Editing Galaxy Science Fiction (section)

===1970s and after===
In 1969, Guinn sold ''Galaxy'' to Universal Publishing and Distribution Corporation (UPD).  Pohl was in [[Rio de Janeiro]] at a World Science Fiction Symposium when the sale went through; he heard the news when he returned to the ''Galaxy'' office afterwards and within a few days decided to resign.{{refn|Pohl reports in his autobiography that his final decision to resign was precipitated by hearing that the new publisher, Arnie Abramson, insisted that the magazine's editor be in the office from nine to five every day.<ref name=THTFW_244-6>Pohl, ''The Way the Future Was'', pp.&nbsp;244–246.</ref>|group=notes}}  He remained on the masthead as "editor emeritus", a post invented to keep Pohl from moving to one of the other sf magazines, and went back to his writing career.<ref name=THTFW_244-6/> His place was taken by [[Ejler Jakobsson]], who was working in UPD's book department.  Lester del Rey stayed on as features editor, and [[Judy-Lynn del Rey|Judy-Lynn Benjamin]] took his place as managing editor.<ref name=TM_281-82>Ashley, ''Transformations'', pp.&nbsp;281–282.</ref>  [[Jack Gaughan]] was made art editor.<ref name=GF_36>Ashley, ''Gateways to Forever'', p.&nbsp;36.</ref>

''Galaxy''{{'s}} circulation had held relatively steady in the mid-1960s, ranging between 73,000 and 78,000, but the UPD acquisition coincided with a precipitous drop—from 75,300 for the year ended October 1968, circulation fell to 51,479 just one year later.  Difficulties with distribution also cut into income, and Arnold Abramson, UPD's owner, decided to cut costs and maximize profits.  ''Galaxy'' went bimonthly in August 1970, ending a two-year spell of monthly scheduling (though a couple of months had been missed).  The page count, which had been cut from 196 to 160 when UPD bought it, was increased again, and the price was raised from 60 cents to 75 cents.  A British edition began in May 1972, published by Tandem Books, which was owned by UPD.  The net effect of all these changes was a substantial increase in profitability.  Circulation in 1972 also rose by about 6,000 issues, though it is possible that this was solely due to the new British edition.<ref name=GF_54-56>Ashley, ''Gateways to Forever'', pp.&nbsp;54–56.</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 11pt; margin-right: 2em; text-align: center; float: left"
! !!Jan !! Feb !!Mar !!Apr !!May !!Jun !!Jul !!Aug !!Sep !!Oct !!Nov !!Dec
|-
!1970
|| ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|29/5 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|29/6 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|30/1 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|30/2 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|30/3 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|30/4 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|30/5 || ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|30/6 || ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|31/1
|-
!1971
|bgcolor=#ccc0d0|31/2 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|31/3 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|31/4 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|31/5 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|31/6 || ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|32/1 || ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|32/2 || ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|32/3 ||
|-
!1972
|bgcolor=#ccc0d0|32/4 || ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|32/5 || ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|32/6 || ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|33/1 || ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|33/2 || ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|33/3 ||
|-
!1973
|bgcolor=#ccc0d0|33/4 || ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|33/5 || ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|33/6 || ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|34/7 || ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|34/8 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|34/1  ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|34/2 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|34/3
|-
!1974
|bgcolor=#ccc0d0|34/4 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|34/5 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|34/6 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|34/7 ||bgcolor=#ccc0d0|35/5 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|35/6||bgcolor=#c2d69a|35/7 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|35/8 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|35/9 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|35/10 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|35/11 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|35/12
|-
!1975
|bgcolor=#c2d69a|36/1 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|36/2 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|36/3 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|36/4 || ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|36/5 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|36/6||bgcolor=#c2d69a|36/7 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|36/8 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|36/9 || ||
|-
!1976
|bgcolor=#c2d69a|37/1 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|37/2 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|37/3 || ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|37/4 || ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|37/5|| ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|37/6||bgcolor=#c2d69a|37/7 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|37/8 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|37/9
|-
!1977
|| || ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|38/1 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|38/2 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|38/3 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|38/4 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|38/5 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|38/6||bgcolor=#c2d69a|38/7 ||bgcolor=#c2d69a|38/8 ||bgcolor=#fac090|38/9 ||bgcolor=#fac090|39/1
|-
!1978
|| ||bgcolor=#fac090|39/2 ||bgcolor=#fac090|39/3 ||bgcolor=#fac090|39/4 ||bgcolor=#fac090|39/5 ||bgcolor=#fac090|39/6 || || ||bgcolor=#fac090|39/7 || ||bgcolor=#fac090|39/8 ||
|-
!1979
|| || ||bgcolor=#fac090|39/9 || || ||bgcolor=#d8d8d8|39/10 || || ||bgcolor=#d8d8d8|39/11 || || ||
|-
!1980
|| || || || || || ||bgcolor=#e6b9b8|40/1 || || || || ||
|-
|style="line-height: 0pt;" colspan="13" bgcolor=#000000|
|-
!1994
|bgcolor=#92d050|1/1 || ||bgcolor=#92d050|1/2  || ||bgcolor=#92d050|1/3  || ||bgcolor=#92d050|1/4  || ||bgcolor=#92d050|1/5  || ||bgcolor=#92d050|1/6  ||
|-
!1995
|bgcolor=#92d050|2/1 || ||bgcolor=#92d050|2/2 || || || || || || || || ||
|-
|colspan="13" style="font-size: 8pt; text-align:left"|Issues of ''Galaxy'' from 1970 to the last issue, including the revival in 1994, showing<br/>volume/issue number; the apparent errors at July and September 1973, and the odd<br/>numbering of volume 35, are in fact correctly shown. The editors, in sequence, were<br/>Ejler Jakobsson, James Baen, J.J. Pierce, Hank Stine, Floyd Kemske, and E.J. Gold.<ref name=TA_290-309/>
|}UPD began to have financial difficulties in the early 1970s, and when Judy-Lynn del Rey (formerly Judy-Lynn Benjamin) left in May 1973 to work at Ballantine Books, Jakobsson's workload increased greatly.  He resigned less than a year later, citing overwork and other issues, and was replaced by [[James Baen]], who took over with the June 1974 issue after Pohl declined the post.<ref name=GF_56-59>Ashley, ''Gateways to Forever'', pp.&nbsp;56–59.</ref>  Baen also took over the editorship of ''If'', but rising paper costs forced the closure of ''If'' at the end of 1974, and the title was merged with ''Galaxy''.<ref name=GF_59-62>Ashley, ''Gateways to Forever'', pp.&nbsp;59–62.</ref>  The magazine had returned to a monthly schedule in September 1973, but it was only patchily adhered to, with at least a couple of issues missed every year except 1974.  Baen was successful at increasing circulation again, bringing it from 47,789 when he took over to 81,035 when he left. The magazine was profitable for UPD, but the financial pressure on the parent company took its toll and Baen left in late 1977 to work for [[Ace Books]]—the October issue was his last.<ref name=TA_290-309/><ref name=GF_68-69>Ashley, ''Gateways to Forever'', pp.&nbsp;68–69.</ref>

Baen was replaced by John J. Pierce, but the situation only worsened.  Pierce resigned within a year: the company was in increasing debt, and his office assistant recalls that the office appeared inefficiently run, though he commented that Pierce "clearly loved what he did and knew what he was talking about".  Pierce's replacement was [[Hank Stine]], who took over in late 1978, though because of ''Galaxy''{{'s}} irregular schedule Pierce's last issue was March–April 1979.  Stine managed to produce only two more issues, June–July 1979 and September–October 1979, before UPD's financial problems spelled the end.  Rights to the title were transferred to a new company, Galaxy Magazine, Inc., owned by Vincent McCaffrey, proprietor of Avenue Victor Hugo, a second-hand book store in Boston; UPD retained a ten percent interest in order to receive income from future sales to pay off their debts.  Stine had compiled two more issues, but neither ever appeared; McCaffrey, who had also launched a separate magazine, ''Galileo'', had cash-flow problems that prevented him from distributing the magazine as he had planned.  One more issue did finally appear from McCaffrey, in July 1980, in a large format; it was edited by Floyd Kemske.  A subsequent issue, to be dated October 1980, was assembled, but never distributed.<ref name=GF_309>Ashley, ''Gateways to Forever'', p.&nbsp;309.</ref><ref name=GF_317-322>Ashley, ''Gateways to Forever'', pp.&nbsp;317–322.</ref>

The last few years of ''Galaxy''{{'s}} life were marked by stories of unpaid contributors. [[John Varley (author)|John Varley]], for example, reported that he was still owed money for his stories five years after they appeared.  Submissions from well-known writers fell away, and the lack of financial support from UPD meant that the pay rate was an unattractive one cent per word.  Higher postal rates, higher paper costs, and continuing competition from the paperback science fiction market all added to the pressure on ''Galaxy''. These problems were not resolved by the sale to McCaffrey, who did not even have enough money to pay for circulation postage, with the result that not every ''Galaxy'' subscriber received a copy of the final issue.<ref name=TA_290-309/>  Frederik Pohl places the blame for ''Galaxy''{{'s}} demise on Arnie Abramson, who, Pohl contends, "simply did not perform [the] basic functions of a publisher": paying the authors, ensuring subscribers received copies, and meeting other obligations.<ref name=GDLY_xv>Frederik Pohl, "Foreword", in Rosheim, ''Galaxy Magazine'', p.&nbsp;xv.</ref>