subject: Historical Best Selling Pulp Fiction Stories Meets 21st Century Audio And E-books [print this page] In the late 1890s an American publisher named Frank Munsey once wrote, "A story is worth more than the paper it is printed on!" And he was right! For the next 50 years he created a reading frenzy with publishing dime novels on inexpensive high acid paper.
The predecessor of the pulp magazines used slick, high gloss expensive paper that advertisers paid dearly for which resulted in the high cost being passed down to the consumer. This meant that the market was too narrow and readership was limited to the people who could read and afford such luxuries.
Frank Munsey realized that with schooling being now mandatory for all children (in the late 1880s), that literacy was opening up an entire new audience. If he could reduce the cost, more people could enjoy the wonderful stories that were for the longest time available only for the well to do.
The pulp stories written by wonderful writers such as Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote the Tarzan series, or H.P. Lovecraft and his series of Weird Tales, L. Ron Hubbard's Spy Killer or Dead Men Kill and many other genres, E. E. (Doc) Smith's series of science fiction tales, and many more, took the average person on far away adventures of science fiction, westerns, detective stories, romance, true crime and more. People could not get enough of reading about dangerous women, heroic characters, clever crime solving minds, fantasy or far away space adventures. It allowed one to live the life of the written characters and transport them to unknown territories or any time past, present or future. It gave readers respite from daily life.
Fast forward to the 40s and 50s and you have the advent of the radio! Previously a good story teller would travel from town to town spinning his tales and was highly valued by people looking for a relief from everyday life. With the invention of the radio families could gather around after dinner and relive some of the famous pulp fiction and other stories together. It was an adventure the families devoured and looked forward to as a regular family ritual.
Today the pulp stories are still available in printed books, as well as e-Books, across the country and we are fortunate enough to have them in audio books on cd format as well. The visual stories (television and movies) have dominated the last 50 years as a main source of entertainment. But, with more and more interest in audio books, we can recreate the family time of the radio days of old or take ourselves off to far away lands and adventures while we fly on a plane, commute to work or just want a break from our busy lives.
