743. The Short Story.—The short story is very popular in this country, and has attained a perfection reached nowhere else in the world. The rules of success in this department are briefly these: First, to be strikingly original; second, to write simply and naturally; and third, to condense into the smallest compass. Be brief. This is the age of electricity. Many a story of 10,000 words has been rejected when if it had contained half that number it would have been accepted. Publishers pay liberal rates for short, good stories. The New York Herald recently paid Mollie E. Seawell $3,000 for a short story. Within a very short time a magazine has offered a price of $1,000 for the best short story; another has made the same offer; and a third one of $500. Among the publications that pay the authors the highest rates are Harper’s Magazine, the Century, McClure’s, the Youth’s Companion, and the Ladies’ Home Journal. There are several others that pay nearly as much.
744. The Village Reporter.—Write up some event that occurs in your neighborhood. Any leading newspaper will pay for it if well written. It must be spicy, but not ornate. Put in strong, nervous adjectives; color well. Take care not to make it libelous. If you succeed you can try again, and if you show aptness at the work you will doubtless secure a position as a reporter.
745. The Truth Condenser.—Facts for the million! Do you know that a cyclopedia of the most useful information can be written in a single volume? The “Britannica” has twenty-five volumes. The “International” fifteen. Here is needed the faculty of condensation. Use facts only, and you will be surprised to find how many articles consist only of words. Make use of the great cyclopedias, the newspaper almanacs, government reports, and all books in which knowledge is condensed. Pack the book full of the things the millions want to know.
746. Town History.—Write a short history of your native town or of some other town. Publish the portraits, and residences or places of business, of the leading townsmen. Mention in the book everybody in the town whom you can. Even for the most humble can be found a place in a work of genealogy. The wealthy will give you large sums for the illustrations, and the vanity of the poor will cause them to buy a book in which their name appears. Cost of issue of book, $1,000. One thousand subscribers at $2 apiece, $2,000. One hundred of the wealthier class who will pay you $10 apiece for their portraits, $1,000. Profits, $2,000. If you are satisfied with the result, go on to the next town, and so on ad infinitum.
747. The Shoppers’ Guide.—A small book could be issued in paper covers for twenty-five cents, giving an explanation of every kind of goods, the difference, and the best kinds and brands. Not one person in twenty is posted on these things, and must take the clerk’s word. It should show what firms make a specialty in any line or department, and on what days they make a discount. Merchants would no doubt pay you at advertising rates for such a notice of their places of business. The book should include dry-goods and fancy stores as well as grocers and meat markets. Such a book should sell by the million.
748. A Birthday Book.—We have the “Shakespeare Birthday Book,” the “Tennyson Birthday Book,” the “Emerson Birthday Book,” and many others. Add one more, the “Richter.” The writings of Jean Paul abound in felicitous and eloquent passages, just suited for such a work.
749. A Church-Workers’ Book.—A man had a half-written book on church-work, dividing it into twenty branches with one thousand working plans to be given by the most successful ministers and other Christian workers in the land; but owing to a pressure of other duties he was unable to complete it. This lead is still unworked.
750. Household Economics.—A book can be written by one who understands the subject which it would pay every housekeeper to buy. The kitchen alone should supply at least one hundred examples of waste. The care of servants would employ another important part of the book. Every room would afford a chapter. Such a book, telling the inexperienced housekeeper what to buy and how to economize would save money for many a beginner.
751. The Plain Man’s Meal.—A book with this title should have a ready sale. All cook books are for persons who can keep a butler, or at least one or two servants. The recipes are expensive. Write one by means of which an economical housewife can get a meal for four at an expense of fifty cents. A regular menu for each meal for every day of the year would be appreciated. Plain food and simple cooking at cheap cost. The book should not be over 300 pages, and should not sell for more than one dollar.
752. Present Century Celebrities.—Nothing in history is harder to find out than the lives of persons in the last generation. History tells us the remote past, contemporary literature tells us about the present, but there is no book that tells us about the recent past. The men who were prominent in statesmanship, commerce and literature, two or three decades ago are not heard of now. A new generation has come upon the stage and knows them not. This is a want felt by every one who takes the slightest interest in times and men. Get out a book with a short chapter devoted to each of the prominent men who have lived in the last half of the nineteenth century. If this work seems too voluminous, then let it comprise only the leading men in our country since the Civil War. If well written it should command a great sale.