IV.
GETTING “HOOKED UP” WITH A BIG HOUSE.
It was during the winter of 1892-3 that Edwards happened to step into the editorial office of a Chicago story paper for which he had been writing. His lucky stars were most auspiciously grouped that morning.
We shall call the editor Amos Jones. That was not his name, but it will serve.
Edwards found Jones in a very exalted frame of mind. Before him, on his desk, lay an open letter and a bundle of newspaper clippings. After greeting Edwards, Jones turned and struck the letter triumphantly with the flat of his hand.
“This,” he exclaimed, “means ten thousand a year to Yours Truly!”
He was getting $50 a week as editor of the story paper, and a sudden jump from $2,600 to $10,000 a year was sufficiently unsettling to make his mood excusable. Edwards extended congratulations and was allowed to read the letter.
It was from a firm of publishers in New York City, rated up in the hundreds of thousands by the commercial agencies. These publishers, who are to figure extensively in the pages that follow, will be referred to as Harte & Perkins. They had sent the clippings to Jones, inclosed in the letter, and had requested him to use them in writing stories for a five-cent library.
Jones’ enthusiasm communicated itself to Edwards. For four years the latter had been digging away, in his humble Fiction Factory, and his literary labors had brought a return averaging $25 a month. This was excellent for piecing out the office salary, but in the glow of Jones’ exultation Edwards began to dream dreams.
When he left the editor’s office Edwards was cogitating deeply. He had attained a little success in writing and believed that if Jones could make ten thousand a year grinding out copy for Harte & Perkins he could.
Edwards did not ask Jones to recommend him to Harte & Perkins. Jones was a good fellow, but writers are notoriously jealous of their prerogatives. After staking out a claim, the writer-man guards warily against having it “jumped.” Edwards went about introducing himself to the New York firm in his own way.
At that time he had on hand a fairly well-written, but somewhat peculiar long story entitled, “The Mystery of Martha.” He had tried it out again and again with various publishers only to have it returned as “well done but unavailable because of the theme.” This story was submitted to Harte & Perkins. It was returned, in due course, with the following letter:
New York, March 23, 1893.
Mr. John Milton Edwards,
Chicago, Ills.
Dear Sir: –
We have your favor of March the 19th together with manuscript of “The Mystery of Martha,” which as it is unavailable we return to you to-day by express as you request.
We are overcrowded with material for our story paper, for which we presume you submitted this manuscript, and, indeed, we think “The Mystery of Martha” is more suitable for book publication than in any other shape.
The only field that is open with us is that of our various five and ten cent libraries. You are perhaps familiar with these, and if you have ever done anything in this line of work, we should be pleased to have you submit the printed copy of same for our examination, and if we find it suitable we think we could use some of jour material in this line.
Mr. Jones, whom you refer to in your letter, is one of our regular contributors.
Yours truly,
Harte & Perkins.
Here was the opening! Edwards lost no time in taking advantage of it and sent the following letter:
Chicago, March 25, ‘93.
Messrs. Harte & Perkins, Publishers.
New York City.
Gentlemen:–
I have your letter of the 23d inst. In reply would state that I have done some writing for Beadle & Adams (“Banner Weekly”) although I have none of it at hand, at present, to send you. I also am a contributor to “Saturday Night,” (James Elverson’s paper) and have sold them a number of serial stories, receiving from them as much as $150 for 50,000 words. It is probable that material suitable to the latter periodical would be out of the question with you; still, I can write the kind of stories you desire, all I ask being the opportunity.
Inclosed please find Chapter I of “Jack o’ Diamonds; or, The Cache in the Coteaux.” Perhaps Western stories are bugbears with you (they are, I know, with most publishers) but there are no Indians in this one. I should like to go ahead, write this story, submit it, and let you see what I can do. I am able to turn out work in short order, if you should desire it, and feel that I can satisfy you. All I wish to know is how long you want the stories, what price is paid for them and whether there is any particular kind that you need. I have an idea that the Thrun case would afford material for a good story. At least, I think I can write you a good one with that as a foundation. Please let me hear from you.
Yours very truly,
John Milton Edwards.
To this Edwards received the following reply, under date of March 30:
We have your favor of March 25th together with small installment of story entitled “Jack o’ Diamonds.” Our careful reading of the installment leads us to believe that you write easily, and can probably do suitable work for our Ten-Cent Library, though the particular scene described in this installment is one that can be found in almost any of the old time libraries. It is a chestnut. A decided back number.
What we require for our libraries is something written up-to-date, with incidents new and original, with which the daily press is teeming. I inclose herewith a clipping headed, “Thrun Tells it All,” which, used without proper names, might suggest a good plot for a story, and you could work in suitable action and incident to make a good tale.
If you will submit us such a story we shall be pleased to examine same, and if found suitable we will have a place for it at once. We pay for stories in this library $100; they should contain 40,000 words, and when issued appear under our own nom de plume.
Installment “Jack o’ Diamonds” returned herewith.
Thus it was up to Edwards to go ahead and “make good.” Such a climax has a weird effect on some authors. They put forth all their energy securing an order to “go ahead” and then, at the critical moment, experience an attack of stage fright, lose confidence and bolt, leaving the order unfilled.
Years later, in New York, such a case came under Edwards’ observation. A young woman had besieged a certain editor for two years for a commission. When the coveted commission arrived, the young woman took to her bed, so self-conscious that she was under a doctor’s care for a month. The story was never turned in.
Edwards, in his own case, did not intend to put all his eggs in one basket. He not only set to work writing a ten-cent library story (which he called “Glim Peters on His Mettle”) but he also wrote and forwarded a five-cent library story entitled, “Fearless Frank.” “Fearless Frank” – galloped home again bearing a request that Edwards make him over into a detective. On April 15 Edwards received the following:
We have your favor of April 13, and note that the insurance story, relating to Thrun, is nearly completed, and will be forwarded on Monday next. I hope you have not made the hero too juvenile, as this would be a serious fault. The stories in the Ten-Cent Library are not read by boys alone but usually by young men, and in no case should the hero be a kid, such as we fear would be your idea of a Chicago newsboy.
We note that you have considered our suggestions, and also that you will fix up the “Fearless Frank” manuscript with a view of making it a detective story.
For your information, therefore, we mail you under separate cover Nos. 2, 11, 15 and 20 of the Five-Cent Library, which will give you an idea of the character of this detective. We hope you will give us what we want in both these stories.
On April 25 Edwards received a long letter that delighted him. He was “making good.”
I have carefully read your story, “Glim Peters on His Mettle,” and, as I feared, find the same entirely too juvenile for the Tea-Cent Library, though quite suitable for the Five-Cent Library, had it not been double the length required. I first considered the question of asking you to make two stories of it for this library, but finally decided that this would be somewhat difficult and unnecessary, as we shall find a place for it later in the columns of our Boy’s Story Paper, to be issued under nom de plume, and will pay you $75 for same.
The chief point of merit in the story is the excellent and taking dialogue between Glim Peters, his chum and the detectives. This boy is a strong character, well delineated and natural. The incident covered by clairvoyant visits, the scene at the World’s Fair and the Chinese joint experience were all excellent; but the ghost in the old Willett house, and indeed the whole plot, is poor. Judging from this story and the previous one submitted, the plot is your weak point. In future stories make no special effort to produce an unusual plot, but stick closer to the action and incident, taken as much as possible from newspapers, which are teeming with material of this character.
We shall now expect to receive from you at an early date, the detective story, and to follow this we will forward you material, in a few days, for a Ten-Cent Library story. We forward you to-day, under separate cover, several numbers to give you an idea of the class of story that is suitable for the Ten-Cent Library. Such scenes in your last story as where Glim Peters succeeded in buying a mustang and defeated the deacon in so doing, are just the thing for the Ten-Cent Library; the same can also be said of the scene in which Meg, the girl in the bar, stands off the detectives in a vain attempt to save the villains. That is the sort of thing, and we feel that you will be able to do it when you know what we want.
I forward you, also, a copy of Ten-Cent Library No. 185, which I would like you to read, and let me know whether you could write us a number of stories for this particular series, with the same hero and the same class of incidents. If so, about how long would it take you to write 40,000 words? It is possible I may be able to start you on this series, of which we have already issued a number.
About May 1 Edwards sent the first detective story. On May 10 he received a letter, of which the following is an extract
We are in a hurry for this series (the series for the Ten-Cent Library) but after you have finished the first one, and during the time that we are reading it, you can go ahead with the second detective story, “The Capture of Keno Clark,” which, although we are in no hurry for it, we may be able to use in about six weeks or two months. You did so well with the first detective story that I have no doubt you can make the second a satisfactory one. However, if we find the series for the Ten-Cent Library O.K., we will want you to write these, one after the other as rapidly as possible until we have had enough of them.
As to our method of payment, would say that it is our custom to pay for manuscripts on Thursday following the day of issue, but, agreeably with your request, we mail you a check tomorrow in payment of “Glim Peters on His Mettle,” and will always be willing to accomodate you in like manner when you find it necessary to call upon us.
So Edwards made good with the publishing firm of Harte & Perkins, and for eighteen years there have been the pleasantest of business relations between them. Courteous always in their dealings, prompt in their payments to writers, and eager alwavs to send pages and pages of helpful letters, Harte & Perkins have grown to be the most substantial publishers in the country. Is it because of their interest in their writers? Certainly not in spite of it!
For them Edwards has written upwards of five hundred five-cent libraries, a dozen or more serials for their story paper, many serials for their boys’ weekly, novelettes for their popular magazines, and a large number of short stories. For these, in the last eighteen years, they have paid him more than $35,000.
Nor, during this time, was he writing for Harte & Perkins exclusively. He had other publishers and other sources of profit.
As an instance of helpfulness that did not help, Edwards once attempted to come to the assistance of Howard Dwight Smiley. Smiley wrote his first story, and Edwards sent it on to The Argosy with a personal letter to Mr. White. Such letters, at best, can do no more than secure for an unknown writer a little more consideration than would otherwise be the case; they will not warp an editor’s judgment, no matter how warmly the new writer is recommended. The story came back with a long letter of criticism and with an invitation for Smiley to try again. He tried and tried, perhaps a dozen times, and always the manuscript was returned to the patient Smiley by the no less patient editor. At last Smily wrote a story about a tramp who became entangled with a cyclone. The “whirler,” it seems, had already picked up the loose odds and ends of a farm yard, along with a churnful of butter. In order to escape from the cyclone, Smiley’s tramp greased himself with the butter from the churn and slid out of the embrace of the twisting winds. “Chuck it,” said Edwards; “I’m surprised at you, Smiley.” Smiley did “chuck it” – but into a mail-box, addressed to Mr. White, and Mr. White “chucked” a check for $12 right back for it! Whereupon Smiley chuckled inordinately – and came no more to Edwards for advice.
