Editing If (magazine) (section)

===Early 1960s===
''If'''s new owner was Robert Guinn, of Galaxy Publishing. The change of ownership was abrupt and led to a delay in publication, with the first issue under new editorship not appearing until July 1959. The editor was [[Horace Gold]], who was also the editor of ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]''; ''Galaxy'' had gone from a monthly to a bimonthly schedule at the start of 1959, and ''If'' and ''Galaxy'' appeared in alternate months for the next few years. In a 1975 retrospective article, Gold commented that his policy with ''If'' was to experiment, using new writers who had not yet established themselves. In the judgement of science fiction historian [[Mike Ashley (writer)|Mike Ashley]], the effect was that ''If'' became the weaker of the two magazines, printing stories that were of lower quality than those Gold selected for ''Galaxy''.<ref name=TM_197>Ashley, ''Transformations'', p.&nbsp;197.</ref>

[[File:Annual circulation of If (magazine).gif|thumb|400px|Annual circulation from 1960–1974]]
[[Frederik Pohl]] took over the editorship of both ''If'' and ''Galaxy'' in 1961. Gold had had a car accident with sufficiently severe health consequences to prevent him from being able to continue as editor.<ref name=TWTFW_190-4>Pohl, ''Way the Future Was'', pp.&nbsp;190–194.</ref> Pohl, who had been intermittently helping Gold with editorial duties for some time prior to the car accident, is first listed as editor of ''If'' on the masthead of the November 1961 issue, and as editor of ''Galaxy'' for the December 1961 issue, but he had been acting as editor of both magazines since at least midyear.<ref name=TWTFW_190-4/><ref name=issues/> Pohl paid one cent per word for the stories he bought for ''If'', whereas ''Galaxy'' paid three cents per word, and like Gold, he regarded ''Galaxy'' as the leading magazine of the two, whereas ''If'' was somewhere he could work with new writers, and try experiments and whims. This developed into a selling point when a letter from a reader, Clayton Hamlin,<!-- Note Ashley misspells his name as "Hamling"; it is "Hamlin" in the magazine --> prompted Pohl to declare that he would publish a new writer in every single issue of the magazine,<ref name=TM_208-9>Ashley, ''Transformations'', pp.&nbsp;208–209.</ref><ref name=If_1962_09_129>''If'' vol.&nbsp;12, no&nbsp;4 (September 1962), p.&nbsp;129.</ref> though he was also able to attract well-known writers.<ref name=TM_210>Ashley, ''Transformations'', p.&nbsp;210.</ref> When Pohl began his stint as editor, both magazines were operating at a loss; despite ''If'''s lower budget, Pohl found it more fun to edit, and commented that apparently the readers thought so, too; he was able to make ''If'' show a profit before ''Galaxy'', adding, "What was fun for me seemed to be fun for them."<ref name=TWTFW_199>Pohl, ''Way the Future Was'', p.&nbsp;199.</ref>

In April 1963, Galaxy Publishing brought out the first issue of ''[[Worlds of Tomorrow (magazine)|Worlds of Tomorrow]]'', another science fiction magazine, also edited by Pohl.<ref name=TM_207>Ashley, ''Transformations'', p.&nbsp;207.</ref> The magazine published some well-received material and was profitable, but Guinn, the publisher and owner, decided in 1967 that it would be better to have ''Galaxy'' resume a monthly schedule; both ''Worlds of Tomorrow'' and ''Galaxy'' were bimonthly at that time, while ''If'' was monthly. With the August 1967 issue ''Worlds of Tomorrow'' was merged with ''If'', though it was another year before ''Galaxy'' actually switched to a monthly schedule.<ref name=TM_273>Ashley, ''Transformations'', p.&nbsp;273.</ref> By this time, ''If'' had become monthly again, starting with the July 1964 issue (though the schedule had an initial hiccup, omitting September 1964).<ref name=TM_210/>

The circulation rose from 64,000 in 1965 to 67,000 in 1967; the modest 5% increase was exceeded only by ''[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact|Analog]]'' among the other science fiction magazines, and ''If'' won the Hugo Award for best professional SF magazine three years running during this period. However, in March 1969, Robert Guinn sold all four of his magazines, including ''Galaxy'' and ''If'', to Arnold Abramson at Universal Publishing and Distribution Corporation (UPD). Pohl was in [[Rio de Janeiro]] when he heard the news, and decided to resign his position as editor rather than continue under the new management. He had been considering a return to a writing career for some time and the change in ownership precipitated his decision to leave.<ref name=TM_281-2>Ashley, ''Transformations'', pp.&nbsp;281–282.</ref><ref name=GF_34>Ashley, ''Gateways to Forever'', p.&nbsp;34.</ref>