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Sun Spots, v. 4, issue 3, whole no. 15, February 1941
Page 32
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February, 1941. SUN SPOTS Page 32 [[underline]]ART OR POSTER?[[end underline]] By Tom Wright There is a question for pro editors. Should they feature on their covers scenes or gaudy poster pictures to attract attention? The main rivals between these types are Campbell and his ASTOUNDING and Palmer with his AMAZING. Compare the covers. Here is what a typical AMAZING cover has:"The Deadly Slime", by Frederick Arnold Kummer,Jr., Great stories by: Ed Earl Repp, * Abner J. Gelula * Thornton Ayre * Robert Moore Williams * Ralph Milne Farley, WORLD WITHOUT DEATH by Polton Cross, See Back Cover, The Gaudy name, the date and price. Oh yes, there's a cover drawing too. And sometimes you couldn't even call them drawings. Now for an ASTOUNDING cover: "If This Goes On" by Robert Heinlein, a very sensibly prinyed ASTOUNDING Science Fiction, A Street & Smith Publication, 20[[cent symbol]] Feb. 1940, and a ver beautiful artistic drawing. Which do you prefer? I'll take ASTOUNDING! And I guess any fan would, but will the readers in general? Yes, I think so. first compare the circulation; we all know that ASTOUNDING'S leads any other excep possibly UNKNOWN, by miles. That shows that some must buy it beside. I know that's what prompted me to buy my first pro-mag, which happened to be ASTOUNDING, it's cover, not posterish in the least, but a sensible scene of the future. One that willa ttract people that have an imaginative mind; that have an intelligent mind! Now suppose someone were browsing around a news stand with nothing in paritcular in mind to buy. Unquestionably his eyes would strike the blinding colors of AMAZING'S cover, but one look would be enough, they'd pass right on to the next one. This has some exceptions of course, that the reader might be a low-brow who is looking for something to read for a thrill, and doesn't care a bit whether it's Stf or not. But this fellow will never make a steady reader,-One issue, then off to another magazine. Most people when seeing the poster type cover say something like: "Boy, anyone who reads stuff like that, must be really crazy!" And who wants to be seen lugging a copy of AMAZING along the streets when it has a cover like GIANTS OUT OF THE SUN?--Not I! As for those name that AMAZING has on the cover, I bet 90% of the readers don't know one from the other!They just tell from experiance as to the mags worth. One of the whosits on AMAZING, wouldn't begin to compare with Rogers.--It's art over poster!---[[underline]]END[[end underline]] [[text under illustration]] "Don't look now, but I think this planet [[underline]]does[[end underline]] support life!"
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February, 1941. SUN SPOTS Page 32 [[underline]]ART OR POSTER?[[end underline]] By Tom Wright There is a question for pro editors. Should they feature on their covers scenes or gaudy poster pictures to attract attention? The main rivals between these types are Campbell and his ASTOUNDING and Palmer with his AMAZING. Compare the covers. Here is what a typical AMAZING cover has:"The Deadly Slime", by Frederick Arnold Kummer,Jr., Great stories by: Ed Earl Repp, * Abner J. Gelula * Thornton Ayre * Robert Moore Williams * Ralph Milne Farley, WORLD WITHOUT DEATH by Polton Cross, See Back Cover, The Gaudy name, the date and price. Oh yes, there's a cover drawing too. And sometimes you couldn't even call them drawings. Now for an ASTOUNDING cover: "If This Goes On" by Robert Heinlein, a very sensibly prinyed ASTOUNDING Science Fiction, A Street & Smith Publication, 20[[cent symbol]] Feb. 1940, and a ver beautiful artistic drawing. Which do you prefer? I'll take ASTOUNDING! And I guess any fan would, but will the readers in general? Yes, I think so. first compare the circulation; we all know that ASTOUNDING'S leads any other excep possibly UNKNOWN, by miles. That shows that some must buy it beside. I know that's what prompted me to buy my first pro-mag, which happened to be ASTOUNDING, it's cover, not posterish in the least, but a sensible scene of the future. One that willa ttract people that have an imaginative mind; that have an intelligent mind! Now suppose someone were browsing around a news stand with nothing in paritcular in mind to buy. Unquestionably his eyes would strike the blinding colors of AMAZING'S cover, but one look would be enough, they'd pass right on to the next one. This has some exceptions of course, that the reader might be a low-brow who is looking for something to read for a thrill, and doesn't care a bit whether it's Stf or not. But this fellow will never make a steady reader,-One issue, then off to another magazine. Most people when seeing the poster type cover say something like: "Boy, anyone who reads stuff like that, must be really crazy!" And who wants to be seen lugging a copy of AMAZING along the streets when it has a cover like GIANTS OUT OF THE SUN?--Not I! As for those name that AMAZING has on the cover, I bet 90% of the readers don't know one from the other!They just tell from experiance as to the mags worth. One of the whosits on AMAZING, wouldn't begin to compare with Rogers.--It's art over poster!---[[underline]]END[[end underline]] [[text under illustration]] "Don't look now, but I think this planet [[underline]]does[[end underline]] support life!"
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