DON’T READ THIS

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 13, 1879

DON’T READ THIS.

CAUSEUR knows that he will deserve and win the thanks of all managing editors if he can but impress these few simple rules upon the minds of those who write occasionally for the press:—

1. Write upon one side of the leaf only. Why? Because it is often necessary to cut the pages into “takes” for the compositors, and this cannot be done when both sides are written upon.

2. Write clearly and distinctly, being particularly careful in the matter of proper names and words from foreign languages. Why? Because you have no right to ask either editor or compositor to waste his time puzzling out the results of your selfish carelessness.

3. Don’t write in a microscopic hand. Why? Because the compositor has to read it across his case, at a distance of nearly two feet. Also, because the editor often wants to make additions and other changes.

4. Don’t begin at the very top of the first page. Why? Because, if you have written a head for your article, the editor will probably want to change it, and if you have not—which is the better way—he must write one. Besides, he wants room in which to write his instructions to the printer as to the type to be used, where and when the proof is to be sent, etc.

5. Never roll your manuscript. Why? Because it has a tendency to madden and exasperate every one who touches it—editor, compositor, and proof-reader.

6. Be brief. Why? Because people do not read long stories. The number of readers which any two articles have is inversely proportioned to the square of their respective lengths. That is, a half-column article is read by four times as many people as one of double that length.

7. Have the fear of the waste basket constantly and steadily before your eyes. Why? Because it will save you a vast amount of useless labor, to say nothing of paper and postage.

8. Always write your full name and address plainly at the end of your letter. Why? Because it will often happen that the editor will want to communicate with you, and because he needs to know the writer’s name as a guarantee of good faith. If you use a pseudonym or initials, write your own name and address below it. It will never be divulged.

9. “These precepts in thy memory keep,” and, for fear you might forget them, cut them out and put them where you can readily run through them when tempted to spill innocent ink.

Causeur’s word for it, those who heed these rules will be beloved and favored in every editorial sanctum.—Boston Transcript.