Pocket Books is a division of

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

that primarily publishes

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, ...

books.

History

Pocket Books produced the first

mass-market The term "mass market" refers to a market for goods produced on a large scale for a significant number of end consumers. The mass market differs from the niche market in that the former focuses on consumers with a wide variety of backgrounds with ...

, pocket-sized

books in the United States in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry. The German

Albatross Books Albatross Books was a German publishing house based in Hamburg that produced the first modern mass-market paperback books. Albatross was founded in 1932 by John Holroyd-Reece, Max Christian Wegner and Kurt Enoch. The name was chosen because ...

had pioneered the idea of a line of color-coded paperback editions in 1931 under

Kurt Enoch Kurt Enoch (22 November 1895 – 15 February 1982) was a German-born publisher who co-founded Albatross Books in Germany and Penguin Group, Penguin Books Inc. and New American Library in the United States, bringing high-quality paperback fiction ...

, and

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

in Britain had refined the idea in 1935 and had one million books in print by the following year. Penguin's success inspired entrepreneur Robert Fair de Graff, who partnered with publishers Richard L. Simon, M. Lincoln ("Max") Schuster and Leon Shimkin of Simon & Schuster to bring the concept to the American market by founding ''Pocket Books''. Priced at 25 cents and featuring the logo of Gertrude the

kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

(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, 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: # ''

Lost Horizon ''Lost Horizon'' is a 1933 novel by the English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a film, also called '' Lost Horizon'', in 1937 by the director Frank Capra and a musical remake in 1973 by the producer Ross Hunter with music by Bu ...

'' by James Hilton # ''

Wake Up and Live ''Wake Up and Live'' is a 1937 Fox musical film directed by Sidney Lanfield and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, starring Jack Haley and Alice Faye plus Walter Winchell and Ben Bernie as themselves. The film tells the story of a man attempting ...

'' by

Dorothea Brande Dorothea Brande (12 January 1892 – 12 December 1948) was an American writer and editor in New York City. She wrote ''Becoming a writer'' in 1934, which remains in print today. Biography Alice Dorothea Alden Thompson was born in Chicago on 12 ...

# ''Five Great Tragedies'' by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

# '' Topper'' by

Thorne Smith James Thorne Smith, Jr. (March 27, 1892 – June 20, 1934) was an American writer of humorous supernatural fantasy fiction under the byline Thorne Smith. He is best known today for the two ''Topper'' novels, comic fantasy fiction involving se ...

# ''

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd ''The Murder of Roger Ackroyd'' is a detective novel by the British writer Agatha Christie, her third to feature Hercule Poirot as the lead detective. The novel was published in the UK in June 1926 by William Collins, Sons, having previously ...

'' by

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

# ''Enough Rope'' by

Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet and writer of fiction, plays and screenplays based in New York; she was known for her caustic wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. Parker ros ...

# ''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is the only novel by the English author Emily Brontë, initially published in 1847 under her pen name "Ellis Bell". It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the ...

'' by

Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English writer best known for her 1847 novel, ''Wuthering Heights''. She also co-authored a book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte Brontë, Charlotte and Anne Bront� ...

# ''

The Way of All Flesh ''The Way of All Flesh'' (originally titled ''Ernest Pontifex or the Way of All Flesh'') is a semi-autobiographical novel by Samuel Butler that attacks Victorian-era hypocrisy. Written between 1873 and 1884, it traces four generations of the ...

'' by Samuel Butler # ''

The Bridge of San Luis Rey ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' is American author Thornton Wilder's second novel. It was first published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, and was the best-selling work of fiction that year. Premise ''The ...

'' by

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'', and a U. ...

# ''

Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American Animated film, animated Coming of age, coming-of-age drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Loosely based on Felix Salten's 1923 novel ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'', the ...

'' by

Felix Salten Felix Salten (; 6 September 1869 – 8 October 1945) was an Austrian author and Literary criticism, literary critic. His most famous work is ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'', which was adapted into an animated feature film, ''Bambi'', by Walt Disne ...

This list includes seven novels, the most recent being six years old (''

s'', 1933), two classics (Shakespeare and ''

'', both out of copyright), one mystery novel, one book of poetry (''Enough Rope''), and one self-help book. The edition of ''Wuthering Heights'' hit the bestseller list, and by the end of the first week sold out of its initial 100,000 copy run. 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 and

Erle Stanley Gardner Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 – March 11, 1970) was an American author and lawyer, best known for the Perry Mason series of legal detective stories. Gardner also wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces as well as a series of no ...

. Pocket and its imitators thrived during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

because material shortages worked to their advantage. During the war, Pocket sued

Avon Books Avon Publications is a leading publisher of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles reaching and ma ...

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 of

Leslie Charteris Leslie Charteris (; born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin; 12 May 1907 – 15 April 1993), was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter.The Saint The Saint may refer to: Fiction * Simon Templar, also known as "The Saint", the protagonist of a book series by Leslie Charteris and subsequent adaptations: ** ''The Saint'' (film series) (1938–1943), starring Louis Hayward, George Sanders ...

'' mystery series, among others). In 1944, the founding owners sold the company to

Marshall Field III Marshall Field III (September 28, 1893 – November 8, 1956) was an American investment banker, publisher, racehorse owner/breeder, philanthropist, grandson of businessman Marshall Field, heir to the Marshall Field's, Marshall Field departmen ...

, owner of the ''

Chicago Sun The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers ...

'' newspaper. Following Field's death in 1957, Leon Shimkin, a Simon & Schuster partner, and James M. Jacobson bought Pocket Books for $5 million. Simon & Schuster acquired Pocket in 1966.

Phyllis E. Grann Phyllis E. Grann (born September 2, 1937) is a former book editor and publishing executive. She was the first female CEO of a major publishing firm, Penguin Putnam, and one of the most commercially successful publishers in recent history. She was a ...

who would later become the first woman CEO of a major publishing firm was promoted to run Pocket Books under then CEO

Richard E. Snyder Richard Elliot Snyder (April 6, 1933 – June 6, 2023) was an American publishing executive best known for his tenures at Simon & SchusterYardley, Jonathan (June 20, 1994). A Publishing Tycoon's Lasting Imprint. ''The Washington Post'' and Western ...

. Grann left for Putnam in 1976. In 1981, Dr. Benjamin Spock's '' Baby and Child Care'' was listed as their top seller, having sold 28 million copies at that time and having been acquired in 1946. 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 the ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'' franchise (owned by former corporate siblings

CBS Television Studios CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount (Network) Television, as a re ...

and

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

). Since first obtaining the ''Star Trek'' license from

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin Jr., Sidney B. K ...

in 1979 (with a publication of the

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book, or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent ...

of '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture''), Pocket has published hundreds of original and adapted works based upon the franchise and continues to publish a new novel every month. Beginning in 2017 with novels based on '' Star Trek: Discovery'', the Star Trek novel lines have gradually moved to Simon & Schuster's

Gallery Books Gallery Publishing Group is a general interest publisher and a division of Simon & Schuster which houses the imprints Gallery Books, Pocket Books, Scout Press, Gallery 13, and Saga Press. Jen Bergstrom is the Senior Vice President and Publisher. ...

line. Pocket also previously published novels based on ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...

''. 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 by

Simon Spotlight Entertainment Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperColl ...

, another division of

.) Pocket Books is also the division that currently owns publication rights to the well-known work of

James O'Barr James O'Barr (born January 1, 1960) is an American comics artist, writer and graphic artist. He created the comic book series ''The Crow''. Early life O'Barr, an orphan, was raised in the foster care system. Career At 18, O'Barr enlisted in the ...

, ''

The Crow ''The Crow'' is a supernatural superhero comic book series created by James O'Barr revolving around the titular character of the same name. The series, which was originally created by O'Barr as a means of dealing with the death of his fianc� ...

''.

Imprints

Baen Books Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...

— science fiction and fantasy (distributed), including the Honor Harrington series *

Cardinal Edition Cardinal Edition is an imprint of Pocket Books. History Pocket Books Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books. History Pocket Books produced the first Paperback#Mass market paperback, mass- ...

* Downtown Press —

chick lit "Chick lit" is a term used to describe a type of popular fiction targeted at women. Widely used in the 1990s and 2000s, the term has fallen out of fashion with publishers, with numerous writers and critics rejecting it as inherently sexist. Nove ...

* Gallery Books *

G-Unit Books G-Unit Books was an American book publishing imprint (trade name), imprint started by rapper 50 Cent in partnership with MTV/Pocketbooks on January 4, 2007, following a prior relationship with the company dating back to the publication of his memo ...

* Juno Books — formerly an imprint of

Wildside Press Wildside Press is an independent publishing company in Cabin John, Maryland. It was founded in 1989 by John Betancourt and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both trade and limite ...

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

Books * Paraview Pocket Books *

Permabooks Permabooks was a paperback division of Doubleday, established by Doubleday in 1948. Although published by Doubleday's Garden City Publishing Company in Garden City, Long Island, the Permabooks editorial office was located at 14 West 49th Street i ...

* Pocket Star Books — media tie in, eBooks *

Threshold Editions Threshold Editions is an imprint of book publisher Simon & Schuster, a division of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, specializing in conservative non-fiction. The imprint was co-founded by Mary Matalin, serving as its first editor-in-chief, and Louise Bu ...

—

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

titles *

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

Books

Defunct imprints

* Sonnet—romance *

Timescape Books Timescape Books was a science fiction line from Pocket Books operating from 1981 to 1985. Pocket Books is an imprint of Simon & Schuster. It was named after the Gregory Benford novel ''Timescape'', which was not published by the Timescape imprin ...

- science fiction * Wanderer Books

References

External links

"Paperback Publishers"
(archived version).
Finding aid to Thomas L. Bonn papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
{{Kohlberg Kravis Roberts 01 Simon & Schuster Book publishing company imprints Book publishing companies based in New York City Publishing companies based in New York City American companies established in 1939 Publishing companies established in 1939 1939 establishments in New York City Gulf and Western Industries