Magazines don’t pay well, 1867

Writing isn’t quite as remunerative as people seem to think. Most people notice the J. K. Rowlings and the Stephenie Meyers and assume that if they can just pull off the writing of a book, they’ll be able to retire in comfort.

Not so—really not so. One of the perks of being a self-publisher writer is being privy to the struggles of much more successful self-published writers, as described on various forums. (Producing multiple books per year, writing to the pattern of the chosen genre, and advertising advertising advertising seem to be among the methods some use in order to keep selling.) And one of the pleasures of being on those forums is seeing writers relying on noisome tricks crash and burn. (Trying to trick readers into reporting incorrect numbers of pages read seems to be among the methods some of those use in order to keep raking in the cash.)

Writing quite often don’t pay or don’t pay much. And, judging by “The Pay of Magazines,” it never did. (Also, see Samuel Griswold Goodrich, whose books were hugely popular, but who was arrested for debt and had to sell the house, the cow, and the family dog to climb his way out.) Even in 1867 a writer had to produce and produce; and—as is true today—luck played a huge role in success. Also, writing to the pattern of the chosen genre: “Fanny Fern” ’s popularity stemmed from the combination of quick wit and sentimentality her readers craved. At one point in her career, she was receiving $100 per column—a staggering amount in the 1800s. (And about $2800 now. Yep, still staggering.)

The amounts recorded in “The Pay of Magazines” are far from $100 per column. They’re more $5 per page—and even that, we’re assured, is at the high end. (I’m more familiar with being paid by the word—and when I was, I was very much aware of how many words the copy editor removed, and how many I put back! I imagine 19th-century writers were just as conscious.) The inflation calculator puts that at about $93 per page today. It still took a lot of pages to cover the family bills.

Of great interest to me is how much the children’s magazines paid. Our Young Folks, Riverside Magazine, and Oliver Optic’s Magazine: Our Boys and Girls (the last two being brand new magazines in 1867) are the focus here; and the remuneration is $4-$5 per page—actually, more than one might expect. These magazines were connected with important names: “Oliver Optic” was hugely popular; and the other two magazines were connected with major book publishers. Certainly the pay scale for lesser children’s periodicals was much less. (Btw, John Townsend Trowbridge co-edited Our Young Folks, which is why he was paid a salary. And he’s an interesting writer—for children and adults—whose works you might enjoy.)

So, here’s why your favorite 19th-century writer wrote so much, especially if they were writing for periodicals. And why they may have written the less-enjoyable stuff.

And why, when you put the finishing touches on that time machine you’re building in the living room, you’ll want to find a more remunerative job than writing, if you get stuck in the 19th century.

(My, but I’m glad that “magazinist” dropped out of the English language!)

“The Pay of Magazines” (reprinted from the New York Evening Mail; from the Louisville Courier-Journal [Louisville, Kentucky] 5 October 1867; p. 3)

From time to time there have appeared bits of gossip, mainly set afloat by the city correspondents of out-of-town papers, giving more or less wild guesses at the prices paid by the various magazines for original articles. The grains of truth contained in these statements were generally in meager proportion to the chaff of untruth they blew abroad; but the newspapers, always eager for such intelligence, everywhere caught them up and printed them, after the usual manner of newspapers which depend chiefly on the scissors for their interest.

The magazine which, as a rule, pays the highest prices for matter, is the Atlantic Monthly. Its common price is ten dollars a page; but it sometimes pays no more than five dollars. Even at the lowest rate here named, it is still in advance of any of the other magazines, unless we except the Galaxy. There are from seven hundred to eight hundred words in a page of the Atlantic, while in Harper’s Monthly there are about one thousand words to the page. A common practice with the Atlantic editors, in agreeing beforehand with an author for an article, is to promise him one hundred dollars for it, stipulating that it must make ten pages, or very nearly that, and that if it exceeds ten pages no more shall be paid. Of course with such authors as Holmes, Lowell, Longfellow, etc., the rule does not hold. And of course it does not hold with any author when it is poetry that is paid for. The price of poetry always varies more than that of prose, with all the magazines. Julia Ward Howe was paid five dollars for her celebrated Battle Hymn. The late Beadle’s Monthly paid larger prices than this for poetry. Alice Cary received fifteen dollars from Beadle & Co., for a poem of no greater length than the Battle Hymn.

The Galaxy is entitled to rank next to the Atlantic in this regard, when average rates are under consideration. Its pages do not contain more than from four hundred to five hundred words, and its regular price for prose is four dollars a page. We believe it never pays less than that, and it often pays more, thugh it has few writers who are what may be called “star” contributors—that is, who get large pay by reason of their celebrity in the world of letters.

Harpers’ Monthly ranks next in order. Its regular price is five dollars a page, and its pages contain about one thousand words—equal to the pages of the Galaxy. To its favorite contributors, however, Harper is in the habit of paying more than this. Ordinary story and sketch writers, when they especially please the Harpers, are paid six, seven, or eight dollars a page. For “star” articles, on the other hand, Harper has almost no limit as to price. It will pay whatever an article is worth, and the author who is shrewd at a bargain will often receive pay far in advance of anything paid by any other magazine. When wood cuts are furnished with an article, it of course adds greatly to the price set upon it.

The new Northern Monthly has no established price, and much of its matter is furnished gratis, as was the case with the Knickerbocker, by writers who take a personal interest in the success of the new venture. It pays quite liberally, however, for some of its articles, from the pens of well-known and popular writers. Parton’s “Presidential Nominations” cost the Northern Monthly over one hundred dollars an article. The editor of this magazine, in his searches for “good things,” is in the habit of paying a round sum, cash down, for articles that suit him.

Of the children’s magazines, the Riverside probably pays the most liberal price. Its page is printed in large type, and its common price is five dollars per page. For many of its articles it pays more than this.

The Young Folks’ average is four dollars per page. Trowbridge is paid by the year, and is expected to contribute an article to each number—twelve articles for one thousand dollars.

“Oliver Optic’s” Magazine, Our Boys and Girls, pays to everybody four dollars a page—which is about the same price for the same amount of matter, that is paid by the two last mentioned publications and more than the “regular” price of Harper.

It is a rule with all magazines that contributions shall be paid for on publication. But a successful and popular magazinist is enabled to set aside this rule in almost every case, and to demand that his manuscript be paid for on delivery. With such writers, no hesitation is ade in this regard by the publishers generally, and when any is, the writer can regulate his dealings to suit himself, and decline to furnish contributions to be paid for “in course.” The writer of this article has received hundreds of dollars from Harpers, paid within half an hour of the delivery of the manuscript; and his experience with all the other publishers, with a single exception, is the same in effect.

The usual prices paid by all the magazines in this country are but beggarly, at the best. Authors of world-wide renown get fairer returns for their labor, but the great mass of magazinists find better reward for their labor on the daily press than on the monthly.