ur manuscripts, the better
for your future and your pocketbook.

It is folly to submit contributions in handwriting to a busy editor who
has to read through a bushel of manuscripts a day. The more legible the
manuscript, the better are your chances to win a fair reading. I will go
further, and declare that a manuscript which has all the earmarks of
being by a professional is not only more carefully read, but also is
likely to be treated with more consideration when a decision is to be
made upon its value to the publisher in dollars and cents. Put yourself
in the editor's place and you will quickly enough grasp the psychology
of this.

The editor knows that no professional submits manuscripts in
handwriting, that no professional writes upon both sides of the sheet,
and that no professional omits to enclose an addressed stamped envelope
in which to return the manuscript to its author if it proves unavailable
for the magazine's use. Why brand yourself as a novice even before the
manuscript reader has seen your first sentence? Remember you are
competing for editorial attention against a whole bushel of other
manuscripts. The girl who opens the magazine's mail may be tempted to
cast your contribution into the rejection basket on general principles,
if you are foolish enough to get away to such a poor start. What an
ignominious end to your literary adventure is this--and all because you
were careless, or didn't know any better!

The writer who really means business will not neglect in any detail the
psychology of making his manuscript invite a thorough reading. It may be
bad form to accept a dinner invitation in typewriting, but it is
infinitely worse form to fail to typewrite an invitation to editorial
eyes to buy your manuscript. Good form also dictates that the first page
of your contribution should bear in the upper left hand corner of the
sheet your name, upon the first line; the street address, on the second;
the town and state, on the third. In the upper right hand corner should
be set down an estimate of the number of words contained in the
manuscript.

Leave a blank down to the middle of the page. There, in capitals, write
the title of the article; then drop down a few lines and type your pen
name (if you use one) or whatever version of your signature that you
wish to have appear above the article when it comes out in print. Drop
down a few more lines before you begin with the text, and indent about
an inch for