HOW TO RECEIVE AN ASSIGNMENT
Little Blue Books are written on assignment. That is to say, all prospective titles are tentatively approved before the manuscript is actually prepared. Seldom indeed has a chance manuscript, submitted without previous correspondence, fitted into the series. The freelance writer can hardly hope to guess what may be suitable, unless he is familiar with the fourteen hundred or so different titles now in print, and unless he knows, too, the nearly thousand titles which have been discontinued and obviously must not be repeated.
If you want to write a Little Blue Book the first thing to do is for you to get an idea. Do not write us some such letter as the following:
Editor, Haldeman-Julius Publications,
Girard, Kansas
Dear Sirs:I am a good writer and have lots of time. I would like to write some Little Blue Books for you. Please write me immediately what I should write and how much you will pay me to do it for you.
Signed, A. M. Ateur.
Such a letter tells nothing. Such a letter is the height of futility in seeking to write for Little Blue Book publication. First of all, you must have in mind a subject which you would like to prepare especially for the Little Blue Book series. Possibly it is a subject which you are particularly equipped to handle, due to your education, or your experience, or your inclinations. If so, be sure to give a brief outline of such qualifications when you write your suggestion to Mr. Haldeman-Julius. If you have published other work, it is a good idea to mention it, giving titles and dates of publication.
In other words, do your best to convince the editor that you can do the work well. Next to wasting his own time, E. Haldeman-Julius is opposed to wasting the time of any writer. If you are unable to write up to the standard he demands, he prefers to know it before he allows you to begin work. For whenever an unsatisfactory manuscript is delivered, the time of both author and editor is thrown away.
When you have an idea which seems to you a good idea for a Little Blue Book, and if, so far as you know, this title or a very similar one is not already in the series, write a letter about it, addressed to E. Haldeman-Julius, Editor, Haldeman-Julius Publications, Girard, Kansas. You will receive a prompt reply. If the idea appeals to Mr. Haldeman-Julius, he will write you a letter giving you the assignment to do that title for the Little Blue Books.
Let there be no misunderstanding about such an assignment. If the editor accepts your idea, and feels that you are qualified to handle the subject, he says you may go ahead with it—that is, he would like to see the completed manuscript. However, he does not bind the Haldeman-Julius Company to pay for that manuscript unless it is up to the usual standard and satisfactory in every way.
When you receive an assignment you should set to work at once. Read over the manuscript specifications (given in the section following this) to be sure you have them clearly in mind, and go to work. The assignment of a title to any writer carries with it an understanding, usually not put in the letter, that the completed manuscript will be delivered within sixty days. If sixty days or more elapse without further word from the author, it is understood by all concerned that he has either not been able to do the work or has not chosen to do it, and that assignment may, if it is found desirable to do so, be given to someone else. If for any reason you cannot deliver a manuscript within sixty days after a subject is assigned to you, you should write to the editor explaining the delay, and giving a probable date of delivery on the manuscript.
This may seem a somewhat lax system. But you must consider that several hundred Little Blue Book manuscripts are accepted for publication every year, and that this is in addition to the other editorial duties of Mr. Haldeman-Julius. It is essential that the system be both simple and practical. Ten years’ experience has shown the present method to be both, and to work out satisfactorily for everyone.
When your manuscript is finished, go over it carefully for typographical errors. You should endeavor, so far as you can, to deliver your manuscript ready—not only for the editor—but for the typesetters (see section following for further details). If suitable, your manuscript will be formally accepted within three days after its receipt in Girard, and a check in full payment will be mailed to you. Acceptances and checks often go out on the same day a manuscript is received. Then your manuscript goes to the typesetters at once. If you wish to read proof on it yourself, you should so request after you have received notice of acceptance.
Always send manuscripts by first class mail (two cents an ounce), sealed. If you are submitting your first manuscript, always enclose postage for its return to you in case it is not satisfactory.
Your next question may well be: “How am I to get ideas for Little Blue Books?” That is your problem, however, and you will have to solve it. In a later section I have listed some of the subjects or groups of subjects which might be acceptable during the next year or two. But to be assigned any of these subjects a writer must thoroughly qualify and convince the editor that he has the necessary knowledge and experience to handle them well.
Of course, ideas for new Little Blue Books continually mature in Girard. But these ideas are given, as a matter of course, to experienced Little Blue Book writers. There are ten writers, at least, who are always ready to prepare a needed manuscript, and these ten writers have proved that, in their fields, they can do satisfactory work of a high standard. For this reason, assignments are not given to new writers unless the new writers have good ideas of their own.
Some would-be writers may feel doubtful about submitting their ideas, lest they be “stolen” and given to someone else. The only guarantee against this is the established integrity of the Haldeman-Julius Publications in dealing with scores of authors during the past decade. Every writer must run this risk, even if he submits a completed manuscript. Possibly someone else may have the same idea—that sometimes happens. The earlier bird, naturally, gets the assignment. It is apparent that conflicts of this kind do happen occasionally, and they simply have to be forgotten.
If you have no ideas, no matter how good a writer you are, you may as well sell your typewriter and become a soda clerk or elevator boy. The writer without ideas does not remain a writer long, no matter what sort of work he is supposed to be doing.