Pulpy Electrons
by Raymond M. Coulombe

OK boys and girls, it's time for a short history lesson. Hey, where are you going? I said it would be short. Settle down.

Back before the paper shortage caused by WWII, the world was awash in cheap publications, the "Pulps." They were printed on paper so cheap that there was a real danger the magazine would disintegrate before you finished reading it. The key here is cheap. They cost so little to print that just about everybody could afford to read them.

The pulps gave a huge boost to science fiction and fantasy authors. It laid the ground work. The huge mass media explosion gave rise to a huge number of readers and a correspondingly large increase of speculative fiction writers.

Then the war happened. Paper was no longer very cheap. The bulk of the pulps disappeared. Just another way that war sucks. Still, the ground work had been laid. There was an audience out there and people who knew how to write for them. From those beginnings came the science fiction and fantasy literature we love. End of lesson.

What's that got to do with Quantum Muse? Quite simple boys and girls, the ezine is the pulp publication of today. We are cheap. We reach the world. It's an exciting time when a bunch of bozos can put together a fine zine, discover great writers, and have a good time doing it. The established publishing houses sucked the life out of speculative fiction, but us pulpy electron publications are putting it back. I'm proud to say that QM launches writing careers. (Ok, that's saying we are proud to send a young writer down the road to alcoholism and poverty, but I'm still proud. At least those writers have a much better chance of getting laid, and that's a good thing.)

Big publishing houses have to answer to share holders. They must make money and hate risk. There are some great writers out there who aren't getting published because of corporate aversion to risk. Damn those bean counting monkeys!

I'm embarrassed by the high quality of submissions we get at QM. These people should be making real money at their craft. When Mike, Tim, and myself started this zine, we thought we might have to write stories under dozens of pen names, just to fill the issues. That never happened. Good thing, us being lazy and all.

QM has begun to pay our writers. Little enough, but we recognize how talented they are and sending at least some money recognizes their professionalism. We'll pay more as soon as we figure out how. Unfortunately, that's another way how zines are like pulps; it's hard to make a go of it.

The subscription model doesn't work. I know of at least one well financed electronic speculative fiction magazine that was started by some highly recognizable names. Their effort lasted about six months. I will not reveal their names to spare them embarrassment.

Even Slate couldn't make a go of it on the subscription model. Their readership went from hundreds of thousands of readers to about 30,000. They dropped the subscriptions and now are pushing 3 million unique visitors. Unfortunately, they have yet to make any money.

So far QM has stayed true to our first priority: not spending too much of our beer money. Ad sales have helped. We've sold some merchandise. (Buy the damn book!) The innovation of the tip cup has also helped. I like the tip cup. Using Pay Pal, a reader can directly "tip" an author. At the end of the six month achieve period, QM and the author split the tips. We've just about reached the financial level of a street blues musician playing his ax in front of an open guitar case in a subway tunnel. Hey, this is progress.

The pulps did have a few advantages over ezines. You didn't need a $1000 computer to read it on, plus an Internet connection. We have some portability issues. I won't feel QM has been a total success until 12 year olds can read it late at night, in bed, on a portable device, hidden under their blankets, so their parents don't catch them. Eventually, technological progress will make such clandestine pleasures possible. On the other hand, no one has yet used a computer monitor to wipe their butt when they ran out of toilet paper.

We don't make a lot of money at QM, but we certainly have a good time publishing people the big boys would never take a risk on. We believe in this stuff. Thanks readers and writers for all the encouragement you've given us. Together, we are hacking the consciousness of the planet, one cool story at a time.

Raymond M. Coulombe
Editor/Revolutionary/Vagabond
Quantum Muse

---

Quantum Museletter! Be the first to know when new stories and artwork have arrived. We'll offer special incentives for our highly worshiped subscribers.

| Home | Alternative | Fantasy | Science Fiction | Artwork | Editorial | Submissions |
| Discussion Board | News | Recommended | Merchandise | About Us | Links | Webrings | Archives |