MARK TWAIN'S EXCLUSIVE PUBLISHER TELLS WHAT THE HUMORIST IS PAID.
By James B. Morrow.
New York, March 2.
Who is the best paid writer in the United States? George Harvey, publisher of books and editor of magazines, ought to know. The foremost authors of the day are on his pay roll.
"Mark Twain," he instantly replied when I asked the question. "No other man in the history of letters, either here or in Europe, has ever received 30 cents a word on a contract that is practically unlimited as to time, and absolutely without conditions as to subjects, treatment, or anything else. It is unthinkable that Mark Twain should write a story or article and have it rejected. Even in that inconceivable event, however, he would be paid 30 cents a word just the same. Put into language easily understood, 30 cents a word is equivalent to $360 per column in an average-sized newspaper.
"After he returned from his trip around the world, a journey he undertook when he failed in business as a publisher, Clemens could barely earn $6,000 a year. I had a talk with him which resulted in a contract to pay 30 cents a word for everything he wrote, whether it was printed or thrown away. No author had ever received more than 10 cents a word on a long contract. A. Conan Doyle, the Scotch writer and physician, was paid $1 a word within a year or two for a new series of detective stories, but the engagement was short, and a number of publishers were concerned. Mark Twain earns $59,000 a year. Indeed. I think his income in 1907 will reach $70,000.
Earns $1,000 in Three Hours.
"Until recently he wrote wholly by hand. Quite unexpectedly he found that he could dictate to a secretary. He was as pleased over the discovery as was President Roosevelt when he happened upon Mount Sinai, Moses, and the Ten Commandments. Now he lights a cigar after breakfast, sits down in his library and dictates for three hours on his autobiography. When he gets up he has earned $1,000. He is a great man, and will live longer than Thackeray, who was verbose, for one thing, and whose vision was confined to a single phase of social development in a single country. Twain is world-wide in his breadth of view. A man of critical judgment said not long since that he is the first novelist of the age. Whatever his rank may be, I am sure he will remain in our literature when brighter stars have lost some of their splendor. He is now free from the worry about money, and is at his best."
"Not a great while ago you called William Dean Howells the first man of letters in America. Why did you give him that distinction?"
"Because he is worthy of it. He is not the most popular author in the country, but technically he is the greatest artist. It is difficult to compare authors. Dickens, Scott, and Thackeray were illustrious, but you cannot stand them in a row and measure them. Mr. Howells, like Mark Twain, is doing his finest work now, but the very best he is capable of is yet to come. As a craftsman in letters he is first among American writers. He loves to toil with words, and there never was a more painstaking workman. The other day I read the manuscript of a new novel he has written and noted his corrections. I a sure there were less than thirty. When anything leaves Mr. Howell's desk it is perfect in all respect--in art as well as in mechanics."
"Have you a contract with him?"
Gave Howells a Contract.
"Yes, and that is the reason he is surpassing his former brilliant achievements. Several years ago the change of literary and other conditions in this country brought a new school of writers into the foreground, and Mr. Howells was almost driven to pot-boiling for a living. He came to my farm in New Jersey one day and we talked the subject over. Then we slept on it. After breakfast next morning I told him I would guarantee him a certain sum of money each year regardless of whether he wrote one line or a million. Men of genius must not be harassed by money matters. Mr. Howells accepted my proposal, and immediately entered upon the most fruitful period of his literature.
"Neither Mark Twain no Mr. Howells is ever told what to write. Either can choose any subject he pleases, write as much or as little as he thinks fit, and there his worry and responsibility ends. Talent ought not to be hobbled with orders and instructions. So it happens that both Howells and Clemens are making more money than ever before and literature is being enriched by their art. Each new book increases the sales of the old ones already on the market, and thus growing royalties give zest to labor."
"Has any author in America become rich by writing?"