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Eclipse, v. 1, issue 1, whole no. 1, February 1941
Page 10
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ECLIPSE 10 SUPERSTITIONS IN THE PULPS and this may have had something to do with its steady sales. Superstition No. 2: Now we come to a more or less individual, but rather prevalent superstition at the time, which has now been thoroughly wiped out. That's the old legend that the word "science" mustn't appear on the cover in general, and never in the title in particular, of a science fiction magazine. Gernsback was its leading proponent. I supposed he became convinced of its truth when Air Wonder sold better than Science Wonder, although I'm not sure. Evidently it never occured to him that the mere word "Air" on a magazine was enough to sell it back in those days. At any rate, editors consistently refused to use the word on titles or on covers, until finally some hardy soul dared the Fates and tried it. Result? We have now Stirring SCIENCE Stories, SCIENCE-Fiction, Astounding SCIENCE fiction...SCIENCE-Fiction Quarterly, and the late unlamented Dynamic SCIENCE Stories. Marvel SCIENCE Stories failed to sell not because of its title, but its stories. The new magazine without "science" in the title isn't causing a rush for the newsstands. And virtually every magazine at one time or another boasts to the world in big letters on the cover or spine that it contains "science stories" or "science-fiction". There are more or less individual superstitions about format, but evidently most editors and publishers are agreed that the present size of the magazine, the two-column page, more or less standard number of illustrations, and so forth work some sort of mystic charm, and if one were violated circulation would immediately fall to a few hundred copies per issue. The truth is that if one pulp publisher had the courage to put out a decent magazine in the large-size format it would eventually far surpass most other pulp magazines simply because it would stand out from the rest. Argosy is; after several decades in the same size format, changing to a large size, after having tried every other means to bolster staggering sales. I hereby predict that within a year it will be once more on a sound footing -- provided, of course, the quality of the fiction is kept fairly high. And the two column style really doesn't mean a thing, believe me. It's used I suppose to provide uniformity in all magazines of one publisher; if so, there's at least a reason for it. But Campbell isn't exactly a pioneer going over to the one-column book style, in Unknown's lead novels. Argosy used precisely that same means of printing (and very nearly the same type, even ) fifty years ago and got away with it very well. Another item which seems to be more or less an enigma is this business of not putting the year of the magazine beside the month on the spine. There are still a few publishers who refuse to do it, and yet there just simply isn't one valid reason why it shouldn't be done. True, it probably doesn't help the sales of a magazine to have 1941 beside January on the spine. But can you tell me one reason why it would hurt sales? By the simple means of putting on the date, the magazine's will be much liked by collectors, and
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ECLIPSE 10 SUPERSTITIONS IN THE PULPS and this may have had something to do with its steady sales. Superstition No. 2: Now we come to a more or less individual, but rather prevalent superstition at the time, which has now been thoroughly wiped out. That's the old legend that the word "science" mustn't appear on the cover in general, and never in the title in particular, of a science fiction magazine. Gernsback was its leading proponent. I supposed he became convinced of its truth when Air Wonder sold better than Science Wonder, although I'm not sure. Evidently it never occured to him that the mere word "Air" on a magazine was enough to sell it back in those days. At any rate, editors consistently refused to use the word on titles or on covers, until finally some hardy soul dared the Fates and tried it. Result? We have now Stirring SCIENCE Stories, SCIENCE-Fiction, Astounding SCIENCE fiction...SCIENCE-Fiction Quarterly, and the late unlamented Dynamic SCIENCE Stories. Marvel SCIENCE Stories failed to sell not because of its title, but its stories. The new magazine without "science" in the title isn't causing a rush for the newsstands. And virtually every magazine at one time or another boasts to the world in big letters on the cover or spine that it contains "science stories" or "science-fiction". There are more or less individual superstitions about format, but evidently most editors and publishers are agreed that the present size of the magazine, the two-column page, more or less standard number of illustrations, and so forth work some sort of mystic charm, and if one were violated circulation would immediately fall to a few hundred copies per issue. The truth is that if one pulp publisher had the courage to put out a decent magazine in the large-size format it would eventually far surpass most other pulp magazines simply because it would stand out from the rest. Argosy is; after several decades in the same size format, changing to a large size, after having tried every other means to bolster staggering sales. I hereby predict that within a year it will be once more on a sound footing -- provided, of course, the quality of the fiction is kept fairly high. And the two column style really doesn't mean a thing, believe me. It's used I suppose to provide uniformity in all magazines of one publisher; if so, there's at least a reason for it. But Campbell isn't exactly a pioneer going over to the one-column book style, in Unknown's lead novels. Argosy used precisely that same means of printing (and very nearly the same type, even ) fifty years ago and got away with it very well. Another item which seems to be more or less an enigma is this business of not putting the year of the magazine beside the month on the spine. There are still a few publishers who refuse to do it, and yet there just simply isn't one valid reason why it shouldn't be done. True, it probably doesn't help the sales of a magazine to have 1941 beside January on the spine. But can you tell me one reason why it would hurt sales? By the simple means of putting on the date, the magazine's will be much liked by collectors, and
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