Pulp Education #2 -- Those Amazing, Evolving Pulps

From one extreme...

The Golden Age of Pulp Fiction
by Mike Ashley

The earliest pulps grew out of the tradition of dime novels and boys' magazines, so were from the start tainted with a juvenile image. The first pulp was The Argosy published in New York by Frank A. Munsey. It had started as The Golden Argosy, a weekly boys' adventure magazine in dime novel format, in Dec. 1882. The title became The Argosy in Dec. 1888, trying to move away from the younger readership, and from Apr. 1894 it shifted to a monthly schedule, aimed at the same readership as Munsey's Magazine which Munsey had started in Feb. 1889. For two years The Argosy was similar to Munsey's, but in Oct. 1896 Munsey dropped the articles, making it the first all-fiction issue and, from Dec. 1896, the paper was all pulp.

Read the full article: http://www.pulpmags.org/history_page.html

To the other...

It's a Man's World: Men's Adventure Magazines, the Postwar Pulps
by Michael Nirenberg

We tend to think of the Eisenhower postwar era as an innocent time in American culture. As the conservative 1950s turned into the swinging 1960s, men's adventure magazines were a haven for the male fantasy. The struggle for male identity has its roots in postwar economics. We were still a young country in the 1950s and '60s ,and these magazines captured the imagination of boys and young men flexing before our collective self-image as the winners over the evil Axis Powers.

Read the full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-nirenberg/its-a-mans-world-mens-adventure_b_7986104.html

[Link] Write Now: Writing A Bestseller

by Paul Bishop

I recently had lunch with a very successful writer friend, who has been delighted to find his last four books landing high on the New York Times bestseller list. His success is well deserved. He works extremely hard every day, and he never hesitates to help out writers and others. He even picked up the tab for our lunch.

Our conversation roamed from past mutual projects, to mutual friends, to ongoing publishing activities. Here my friend paused before giving credit to another bestselling writer for teaching him a number of the traits common to the genre of fast moving thrillers on the bestseller list. He then listed those things in quick succession:

• Never use a dollar word when a nickel word will do. Don't use "cacophony" when "loud" makes your point.
• Short sentences. Short paragraphs. Short chapters.
• Never over describe a room. Pick out one feature and move on.
• The same applies to what a character is wearing.
• Use dialogue to drive your story.
• Cut exposition to an absolute minimum.
• Simplify your plotting, then simplify it some more, then some more. If a reader has to backtrack to figure out what was going during their last reading session, you're doing it wrong.

I must confess, this list initially blew past me. I like the word cacophony, and (as a reader) I'm not much of a fan of what is on The New York Times bestseller list.

Read the full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-bishop/write-now-writing-a-bests_b_8353176.html

[Link] Banned Books By The Numbers

Banned Books Week, an annual event organized by the American Library Association (ALA), grants readers, parents, teachers and librarians an opportunity to discuss the value of unhindered expression.

Throughout the week, The Huffington Post will highlight voices from various communities impacted by censorship, including LGBT readers, religious writers and Latino bibliophiles. We will share an excerpt from a frequently challenged graphic novel, and examine the effect book banning has had on literature historically. We've also invited our readers -- especially those in the education field -- to share photos of the banned books they teach or admire.

We've also taken a look at data provided by the ALA* about which books and authors have been challenged recently, where those challenges occur, and what the cited reasons are for said challenges.

What's the difference between a challenge and a ban? The ALA explains: "A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials."

To find out whether your favorite author is subject to censorship, or whether your state is prone to challenging titles, check out the infographics below...

Continue reading: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/22/banned-books-week-infographic_n_5852234.html

Black Pulp featured on Huffington Post!

BLACK PULP Continues to Garner Worldwide Attention! Walter Mosley's essay featured as the introduction of BLACK PULP is now featured at The Huffington Post with a link to the book.

And yes, that is PRO SE PRODUCTIONS listed in the article!

[Link] Print On Demand: Major Announcement Could Change How You Buy Books

Print-on-demand (POD) books could soon be everywhere, according to a major announcement made today.

On Demand, the makers of the POD Espresso Book Machine currently installed in fewer than a hundred bookstores nationwide, have announced new partnerships with Eastman Kodak and ReaderLink Distribution Services.

Under the arrangement, the company's POD technology will be made available to retailers who have Kodak Picture Kiosks, currently installed in 105,000 locations according to Publishers Weekly, including drugstores and supermarkets.

ReaderLink, a major book distributor, will also bring book machines to more than 24,000 additional new outlets, as well as supplying commercially published titles to be printed on demand from the machines.

To continue, visit: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/13/print-on-demand-books-espresso_n_1882616.html

Mark Coker on Amazon's KDP Select

Amazon Aims to Empty Competitor Shelves of Indie Ebooks

"Amazon yesterday launched a broadside against competing ebook retailers when it introduced a new program that requires authors to remove their books from competing retailers.

"The new service offering, KDP Select, promises participating authors a shot at earning their share of a $500,000 monthly pool of cash. Amazon will distribute the funds to participating authors based on the number of times an ebook is borrowed from Amazon's new lending library."

To read the rest of the article, click here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-coker/amazon-ebooks-kdp-select_b_1139260.html

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What are you thoughts? Are Mark's concerns valid? Or just anti-corporation rhetoric? Do you plan to use KDP Select?

Feel free to post your comments below.