Contexts: Graph
Representative Authors' Payments for Serial Rights
The table below includes entries for both British & American magazines, ranging from the early 1880s to the beginning of WWII. New entries will be added as info. becomes available. Sources are included at the bottom of this page, and all entries regarding pulp magazines are highlighted in yellow.
1880s
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1884 |
The Cornhill Magazine |
Arthur Conan Doyle | J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement |
£30
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1887 |
Beeton's Christmas Annual |
Arthur Conan Doyle | A Study in Scarlet |
£25 |
1890 |
Lippincott's Magazine |
Arthur Conan Doyle | The Sign of Four |
£100 |
1890 |
Lippincott's Magazine |
Rudyard Kipling | The Light That Failed |
$800 |
1890s
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1891 |
The Strand Magazine |
Arthur Conan Doyle | A Scandal in Bohemia (8.7k) |
£36 |
1891 |
The Strand Magazine |
Arthur Conan Doyle | The Red-Headed League (9.3k) |
£36 |
1894 |
McClure's Magazine |
R.L. Stevenson | The Ebb-Tide |
£400 |
1894-5 |
The Pall Mall Magazine |
Rider Haggard | Joan Haste |
£1,500 |
1895 |
The New Review |
H.G. Wells | The Time Machine |
£100 |
1896 |
McClure's Magazine |
Rudyard Kipling | Captains Courageous |
£3,000 |
1896 |
Pearson's Magazine |
Rudyard Kipling | Captains Courageous |
£2,500 |
1896 |
The Strand Magazine |
Arthur Conan Doyle | Rodney Stone |
$7,300 |
1896 |
The Savoy |
Joseph Conrad | The Idiots (10k) |
£38 |
1897 |
McClure's Magazine |
R.L. Stevenson | St. Ives |
$8,000 |
1897 |
Pearson's Magazine |
H.G. Wells | The War of the Worlds |
£200 |
1897 |
The Cornhill Magazine |
Joseph Conrad | The Lagoon (5.3k) |
£10 |
1897 |
Cosmopolis |
Joseph Conrad | An Outpost of Progress (9.5k) |
£40 |
1897 |
Blackwood's Magazine |
Joseph Conrad | Karain (16k) |
£40 |
1898 | Blackwood's Magazine | Joseph Conrad | Youth (13k) | £35 |
1899 |
Blackwood's Magazine |
Joseph Conrad | (The) Heart of Darkness |
£100 |
1899-00 |
Blackwood's Magazine |
Joseph Conrad | Lord Jim |
£300 |
1899-00 |
McClure's Magazine |
Ian Maclaren | The Life of the Master |
$10,000 |
1900-1 |
McClure's Magazine |
Rudyard Kipling | Kim |
$25,000 |
1900s
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1901 |
The Illus. London News |
Joseph Conrad | Amy Foster |
$195 |
1901-2 |
The Strand Magazine |
Arthur Conan Doyle | The Hound of the Baskervilles |
£6,000 |
1902 |
The Pall Mall Magazine |
Joseph Conrad | Typhoon |
£75 |
1902 |
Ainslee's Magazine |
O. Henry | Six Short Stories* |
$75 |
1903 |
The Sat. Evening Post |
Jack London | The Call of the Wild |
$750 |
1903-5 |
Collier's Weekly |
Arthur Conan Doyle | The Return of Sherlock Holmes* |
$45,000 |
1905 |
Blackwood's Magazine |
Joseph Conrad | In Captivity |
$64 |
1905-6 |
The Popular Magazine |
Rider Haggard | Ayesha |
£200 |
1906 |
The All-Story Magazine |
Mary Roberts Rinehart | The Man in Lower Ten |
$400 |
1906 |
Blackwood's Magazine |
Joseph Conrad | Initiation |
$105 |
1906 |
The Popular Magazine |
A.M. Chisolm | In Sheep's Clothing |
$25 |
1907 |
The Popular Magazine |
A.M. Chisolm | A Forlorn Hope |
$25 |
1908-9 |
The English Review |
H.G. Wells | Tono-Bungay* |
*** |
1908-9 |
The Popular Magazine |
H.G. Wells | Tono-Bungay |
£100 |
1908-9 |
The English Review |
Joseph Conrad | Some Reminiscences |
$780 |
1909 |
The Popular Magazine |
Anna Katherine Green | The House of the Whispering Pines |
$5,000 |
1909-10 |
The Cavalier |
Rider Haggard | Morning Star |
$800 |
1910 |
The Cavalier |
Thomas E. Grant | The Wizard of the Peak |
$175 |
1910 |
The Popular Magazine |
Zane Grey | The Winning Ball |
$125 |
1910 |
The Popular Magazine |
Zane Grey | The Heritage of the Desert |
$1,800 |
1910 |
The Popular Magazine |
Zane Grey | The Rubber Hunter* |
$360 |
1910s
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1911 |
The Scrap-Book |
Talbot Mundy | A Transaction in Diamonds |
$60 |
1911 |
The Cavalier |
Garrett P. Serviss | The Second Deluge* (75k) |
$750 |
1911 |
The Popular Magazine |
Anna Katherine Green | Initials Only |
$5,000 |
1912 |
The All-Story Magazine |
Edgar Rice Burroughs | Under the Moons of Mars |
$400 |
1912 |
The All-Story Magazine |
Edgar Rice Burroughs | Tarzan of the Apes |
$700 |
1913 |
The Strand Magazine |
Robert Falcon Scott | Captain Scott's Journals |
£2,000 |
1913 |
New Story Magazine |
Edgar Rice Burroughs | The Return of Tarzan |
$1,000 |
1914 |
The All-Story Weekly |
Rex Stout | The Rose Orchid, etc.* |
$200 |
1915 |
Blackwood's Magazine |
John Buchan | The Thirty-Nine Steps (80pp) |
£100 |
1915 |
The All-Story Weekly |
John Buchan | The Thirty-Nine Steps* |
+/-£200 |
1915 |
The All-Story Weekly |
John Buchan | Andrew Garvald-Tidewater Trader |
$1,200 |
1915 |
The Popular Magazine |
Zane Grey | Mounty Price's Nightingale |
$125 |
1915-6 |
The Sat. Evening Post |
P.G. Wodehouse | Uneasy Money |
$5,000 |
1917 |
The All-Story Weekly |
Rex Stout | An Officer and a Lady |
$45 |
1917 |
The All-Story Weekly |
Charles Neville Buck | When Bearcat Went Dry (90k) |
$1,400 |
1918 |
The Popular Magazine |
H. de Vere Stacpoole | Fusileer Ballads |
$60 |
1918 |
The Sat. Evening Post |
P.G. Wodehouse | Picadilly Jim |
$7,500 |
1918 |
The Blue Book |
Edgar Rice Burroughs | The Land That Time Forgot |
$3,000 |
1918 |
The Popular Magazine |
A.M. Chisolm | The Country of Strong Men |
$1,600 |
1919 |
The Popular Magazine |
John Buchan | Mr. Standfast |
$1,500 |
1919 |
The Popular Magazine |
Roy Norton | The Secret City |
$2,000 |
1920 |
The Popular Magazine |
H. de Vere Stacpoole | Picaroons |
$2,500 |
1920s
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1921 |
Western Story Magazine |
Max Brand | The Voice of La Paloma |
$660 |
1921 |
Argosy All-Story Weekly |
Edgar Rice Burroughs | Tarzan the Terrible |
$3,000 |
1922 |
People's Magazine |
Thomas Curry | Blessed Are the Meek |
$25 |
1922 |
Western Story Magazine |
Max Brand | Smiling Charlie |
$4,000 |
1924 |
Argosy All-Story Weekly |
John Buchan | The Three Hostages* (117k) |
$1,500 |
1924 |
Weird Tales |
Robert E. Howard | "Spear and Fang" | $18 |
1927 |
Western Story Magazine |
Max Brand | Thunder Moon |
$4,000 |
1928 |
Amazing Stories |
Clark Ashton Smith | The Skylark of Space |
$125 |
1928 |
Amazing Stories |
Jack Williamson | The Metal Man |
$25 |
1930s
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1931 |
College Stories |
Richard Sale | Washington and Lee University |
$100 |
1932 |
Doc Savage Magazine |
Lester Dent | Man of Bronze |
$500 |
1933-6 |
G-8 and His Battle Aces |
Robert J. Hogan | The G-8 Novels* |
$700 |
1934 |
Black Mask |
Dwight Babcock | At the Bottom of Every Mess |
$100 |
1936 |
Dime Mystery |
Bruno Fischer | The Cat Woman |
$60 |
1937 |
Western Story Magazine |
Max Brand | Eagles Over Crooked Creek |
$112 |
1938 |
Western Story Magazine |
Ney Geer | Trigger Law |
$325 |
Notes |
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* Offer made of $25,000 for 6 stories; $30,000 for 8; or $45,000 for all thirteen. * 1/5th profit share on first 4 issues; Nil. * Purchased by the Munsey Co. for The Scrap-Book, but never published in that magazine. * Payment for 5 stories: The Rose Orchid, Out of the Line, The Invevitable Third, The Lie, and Volatile Essence. * Based on a cancelled check for $478.69; though likely a 50% payment. * Price per novel. Payments raised to $1000 at peak popularity. |
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Sources |
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A.P. Watt Records, 1888-1982; Series 1, Folders 171-12 & 172-12. Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill. Donovan, Stephen. Joseph Conrad and Popular Culture. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Finkelstein, David. The House of Blackwood. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State UP, 2002. Gillies, Mary Ann. The Professional Literary Agent in Britain, 1880-1920. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 2007. Goulart, Ron. Cheap Thrills. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1972. Hepburn, James. The Author's Empty Purse and the Rise of the Literary Agent. London: Oxford UP, 1968. Johanningsmeier, Charles. Fiction and the American Literary Marketplace. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1997. McDonald, Peter. British Literary Culture and Publishing Practice, 1880-1914. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1997. Moskowitz, Sam, ed. Under the Moons of Mars. New York: Holt Rinehart Winston, 1970. Popular Publications Inc. (Frank A. Munsey) Records, ca. 1910-1977; Index Card Files. Archives Division, NYPL. Porges, Irwin. Annotated Index, E.R.B., "Prices Paid for Magazine Sales", erblist.com/erbmania/porgesall-1.html. Reynolds, Quentin. The Fiction Factory. New York: Random House, 1955. Street & Smith Publications Records, 1850-1960; Editorial Files. Special Collections, Syracuse University Library. Waller, Philip. Writers, Readers, and Reputations. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. Zeuschner, Robert. E.R.B.: Exhaustive Scholar’s and Collector’s Bibliography. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1996. |