FEE FOR FIRST NOVEL

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 July 1934, Page 11

FEE FOR FIRST NOVEL

£l,OOO DEAL BY PUBLISHERS,

LONDON, June 1

The record sum of £l,OOO for a first novel has been paid by a London firm of publishers. Thit: amount is an advance on royalties. In ordinary circumstanes the usual advance paid for a first novel varies between £25 and £5O. The authors of the novel are the Very Rev. “Dick” Sheppard and Mr Howard Marshall. ..... . Yesterday a director of Messrs Hodder mid Stoughton, the .publishers concerned, stated that the story Avill have the present world situation for its background. “The plot,” he said, “concerns adiscovery made by a leading scientist that it is possible for wireless engineers to tune in to voices from the past. This invention leads to a momentous situation. The 8.8. C. broadcasts the voice of Christ, and the story then traces the effect of this broadcast upon civilisation. “The sum we have paid is a record for a first novel purchased in the ordinary way. There have been, of course, specially organised prize competitions for novels, but they are in an entirely different category, and are usually international in scope.” Dr. Sheppard said: “Mr Marshall and I have had a book of this kind in mind for a long time.

“The plot is developed out of our belief that the immediate results of breadcasting Our Lord’s voice would be such as followed the wave of mingled relief and perplexity which swept the country when the news of the Armistice came through. “Wo have,- incidentally, been most anxious to avoid writing a tract or, for that matter, a novel which aims particularly at a religious public.”