It's great to be home for a few days before we load up for another Sons of the Pioneers road trip. I have terribly missed my daily views of Mutton Hollow, and it's great to get my "Shepherd" fix for a few days.
A couple of days ago a guest here asked a few questions wanting to know more about Harold Bell Wright's popularity as an author as they were not that familiar with his books. I can tell you there are loads of newspaper accounts from way back when that reveal some most impressive details.
In 1918 the editors of “The American Magazine,” a popular periodical out of Springfield, Ohio, had this to say. Check this out!
"Harold Bell Wright has written seven novels which have a combined sale of over 7,000,000 copies. This is a world's record. No writer has ever before touched it. It is a sensational fact in the publishing field, and you who are not in the publishing field may as well enjoy the sensation. The average novel published is lucky if it sells 5,000 copies; even best sellers won't average 50,000—but Harold Bell Wright averages 1,000,000 copies of every novel he has ever written. Over seven million copies of his seven books have been sold in less than fifteen years."
The entire reason Wright turned to writing in 1903 was because he felt he could reach a wider audience by writing instead of preaching. By 1908 he had given up public preaching completely.
It's also interesting to point out that during a twenty-year period, 1908 through 1928, Wright's books outsold everything with the exception of the Bible.
In 1934, Edward A. Weeks, who was the editor of “The Atlantic Monthly Press,” wrote a story about "Best Sellers Since 1875." He stated that only 35 books had sold beyond 500,000 copies from that time. Of these 35 books, five of them were Harold Bell Wright novels. Those five were “The Shepherd of the Hills,” “The Winning of Barbara Worth,” “The Eyes of the World,” “The Calling of Dan Matthews” and “When A Man's A Man.”
While we're looking into all of this, what did Wright receive as far as royalties are concerned? I get that question out here quite often.
Harry Tinsley of Sunset Magazine interviewed Wright in 1918 and talked about income from royalties and movies. At the time, Wright's earnings were around $734,000. His average monthly income was $2,340 and his yearly income was $70,000. At the time of this interview with Tinsley, Wright was wrapping up work on his new novel, "The Re-Creation of Brian Kent." Wright stated that once he turned the completed manuscript over to his publisher, he would receive $45,000 in addition to the contract royalties once the book was made available to the public.
None of this would have happened without Wright's publisher, Elsbery W. Reynolds. He took a chance on an author that had never witnessed success and when they released Wright's first novel, "That Printer of Udell's" in 1903, they had never printed a book. Wright would be the only author they would ever publish!
Stay tuned, next week; I will share some background details on Elsbery Reynolds. He and Wright were close friends.
By the way, gather around the radio tonight October 25, and listen to us (the Sons of the Pioneers) as we perform on the famous Grand Ole Opry. The broadcast begins at 7 p.m.; go to www.wsmradio.com and listen to us. Vince Gill will be performing also. Next year in 2025, America's longest running radio show turns 100. Happy trails, everyone!
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