From Martin Eden on submitting manuscripts: "There was no human editor at the other end, but a mere cunning arrangement of cogs that changed the manuscript from one envelope to another and stuck on the stamps. It was like the slot machines wherein one dropped pennies, and, with a metallic whirl of machinery had delivered to him a stick of chewing-gum or a tablet of chocolate. It depended upon which slot one dropped the penny in, whether he got chocolate or gum. And so with the editorial machine. One slot brought checks and the other brought rejection slips. So far he had found only the latter slot.Jack London
About This Quote
In the book “Martin Eden”, Jack London said: “From Martin Eden on submitting manuscripts: “There was no human editor at the other end, but a mere cunning arrangement of cogs that changed the manuscript from one envelope to another and stuck on the stamps. It was like the slot machines wherein one dropped pennies, and, with a metallic whirl of machinery had delivered to him a stick of chewing-gum or a tablet of chocolate. It depended upon which slot one dropped the penny in, whether he got chocolate or gum. And so with the editorial machine.
One slot brought checks and the other brought rejection slips. So far he had found only the latter slot.” In this quote, Jack London is describing the process of publishing a book through a magazine called “The Literary Digest” which was very popular at that time among writers. The magazine published many stories from various authors but there was also an editor who would read their stories to make sure everything was right before sending it to be published.
When Jack London submitted his novel for editing, he was surprised to learn that there wasn't any human editing phase before publishing his story in a magazine. The story just got sent to whoever had a stamp and that person changed it from an envelope to another and then put on the stamp and sent it out to be published as a magazine story.
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