tie up more than one book in this manner.
(8) The aspirant cannot interfere in matters which relate to printing, paper, binding, advertisement, and review copies. These important details must be left to the sole discretion of the publisher. But the aspirant may offer suggestions.
(9) The agreement will be executed in duplicate. The copy signed by the publisher will be handed to the author, and vice versa. Immediately on receipt of it the author should take his copy to a post office and get it duly stamped. Without a stamp it is useless. An agreement liable to sixpence stamp duty must be stamped within fourteen days of execution. If the duty exceeds sixpence the period is extended to thirty days.
There are innumerable other points concerning agreements which might be discussed; but I have dealt with all the points which are really important to the author of a first book. The aspirant with a legal turn who wishes for further information should join the Authors’ Society (39 Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, S.W.), which publishes a highly interesting and intricate literature on the relations between writers and publishers, and all the dreadful possibilities thereof.
Subsequent Proceedings.
After the agreement is signed, the author should get back his typescript and scrupulously revise and correct it, in order to avoid alterations and corrections (for which he may be called upon to pay) in proof. When the time for "setting up” comes, he will receive proofs from either the publishers or the printers. These proofs may be either in long "slips” or in page form, according to arrangement They will have been carefully corrected before they reach the author, whose work on them (provided he has properly revised the typescript) will therefore be light They will probably arrive in small daily batches, and they should be returned with promptness. If the corrections or alterations are unfortunately heavy, a second proof may be advisable. When he has finally passed the proofs " for press,” the author will see nothing more of his precious and epoch-making book until the parcel of six free copies arrives on the day of publication. He should subscribe to a good press-cutting agency for cuttings of reviews. A novel or other book of a popular description issued by a good firm will usually receive upwards of forty reviews.
He should watch the advertisements of his book. An occasional diplomatic letter to the publishers in reference to advertisements may sometimes do good. An enterprising firm will advertise a book, especially a novel, four or five days a week in daily and weekly papers, for two and even three months. I have estimated, from my own personal observation, that certain publishers have advertised certain quite ordinary books between a hundred and fifty and two hundred times within the space of three months.
If a first book achieves a sale of a thou-sand copies it does very well. The average circulation of first books is probably nearer five hundred.
A Reputation.
It is best that a reputation should be made slowly. The greatest and firmest of modem reputations have been made slowly. When the author has produced something which the public appreciates, he should offer the public something else of the same sort, but better, as soon as possible. He need not be afraid of tiring the public by too much work; he will only tire them by perfunctory and hasty work. Critics are fond of crying out against over-production. One sees the phrase in the newspapers: “Mr. Blank is one of the few authors who do not overwrite themselves.” The truth is that only a small minority of authors over-write themselves. Most of the good and the tolerable ones do not write enough. They are in receipt of comfortable incomes and they develop a tendency to be lazy. This I know by auricular confessions. If the good and the tolerable authors wrote more, there would be less room for the perfunctory and the impudently careless authors.
The aspirant who has been fortunate enough to make even the smallest success cannot follow it up too industriously and pertinaciously. He should take care to produce books at short regular intervals. He may continue this process for years without any really striking result either in fame or money, and he may pessimistically imagine that his prolonged labours are fruitless. And then newspapers will begin to refer to him as a known author, as an author the mention of whose name is sufficient to recall his productions, and he will discover that all the while the building of his reputation has been going on like the building of a coral reef. Even mediocre talent, when combined with fixity of purpose and regular industry, will infallibly result in a gratifying success. But it must never be forgotten that while the reputation is being formed, the excellent and amiable public needs continuous diplomatic treatment. The excellent and amiable public must not be permitted to ignore the existence of the rising author. At least once a year, and oftener if possible, a good, solid, well-made book should be flung into the libraries.
When the reputation is fully achieved, and the author’s talent arrived at maturity, then, and not before, he may begin to enlarge his borders and indulge his idiosyncrasies with more freedom. In other words, the compromise between his own taste and the taste of the public, to which every author except the greatest must submit and ought to submit, may be to a certain extent abandoned. It is difficult to make a reputation, but it is even more difficult seriously to mar a reputation once properly made—so faithful is the public. From an established favourite the public will stand even hasty work and insolence. Much more, therefore, will it stand original and novel work that is sincerely done.
Of course every author rightly wishes to make a position for himself as quickly as he can. And the author who achieves an early sudden success is to be congratulated—if his moral qualities are such that he can live up to that success. But an early success is a snare. The inexperienced author takes too much for granted. Conceit overcomes him. He regards himself with an undue seriousness. He thinks that he is founded in granite for ever. He thinks that the public will enjoy whatever he does because he has done it. Also he is tempted to expend his spirit prodigally in the service of editors and publishers for immediate profit, instead of working in secret for future and larger profit. The way not to consolidate a reputation is to fritter away energy on a multitude of small journalistic items instead of concentrating it on a single momentous enterprise. The young man with a small success to his credit may hug himself on the fact that he has got contracts for a regular weekly signed article in a sixpenny paper, a sensational serial in a daily, a hundred pounds’ worth of short stories in various Christmas numbers, and so on. But it were perhaps better for him, artistically and financially, that he should have earned less current money and given more time to a large work. Literary reputations are made by books (the longer the better!), not by contributions to the journalism of the day.
All the foregoing remarks are addressed to those of my readers who do not happen to have very exceptional talent; that
