Even  if  all  the  thought  and  care  you  spend  upon
creating  the  right  atmosphere  for  your  story  seem
to  have  been  superfluous,  since  the  screen  effects
are  different  from  your  ideals,  your  labor  is  worth
while.  It  has  helped  to  make  a  better  artist  of  you.
Perhaps  it  will  be  apparent  in  your  next  effort.
Nothing  is  truer  than  that  in  the  long  run  good
work  always  tells.
CHAPTER  IX
THE  COMMERCIAL  SIDE

IT  has  always  been  recognized  more  or  less  that
there  is  a  seamy  side  to  literature,  for  authors  have
not  refrained  from  uttering  bitter  complaints  about
their  hard  lots  and  taking  the  public  into  their  con-
fidence about  their  tribulations.  James  Payn  wrote
a  most  amusing  account  of  his  own  and  his  friends'
troubles  in  an  article  which  appeared  in  an  English
magazine  and  was  entitled  "The  Seamy  Side  of
Letters."  In  the  days  of  the  renowned  Doctor
Johnson  writers  apparently  had  more  to  complain
of  than  they  have  at  present.  Undoubtedly  things
have  been  growing  better  for  writers,  but  there  has
been  great  exaggeration  about  the  fortunes  made
through  writing  books.  Good  authorities  tell  us
that  very  few  writers  reap  more  than  a  bare  living
from  the  products  of  their  pens.
