Presented-as-true fiction can build magazine circulation dramatically

Evidence

Palmer rewrote Shaver’s original manuscript to incorporate the conventions of pulp fi ction, though the extent of Palmer’s changes in this and subsequent stories has remained a source of disagreement. In 1957, Palmer wrote that he accepted Shaver’s story “as the statement of a man who sincerely believes every word he has said is the truth. As an editor, I expanded the basic 10,000 word manuscript to the 31,000 words, and added the ‘action’ and ‘plot fl avor’ that would make it read less like a dull recitation.” Be that as it may, there are two points about which there is no disagreement. First, despite the presence of characters, dialogue, and plot, in the manner of Amazing Stories’ traditional fi ction, the magazine presented the Shaver stories as true, albeit retouched to make them more entertaining. Second, this and subsequent stories were extraordinary circulation builders, pushing readership from 135,000 to 185,000. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 558

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth pursuing: whether the fact-fiction boundary blur (presenting true stories as retouched fiction, fiction asserted as fact) has a distinctive psychological pull beyond ordinary hoaxes.