John ShaqiResearch Library

Opening the text

The Fiction Factory: Being the experience of a writer who, for twenty-two years, has kept a story-mill grinding successfullyCook, William Wallace

Philosophy

The Fiction Factory: Being the experience of a writer who, for twenty-two years, has kept a story-mill grinding successfully

Name: The Fiction Factory: Being the experience of a writer who, for twenty-two years, has kept a story-mill grinding successfully
Author: Cook, William Wallace

Cook, William Wallace

Authorship; Fiction

The circumstances referred to by Mr. White took place in Paris. One of
_The Argosy's_ readers happened to be in a café, looking over proofs of
a forthcoming installment of "There and Back" while at her luncheon,
when she heard the story being discussed, in complimentary terms,
by a number of Frenchmen at an adjoining table. Strange indeed that
Frenchmen should be interested in an American story, and stranger still
that _The Argosy's_ reader should be reading an installment of the very
same story while men in that foreign café were discussing it!

The first installment of "There and Back," Mr. White informed Edwards,
had increased _The Argosy's_ circulation _seven thousand copies_.[H]

On March 2 Harte & Perkins requested Edwards to continue work on
the old Five-Cent Library. By taking up this work again he would
be diminishing the Factory's serial output, but he reflected that
his fertility in the matter of serials would soon have Mr. White
over-supplied. Therefore Edwards decided to go on with the nickel
weeklies.

In March, as Mr. MacLean of _The Popular Magazine_ once put it, Edwards
"came out in cloth," the Dillingham Company issuing "A Tale of Two
Towns" on St. Patrick's Day.

What are the feelings of an author when he opens his first book for the
first time? If you, dear reader, are yet to "get out in cloth" for the
first time, then some day you will know. But, if you value your peace
of mind, do not build too gorgeous an air castle on the foundation of
this printed thing. Printed things are at the mercy of the reviewers
and, in a larger sense, of the great reading public. The reviewers, in
nearly every instance, were kind with "A Tale of Two Towns." In many
quarters it was praised fulsomely, but the book did not strike that
fickle sentiment called popular fancy. In six months, Mr. Cook, of the
Dillingham Company, wrote Edwards that "A Tale of Two Towns" was "a
dead duck." In the December settlement, however, the remains yielded
royalties of $96.60. For two or three years the royalties trailed
along, and finally the edition was wound up with a payment of $1.50.
_Sic transit gloria!_

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The Fiction Factory: Being the experience of a writer who, for twenty-two years, has kept a story-mill grinding successfullyCook, William Wallace

Philosophy

The Fiction Factory: Being the experience of a writer who, for twenty-two years, has kept a story-mill grinding successfully

Cook, William Wallace

Authorship; Fiction

The circumstances referred to by Mr. White took place in Paris. One of
_The Argosy's_ readers happened to be in a café, looking over proofs of
a forthcoming installment of "There and Back" while at her luncheon,
when she heard the story being discussed, in complimentary terms,
by a number of Frenchmen at an adjoining table. Strange indeed that
Frenchmen should be interested in an American story, and stranger still
that _The Argosy's_ reader should be reading an installment of the very
same story while men in that foreign café were discussing it!

The first installment of "There and Back," Mr. White informed Edwards,
had increased _The Argosy's_ circulation _seven thousand copies_.[H]

On March 2 Harte & Perkins requested Edwards to continue work on
the old Five-Cent Library. By taking up this work again he would
be diminishing the Factory's serial output, but he reflected that
his fertility in the matter of serials would soon have Mr. White
over-supplied. Therefore Edwards decided to go on with the nickel
weeklies.

In March, as Mr. MacLean of _The Popular Magazine_ once put it, Edwards
"came out in cloth," the Dillingham Company issuing "A Tale of Two
Towns" on St. Patrick's Day.

What are the feelings of an author when he opens his first book for the
first time? If you, dear reader, are yet to "get out in cloth" for the
first time, then some day you will know. But, if you value your peace
of mind, do not build too gorgeous an air castle on the foundation of
this printed thing. Printed things are at the mercy of the reviewers
and, in a larger sense, of the great reading public. The reviewers, in
nearly every instance, were kind with "A Tale of Two Towns." In many
quarters it was praised fulsomely, but the book did not strike that
fickle sentiment called popular fancy. In six months, Mr. Cook, of the
Dillingham Company, wrote Edwards that "A Tale of Two Towns" was "a
dead duck." In the December settlement, however, the remains yielded
royalties of $96.60. For two or three years the royalties trailed
along, and finally the edition was wound up with a payment of $1.50.
_Sic transit gloria!_

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Fiction Factory: Being the experience of a writer who, for twenty-two years, has kept a story-mill grinding successfully

The Fiction Factory: Being the experience of a writer who, for twenty-two years, has kept a story-mill grinding successfully

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