Between JD Cowan's series going over the murder of the Pulps and today's Geek Gab, it is clear that here and now is the time for that crime to be avenged.
The Pulps are, in a very different form, coming back.
Instead of being focused on serial publication in magazine format, today's writers are focused upon online distribution in multiple lengths and forms. We have magazines, novels, collections, etc. in both print and electronic format. We're diversifying off of Amazon to other major online storefronts and, increasingly, opening our own storefronts on our own websites and working with new ways to deal in subscription-based business models as well as serial publication.
More of us are also recognizing the value of video and audio, and so more of us are also ensuring that audiobook versions are available as well as dealing with A/V supplementary media such as podcasts and online discussion spaces like Discord. We're already well aware of having multiple means of generating revenue, both in terms of commerce as well as direct neo-patronage via Patreon, Subscribstar, etc.
Watch as the more successful of us being moving into spaces where truly taking full advantage of the power of the Internet, something that only people like the RPG Pundit has done in recent years (and he only in part), moving ourselves and our households away from places we need not be and relocating to places far more secure physical, politically, and financially to continue to produce the thrilling adventure tales that people actually want.
No, you won't be hitting up the newsstand, dropping a nickel or a dime, and getting this week's new Pulp magazine. This isn't even the last vestage of the Pulps, Shonen Jump, but that spirit--and, increasingly, the rapid publishing model--is here again and our stuff is dominating the zombie corpse of Fandom that is OldPub. We're already seeing it spread to comics and games, and soon the nascent presence in film and TV will breakout when the tools and skills get cheap and easy enough for a critical mass of good material to build up- and by then, the distribution issue will present at least one solution.
In a time of gloom, knowing that there's good news--that a historical wrong is being righted--is itself good for morale.
Bradford,
ReplyDeleteWhat I find exciting is the decentralized micropublishing model. Mike Shatzkin alluded to this at his blog. He posited that everyone from public libraries to big corporations are publishers. They have content, expertise, etc.
I've long been advocating for local bookstores to become micro/nano publishers. This would keep them in business and give the community skin in the game to preserve them
xavier