The Glory Days of Pulp Fiction

Mar 27

Book cover of Pulp Jungle by Frank Gruber

The glory days of pulp fiction were the 1920s to 1940s, when newsprint magazines filled with thrilling stories were available by the dozens or even hundreds at dirt-cheap prices. For as little as a nickel or dime readers snapped up copies filled with tons of genre tales. The writers who cranked out copy for these magazines were paid as little as a third of a cent a word to four cents a word. Those days are long gone. In the mystery field, there are far fewer ways to get paid as a writer. Hilariously, though, the top two magazines in the genre today pay a munificent 8 cents a word. When writers talk about the days of the pulps, it’s often with reverence, as if writers back then had great opportunities that have since dried up.

The reality was a mixed bag. The life was grueling. It was tough making ends meet on a penny rate, but the ones who found favor with editors learned to craft amazing stories, produced a prodigious amount of writing in a short amount of time, and earned enviable livings. Today at SleuthSayers, the mystery blog, I’m talking about one of those practitioners, Frank Gruber, who left behind a remarkable snapshot of that era when he published a 1967 memoir entitled The Pulp Jungle.

Here is part of what I’m talking about today at SleuthSayers:

Gruber estimates that between 1934 and 1941 he wrote between 600,000 and 800,000 words a year, the equivalent of seven to 10 modern novels a year. In his lifetime, he wrote about 400 short stories, 60 novels, and 200 screenplays for television and the movies (most for projects that were never filmed). He wrote detective stories, adventure stories, love stories, westerns, spy novels, and “spicy” stories (which I take to mean erotica). By the way, I think he grossly undercounts his short story output. In one year alone in the 1930s, he wrote 176 stories. But let's go with 400. It's his book.

Gruber is an interesting case. He was never a household name, never as well known as, say, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner (creator of Perry Mason), or Max Brand (creator of Dr. Kildare). But his output was incredible and he earned a living that was on par with doctors and lawyers of the era.

You can read more about his experience at my article, which is entitled:

Tales from the Jungle

If I had to guess, the copyright to his memoir was never renewed and the text lapsed into the public domain. No publisher thought enough of the book to reprint it, until now. Fiction House Press sells a paperback version that retails for $15. Why this version can only be found on Lulu and not the usual retail channels anyone’s guess. You can also read the book for free today at the Internet Archive. (None of these are affiliate links.)

I hope you’ll check the article and enjoy learning more about a colorful era in publishing.

Usually, when I do these SleuthSayers posts, I like to plug for one of my own books. My own short story output is nowhere near Gruber’s but I have about 35 shorts out in the world. You can grab them via three of my mystery collections, dubbed Daggyland, available at all the usual suspects.