THE MARKET FOR MANUSCRIPTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12081, 9 August 1917, Page 8

THE MARKET FOR MANUSCRIPTS.

The world wbt does not seem to have caused ony falling oil' in tho productivitv of American authors, says " Munspy's." A single N«w York publishing house has received more than throe "thousand unsolicited hook manuscripts during tho past year, tho largest number in its history. Six or eight years ago the same house received scarcely half a« ninny in the fame period. The year 1014, in which th? great, war began, was the busiest year tho American book publishers have ever had. If was estimated that about o per cent, or one in twenty, of tho proffered manuscript." attained to the dignity of type. nut conditions in the business ehauged sharply with the beginning of iho Avar. More books? have been written, while lower have been printed, and at present a manuscript stands little more than half as .. ~ch chance of acceptance, a*, throo years ago.

Of tho rejected manuscripts probably three-fourths are, from the publisher's point of view, utterly hopeless. The effort, that has consumed so much of tho author's time, hope, and good white pap.r is pasosd on and dismissed by tho trained reader in half an hour. Occasionally, however, a book is accepted on its first reading; or, again, it. may go through tho hands of live or six readers before a tinal decision is reached.

It is probable that unsolieitcd manuscripts by unknown authors, if not manifestly worthies'!, receive more, careful reading nowadays than in former years A few salutary lessons have given Now York publishers food for thought. They remember ruefully how "David Ham in " and " Queed " were hawked around town for months, and in the end made fortunes for thoir publishers and their authors.