Telling would-be contributors to the five-cent pocket series _How
to Write Little Blue Books_, is, by rights, the editor’s--E.
Haldeman-Julius’s--job. For he is the man who ultimately accepts the
manuscript, if it is acceptable, and he signs the check which each
author awaits with eager anticipation. But he says that going into the
details of how manuscripts should be written for this ever growing
series does not appeal to him. So far he has preferred to find and
buy the product of those writers who are able, without more than a
preliminary word or two, to turn out exactly what he wants. So he
has delegated me to do the job for him, and he has charged me to be
explicit, exhaustive, and extremely understandable.
For editorial problems of the Little Blue Books are peculiar. There is
no other series to be compared with The Little Blue Books. Certainly
not in the English language, and similar series in foreign languages
are not quite the same, and are, of course, not of interest to writers
in English. E. Haldeman-Julius has told the complete story of ten years
of publishing the Little Blue Books, from editing some two thousand
manuscripts to the complete list of more than fourteen hundred titles
in print as I write, in his book, _The First Hundred Million_.[1] The
100,000,000 refers to the total number of Little Blue Books printed and
sold at the time the book was written. I urge every would-be Little
Blue Book writer to get a copy of this book, if possible, and read it
from cover to cover. Entirely aside from its technical interest, the
book is thoroughly readable as a unique contribution to the psychology
of the American reading public.
[1] _The First Hundred Million_, by E. Haldeman-Julius, cloth bound, $3
postpaid, Haldeman-Julius Co., Girard, Kansas.
As for my own qualifications to tell how Little Blue Books must be
written, to be acceptable for publication in this world famous series,
they are two. For more than three years I have been the Assistant
Editor of the Haldeman-Julius Publications, and I have encountered at
first hand the editorial and publishing problems peculiar to them. I
have corresponded with many Little Blue Book writers; I have whipped
many a manuscript into shape for the typesetters; I have scheduled
thousands of Little Blue Books, in hundreds of large editions, for
publication. My second qualification is that I am a Little Blue Book
writer myself, and have been for some six years. Up to the moment of
writing, more Little Blue Books bear my name (laying aside my cloak
of modesty for the moment) than any other single contributor’s name,
not excepting Joseph McCabe, who is a far more redoubtable writer
than I, having to his credit the colossal enterprise of _The Key
to Culture_,[2] in forty 30,000-word volumes, in addition to his
fifty-five or so Little Blue Books. Ergo, I ought to know something
about the subject.
[2] _The Key to Culture_, by Joseph McCabe, an outline of all
knowledge, 40 5½ × 8½ volumes, bound in stiff card covers, 64 pages
each, $7.50 postpaid, Haldeman-Julius Co., Girard, Kansas.
Justification for the present Little Blue Book will appear, if at
all, in the sales record of this particular number a year or two from
now. Judging from the inquiries that pour into Girard on every mail,
it should not be hard to dispose of an edition of 10,000 copies every
year. Not that all the buyers of the book will become Little Blue Book
contributors--for many will want to read this book out of a natural
curiosity; others will find that the work of writing for the series is
not suited to their capabilities; others will simply be unable to meet
the high standard required--but the interest in the subject is, I am
sure, large enough to make the book worth writing.
Certainly it is a clear sign of the unique character of the Little Blue
Book series that it becomes advisable to include within the series, as
a unit of the whole, a book telling how more books should be written!
What other publisher has ever added to his list a book telling, in
substance, _How to Write Books For Me_?
But there is another reason for writing this book. As the Little Blue
Books have progressed, undergoing many changes in editorial policy,
widening their scope with the growth of their audience, problems
have arisen which merit different treatment from problems which have
confronted other editors and other publishers. As a series, the Little
Blue Books have reached the point where definite rules must be laid
down and strictly adhered to in the preparation of further titles for
publication. Particular avenues of expansion are opening up, for which
special writers must be found, or for which present writers may perhaps
qualify if they are informed of the need. Hundreds of people would
like to write at least one Little Blue Book, dealing perhaps with a
subject very familiar to them; but it is impossible to tell each writer
individually how to go about it. Many such contributors may not be
professional writers, but because of their familiarity with a subject
they may be able, if properly instructed, to deliver a satisfactory
manuscript.
Even those writers who have already one or more published Little Blue
Books to their credit may learn something from what the Assistant
Editor has to say. The less editing we have to do in Girard, the
better. It would be ideal if Little Blue Book writers could grasp the
mechanical requirements of a Little Blue Book, and see it, to some
extent, from an editorial viewpoint. They should understand something
of the typography. They should familiarize themselves with the
established style (spelling, punctuation, and the like) and follow it
in their manuscript. Points such as these I will mention in due course.