SOURCE: "The Professionalization of Authorship" in Our Sister Editors: Sarah J. Hale and the Tradition of Nineteenth-Century American Women Editors, University of Georgia Press, 1995, pp. 84-109.

In the following excerpt, Okker examines Hale's views on writing, especially writing by women.

Although Hale did contribute to the successful careers of writers like [Edgar Allan] Poe, [Lydia] Sigourney, and [Harriet Beecher] Stowe, she did not encourage all writers. In fact, she often used her editorial pages to discuss the difficulties associated with professional literary careers. While clearly discouraging to some would-be writers, Hale's editorials about authorship may have helped writers like Poe and Stowe even more than her publication of their works, for in these editorials Hale repeatedly rejected the idea that anyone could become an author. Like any other occupation that required training, talent, and hard work, authorship, according to Hale, deserved professional respect.

Hale's editorial support for professional...