A
PUBLISHER’S
CONFESSION
NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO.
1905
Copyright, 1905, by
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO.
Published March, 1905
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I | The Ruinous Policy of Large Royalties | 3 |
| II | Why “Bad” Novels Succeed and “Good” Ones Fail | 27 |
| III | Are Authors an Irritable Tribe? | 45 |
| IV | Has Publishing Become Commercialized? | 61 |
| V | Has the Unknown Author a Chance? | 79 |
| VI | The Printer Who Issues Books at the Author’s Expense | 99 |
| VII | The Advertising of Books Still Experimental | 115 |
| VIII | The Story of a Book from Author to Reader | 131 |
| IX | The Present Limits of the Book Market | 147 |
| X | Plain Words to Authors and Publishers | 163 |
PUBLISHERS’ NOTE
There is expressed in these chaptersso much that is practical and of interestto those engaged in the various branchesof authorship, book-making and book-sellingthat the present publishers haveavailed themselves of the permission ofthe Boston Transcript, in which theyoriginally appeared, to gather them togetherin book form.
New York, March, 1905.
A Publisher’s Confession
CHAPTER I
THE RUINOUS POLICY OF LARGEROYALTIES
How it Operates to the Disadvantage of Both Authorand Publisher—The Actual Facts and Figures—Authors’Earnings Greatly Exaggeratedby the Press—Books Sell Too Cheaply—Whata Fair Price for All Concerned Would Be.
The author of a very popular book,who has written another t