“An author should be able to instruct, entertain, guide or amuse his readers. Otherwise, he has no right to expect their attention, time or money. If it is merely a question of money, you would be wise to wait until you have a comfortable income, sufficient to maintain life during the first ten years of literary pursuits. Save in rare cases of remarkable genius, literature requires ten years of apprenticeship, at least, before yielding support to its followers. But be sure that you help,—not harm, humanity. To the author, of all men, belongs the motto, ‘_Noblesse oblige_.’” DO NOT FEAR CRITICISM. “Unless you are so absorbed in your work that you utterly forget the existence of critics or reviewers, you have no right to call yourself a genius. Talent thinks with fear and fawning of critics; genius does not remember that they exist. One bows at the shrine of existing public opinion, which is narrow with prejudice. The other bows at the shrine of art, which is as broad as the universe.” “How do you think a young author should proceed to obtain recognition?” “In regard to the practical method of getting one’s work before the public, I would beg that you would not send it to any well-known author, asking him or her to ‘read, criticize, correct, and find a publisher for you.’ If such a thought has entered your head, remember that it has entered the heads of five hundred other amateurs, and the poor author is crushed under an avalanche of badly-written manuscripts, not one of which he has time to read. No editor will accept what he does not want, through the advice of any author, however famous. “Do not attempt to adopt the style of anyone else. Unless you feel that you can be yourself, do not try to be anybody. A poor original is better than a good imitation, in literature, if not in other things. “Expect no aid from influential friends in any way. The more wholly you depend upon yourself, the sooner will you succeed. “It is absolute nonsense to talk about ‘influence’ with editors or publishers. No one ever achieved even passing fame or success in literature through influence or ‘friends at court.’ An editor might be influenced to accept one article, but he would never give permanent patronage through any influence, however strong.