Resources » KM Today Blog » 26 Apr 1922
26 April 1922
Dear Mr Pinker,
I thank you for your letter of April 22.
You are right in thinking that my next book of stories will contain about 60,000 words, of which the English serial rights of 24,000 are already sold
to "The Sphere". In addition to these there are four stories which have already appeared serially, which I intend to include in my next book. This disposes of a further 8,000 words, say 30,000 in all, leaving 30,000 words still undisposed of serially. As far as I can foresee - it is extremely diflicult to be definite about work that is still unwritten - these 30,000 words will be composed of 8 stories - 3 of about 5000 words, 3 of 3-4000 words, and 2 short ones of 2000 words.
If Messrs Constable enter into this arrangement and buy the serial rights of these unsold 30,000 words at £8 a thousand, I should be content with £100 in advance on the book rights. If, however, the arrangement falls through and they do not buy the serial rights at this price, I should not consider £100 adequate. But, as you say, £8 a thousand is a better price than I have hitherto received for serial rights, and that would compensate for the rather small advance on the book royalties.
With many thanks for your care of my interests,
I remain,
Yours sincerely,
Katherine Mansfield [To Eric Pinker, 25 April 1922.]