As I noted in my earlier post, "The Master of the Crabs" first appeared in the 25th anniversary issue of Weird Tales. You can take a look at the contents of the entire issue here, including its advertisements. Among those ads is this one, placed by none other than Arkham House:
This is a good reminder of just how significant to the history of fantasy and science fiction Arkham House once was. It's also a reminder of just how ephemeral tastes can be. Of the nearly twenty authors listed, less than half of them have had any lasting literary influence and fewer still remain well known and read today. However much I might wish to decry this, it remains a fact and will likely only become truer as the decades grind on.
While the authors may have struggled to make a living, did the publishers make substantial money? I've no feel for how successful Weird Tales was.
ReplyDeleteI think the profitability of the pulp magazines varied considerably over time. My sense is that, prior to World War II, many of them did quite well, judging by their pay rates and the speed with which they paid their contributors. However, many of them, including Weird Tales, had periods when they limped along and barely survived. In many ways, it's not unlike the RPG business for most of its history.
DeleteTa.
Delete