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The Man of Letters as a Man of Business-Part3_William Dean Howells(1837-1920)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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when they must; but there is nothing to hinder an author from

driving a hard bargain, too, when he can, or when he must; and it



is to be said of the publisher that he is always more willing to

abide by the bargain when it is made than the author is; perhaps



because he has the best of it. But he has not always the best of

it; I have known publishers too generous to take advantage of the



innocence of authors; and I fancy that if publishers had to do

with any race less diffident than authors, they would have won a



repute for unselfishness that they do not now enjoy. It is

certain that in the long period when we flew the black flag of



piracy there were many among our corsairs on the high seas of

literature who paid a fair price for the stranger craft they



seized; still oftener they removed the cargo, and released their

capture with several weeks' provision; and although there was



undoubtedly a good deal of actual throat-cutting and scuttling,

still I feel sure that there was less of it than there would have



been in any other line of business released to the unrestricted

plunder of the neighbor. There was for a long time even a comity



among these amiable buccaneers, who agreed not to interfere with

each other, and so were enabled to pay over to their victims some



portion of the profit from their stolen goods. Of all business

men publishers are probably the most faithful and honorable, and



are only surpassed in virtue when men of letters turn business

men.



Publishers have their little theories, their little

superstitions, and their blind faith in the great god Chance,



which we all worship. These things lead them into temptation and

adversity, but they seem to do fairly well as business men, even



in their own behalf. They do not make above the usual

ninety-five per cent. of failures, and more publishers than



authors get rich. I have known several publishers who kept their

carriages, but I have never known even one author to keep his



carriage on the profits of his literature, unless it was in some

modest country place where one could take care of one's own



horse. But this is simply because the authors are so many, and

the publishers are so few. If we wish to reverse their



positions, we must study how to reduce the number of authors and

increase the number of publishers; then prosperity will smile our



way.

VIII.



Some theories or superstitions publishers and authors share

together. One of these is that it is best to keep your books all



in the hands of one publisher if you can, because then he can

give them more attention ad sell more of them. But my own



experience is that when my books were in the hands of three

publishers they sold quite as well as when one had them; and a



fellow author whom I approached in question of this venerable

belief, laughed at it. This bold heretic held that it was best



to give each new book to a new publisher, for then the fresh man

put all his energies into pushing it; but if you had them all



together, the publisher rested in a vain security that one book

would sell another, and that the fresh venture would revive the



public interest in the stale ones. I never knew this to happen,

and I must class it with the superstitions of the trade. It may



be so in other and more constant countries, but in our fickle

republic, each last book has to fight its own way to public



favor, much as if it had no sort of literary lineage. Of course

this is stating it rather largely, and the truth will be found



inside rather than outside of my statement; but there is at least

truth enough in it to give the young author pause. While one is



preparing to sell his basket of glass, he may as well ask himself

whether it is better to part with all to one dealer or not; and



if he kicks it over, in spurning the imaginarycustomer who asks

the favor of taking entire stock, that will be his fault, and not



the fault of the question.

However, the most important question of all with the man of



letters as a man of business, is what kind of book will sell the

best of itself, because, at the end of the ends, a book sells



itself or does not sell at all; kissing, after long ages of

reasoning and a great deal of culture, still goes by favor, and



though innumerable generations of horses have been led to water,

not one horse has yet been made to drink. With the best, or the






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