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Fanfare, v. 1, issue 4, October 1940
Page 8
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8 FANFARE THIS ONE'S ON THE HOUSE Milton Kaletsky is another new boy that Ziffy is trying to build up. Out of their enormous staff of house authors, Bond and Binder are unquestionably the finest they have. The others pop up with something good once in a while--but not consistently. As salesman they're worse than useless to the magazine. Campbell, too, is trying frantically to build up house names that might eventually prove of great value. He is greatly handicapped by the meager wordage allowed on his covers---in contrast to the liberal quantities checkered all over the covers of the [Z*D?] magazines---and a certain innate fickleness which often causes him to cast into semi or complete discard a good author, simply because he discovers a better one. However, he is proving considerably more successful in this regard than Z-D. He is developing first rate authors who really can turn out consistently good yarns and sell a magazine. Authors who have distinctive traits and characteristics in their writings which make the reader want to read them again. L. Sprague de Camp, Lester Del Ray, Robert Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and others, are some of the first class authors Astounding and Unknown regularly feature almost exclusively--and who, it must be admitted, are superb selling cards. However, Campbell is being lavish in his prosperity. He has discarded super artists as John Victor Peterson, Moses Schers, and Theodore Sturgeon, after ofttimes elaborate build-ups and instant successes. Relinquishing first rate material is something a magazine dares not do---there is never too much of it. Campbell is already featuring a bit less of Del Rey's works than hitherto. Yet Del Rey is probably the only author who can stop up the sentimental brand of fantasy fiction in a consistently palatable fashion. The only author who can hope to reach the position maintained by Dr. David H. Keller, in the hearts and minds of the fans. THRILLING WONDER STORIES, and the rest of that chain, are in the best position of them all. They have the cream of the established authors to pick from--ready at their beck and call whenever desired. Such established, well-liked names are: Binder, Wellman, Bond, Gallun, Hamilton, and Cummings, might virtually be called house names of Standard, is destined to great popularity. No author so consistently readably could ever be disliked. Kelvin Kent, the utilization of Henry Kuttner and Arthur K. Barns, is also beginning to mean at least an entertaining story everytime---and a likable character. Will Garth is used by dozens of authors in dozens of Standard magazines. His output varies according to the inhabitant of his name. Standard introduced and built up Kummer, only to find he had deserted them for fields of writing where quality is not demanded. Alfred Baster, their first amateur contest winner, shows exceptional promise, and seems to be sticking exclusively with Standard. And why not? Information obtained indicates that this company treats them right. No double dealing. Hornig, plagued with the low rate of a half cent per word, after publication, was not allowed to use the authors' real names unless he paid a cent per word for their stuff---a thing impossible to do for all the yarns, due to the limitations of his budget. So he did the next most logical thing. He tacked a house name onto each of his au-
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8 FANFARE THIS ONE'S ON THE HOUSE Milton Kaletsky is another new boy that Ziffy is trying to build up. Out of their enormous staff of house authors, Bond and Binder are unquestionably the finest they have. The others pop up with something good once in a while--but not consistently. As salesman they're worse than useless to the magazine. Campbell, too, is trying frantically to build up house names that might eventually prove of great value. He is greatly handicapped by the meager wordage allowed on his covers---in contrast to the liberal quantities checkered all over the covers of the [Z*D?] magazines---and a certain innate fickleness which often causes him to cast into semi or complete discard a good author, simply because he discovers a better one. However, he is proving considerably more successful in this regard than Z-D. He is developing first rate authors who really can turn out consistently good yarns and sell a magazine. Authors who have distinctive traits and characteristics in their writings which make the reader want to read them again. L. Sprague de Camp, Lester Del Ray, Robert Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and others, are some of the first class authors Astounding and Unknown regularly feature almost exclusively--and who, it must be admitted, are superb selling cards. However, Campbell is being lavish in his prosperity. He has discarded super artists as John Victor Peterson, Moses Schers, and Theodore Sturgeon, after ofttimes elaborate build-ups and instant successes. Relinquishing first rate material is something a magazine dares not do---there is never too much of it. Campbell is already featuring a bit less of Del Rey's works than hitherto. Yet Del Rey is probably the only author who can stop up the sentimental brand of fantasy fiction in a consistently palatable fashion. The only author who can hope to reach the position maintained by Dr. David H. Keller, in the hearts and minds of the fans. THRILLING WONDER STORIES, and the rest of that chain, are in the best position of them all. They have the cream of the established authors to pick from--ready at their beck and call whenever desired. Such established, well-liked names are: Binder, Wellman, Bond, Gallun, Hamilton, and Cummings, might virtually be called house names of Standard, is destined to great popularity. No author so consistently readably could ever be disliked. Kelvin Kent, the utilization of Henry Kuttner and Arthur K. Barns, is also beginning to mean at least an entertaining story everytime---and a likable character. Will Garth is used by dozens of authors in dozens of Standard magazines. His output varies according to the inhabitant of his name. Standard introduced and built up Kummer, only to find he had deserted them for fields of writing where quality is not demanded. Alfred Baster, their first amateur contest winner, shows exceptional promise, and seems to be sticking exclusively with Standard. And why not? Information obtained indicates that this company treats them right. No double dealing. Hornig, plagued with the low rate of a half cent per word, after publication, was not allowed to use the authors' real names unless he paid a cent per word for their stuff---a thing impossible to do for all the yarns, due to the limitations of his budget. So he did the next most logical thing. He tacked a house name onto each of his au-
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