HINTS TO AUTHORS.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1681, 14 April 1883, Page 4

HINTS TO AUTHORS.

A many people think it the easiest thinu in the world to wiito for news papois. Iv this they are correct. All you have to do is to get a five cent bottle ot ink, a pen, and ten cents worth of foolscap, and the hardest of the labour is done. Don't try to write a good hand, a scrawl in which your n's and v's aie exactly alike is an indication of genius, and if you blot your -writing with your elbow the editoi'will nioicase your wages and call you the angel of the sanctum. Use ml ink, the paler the better, but if you can get milk write with th.it, and use a pen that makes holes thiough the paper every other line, for manuscript without holes is alu ays the work of beginners. When you have written a book or a serial, don't send the en the mannsciipt off at oneo. The editor always likes to receive it in chapters, and if you send the fiftieth chapter first he will bless your memory. It is his duty to assort and number your pages, and if you send itallinat once piopeily ai tanged aud punctuated, lie will know that you are some painstaking, halfstarved bird, ami reject the story. Don't fasten yonr pnges together, for the editor liUcs to see them fall into the spittoon when he unties the package, Wiite on six sides of the sheet, and in as many dilk-ient inks, if possible. Don't pay enough postage, for the publisher always keeps a fund fui unpaid postage. , A friend of mine one biokc tins inle ; he paid all the postage himself, and tho rebillt was that he wa.stold no\ei to wnto another line for tli.it paper, and one 11101 nmg he was found dead in h:s bed. killed no doubt by one of the hired a,as>iib^ms of the oflice. ]f you send your book by express, make the publisher pay all the charges, and then telegraph him a synopsis ot the story, charges of telegiam to be paid by him. The "synopsis' pi epaieshim for the manusciipt, and lu> w ill by a strict regimen get re.uly to road it underßtandingly. 15e sure to wtite him e\ cry other day to know when your story will apuear. Postal cards weic made for this express purpose. Your stoiy, of eouise, takes precedence of all others, and if the editor does not seem to think this, lepoifc him to the publishers and he will be discharged at once. Ask a respectable pi ice for youi labour. Hugo gets a dollar a word; don't ask midei eighty cents for youv story. Men of genius charge hv syllables ; I get forty cents per syllable for this ai tide, and such words as Constantinople and polycotylcdsuous would feoou reap you a harvest. Always ask the editor what he thinks of your handw riting. ITc loves to answer such questions, and if he is a man of sense he w ill say tli.it it indicates genius. Tell him to return yonr stoiy if any corrections are to be made, but if you enclose stamps it will never be sent luck ; never ! You can insult an editor in no more flagrant manner than by enclosing stamps for a manusciipt's letuvn. If you arc a poet— and of course you aY e — you will not send a poem containing less than one hundred verses. Spring is a subject seldom treated ; Milson once wrote on it, and a fellow named Thomson tiied his hand ; but they failed, so the field is left open to you. Let dow-n the bais, and go in ; a waiting A\ortd will thank you, and tho editor w ill hail your poem with delight. Poetry is not hard to wiitc, theiefoie, don't ask more than ten doll.us a stanza for yours. All pqetry sent to the papers is accepted, for but little is sent; indeed, the editor is sometimes obliged to advertise for it. Such young fellows as Tennyson, Longfellow, and \V hittier write a good deal ; but the publisher and the public are dying for something from you pen. Don't forget this. As much of the copy is set up after dailc, you will oblige the compositor if you Avill wiitc acioss the page fiom top' to bottom as well as from left to w rite. JTo likes to get this kind of copy, and your work will appear without au errpr, especially if the proof reader is out of town. If you don't spell very correctly never miud ;' the Compositor knows "Webster by heart, and takes pleasure in correcting misspelled manuscript. As' lie is always an intelligent man, with a large family of triplets to support, he gets fifty cents for every word corrected ; so help him along. .Finally, if yon don't desh'e to write for the press until you are dead, you will be more successful, and your fame as a literary man will never be disputed— never. ' ' ' '

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