Are Webnovelists the Modern Pulp Fiction Writers?

[Corty]

Fellas, Corty looks at us as plebs

 

[AncestorDuck]

Felt liek the description was AI generated

Oi! No Mark slander is allowed here. Out!

 

[beast_regards]

Are web novels pulp fiction?

Absolutely. The vast majority of the web novels (both original, and fan-fiction ones) are a pulp fiction novels, in style, in spirit and in genre, and sometimes in format. Only difference is that the web novels are mostly intended to be endless, rather than self-contained short stories, and are comfortable wasting words as the monetization scheme (if even present) is different and paper is not an issue.

Are web novelists the modern pulp fiction writers?

Well, no...

...say what you want about the pulp fiction authors, but all of them were professionals writing and publishing under the equally professional (even if budget) publishers.

Which most of us are not.

And while we post there, there are still countless pulp fiction novels being published every month, and while they aren't likely to be brought from the newsstands, they are still alive and well. You could even get the paperback versions, even if it is delivered to you by Amazon...

 

[CharlesEBrown]

And while we post there, there are still countless pulp fiction novels being published every month, and while they aren't likely to be brought from the newsstands, they are still alive and well. You could even get the paperback versions, even if it is delivered to you by Amazon...

I even tried to be part of a company that wanted to bring back "Dime Novels" (except they were $1.99 USD) - about 200 quarter-page wood pulp pages in a glossy light card-stock jacket with lurid covers that looked like 50s-70s paperbacks, only smaller. Company got one wave of books out and then went under before they could sign any more writers or editors (and I was trying for both positions, even had a phone interview with the company head and sent him a chapter for consideration - but the internet was not as good as it is now, so communication would have been through fax or phone calls mostly, or "snail mail" - most of his writers were on the West Coast, he was in Seattle and I was in Chicago at the time).

 

[beast_regards]

I even tried to be part of a company that wanted to bring back "Dime Novels" (except they were $1.99 USD) - about 200 quarter-page wood pulp pages in a glossy light card-stock jacket with lurid covers that looked like 50s-70s paperbacks, only smaller. Company got one wave of books out and then went under before they could sign any more writers or editors (and I was trying for both positions, even had a phone interview with the company head and sent him a chapter for consideration - but the internet was not as good as it is now, so communication would have been through fax or phone calls mostly, or "snail mail" - most of his writers were on the West Coast, he was in Seattle and I was in Chicago at the time).

The paper back novels are still there. They are around $20 now on Amazon before the shipping fee, which I imagine why the most small publishers went under, but they do exist, and unlike us there, those who went that far are usually the professional authors.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

The paper back novels are still there. They are around $20 now on Amazon before the shipping fee, which I imagine why the most small publishers went under, but they do exist, and unlike us there, those who went that far are usually the professional authors.

Full sized paperbacks ($20? Wow - I stopped buying new ones when the average price was $9.50). sure, but these were pocket-sized. I don't think I could read the print today - did not need reading glasses back then, though.

 

[beast_regards]

Full sized paperbacks ($20? Wow - I stopped buying new ones when the average price was $9.50). sure, but these were pocket-sized. I don't think I could read the print today - did not need reading glasses back then, though.

Cheapest are around $14.99, more likely $19.99 and I think it is before shipping and tax.
I think they couldn't go under this with the print, and that's Amazon pricing.
Locally, as I am not from US, it's even more expensive.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Cheapest are around $14.99, more likely $19.99 and I think it is before shipping and tax.
I think they couldn't go under this with the print, and that's Amazon pricing.
Locally, as I am not from US, it's even more expensive.

Now I'm even more depressed that all the used book stores in the area went out of business, the last one during COVID... :(

At least most of the stuff I've been looking for lately (mostly Raymond Chandler and Damon Runyon) is $0.99 - $1.99 on Kindle...

 

[beast_regards]

At least most of the stuff I've been looking for lately (mostly Raymond Chandler and Damon Runyon) is $0.99 - $1.99 on Kindle...

Yeah, Kindle is cheaper, though I prefer audiobooks these days. They are excellent when I try to do two things at once :)

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Yeah, Kindle is cheaper, though I prefer audiobooks these days. They are excellent when I try to do two things at once :)

I find my slight hearing disorder makes me need audio files with subtitles... and what is an audionovel with subtitles?

 

[DireBadger]

Yes and no? The problem is that the medium has completely changed the concept. to be fair, television writing was the real replacement for pulp fiction.
We are far above that standard, even the worst of us.

But as far as the slot? We are more akin to the wandering storytellers and minstrels of an earlier era, albeit mostly hobbyists. The barriers for entry to even pulp fiction involved a certain charisma that webnovelists utterly lack, which many of us make up for by presenting a better yarn. As far as stylistically? Yes, most of us are rather single-track with our stories, so we definitely continue that tradition of Jack the Giant Slayer without diving off onto tangents of the politicians trying to use Jack as a tool, but like I said...storytellers.

 

[ZombieHat]

I pretty much agree. I went to a used bookstore in a costal town and bought some small nickle novels. They were a great read. Nothing to really shout from the rooftops about, but the ideas and plots were a bit more imaginative than mainstream novels of the time. They tired some crazy stuff and it was interesting to read, just like webnovels. Some make it big, others just lurk in the shadows, feeding us bits of fun books until we are all albino, cave-dwelling monsters stroking the book, whispering, "Precious..."

 

[Fox-Trot-9]

All hail the king of the plebs!