The Employments of Women: A Cyclopædia of Woman's WorkPenny, Virginia
General
The Employments of Women: A Cyclopædia of Woman's Work
Penny, Virginia
Women -- Employment
On visiting the Bible House, I
learned that a lady is there employed as proof reader. She corrects both
in English and German. Four or five male proof readers are employed, but
she is the only lady. She gets $5 or $6 a week. The principal proof
reader gets $12 a week. "Accuracy, quickness of eye, thorough knowledge
of orthography, grammar, and punctuation, with a knowledge of languages,
and a vast deal of learning and general intelligence, are necessary for
a proof reader. An intuitive perception, arising from this cultivation,
enables one to detect errors immediately, often without knowing how and
why."
=23. Publishers.= We find in the census report of Great Britain, 923
women reported as booksellers and publishers. What the number of
publishers alone is we cannot tell, nor do we know whether any of them
conduct the business on their own responsibility, or whether they are
widows, and have men to conduct the business for them. We know of two
large publishing houses in New York that pay 10 cents on the dollar to
an author for the manuscript of any book they see proper to publish;
that is, for a book they will sell at retail for $1, and at wholesale
for 60 cents, the author receives 10 cents, which gives the publisher 50
cents for getting up the book and running the risk of selling it. If the
author incurs the expenses of getting the book up, they may allow 15
cents. They will pay no larger a percentage for any subsequent edition
than for the first. But they will not undertake a book unless they think
they can make money out of it. The same book might be printed and
stereotype plates cast at 85 cents a volume. The author could then sell
it for 65 cents a copy to the book merchants, and they would sell it at
90 cents a volume. After the first edition of one thousand, the author
could probably get it printed at 40 cents on the volume less. If the
book takes, the merchant may allow the author twelve to fifteen per
cent. Some publishers purchase the copyrights of books they think may
succeed, paying a specified sum, as agreed on with the author.
Publishers calculate to have two out of every three books fail that are
brought into market. Some publishers sell for authors on commission. The
authors get up their own books, and the publisher sells, receiving forty
per cent. from the retail price. He sells to the trade at a discount of
from twenty-five to thirty-three per cent., according to amount and
distance. The average discount would be thirty per cent. This leaves the
publisher ten per cent. to transact all the business, advertise, &c.
From the first edition the publisher will not be likely to derive any
profit; but if the book takes, the publisher will make a handsome profit
from the subsequent editions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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