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| Parent company | Simon & Schuster |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1939; 86 years ago (1939) |
| Founder | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | 1230Avenue of the Americas, Rockefeller Center, New York City |
| Official website | www |
Pocket Books is a division ofSimon & Schuster that primarily publishespaperback books.[1][2]
Pocket Books produced the firstmass-market, pocket-sizedpaperback books in the United States in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry. The GermanAlbatross Books had pioneered the idea of a line of color-coded paperback editions in 1931 underKurt Enoch, andPenguin Books in Britain had refined the idea in 1935 and had one million books in print by the following year.
Penguin's success inspired entrepreneurRobert Fair de Graff, who partnered with publishersRichard L. Simon,M. Lincoln ("Max") Schuster andLeon Shimkin of Simon & Schuster to bring the concept to the American market by foundingPocket Books.[3] Priced at 25 cents and featuring the logo of Gertrude thekangaroo (named after the mother-in-law of the artist, Frank Lieberman), Pocket Books' editorial policy of reprints of light literature, popular non-fiction, and mysteries was coordinated with its strategy of selling books outside the traditional distribution channels. The small format size, 4.25 by 6.5 in (10.8 by 16.5 cm) and the fact that the books were glued rather than stitched, were cost-cutting innovations.
The first ten numbered Pocket Book titles published in May 1939 with a print run of about 10,000 copies each:
This list includes seven novels, the most recent being six years old (Lost Horizon, 1933), two classics (Shakespeare andWuthering Heights, both out of copyright), one mystery novel, one book of poetry (Enough Rope), and one self-help book.
The edition ofWuthering Heights hit the bestseller list, and by the end of the first week sold out of its initial 100,000 copy run.[5] By the end of the year Pocket Books had sold more than 1.5 million units. Robert de Graff continued to refine his selections with movie tie-ins and greater emphasis on mystery novels, particularly those of Christie andErle Stanley Gardner.
Pocket and its imitators thrived duringWorld War II because material shortages worked to their advantage. During the war, Pocket suedAvon Books for copyright infringement: among other issues, a New York state court found Pocket did not have an exclusive right to the pocket-sized format (both Pocket and Avon published paperback editions ofLeslie Charteris'The Saint mystery series, among others).
In 1944, the founding owners sold the company toMarshall Field III, owner of theChicago Sun newspaper. Following Field's death in 1957, Leon Shimkin, a Simon & Schuster partner, and James M. Jacobson bought Pocket Books for $5 million.[3] Simon & Schuster acquired Pocket in 1966.
Phyllis E. Grann who would later become the first woman CEO of a major publishing firm was promoted to run Pocket Books under then CEORichard E. Snyder. Grann left for Putnam in 1976.[6]
In 1981,Dr. Benjamin Spock'sBaby and Child Care was listed as their top seller, having sold 28 million copies at that time and having been acquired in 1946.[4]
In 1989,The Dieter by Susan Sussman became the first hardcover published by Pocket Books.
Pocket was for many years known for publishing works of popular fiction based on movies or TV series, such as theStar Trek franchise (owned by former corporate siblingsCBS Television Studios andParamount Pictures). Since first obtaining theStar Trek license fromBantam Books in 1979 (with a publication of thenovelization ofStar Trek: The Motion Picture), Pocket has publishedhundreds of original and adapted works based upon the franchise and continues to publish a new novel every month.[7][8] Beginning in 2017 with novels based onStar Trek: Discovery, the Star Trek novel lines have gradually moved to Simon & Schuster'sGallery Books line.
Pocket also previously published novels based onBuffy the Vampire Slayer. The author credited for one of the Buffy products is Gertrude Pocket, a reference to the company's kangaroo logo. (The Buffy novels are now published bySimon Spotlight Entertainment, another division ofSimon & Schuster.) Pocket Books is also the division that currently owns publication rights to the well-known work ofJames O'Barr,The Crow.
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