Simon & Schuster Information
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln ("Max") Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers and publishing houses, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins. It publishes over two thousand titles annually under 35 different imprints.
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History
Early years
Crossword puzzles first appeared in the New York World in 1913, and soon became a popular feature in newspapers. In 1924, Simon's aunt, a crossword puzzle devotee, asked Simon whether there was a book of these puzzles that she could give to a friend. Simon discovered that none had been published, and, with Schuster, launched a company to exploit the opportunity.[1]
To attract attention, the book came with a pencil attached.[1] The advertising campaign implied that it was about to become a new fad:
The ad proved prophetic, and crossword puzzles were indeed the craze of 1924.[1] Simon & Schuster continues to be the preeminent U.S. publisher of crossword puzzle books.
Middle 20th century HQ, BroadwayExpansion
In 1939, with Robert Fair de Graff, Simon & Schuster founded Pocket Books, America's first paperback publisher.
In 1942, Simon & Schuster, or "Essandess" as it is called in the initial announcement, launched the Little Golden Books series in cooperation with the Artists and Writers Guild.[2] Simon & Schuster's partner in the venture was the Western Printing and Lithographing Company which handled the actual printing. Western Printing bought out Simon & Schuster's interest in 1958.
In 1944, Marshall Field III, owner of the Chicago Sun newspaper, purchased Simon & Schuster and Pocket Books. Following Field's death, in 1957 his heirs sold the company back to Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster, while Leon Shimkin and James M. Jacobson acquired Pocket Books.[3]
Simon & Schuster headquarters at 1230 Avenue of the Americas, Rockefeller Center, New York CityCorporate ownership
In 1975, Gulf+Western acquired the company, and nine years later, Prentice Hall was brought into the company fold, followed by mapmaker Gousha in 1987. G+W would change its name to Paramount Communications in 1989.
In 1994, Paramount was sold to the original Viacom, allowing S&S to launch several new imprints in conjunction with channels owned by Viacom's MTV Networks. Simon & Schuster's first move under Viacom was the acquisition of Macmillan USA.
In 1996, Viacom sold Gousha to longtime rival Rand McNally, who closed the Gousha offices in Texas and discontinued all product lines.
In 1998, Viacom sold Simon & Schuster's educational operations, including Prentice Hall and Macmillan, to Pearson PLC, becoming part of Pearson Education.
In 2002, Cheerios' Spoonfuls of Stories program was created as a joint venture between Simon & Schuster and General Mills, the owner of Cheerios.
Viacom would split into 2 companies at the end of 2005: one called CBS Corporation (which inherited S&S), and the other retaining the Viacom name. Despite the split, National Amusements retains majority control of both firms. As such, S&S continues to publish books based on Viacom properties, which since 2006 has included many DreamWorks films (Paramount/Viacom owned DreamWorks outright between 2006-08, back catalog still owned by Paramount/Viacom).[3][4]
As part of CBS, Simon & Schuster is the primary publisher for books related to various media franchises owned by CBS, such as Mission: Impossible, Star Trek and CSI.
Personalities
Editors
Some of its prominent editors have been Robert Gottlieb and Michael Korda.
Authors
United States
United Kingdom
Pakistan
Imprints
"The Sower," Simon & Schuster logo, circa 1961In addition to the main Simon & Schuster imprint are the following:
Adult
- Atria
- Atria Espanol
- Beyond Words Publishing (specializes in publishing new age, self help, and inspiration stories with a "spiritual" focus.)
- Emily Bestler Books
- Free Press
- Gallery Books
- Howard Books
- Pocket Books
- Scribner
- Strebor
- Touchstone
- Threshold Editions (specializes in publishing politically right-of-center books, including Jerome R. Corsi's controversial The Obama Nation[5])
- Washington Square Press
- Cash Money Content
- Mercury Ink
Young adults and children
- Aladdin
- Atheneum - initially (1959) a publishing house and adult imprint,[6] it now publishes children's titles, formerly just part of its output.[7]
- Beach Lane Books
- Little Simon
- Margaret K. McElderry Books[8]
- Paula Wiseman
- Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
- Simon Pulse
- Simon Spotlight
See also
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| Companies portal |
- The Big Six book publishers:
- List of largest UK book publishers
- Media of New York City
Footnotes
- ^ a b c Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920's, p. 165. ISBN 0060956658.
- ^ "Announcing Little Golden Books." Publishers' Weekly. September 19, 1942, pp. 991-94.
- ^ a b Business Timeline
- ^ CBS (USA)
- ^ Rutten, Tim (August 16, 2008). "The extreme-right way to make a buck". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 22, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080822043202/http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/la-oe-rutten16-2008aug16,0,5171785.column. Retrieved August 16, 2008.
- ^ Alfred A. Knopf, Jr.'s Atheneum - the publisher of Pulitzer Prize Winners Edward Albee, Charles Johnson and Theodore H. White - which included a children's division set up in 1961 by Jean Karl. Atheneum merged with Charles Scribner's Sons to become The Scribner Book Company in 1978. (This acquisition included the Rawson Associates imprint.) Scribner was later acquired by Macmillan in 1984, which was in turn purchased by Simon & Schuster in 1994.
- ^ Company history at simonsays.com.
- ^ Margaret K. McElderry died on February 14, 2001. Obituary at Publishers Weekly. Retrieved on Feb. 25, 2011
- ^ [1]
References
- "Simon & Schuster Inc." International Directory of Company Histories. 4:671-672.
- "Simon & Schuster Inc." International Directory of Company Histories. 19:403-405.
External links
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Categories:
- Book publishing companies based in New York
- CBS Corporation subsidiaries
- Rockefeller Center
- Publishing companies established in 1924
- 1924 establishments in the United States
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