[4] Long was born into poverty in 1878 in Lebanon, Indiana, a small, rural town in the Midwestern United States.
[6] Long said that he looked at words and articles by how they sounded ("by ear"), rather than by seeing if they were grammatically correct or full of information and knowledge.
[4] His salary and bonuses combined at Cosmopolitan were $180,000 a year, a sum which would be several times higher today due to inflation.
"[4] This even caused him initially to reject the publication of Ernest Hemingway's short story, "Fifty Grand",[7][4] although he later included it in an anthology he edited and published in 1932.
[5] A large number of short stories by the writer Somerset Maugham first appeared in Cosmopolitan, Hearst's International and Good Housekeeping.
Maugham's connection with the Hearst publications began in 1920 at Ray Long's initiative and continued into the late 1940s.
[4] On Tuesday,[2] July 9, 1935, at the age of 57,[12] in the bedroom of his California home, he apparently attempted suicide by shooting himself in the mouth with a small caliber rifle.
[6] He was found unconscious and dying by his maid, lying on the bedroom floor and wearing silk pajamas.
[4] One of Long's friends speculated that part of the reason why he committed suicide was because he "guessed he had passed his peak" in terms of creative output.
"[15] Many of Long's friends, including some prominent writers, attended his funeral, including novelist Rupert Hughes (uncle of famous aviator and philanthropist Howard Hughes), humorist Irvin S. Cobb, and stage actor George Jessel.