I do remember once asking Dave Scovill , when he was still editing Wolfe Publishing, about Gary and his comment was something to the effect that he personally had finally got rid of him !
Although one of Dave’s favorite evening pastimes seemed to be bragging about all the writers he had fired !
Doesn't sound like Scovill was a very nice guy
He could be--though not always.
But he was one of the major reasons
Handloader and
Rifle became so successful. They were started by Dave Wolfe in the 1970s. He made his major money elsewhere, apparently in aviation, and the magazines allowed him to write off his firearms expenses for tax purposes. Their paid circulation never exceeded around 10,000 copies a year (which ain't much) until he sold the magazines to the art director, Mark Harris, who hired Scovill as editor. (Dave had been writing articles for them for a few years, mostly on cast bullets and handguns.)
Up until then they paid very little, and in fact probably half the articles were written by readers. At the time they had color covers, but all article photos were black and white. Scovill persuaded Harris to run color photos inside the magazine, and pay more for articles, in order to attract better writers. Which was when I started writing for them, along with others, including Phil. This attracted far more readers, and circulation and advertising both increased considerably--in large part thanks to Dave.
But he always did have a high opinion of himself, to the point where he and Mark had some serious talks about who exactly ran the company. But between Dave's ideas and Mark's backing of many, they became much larger and more profitable magazines.
That sort of "balance" often occurs in the publishing business--and other businesses. When it works, it works--regardless of whether the people are always "nice guys."
