Books › Blue Book v057 n02 [1933-06], 1933 › scan 4
Scan 4
Blue Book v057 n02 [1933-06], 1933
49 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Prize Offer for your Real Experiences
3It has been said that there is material for a novel in every person's life. Whether this is true or not, we do believe that in the lives of most of us some experience has occurred sufficiently exciting to merit description in print. With this idea in mind we shall be pleased to receive and to print true stories of real experience, running from one thousand to four thousand words each. For each of the five best of these received each month we will pay, according to our appraisal of its length and strength, $50 or more.
5In theme the stories may deal with adventure, mystery, sport, humor,—especially humor!—war or business. Sex is barred. Manuscripts should be addressed to the Real Experience Editor, the Blue Book Magazine, 230 Park Ave., New York, N. Y. Preferably but not necessarily they should be typewritten, and should be accompanied by a stamped and self-addressed envelope for use in case the story is unavailable.
7A pen name may be used if desired, but in all cases the writer's real name and permanent address should accompany the manuscript. Be sure to write your name and correct address in the upper left-hand corner of the first page of your story, and keep a copy as insurance against loss of the original; for while we handle manuscripts with great care, we cannot accept responsibility for their return. As this is a monthly contest, from one to two months may elapse before you receive a report on your story.
9This is real money
11"Today I received a check for $20.00 for a story. Another I sold for $34.00. Not bad for a beginner, is it? The other day I counted up just how much I have won on advertisement contests. It amounted to $1,620.00."—Mrs. L. L. Gray, 579 E. McHarg Ave., Stamford, Texas.
13What makes WRITING ability GROW?
15For a number of years, the Newspaper Institute of America has been giving free Writing Aptitude Tests to men and women with literary ambitions. Sometimes it seems half the people in America who are fired with the desire to write have taken advantage of this offer to measure their ability.
17What the tests show
19Up to date, no one that could be called a "born writer" has filled out our Writing Aptitude Test. We have not yet discovered a single individual miraculously endowed by nature with all the qualities that go to make up a successful author.
21One aspirant has interesting ideas—and a dull, uninteresting style. Another has great creative imagination but is woefully weak on structure and technique. A third has a natural knack for stringing words together—yet lacks judgment and knowledge of human behavior. In each case, success can come only after the missing links have been forged in.
23Here, then, is the principal reason why so many promising writers fail to go ahead. Their talent is one-sided—incomplete. It needs rounding out.
25Learn to write by writing
27Newspaper Institute training is based on journalism—continuous writing—the sort of training that turns out more successful writers than any other experience. Newspaper-trained writers are numbered not by dozens but by hundreds.
29One advantage of our New York Copy-Desk Method is that it starts you writing and keeps you writing in your own home, on your own time. Week by week, you receive actual assignments, just as if you were right at work on a great metropolitan daily.
31All your writing is individually corrected and criticized by veteran New York newspaper men—editors who have had years of experience "breaking in" new writers. They will point out those faults of style, structure or viewpoint that keep you from progressing. At the same time, they will give you constructive suggestions for building up and developing your natural aptitudes.
33In fact, so stimulating is this association that student members often begin to sell their work before they finish the course. We do not mean to insinuate that they sky-rocket into the "big money," or become prominent overnight. Most beginnings are made with earnings of $25, $50, $100, or more, for material that takes little time to write—stories, articles on business, fads, travels, sports, recipes, etc.—things that can easily be turned out in leisure hours, and often on the impulse of the moment.
35For those who want to know
37If you really want to know the truth about your writing ambitions, send for our interesting Writing Aptitude Test. This searching test of your native abilities is free—entirely without obligation. Fill in and send the coupon. Newspaper Institute of America, 1776 Broadway, New York.
39Newspaper Institute of America 68F443
401776 Broadway, New York
42Send me, without cost or obligation, your Writing Aptitude Test and further information about writing for profit, as promised in Blue Book, June.
44Mr. ____________________________
45Mrs. ____________________________
46Miss ____________________________
47Address _________________________
48(All correspondence confidential. No salesmen will call on you.)
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.