3 Five-Cent Libraries at $50 each $ 150. 29 Five-Cent Libraries at $40 each 1160. 2 Detective stories at $40 each 80. 2 Ten-Cent Library stories at $50 each 100. "Little Bluebell," serial 200. "A Weird Marriage," 300. --------- $ 1990. Detroit Free Press, Contributions 22. --------- Total $ 2012. For 1896: 24 Five-Cent Libraries at $40 each $ 960. Short fiction 71.50 -------- Total $ 1031.50 For cold brutality perhaps the rejection slip worded as below is unequalled: We are sorry to return your paper, but you have . Respectfully yours, The Editor. * * * * * Before Mr. Karl Edwin Harriman, of The Red Book, had ventured into the editorial end of the writing trade, he wrote an article on an order from a certain Eastern magazine. Later, that magazine decided that it could not use the article, although it had been paid for, and, with Mr. Harriman's permission, turned it over to an agent to market elsewhere. The agent, not knowing Mr. Harriman had associated himself with a certain magazine, sent the manuscript to that publication, in the ordinary way. It was up to Mr. Harriman, then, to consider it in an editorial capacity. He was unable to purchase the manuscript, and returned it to the agent with a reproof for having submitted such an article, and indicating that the author had a great deal to learn before he could feel justified in seeking a market among the best known magazines. IX. RAW MATERIAL Where does the writer get his plot-germs, the raw material which he puts through the mill of his fancy and finally draws forth as a finished and salable product? Life is a thing of infinite variety, and the plot-germ is a thing of Life or it is nothing. Being a mere basic suggestion of the story, the germs must come from the author's experience, or from the experiences of others which have been brought to his attention. Unconsciously the germ lodges in his mind, and his ingenuity, handling other phases of existence, works out the completed plot.