LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE PAYMENT OF AUTHORS. ITo THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Kegan Paul, in his article in the Fortnightly Review "The Production and Life of Books," tells us many things which will interest, in the first place, writers of books, in them- selves no inconsiderable public, and, in the second, readers generally. He devotes one paragraph to the payment of authors, or rather to the methods of payment. On this subject I should like, with your leave, to say something, which shall be, in part, drawn from my own experiences.
The quarrel of authors against publishers is, I suppose, only one form of the complaint, which must be almost as old as society itself, of labour against capital. If authors have con- trived to accentuate it, to make it seem more piteons, more in- tense, it is because whatever else they may have lacked, they have not lacked the power of expression. But it really comes to the old story. Labour cannot wait, must have something on which to live from day to day, and capital takes advantage of its necessities. The author is worse off than some of those who live by the work of the brain, but not than all. He is certainly more favourably situated than the inventor. His stock-in-trade is of the simplest and most inexpensive kind. If he does not always know whether his work is valuable, he certainly knows whether it is original, and is spared the bitter disappointment of finding that a discovery, genuine as far as he himself is con, cerned, has been long since anticipated. And he can protect his property without a cumbrous and costly machinery. But he certainly suffers from having to wait longer than those who follow other professions. The barrister sometimes, I suppose, gets his fees in ready meney, and generally receives them, if he receives them at all, within a year. Solicitors are supposed to have means at hand for securing the payment of their services, and not to suffer seriously from delay. If the rank and file of the medical profession have to wait sometimes a long time for - their earnings, and it is to be feared that some of them wait very 'long indeed, the chiefs, the consulting surgeons and physicians, re- ceive a payment which is enviably ample, speedy, and safe. But an author, if he publishes on the system of " half-profits," which, - notwithstanding Mr. Kegan Paul's emphatic condemnation of it, is still very common, cannot possibly have a speedy return. I will suppose myself to be devoting the first half of 1883 to the production of a book. It will issue from the press about Octo- ber, and if the subject be one of general and immediate interest, will meet with a remunerative sale within the six months following. In October, 1884, I shall receive from the publisher my account, made up to the end of June, and may look for payment in December or, it may be, January, 1885. Possibly the book, though one of real worth, may be of a kind that makes its way into circulation but slowly. In this case, the remuner-
ative sale will be postponed till Jane, 1885, and the payment till January, 1886. I have actually published a book which, though successful, brought me no return for five years.
Mr. Paul, as I have said, condemns the system of " hidf- profit." It is, he says, " misleading and unsatisfactory." It must entail upon the publisher a great amount of trouble, and the author, apart from the long delay which it aggravates, if it does not cause, has no reason to love it. An account of items which there are no possible means of checking is an obvious absurdity. It is only natural to vaguely suspect the charges which it is impossible to verify. Are these prices for printing, for paper, for binding, real or nominal, as nominal as the " pub- lishing price" of a book ? And this charge for advertising, how is it made up? Do not the newspapers allow a considerable " commission," of which the publisher, not the author, gets the benefit ? Why should I be debited, as I remember I once was, with a " share of a trade dinner," or with " trade expenses," surely the concern of the publisher only ?
The " royalty " system which Mr. Paul advocates has the
merit of simplicity and economy of trouble. The publisher has only, as regards the author, to keep an account of the copies sold. Payment might be made, I suppose, within a short time of a certain number having been reached, in the case of a first edition, or within a stipulated time after the publication of a second or subsequent edition. My own experi- ence of the royalty system has been perfectly satisfactory.
But either the " half-profit " or the " royalty " system is to be
chosen, rather than the " sale of copyright." Mr. Paul prefers this for a certain class of books, as, for instance, for the "ordi- nary novel." Possibly he is right, though what may seem at the time to be an " ordinary " novel may turn out in the end to be something very extraordinary. If " Jane Eyre " or the " Scenes of Clerical Life " had been sold for a lump sum, the arrangement would not have been by any means "good for the author," to use Mr. Paul's expression. My own experience on this point is so striking, that I give it in some detail, though I cannot hope that experience will avail much, in the face of necessity. Something like a quarter of a century ago, I published a volume which achieved a considerable success, and still holds its ground. My name was then unknown, and I had to pay the publisher a certain sum by way of guarantee against loss. Four years afterwards I sold the copyright, receiving for it and for other work done just as much as I had advanced, the advance being repaid at the same time. I was very poor in those days ; I wanted very much to take my wife and children into the country, but had not the means. Then, on a day when we were all wearying for fresh air, came the cheque. I had not asked for it; it was offered by the publisher. I do not blame him ; he took the legitimate advantage which every trader takes of his own means and the workman's wants. But it was a good bargain for him, and a bad one for me. I know this to a cer- tainty, because I have since published a precisely similar volume, which had had about the same measure of success. Of this I have retained the copyright, and I receive from it annually nearly as much as I got for the fee-simple of the other.
I can give, again from my own experience, another instance
to the same effect. Some years ago, I wrote or compiled sundry small books. Other gentlemen who were associated with me did the same. They sold their copyrights for, say, 220 a piece (I do not give the true figures, not wishing my good friend the publisher to identify me, but I guarantee their proportional accuracy). I retained mine ; and I now annually receive for some of these volumes more than the total sum paid to my colleagues, while in one case the income has amounted to nearly three times as much.
Let me say, then, to my brother-authors, with all possible emphasis, don't sell your copyright !—I am, Sir, (keg
AN A.IITHOR.
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