"The Fiction Factory" by William Wallace Cook. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1912 Edition.

Example in this ebook I. AUT FICTION, AUT NULLUS. "Well, my dear," said John Milton Edwards, miserably uncertain and turning to appeal to his wife, "which shall it be—to write or not to write?" "To write," was the answer, promptly and boldly, "to do nothing else but write." John Milton wanted her to say that, and yet he did not. Her conviction, orally expressed, had all the ring of true metal; yet her husband, reflecting his own inner perplexities, heard a false note suggesting the base alloy of uncertainty. "Hadn't we better think it over?" he quibbled. "You've been thinking it over for two years, John, and this month is the first time your returns from your writing have ever been more than your salary at the office. If you can be so successful when you are obliged to work nights and Sundays—and most of the time with your wits befogged by office routine—what could you not do if you spent ALL your time in your Fiction Factory?" "It may be," ventured John Milton, "that I could do better work, snatching a few precious moments from those everlasting pay-rolls, than by giving all my time and attention to my private Factory." "Is that logical?" inquired Mrs. John Milton. "I don't know, my dear, whether it's logical or not. We're dealing with a psychological mystery that has never been broken to harness. Suppose I have the whole day before me and sit down at my typewriter to write a story. Well and good. But getting squared away with a fresh sheet over the platen isn't the whole of it. The Happy Idea must be evolved. What if the Happy Idea does not come when I am ready for it? Happy Ideas, you know, have a disagreeable habit of hiding out. There's no hard and fast rule, that I am aware, for capturing a Happy Idea at just the moment it may be most in demand. There's lightning in a change of work, the sort of lightning that clears the air with a tonic of inspiration. When I'm paymastering the hardest I seem to be almost swamped with ideas for the story mill. Query: Will the mill grind out as good a grist if it grinds continuously? If I were sure—" "It stands to reason," Mrs. Edwards maintained stoutly, "that if you can make $125 a month running the mill nights and Sundays, you ought to be able to make a good deal more than that with all the week days added." "Provided," John Milton qualified, "my fountain of inspiration will flow as freely when there is nothing to hinder it as it does now when I have it turned off for twelve hours out of the twenty-four." "Why shouldn't it?" "I don't know, my dear," John Milton admitted, "unless it transpires that my inspiration isn't strong enough to be drawn on steadily." "Fudge," exclaimed Mrs. Edwards. "And then," her husband proceeded, "let us consider another phase of the question. The demand may fall off. The chances are that it WILL fall off the moment the gods become aware of the fact that I am depending on the demand for our bread and butter. Whenever a thing becomes absolutely essential to you, Fate immediately obliterates every trail that leads to it, and you go wandering desperately back and forth, getting more and more discouraged until—" "Until you drop in your tracks," broke in Mrs. Edwards, "and give up—a quitter." "Quitter" is a mean word. There's something about it that jostles you, and treads on your toes. "I don't think I'd prove a quitter," said John Milton, "even if I did get lost in a labyrinth of hard luck. It's the idea of losing you along with me that hurts." "I'll risk that." To be continue in this ebook

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 edition. Excerpt: ... XXII. PATRONS AND PROFITS FOR TWENTY-TWO YEARS On the 20th of this month (September, 1911) it will be just twenty-two years since Edwards received payment for his first story. On Sept. 20, 1889, The Detroit Free Press sent him a check for $8. On that $8 the Fiction Factory was started. Who have been the patrons of the Factory for these twenty-two years, and what have been the returns? A vast amount of work has been necessary in order to formulate exact answers to these questions. Papers and other memoranda bearing upon the subject were widely scattered. During Edwards' travels about the country many letters and records were lost. The list that follows, therefore, is incomplete, but exact as far as it goes. More work was realized upon, by several thousands of dollars, than is here shown. For every item in the record Edwards has a letter, or a printed slip that accompanied the check, as his authority. The errors are merely those of omission. Titles of the material sold will not be given, but following the name of the publication that purchased the material will be found the year in which it was either published or paid for. Adventure, The Ridgway Company, Spring: & Macdougal Streets, New York City, 1911--1 novel ettet S 250. All-Story Magazine, The P. A. Munsey Co., 175 Fifth Ave., New York City, 1904--1 serial 225. 1905-- 2 short stories, 1 serial 255. 1906-- 2 serials 950. 1908--3 serials 1,000. American Press Association, 45 & 47 Park Place, New York City, 1905--2 short stories 30. The Argosy, F. A Munsey Co., 175 Fifth Ave., New York City, 1900--1 serial 250. 1901-- 1 serial 200. 1902-- 1 serial 260. 1903-- 1 novelette, 4 serials 1,050. 1904-- 1 short story, 1 novelette, 4 serials.. 975. 1905-- 3 serials, 1 novelette 925. 1906-- 2...

Herbert Allingham was one of 'the men who wrote for the Million'. His melodramatic serial stories ran week after week in the ha'penny papers a hundred years ago. But was he an author? He didn't think so.This biography seeks to change that. Herbert Allingham's daughters were proud of their father. They kept boxful of his stories, diaries, account books and letters from his editors. Julia Jones has used this archive to investigate the conditions of Allingham's working life and to glimpse some of his readers.

Excerpt from The Fiction Factory It was John Milton Edwards (who sets his hand to this book Of experiences and prefers using the third person to overworking the egotistical pronoun) turned wholly to his pen as a means of livelihood. In this connection, Of course, the word pen is figurative. What he really turned to was his good friend, the Type writer. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Herbert Allingham was one of the men who wrote for the Million. He was born the year of reform, 1867, when an extension of the franchise gave urgent political impetus towards compulsory education and the spread of literacy. This is a biography of his life.