Re: (ReacTor) When Did SFF Get Too Big?

On 9/26/2024 7:02 PM, Ahasuerus wrote:

On 9/26/2024 4:30 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
[snip]

So, should all SFF writers become government registered [snip]

 How else would ISFDB editors know whether the latest "Andrew Smith" story was written by:
 Andrew Smith - https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?179138
Andrew Smith (I) - https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?179140
Andrew Smith (II) - https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?179139
Andrew Smith (III) - https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?213355
Andrew Smith (IV) - https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?179142
Andrew Smith (V) - https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?179141
Andrew Smith (VI) - https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?261371
Andrew Smith (VII) - https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?280123
or Andrew Smith (VIII) - https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?309023
 ?!
 On a more serious note, Earl Kemp's comment:
  > I knew everything that was being published and read everything
 > up until the 1940s
 makes a good deal of sense. As I wrote back in March, there were only 3 stable science fiction monthlies between mid-1930 and mid-1938: *Amazing*, *Astounding* and *Wonder* (*Thrilling Wonder* after 1936.)
 Things began to change in mid-1938 with the launch of *Marvel* and then the Golden Age started in 1939: *Planet Stories*, *Captain Future*, *Startling Stories*, *Dynamic*, *Famous Fantastic Mysteries*, *Science Fiction*/*Future Fiction*, *Strange Stories*, *Uncanny Tales*, *Marvel Science Stories*, *Fantastic Adventures*, *Science Fiction Quarterly*, *Super Science Stories*, *Astonishing Stories*, *Cosmic Stories*, *Fantastic Novels*, *Stirring Science Stories*, *Unknown*.
 Even if you skipped the reprints (some magazines specialized in reprints), there was a significant amount of SF content being published every month.

When the internet came out, fan fiction went wild and is still wild. Plus quite a few books were published as freeware on the intertubes then published on dead trees for cash dollars.
When ebooks came out, the amount of SFF probably quadrupled due to the self publishing.
Lynn