How to Become an Author: A Practical Guide

How to become an author – is one of the guides written by Arnold Bennett and published in 1903. Throughout 1902, 1743 volumes of fiction, 504 educational works, 480 historical and biographical works, 567 sermons and theological volumes, 463 economic and political works, 227 books of criticism and fiction were published. These were the main divisions of a huge army of 5,839 new books released over the course of the year, and it will be seen that fiction deserves first place. And the position of fiction is even higher than is evident from the above figures; for, with the exception of a few school textbooks, which are in popularity far exceeding all other popular ones, and a few theological works, no class of books can claim such a high circulation per volume as a novel. More writers are engaged in fiction than in any other branch of literature, and their remuneration is better and arguably more reliable than in other literary markets. In respect, influence, prominence, and notoriety, novelists are also paramount. Therefore, in this volume it will be appropriate for the author to deal mainly with the arts and crafts of fiction. For practical purposes, the author will simply cut all literature into two parts, fiction and non-fiction; and under the last heading, the author will bring together the exalted and venerable muses of poetry, history, biography, theology, economics - everything that is not prose, except plays.