“Very few authors have lived to attain any degree of fame without
receiving back their cherished yet unwelcome manuscripts from the hands
of one or more unappreciative editors before they met the public eye.
“It is reported of ‘David Harum’ that six publishers rejected it
previous to its final publication.
“Archibald Gunter’s book, ‘Mr. Barnes of New York,’ went the rounds of
the various publishing houses, only to be rejected by all. Then Mr.
Gunter rose to the occasion, published it himself, and reaped a small
fortune from its sales.
“Many a successful short story and poem passes through the ‘reading’
department of a half-dozen magazines and weeklies without having its
merit discovered until a seventh editor accepts it.
“Poems of my own, which have later met much favor from the public, I
have seen return with a dejected and dog-eared air, from eight or nine
offices, whither they had gone forth, like Noah’s dove, seeking for a
resting place. A charming bit of verse, written by a friend of mine,
took twenty-one journeys from the maternal hand to the editor’s table
before it found an appreciative purchaser.
“If the young writer will stop and consider that each editor has his
own individual ideas of what he wants, both in verse and prose, and
that, just as no two faces are alike, no two minds run in the same
groove,—he may be hopeful for the ultimate acceptance of the darling of
his brain, if he will persevere. Of course, this refers to a writer who
possesses actual talent.”