CJ>    A while back I sold a couple of pieces of nonfiction, and I'll
 CJ> probably be trying again.  One thing I have noticed is that the
 CJ> length range of pieces that magazines accept, as measured by their
 CJ> requirements in marketplace listings by the editor, has nearly
 CJ> halved over three decades.  Some things cannot be adequately
 CJ> explained in three thousand words, particularly if one also insists
 CJ> on background explanation and celebrity-like details.

 RJT> What publications are you referring to here?

	Pretty much any magazine, though there are still a few exceptions
here and there, especially in the "high-brow" and technical magazines.
The _New Yorker_, for example, has dropped serializing books in two or
three parts.
 
 CJ>    A perfect illustration:  the old _Byte_ vs. most Ziff-Davis
 CJ> computer magazines.   

 RJT> Heh.  I haven't bought *any* computer magazines for a really long
 RJT> time. 

	I haven't read _Computer Shopper_ in a while, but as of about
three years ago it used to have some decent, long-length articles 
about a particular bit of technology or software approach.

 RJT> Speaking of magazines,  did you ever read Micro-Cornucopia?  I have
 RJT> a pretty good collection of those,  watched it go from dealing with
 RJT> cp/m boxes to pc clone hardware,  and to a bit of a slick format.
 RJT> Then it folded.  And it appeared that it folded by choice,  of the
 RJT> guy who was running it,  rather than selling out to somebody,  which
 RJT> apparently was being proposed... 
 RJT> I was rather disappointed that it wasn't going to be around any more, 
 RJT> but in retrospect I can see where he made the better choice. 

	No, I never saw that one.  There did used to be a lot of pretty
good computer magazines, and with some of them you could tell that the
staff and writers were having a lot of fun.  Now the ones that I see
(at least on the usual newsstands) are pitched to consumers (i.e.,
buy, buy) instead of the enthusiast or hobbyist who'd be more discerning
about quality of hardware, software, etc. and who'd want to know how it
works.


	


--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 [NR]