For the guidance of writers…

I’d always wondered what sort of guidance the pulp publishers provided to prospective fictioneers back in the day.

Then one day, I noticed on eBay a collection of pulp rejection letters and a copy of the pulp Adventure‘s writers’ guide. I placed a bid, then upped it a few times until the bidding war for those vintage documents soared above my meager budget for pulp material. That was back in 2005.

I always lamented not getting my hands on that Adventure guide. I’m not sure what I envisioned the guide to be. I guess I thought it might be a multi-page booklet offering a how-to for writing stories that the magazine’s publishers would want to buy.

Finally, earlier this year, I managed to get a copy of a copy of the guide. Turns out, it’s a single-page document with 12 points. Not so much a how-to guide to writing action-packed pulp stories, but more guidelines for what sort of stories Adventure was interested in.

Earlier in the spring when I was designing this year’s The Pulpster, I’d offered the guide to editor Tony Davis since it’s the 100th anniversary of the first issue of Adventure. (November 1910, to be exact.)

Unfortunately, The Pulpster already had plenty of terrific material and there wasn’t room for the guide.

Well, The Pulpster‘s loss is your gain.

So in honor of Adventure‘s 100th anniversary this month, I’m happy to announce that a facsimile of the guide is available as a .PDF download. Simply click on the image above to view it.

I think it’s a nice little bit of pulp history. Enjoy!