PREFACE

To Every User of This Book

The aim of the compiler of this list has been to make an essentially complete enumeration of the literary markets of the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, listing them in compact and easily accessible form, with special thought to those periodicals and other buyers likely to purchase manuscripts most freely. The reliability of the listed markets is, of course, not guaranteed, but great care has been exercised so as to exclude publishers and producers of bad repute with writers in general.

No such list can be absolutely complete, in the sense of including every shy and disappearing wanderer in this field; nor can such a directory be in every particular correct, because new publications are being born constantly and others are suspending. Under ordinary conditions, the periodical world exhibits a constant state of flux, and it is just now especially changeable. The aim has been to ensure a consistent accuracy. Writers who have information regarding_markets which should or should not be listed herein are earnestly requested to send such items to the editor for use in revisions of this volume, which will take place from time to time. Current market news is published each month in The Writer's Monthly.*

Some magazines use a greater diversity of material, and much more material, than others. Concerning these magazines we have attempted to give the fullest information. Every endeavor has been made to ascertain precise needs, but it is always wise for the writer to procure copies of the publication when shaping manuscript for some particular field. A sample copy of the magazine may usually be had on receipt of the current price of a copy, as given herein.

For greater convenience of reference the magazines and other markets are arranged in groups. Special information relative to each group is given under the separate headings; and the viewpoint or slant of periodicals (a matter of the greatest importance to an author) is indicated wherever possible. In the case of one company publishing a number of magazines, the writer will desire to know whether manuscripts submitted for one of the string will be read for all, or whether each magazine should be separately addressed. A general rule cannot be formulated; but information of this kind will be found in both places, under the firm name and under their periodicals.

But you can know to a degree what magazines of a group to send to, by knowing the editors. Some editors edit two or more of a group. Charles A. MacLean edits Popular and Smith's, in the Street & Smith group, New York. The Thrill Book (suspended) was edited by Harold

Editor. J. Berg Esenwein. Per copy. 20c; per year, $2.00. THE HOME CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL, Springfield, Mass.

Hersey, Ainslee's by W. Adolphe Roberts, Top Notch by Henry W. Thomas, and Detective Story by F. E. Blackwell. The new People's Favorite is edited by Lee Brown.

As for the three Munsey magazines, Munsey's, All Story and Argosy, New York, they request that a manuscript be addressed to the company or group, as the same editorial staff conducts all the magazines, and this staff considers a story impartially for all three. This is also probably largely true of the group of Adventure and the new Romance, for Arthur S. Hoffman edits both, though it might be wise to stipulate that a story is offered to both. Everybody's, in the same group, is edited by S. V. Roderick. The Delineator belongs to this group.

The Hearst group, at 119 West 40th Street, New York, is another big one, but all with different editors, for the magazines vary widely. Ray Long is general editor. Among their publications are Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Hearst's, Harper's Bazar, Motor, and Motor Boating, etc. The Curtis Publishing Co., Philadelphia, publishes The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal and Country Gentleman. The Crowell Publishing Company is responsible for The American Magazine, Collier's Weekly (recently acquired), and Woman's Home Companion. Manuscripts should be sent to individual periodicals in these groups.

Other groups of big fiction magazines are Snappy Stories and Live Stories (The New Fiction Publishing Company); Young's Magazine and Breezy Stories; Parisienne, Smart Set, Saucy Stories and Field and Stream. At Chicago are the Red Book, Green Book and Blue Book. At Garden City, L. I., New York, are Country Life, Garden Magazine, Short Stories, and World's Work, all published by Doubleday, Page and Company. The Red Cross Magazine, published at 1107 Broadway, New York, is a sort of appanage of this concern. In Brooklyn, N. Y., there is a motion-picture group, consisting of the Motion Picture, the Motion Picture Classic, and Shadowland. Vogue, Vanity Fair, and House and Garden, all published at 19 West 44th Street, New York, compose a "fashion" clan.

There are other groups, among them being various Sunday-school publications. David C. Cook Company, Elgin, Ill., is one of the largest of these. They publish Boy's World, Girl's Companion, What to Do, Young People's Weekly, and others, and all use numerous shortstories and articles, paying promptly at from four-tenths to one-half a cent per word. Every age, from the little tots to young people of eighteen years, is represented, so the market is wide. They will send books telling just what they need and sample copies of periodicals free. Of others in that classification, there are the Methodist Book Concern at Cincinnati, the Baptist Publication Society at Philadelphia, and Nashville, Tenn., also the various other church Sunday-school publications.

There are also one or two big groups of farm papers, among them the Capper publications at Topeka, Kansas, and the Orange Judd publications at Springfield, Mass. The groups of technical magazines are so various and extensive that they cannot be considered here. One of the largest of these is the U. P. C. Book Co., Inc., New York, publishing Iron Age, Hardware Age, American Architect, Building

Age, Metal Worker, Automotive Industries, Motor Age, Motor World, Motor Boat, Commercial Vehicle, Dry-Goods Economist, Drygoodsman, and Boot and Shoe Recorder.*

There are certain time-tried regulations for preparing and submitting manuscripts which should be followed with punctiliousness by intending contributors. The following suggestions are taken or adapted from "Writing for the Magazines." +

Use white paper, letter size (81⁄2 x 11), and be sure that it is not transparent.

Type your manuscript on one side of the paper only, and in typing double space is better than triple.

Leave proportionately as large margins on all sides of the typed page as you see on this printed page.

It is useless to submit pencil-written manuscripts unless you have an understanding with the editor.

Fold the letter-size sheet twice, thus leaving three equal parts of the paper in folds. Positively never roll the paper.

Many, though not all, editors prefer that short manuscripts should not be permanently fastened or bound.

Be sure to number (folio) the sheets from first to last, and not merely by chapters.

Use large and strong envelopes for sending out manuscripts.

It is far better to enclose a stamped, self-addressed, tough envelope for the possible return of material, but if you really cannot do this, send stamps, enclosed in oiled paper or in a small envelope. Do not pin or clip stamps to your letter, and in no circumstances put them in the outer envelope loose.

Be sure to prepay all postage fully, at letter rates. Manuscripts may not legally be sent by parcel post. It is a good plan to stamp your name and address in very small type on each sheet.

At the top of the first page of your manuscript place the following information:

In estimating the number of words, count several lines on the average page in order to average the number of words on a line. Multiply by the number of lines on the page, and then by the number of pages. Count the short lines as though they were full, and estimate carefully.

Letters to editors should be short, or omitted entirely. Proposals to submit manuscripts to editors should only be sent in exceptional cases. Personal interviews should not be expected, except as invited by the editor.

Be sure to address the magazine by its correct style and at the proper street number. Magazine addresses frequently change. It is • Reprinted from an article by Archie Joscelyn in The Writer's Monthly. This information holds good up to the time of going to press.

†By J. Berg Esenwein. Postpaid, $1.75. THE HOME CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL, Springfield, Mass.

essential to be accurate in every particular, even in those matters which involve merely technical details.

It is better not to set a price on your manuscript, though a few wellknown writers do. If you are not content to offer your manuscripts "at regular rates," courteously ask the editor to make an offer. It is far better for the beginner to accept the regular rates of the magazine and send no more manuscripts if the check is not satisfactory. In case a manuscript is held by the editor of a magazine for a long period, or if the writer desires for any reason to withdraw his manuscript from the hands of an editor, such withdrawal may be made by requesting the editor to return the manuscript at once. If this letter is registered the writer will have record that it has been received by the editor in question, and he can then offer his manuscript elsewhere.

Be businesslike and use a manuscript record for keeping track of your work. Errors and losses are certain to occur at times, against which some simple form of literary bookkeeping is but a sound precaution.

Lastly, it is most important to use discretion and judgment in submitting manuscripts. These should not be sent around indiscriminately; the character and tone of each publication should be studied. Sometimes the advice of literary agents is desirable, but commonly not. It is quite true that a good representative knows markets and can find openings which are unknown to the average person. It is also true that he usually gets fair prices for what he sells. What is more, he will act as a literary and business adviser for a writer whose work is succeeding and often thus develop him rapidly. However, reliable literary agents in the United States are few, and in no case can any agent succcessfully handle mediocre material. The average writer with common sense will have a more satisfactory experience acting as his own salesman.

And now for a few "don'ts":

Don't pay for the production of your work in expectation of financial returns. In not one instance out of a thousand is it financially profitable for a writer to pay for the publication of his song or his story.

Don't believe that anyone on earth has the "pull" to get your manuscripts accepted by reputable magazines unless your work is really good enough to win without that pretended “pull.”

Don't believe that any "school" or "bureau" or critic knows how to lead you through a secret short-cut to success, to take the place of willingness to work hard and persistently.

Don't believe that any literary sales agent can sell unsalable material.

Don't allow yourself to be discouraged because your manuscript has been rejected. Better it if you can, and send it forth again. Availability is the chief editorial test. Cultivate a journalistic sense. Know your work and its limitations, and write for definite ends.

Don't, in sending manuscript, write the editor saying that you saw in this or any other book that his publication was in need of material. A few instructions in the method of using this book to best advantage may be of value: