IV.  SEEKING A PUBLISHER [1]

[1] The matter under this section would seem to be an integral part of the following Chapter, “Manuscripts and Markets,” but it is included in this chapter because some of the points require a discussion too expansive for the general treatment employed in describing the handling of other stage material.

You have written your lyrics, and you have fashioned your melody, or you have found a composer who is anxious to make his melody fit your lyrics so perfectly that they have been fused into a unity so complete that it seems all you have to do to start everybody whistling it is to find a publisher.  And so you set about the task.

1.  Private Publication Seldom Profitable

While it is perfectly true that there have been many songs that have paid handsome profits from private publication, it is more nearly exact to believe that private publication never pays.  Printers and song publishers who make a business of this private trade will often lure the novice by citing the many famous songs “published by their writers.”  Whenever you see such an advertisement, or whenever such an argument is used in a sales talk, dig right down to the facts of the case.  Nine chances out of ten, you will find that the writers are successful popular song publishers—­it is their business to write for their own market.  Furthermore—­and this is the crux of the matter—­they have a carefully maintained sales force and an intricate outlet for all their product, which would take years for a “private publisher” to build up.  Really, you cannot expect to make any money by private publication, even at the low cost of song-printing these days—­unless you are willing to devote all your energies to pushing your song.  And even then, the song must be exceptional to win against the better organized competition.

2.  Avoid the “Song Poem” Advertiser

It is never my desire to condemn a class even though a majority of that class may be worthy of reproach.  Therefore, instead of inveighing against the “song-poem” fakir with sounding periods of denunciation, permit me to state the facts in this way: 

The advertisers for song-poems may be divided into two classes.  In the first class are publishers who publish songs privately for individuals who have enough money to indulge a desire to see their songs in print.  The writer may not intend his song for public sale.  He wishes to have it printed so that he may give copies to his friends and thus satisfy his pride by their plaudits.  It is to these song-writers that the honest “private publisher” offers a convenient and often cheap opportunity.  His dealings are perfectly honest and fair, because he simply acts as a printer, and not as a publisher, for he does not offer to do more than he can perform.

The second class of song-poem advertisers lure writers by all sorts of glowing promises.  They tell you how such and such a song made thousands of dollars for its writer.  They offer to furnish music to fit your lyrics.  They will supply lyrics to fit your music.  They will print your song and push it to success.  They will do anything at all—­for a fee!  And I have heard the most pitiful tales imaginable of high hopes at the beginning and bitter disappointment at the end, from poor people who could ill afford the money lost.