Pulpfest 2021 6 6

[RedFury]

Pulpfest is a little over two weeks away, and I'm busy preparing my tables.  I'm so excited to finally see everyone again!  Who will be there?  From what I hear, ticket and room sales are already well above previous years.  I think it's going to be a great show!

The programming lineup looks great. There are presentations about romance pulps, Shadow art, Shadow premiums and collectibles, female pulp editors, the art of Margaret Brundage and more!

Hope to see you there!

Todd

 

Aug 13-22 in Pittsburgh, PA

pulpfest.com

[sagii]

On 8/2/2021 at 8:32 AM, RedFury said:

Pulpfest is a little over two weeks away, and I'm busy preparing my tables.  I'm so excited to finally see everyone again!  Who will be there?  From what I hear, ticket and room sales are already well above previous years.  I think it's going to be a great show!

The programming lineup looks great. There are presentations about romance pulps, Shadow art, Shadow premiums and collectibles, female pulp editors, the art of Margaret Brundage and more!

Hope to see you there!

Todd

 

Aug 13-22 in Pittsburgh, PA

pulpfest.com

Is there a NYC version of this show?

[RedFury]

On 8/2/2021 at 9:05 AM, sagii said:

Is there a NYC version of this show?

There are very few pulp shows.  The two big ones are Windy City in Chicago, which is usually in the spring but will be in Sept this year, and Pulpfest in Pittsburg in Aug.

PulpAdventureCon, a smaller but still good pulp show, is Nov 6 in Bordentown, NJ.

I'm not sure if NY has a pulp show.

[RedFury]

This was my 2019 table setup.  It's going to be better this year. 

[Robot Man]

On 8/2/2021 at 7:06 AM, RedFury said:

This was my 2019 table setup.  It's going to be better this year. 

Awsome! I sure would love to dig those boxes. Have fun and hope you do well. Wish I could go.

Would love to hear a couple of show reports with photos from those lucky enough to attend. 

[Robot Man]

On 8/2/2021 at 6:33 AM, RedFury said:

There are very few pulp shows.  The two big ones are Windy City in Chicago, which is usually in the spring but will be in Sept this year, and Pulpfest in Pittsburg in Aug.

PulpAdventureCon, a smaller but still good pulp show, is Nov 6 in Bordentown, NJ.

I'm not sure if NY has a pulp show.

In SO CA we have a Paperback show in March. Lots of pulps and misc old paper as well. Last one was 3 days before shut down in March 2020. 21 was canceled but hope to be back in 22.

Edited August 2, 2021 by Robot Man

[Sarg]

On 8/2/2021 at 9:06 AM, RedFury said:

This was my 2019 table setup.  It's going to be better this year. 

[OtherEric]

One of these years I've got to make plans and make it to the show.

Sadly, this will not be the year, and almost certainly not next year either.  Maybe 2023?

[waaaghboss]

Ever anything like this up in Seattle?   Tried my hand at getting a couple pulps on ebay again and I'm getting trounced.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Popular-Detective-Pulp-Magazine-11-1934-L-Ron-Hubbard-/234108208699

 

[comicjack]

On 8/4/2021 at 11:24 AM, waaaghboss said:

Ever anything like this up in Seattle?   Tried my hand at getting a couple pulps on ebay again and I'm getting trounced.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Popular-Detective-Pulp-Magazine-11-1934-L-Ron-Hubbard-/234108208699

 

Crazy market not just comics 

[waaaghboss]

On 8/4/2021 at 8:28 AM, comicjack said:

Crazy market not just comics 

I know, I thought pulps were supposed to be cheap compared to comics 🙃 

I'm guessing this one went to high because it was an l Ron Hubbard, the best fiction writer of the Era.  The other issue from that run I lost went for 300ish.  Still more than I was expecting a defective pulp to go for.  My pulp price guide is already out of date 😀

[Bookery]

On 8/4/2021 at 11:31 AM, waaaghboss said:

I know, I thought pulps were supposed to be cheap compared to comics 🙃 

I'm guessing this one went to high because it was an l Ron Hubbard, the best fiction writer of the Era.  The other issue from that run I lost went for 300ish.  Still more than I was expecting a defective pulp to go for.  My pulp price guide is already out of date 😀

Easy fix.  Just move the decimal point. 

[OtherEric]

On 8/5/2021 at 9:29 AM, Bookery said:

Easy fix.  Just move the decimal point. 

Wasn't it only a few months ago you put out the errata saying increase all prices 2-3x?

Your timing on the guide was perfect, given the rush on pulps we're seeing... I'm just trying to decide if it was perfectly right or perfectly wrong!

[Bookery]

On 8/5/2021 at 12:36 PM, OtherEric said:

Wasn't it only a few months ago you put out the errata saying increase all prices 2-3x?

Your timing on the guide was perfect, given the rush on pulps we're seeing... I'm just trying to decide if it was perfectly right or perfectly wrong!

In all honesty, if I had to do it over, I wouldn't.  I made almost nothing off of it, which is okay and typical for a reference book... but the point was to get as least some advertising and publicity for the business.  But Heritage ended up only promoting it in-house, and it's difficult to locate on their website (most pulp collectors still don't know there is a 2020 edition).  It was never carried through Diamond or national bookshops.  Now, just a year later, the pricing is essentially meaningless.  I spent hundreds of hours compiling just this updated edition, and the time would have been better spent getting caught up on processing back-stock in storage or improving the shop.  On the plus side, the fact that such a guide even exists still ticks off some of the PulpFest guys (even after 20 years), so at least there's that.  

[asimovpulps]

On 8/6/2021 at 6:18 AM, Bookery said:

In all honesty, if I had to do it over, I wouldn't

I doubt it makes a difference, but I for one am eternally grateful you did. I just got into pulps last year and I've essentially read your guide cover to cover. Between @Bookeryand the Boardies on here patiently answering my basic questions, it's made collecting a lot of fun and led me to a lot of great discoveries.

Plus multiplying everything by 10 in your head isn't that hard 🙂

[Surfing Alien]

On 8/6/2021 at 10:17 AM, asimovpulps said:

I've essentially read your guide cover to cover.

+1 Thanks for your efforts.  My wallets lighter but at least I have an idea of what i'm looking for 

[OtherEric]

On 8/6/2021 at 6:18 AM, Bookery said:

In all honesty, if I had to do it over, I wouldn't.  I made almost nothing off of it, which is okay and typical for a reference book... but the point was to get as least some advertising and publicity for the business.  But Heritage ended up only promoting it in-house, and it's difficult to locate on their website (most pulp collectors still don't know there is a 2020 edition).  It was never carried through Diamond or national bookshops.  Now, just a year later, the pricing is essentially meaningless.  I spent hundreds of hours compiling just this updated edition, and the time would have been better spent getting caught up on processing back-stock in storage or improving the shop.  On the plus side, the fact that such a guide even exists still ticks off some of the PulpFest guys (even after 20 years), so at least there's that.  

As others have said, we're very glad you did do it.  My comment on the timing was just intended to be amusing, the book is an amazing reference that I'm using all the time and deeply appreciate.  And even if the prices are already out of date, they're still useful as a starting point for relative value and demand.  Thank you.

[Bookery]

On 8/6/2021 at 1:15 PM, OtherEric said:

As others have said, we're very glad you did do it.  My comment on the timing was just intended to be amusing, the book is an amazing reference that I'm using all the time and deeply appreciate.  And even if the prices are already out of date, they're still useful as a starting point for relative value and demand.  Thank you.

It was amusing.  I smiled.  But then I thought it did kind of raise a serious question.  Of course, there's no planning for such timing.  When the 1st guide came out ("Ultimate Guide...", 2001) it also became quickly outdated, as eBay had just discovered pulps shortly before its release, and prices were rising rapidly by the time the book was released.  The 2nd volume (2005), actually stayed fairly accurate for awhile.  This 3rd one (2020, despite the fact it's titled "2nd edition") came out just before the big auctions, and prices exploded.  Even I joke about how off some of the prices are.  But, in truth, most of the price escalations have occurred in just a few titles.  Many pulps are just so rare, there aren't any recent prices to judge volatility.

Also, the recent auctions have concentrated on the science-fiction, spicy, and horror pulps.  What's going on with detective pulps, westerns, adventure titles, aviation, etc.?  Hard to say.  It's been years since a decent run of Black Mask has surfaced (afaik).  I actually think the guide is still pretty accurate on most sf pulps (just not the more in-demand covers).  I've seen a number of Astounding issues actually sell below guide.  Non-rare westerns have probably not seen any surges.  And the ultra-rares probably don't see enough action to cause demand increases.

Weird Tales hits the perfect sweet spot for collectibles.  They are, except for a handful of issues, not all that hard to come by.  You have to have a certain availability to create viable demand.  They have some famous covers and some famous characters.  There is a good range of very expensive issues as well as pretty affordable ones within the run.  And despite their early publication dates, there are high-grade examples of most issues out there to keep that faction of the hobby interested.  And even people who don't really know what a "pulp" is, have often at least heard of the title "Weird Tales", or have heard of H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, even if they don't know a lot about them.  

[waaaghboss]

Yah sorry I didn't mean to make a knock on the guide, it has a permanent place on my bookshelf and it's an invaluable reference.  I suspect I'll be flipping through it for many years

[Surfing Alien]

On 8/6/2021 at 1:37 PM, Bookery said:

What's going on with detective pulps, westerns, adventure titles, aviation, etc.?  Hard to say.  It's been years since a decent run of Black Mask has surfaced (afaik).  I actually think the guide is still pretty accurate on most sf pulps (just not the more in-demand covers).  I've seen a number of Astounding issues actually sell below guide.  Non-rare westerns have probably not seen any surges.  And the ultra-rares probably don't see enough action to cause demand increases.

This is the 64K question. I'm sure Black Masks would do very well, especially any with well known Noir names or GGA covers. If/when CGC gets to actually getting slabs out on the market, I suspect any genre with GGA art covers or bizarre covers of any kind would be of interest due to the cover-centric nature of graded books. I imagine that, like comics before them, there would be very sharp rises in prices at ultra high grades, which is what we're witnessing in the auctions over the last 2 years. I think a lot of the market would look like the comic market, with westerns and other genre's that don't have current interest lagging and mostly not getting graded unless super high grade. I could see interest in war/battle covers in the aviation pulps. I could see old staples like The Shadow and Doc Savage being softer because of the lack of GGA and bondage/torture covers and eventually being surpassed by others like The Spider because of the inclusion of same. I see Sci-Fi as steady and probably will be dictated by whether the market gets big enough to dry up the supply because Sci Fi collectors saved everything unlike most other genre's. Pure speculation here but based on what I've seen in comics since CGC opened.     Weird Tales is the sweet spot for sure for all the reasons stated.