Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
"When Fitzgerald died in 1940 in Hollywood, his last royalty check was for $13.13. Remaindered copies of the second printing of The Great Gatsby were moldering away in [publisher] Scribner's warehouse"
That's something that doesn't happen any more. With the changes in the tax code, so that book dealers have to pay taxes on any books they have in inventory, remaindered copies are fairly quickly destroyed. The inventory tax changes caused a big, big change in the book industry. You don't have books sitting on shelves for long periods of time.
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There is also the fact that (at least in the US) there was the depression still going on to some degree in 1940. Hard to afford a book when you're having to scramble to put food on the table. That's one reason so many writers like L. Ron Hubbard, Robert Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, etc. wrote for the pulps prior to WWII. They may not have paid much but at least there was a chance of earning something on which to live. Few people could afford the expense of a book, but coming up with an occasional dime for the next edition of your favorite pulp magazine was at least possible.