A Publishing Genius Finds Niche!

Edward Stratemeyer was a publishing genius. Born in Elizabeth, NJ, he began writing juvenile fiction shortly after he graduated from high school. He wrote using many pseudonyms. He began The Stratemeyer Literary Syndicate in 1905. His greatest desire was to be a “paperback writer” not unlike Horatio Alger.

Stratemeyer’s acumen for business helped him find a niche market, children’s books. But, not like any children’s books before. He began a series of books called The Rover Boys He produced several books in this series at once (called breeders). These books would be written under a pseudonym. Why? Stratemeyer knew that he would die one day, but other writers using the same pseudonym could continue the series and live on. So we have names like Carolyn Keene and Franklin W. Dixon.

Another genius move was that he made the books look like books that adults read. He bound the books and used the same typeface as books for adult readers. These books would not be long and tedious and chapters would end with a kinda cliff hanger (not unlike each segment of the TV drama Alias does today). With these innovations The Rover Boys was an overwhelming success.

What next? Of course, other series came along like The Bobbsey Twins which appeared in 1904 and Tom Swift in 1910; The Hardy Boys in 1927 and Nancy Drew in 1930. The latter two series survive till this day. Stratemeyer died in 1930. He left his publishing business to his two daughters of which one took up the business and began more series after the model of her father.

One of the little known pseudonyms of the Stratemeyer Syndicate was Chester K. Steele. This pseudonym was used for a series of mystery books aimed at an older audience. The first book was The Mansion of Mystery and was written by Stratemeyer himself while the others in the series were all ghostwritten.

One of these books is The Golf Course Mystery (1919) is among six of these mysteries. This novel in the Public Domain and you can read it at Vintage Literature (http://www.vintageliterature.com).

About the Author

Winn Griffin is a publisher of Public Domain works which gives Vintage Literature a new lease on life for a 21st Century audience. You may distribute this article freely on your website, as long as this entire article, including links and this resource box are unchanged. Read Chester K. Steele's The Golf Course Mystery at Vintage Literature (http://www.vintageliterature.com).

Written by: Winn Griffin