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Fanfare, v. 1, issue 4, October 1940
Page 3
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THE STRANGERS SAY: Or better still, A Stranger Says, HOW ABOUT IT, HAMLING? Stardust is supposed to be a fan magazine. At present it rates second in Widner's fanmag poll. Nutz. Stardust is not a fan magazine. It is a professional fiction magazine with an occasional article thrown in as a sop to the fans, who constitute the backbone of its circulation. The fiction is not fan written, but consists of rejected trips of professional authors: you can bet your copy of Spacewyas #1 that RM Williams, who is evidently so hungry that he is prostituting his typewriter and his talent at a cent a word, is not doing especially for Ham all those cute little stories you've been seeing in Stardust lately. No, indeed; those stories were not good enough for Amazing! In the latest issue of Stardust, perhaps eight of the thirty-two pages can be classed as fan material. Of these eight, only two are written by fans (Ackerman and Tarr). There was not even a readers' section. You might just as well call Science Fiction a fan magazine it sells more fan material for less money. Hamling is trying to gain a greater circulation than he can get by remaining in the fan field. What kind of a circulation does Stardust have? Hamling says a thousand copies. Knowing Bill's own particular weakness (cf. the chicon program booklet financial situation), we wonder how closely Stardust's actual circulation corresponds to this figure. But suppose he does distribute a thousand copies. How many of these are paid for? And who does the paying? The answer is that a couple of hundred fans are supporting Hamling in his venture until he can attract the attention of a wider circle of readers, at which time he will leave the fan field flatter than he found it--by a good many subscription dollars. If Stardust does not markedly alter its policy in the future, it will no longer deserve the support of the fans. With a growing circulation already at a thousand copies, Bill will not need that support. At any rate, we can gently hint to him that he will not have it. There is nothing reasonable in a non-completist buying a tenth class pro-mag, when mags of the preceeding nine classes are readily available at the nearest news-stand. Widner should take a poll of the professional magazines, so that Sawdust could be voted upon with the group in which it belongs. Then we'd see where shyster Hamling's brain baby really rates. It wouldn't get a smell. --es--
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THE STRANGERS SAY: Or better still, A Stranger Says, HOW ABOUT IT, HAMLING? Stardust is supposed to be a fan magazine. At present it rates second in Widner's fanmag poll. Nutz. Stardust is not a fan magazine. It is a professional fiction magazine with an occasional article thrown in as a sop to the fans, who constitute the backbone of its circulation. The fiction is not fan written, but consists of rejected trips of professional authors: you can bet your copy of Spacewyas #1 that RM Williams, who is evidently so hungry that he is prostituting his typewriter and his talent at a cent a word, is not doing especially for Ham all those cute little stories you've been seeing in Stardust lately. No, indeed; those stories were not good enough for Amazing! In the latest issue of Stardust, perhaps eight of the thirty-two pages can be classed as fan material. Of these eight, only two are written by fans (Ackerman and Tarr). There was not even a readers' section. You might just as well call Science Fiction a fan magazine it sells more fan material for less money. Hamling is trying to gain a greater circulation than he can get by remaining in the fan field. What kind of a circulation does Stardust have? Hamling says a thousand copies. Knowing Bill's own particular weakness (cf. the chicon program booklet financial situation), we wonder how closely Stardust's actual circulation corresponds to this figure. But suppose he does distribute a thousand copies. How many of these are paid for? And who does the paying? The answer is that a couple of hundred fans are supporting Hamling in his venture until he can attract the attention of a wider circle of readers, at which time he will leave the fan field flatter than he found it--by a good many subscription dollars. If Stardust does not markedly alter its policy in the future, it will no longer deserve the support of the fans. With a growing circulation already at a thousand copies, Bill will not need that support. At any rate, we can gently hint to him that he will not have it. There is nothing reasonable in a non-completist buying a tenth class pro-mag, when mags of the preceeding nine classes are readily available at the nearest news-stand. Widner should take a poll of the professional magazines, so that Sawdust could be voted upon with the group in which it belongs. Then we'd see where shyster Hamling's brain baby really rates. It wouldn't get a smell. --es--
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