In London, the basement of a certain publishing house was thick with the smell of cheap cigars once again. More precisely, it used to be. The only South American cigar scent was too busy chomping through those cheap stogie smells.
"These idiots, no matter how fast I told them to write, what is this!? Even so, you should write as much as you're paid, right? As much as you're paid!!"
The nominal investor and actual owner of the publishing house tossed the manuscript aside with those words. On the cheap, brittle paper that seemed to tear at a touch, the ink had a stench of desperation from being hastily applied and dried out.
—So, Witch Sally hurried on. The reason for her haste was as follows. The wicked western witch was pursuing her. Famous for destroying the eastern kingdom, he was an enemy of one of Sally's biological mothers...
It was truly a sight to behold. It was more of a script than a novel. The narrative made no sense. When I saw the phrase "one of one's biological mothers," my mind went blank. At least the sentences were short, so they resembled something of a semblance, though that was only self-consolation.
It wasn't always like this. At first, he would look around with satisfaction and a chuckle when he came in. He had ambitiously released 1.5 times the volume of Hanslow Jin's work, and that strategy had worked to some extent. The first edition sold remarkably well, and he boasted of his foresight.
... Though, for his success, more than ten writers had to be ground out per volume. It wasn't too bad at the time.
But sales began to plummet from the second volume, and by the third volume, they were scraping the bottom. There were even times when the workload was so low that they couldn't be published in magazines... The results were predictable.
"Why, oh why! That foolish Bentley managed to catch a lucky break and hit it big with one writer."
As a representative figure in the industry, Bentley held a firm first place. Although George Newnes, the king of magazines, could not be left out, Bentley's publishing house, Bentley and Son, was gaining more fame in the industry lately. As a "self-made rich man," who wouldn't dream of such a "lottery"?
That's why he had jumped in. He had seized the empty market by chance, and the initial results were quite good.
"Damn it, how could I let this chance slip away..."
Perhaps it was a mistake to start this business when I wasn't even interested in this field in the first place. However, such people always look for the cause of failure outside themselves. Therefore, the investor puffed on a cigar to calm his rage and then, like expelling all his remaining anger, shouted.
"Do you understand?! You vermin!! If you want to get paid, you need to increase sales, understand!!"
"Yes..."
"Answer!!"
"Y-yes!!"
Of course, the response was faint once again. At his age, chewing on twisted, unidentifiable fish deep-fried in cheap oil and eating it with rye bread, answering at all was quite a feat.
Yet the investor was resolute. No, he paid them and gave them paper, pens, and ink. It wasn't that he asked for a lot; just 32 pages, each 4 pages, fairly divided among 8 people—was that so difficult?
"You morons."
"Ha, ha. Don't worry too much, boss. We're still getting a decent profit, aren't we?"
"You're the boss, you fool."
"Oh, yes!"
Of course, he was just a figurehead. Even if he was a wealthy parvenu, George Newnes was formidable. Such a scarecrow was worth using up without regret.
"And are you satisfied with just this?"
Even so, it was frustrating to use such an incapable figurehead. Though, he was used as a scarecrow without reservation.
"Even so, if you have a head, you should know how urgent the situation is."
The investor frowned as he cut a new cigar.
As he had thought, the initial results weren't bad. The opposition to the ending had settled down, but personal boycotts were unavoidable. The curiosity of those boycotting Peter Perry and other serialized works led to purchases of Bentley and Son. But that was all.
"Why, why aren't sales increasing?"
There were various reasons for the drop in sales, but the biggest problem was that too many competitors had the same idea. Just look now. Too many pulp fiction magazines... or "pulp fiction" as they were abbreviated, were being churned out far faster than expected.
"Sigh, this business won't last long."
The investor diagnosed the situation. It wasn't just that the market had expanded rapidly and abnormally. The consumer reaction was colder than expected.
"Didn't they cry and protest? But they never imagined the excitement would cool so quickly."
"There's no choice. If this is the case, I'll have to invest more."
Initially, it seemed sufficient to just invest heavily at the start when sales were high. Well, if it doesn't sell, he could stop and release something new. That way, he could recoup the principal quickly. But...
"What kind of ability did that madman have to produce two monthly and one weekly issues? Was he some kind of writing machine?"
Speed reading is one thing, and so is speed writing. And writers of this era, who hadn't trained their speed writing, couldn't keep up with writers from the era when daily serialization was the norm. No writer of that caliber had emerged yet.
Moreover, managing quality was beyond the skills of college students. They thought, "It'll be enough if we just write something similar!" But from the start, there were many conflicts.
—What is this? No matter how I look at it, it doesn't look like Hanslow Jin's novel. Why are the sentences so messy?
—But if we don't include that part, it's hard to convey the protagonist's feelings at the time!
—Hanslow Jin did it well, didn't he? Why do you think I'm paying you, an unknown writer? After all, it's just short, simple sentences! It's only half the length of the manuscript you were given! You should be able to handle that!
—I... I'm not Hanslow Jin!
Numerous writers had been replaced.
— Boss! Our article is in the newspaper!
— What? "Eight Changes in Style Within a Single Chapter. Is This Era's Chimera?" Journalists are always making a fuss over trivial matters! It's ridiculous how clueless the public is, yet they make such a racket!
— There are also allegations of plagiarism. How should we respond?
— Let it be! Just keep publishing!
Unnecessary disputes arose from futile matters. And...
— Here, please take this.
— ... What is this?
— I heard you were planning to create derivative magazines of Hanslow Jin's work. We can help with that. We'll also handle some legal issues. But... you must absolutely beat Hanslow Jin.
A suspicious proposal from someone, with the odor of outdated practices blatantly evident in the style.
Gradually, I began to wonder if the market I once thought was "precious meat" was a bottomless swamp.
'First.'
It's still a pity. So I thought. The money invested was not small, and time was available.
'Let's at least increase the output a bit more. After churning out as many copies as possible, we'll sell the factory and move on. That should yield a good profit.'
No matter what, I had to squeeze out as much as possible. The investor carefully started planning the operation.
Of course, a rational manager would choose to minimize losses even if it meant absorbing sunk costs. But humans are inherently irrational, and thus the investor could only procrastinate and pressure his subordinates. As a result:
"B-boss!! Something terrible has happened!!" "Oh."
Time-out. For some unknown reason, the investor squeezed his eyes shut and thought.
***
In fact, seeing the flood of "pulp fiction" now reminds me of when I first entered the genre literature scene. Probably the third generation? I remember going to the library near my house, claiming to study for exams, and devouring everything in sight. Since I joined the fandom later than most, rental shops were actually in decline during that time.
If "bad money drives out good," then bad money is driven out by even worse bad money. The rental shops, once blamed for the degradation of genre literature, had their downfall accelerated by the development of MP4s and flip phones and the atrocious copyright laws of the time. Text files circulating on blogs and P2P sites, along with fanfic sites like Joara, contributed to this decline. The world was indeed strange.
Anyway, if I had to summarize the genre literature my generation last enjoyed in one phrase, it would be this:
Mass-produced fantasy novels, "The Merchandise Store."
Aside from the top-tier works of that era, plagiarism was rampant, and the quality varied greatly.
Otherworlds were often filled with multiple moons and mindless nationalistic content, or entire pages filled with "You have leveled up!" The "Once upon a time, there were celestial beings and demons" trope seen in game stories also emerged from this period.
But this wasn't entirely meaningless. It ultimately helped expand the market.
The experience of that time became a foundation, allowing readers to naturally absorb clichés and grammar. Nowadays, people can enjoy works without needing explanations of principles like the underworld king or divine mistakes.
And these readers grew up and entered the field as new writers.
As generations changed and the web novel market emerged, more works and more competition led to the rise of even more "white horse-riding superhumans."
Somewhere along the line, Korean genre literature became the basis for manga, anime, dramas, and games, expanding globally and growing. It would probably sound absurd if one went back to that time and said so.
Thus, I welcome the current flood of "pulp fiction" with great enthusiasm. After all, expanding the market is the priority. Even white horse-riding superhumans are still people. For the genre to survive and continue, a consistent cycle of trends within the intense competition is necessary.
Stagnation leads to decay. In fact, among the current works, there are even some promising new sprouts.
"Well, let's see you climb up. If you can climb, you will; if you can't, you won't. The former will be picked up, and the latter will nourish the next generation. Either way, I'm not losing out."
With a smirk, I looked at the rapidly turning binding machine.
And then at the well-made cover of
— The sequel to <Peter Perry>, <Doctor Dickter's Bizarre Adventures>! — Join Doctor Dickter on new adventures as brave as Peter Perry's!
Indeed.
— Can you keep up?