Zebra Books is an imprint of American publisher

Kensington Publishing Corp. Kensington Publishing Corp. is an American, New York-based publishing house founded in 1974 by Walter Zacharius (1923–2011)Grimes, William"Walter Zacharius, Romance Publisher, Dies at 87,"''New York Times'' (MARCH 7, 2011). and Roberta Bender Gr ...

As the company's flagship imprint until the late 80s, it currently publishes

women's fiction Women's fiction is an umbrella term for women centered books that focus on women's life experience that are marketed to female readers, and includes many mainstream novels or women's rights books. It is distinct from women's writing, which refers ...

, romantic suspense and bestselling historical, paranormal and contemporary

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

. In the past, it was also an iconic publisher of

pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material ...

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction ** Korean horror, Korean horror fiction *Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing on ...

, and it also published

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US * Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

s and humor.

History

Zebra Books was launched in 1975 by

Walter Zacharius Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born ...

, who had founded Kensington Publishing the previous year, and

Roberta Bender Grossman Roberta Grossman was an American publisher. She was born in Brooklyn, New York City and died March 13, 1992 at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. She was founder and managing director of a number of book publishing companie ...

.. Both of them had previously worked for paperback house Lancer Books, co-founded by Zacharius in 1961. At the time of launching Zebra, Grossman became the youngest president of a publishing house. By keeping a low budget, small staff, and hiring overlooked if not desperate authors, they built Zebra into a powerhouse of cheap, consumable literature, with $10 million in sales annually by the early 1980s.

Romance publishers

Zebra was built mostly on the

historical romance Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods, which Walter Scott helped popularize in the early 19th century. Varieties Viking These books feature Vikings during the D ...

genre. It later expanded the romance genre to embrace

paranormal romance Paranormal romance is a subgenre of both romantic fiction and speculative fiction. Paranormal romance focuses on romantic love and includes elements beyond the range of scientific explanation, blending together themes from the speculative fiction ...

, adult Western romance and romance titles aimed at Hispanic, black and gay readers. Beating the bushes for overlooked writers and eager first-timers willing to start out cheap, the partners developed the careers of prolific and profit-generating authors like

Janelle Taylor Janelle Taylor (born June 28, 1944 in Athens, Georgia) is an American author of historical romance novels. Biography Janelle Diane Williams was born June 28, 1944 in Athens, Georgia. She graduated from Athens High School in 1962, and spent the ...

and

Katherine Stone Katherine Stone Chase (born 1949 in Seattle, Washington) is an American doctor and writer of romance novels under her maiden name Katherine Stone. She is married to fellow doctor and writer Jack Chase. She studied the English Language at Stanfor ...

. Best-selling authors on the Zebra list include

Fern Michaels Fern Michaels (born Mary Ruth Kuczkir; April 9, 1933) is an American author of romance and thriller novels, including nearly 150 best selling books with nearly 200 million copies in print. Her ''USA Today'' and ''New York Times'' best selling b ...

, Lisa Jackson,

Hannah Howell Hannah Dustin Howell (born 1950 in Massachusetts) is a best-selling American author of over 40 historical romance novels. Many of her novels are set in medieval Scotland. She also writes under the names Sarah Dustin, Sandra Dustin, and Ann ...

Janet Dailey Janet Anne Haradon Dailey (May 21, 1944 – December 14, 2013) was an American author of numerous romance novels as Janet Dailey (her married name). Her novels have been translated into nineteen languages and have sold more than 300 million ...

Victoria Alexander Victoria Alexander (born 1950) is an American author of historical romance novels. She has been nominated for the ''Romantic Times'' Reviewers' Choice Award four times, winning once, for ''A Visit From Sir Nicholas'', which ''Romantic Times'' de ...

Mary Jo Putney Mary Jo Putney (born in New York) is a best-selling American author of over twenty-five historical and contemporary romance novels. She has also published romantic fantasy novels as M.J. Putney. Her books are known for their unusual subject matte ...

, and

Alexandra Ivy Alexandra Ivy is an American novelist mostly known for her ''New York Times'' Best Selling contemporary paranormal series ''Guardians of Eternity''. She also writes regency historicals using the name Deborah or Debbie Raleigh. Her writing has ga ...

Zebra Regency Romance

Zebra Books began publishing traditional

Regency romance Regency romances are a subgenre of romance novels set during the period of the British Regency (1811–1820) or early 19th century. Rather than simply being versions of contemporary romance stories transported to a historical setting, Regency rom ...

novels in 1985, classified as Zebra Regency Romance. They generally issued an average of four romance books each month. Zebra Books eventually discontinued its traditional Regency line in October 2005. Authors who wrote for the Zebra Regency romance line included

Kathleen Baldwin Kathleen Baldwin (born Arizona, USA) is an American writer of comic romance novels set in the Regency period. Biography Award-winning author Kathleen Baldwin was born and raised in Arizona, and moved 14 times before high school. The constant m ...

Meredith Bond Meredith is a Welsh Brittonic family name, and is also sometimes used as a girl's or boy's forename. The Welsh form is "Maredudd". People * Meredith (given name) * Meredith (surname) Places Australia * Meredith, Victoria United States * Meredit ...

Shannon Donnelly Shannon Donnelly (b. March 15 CA) is an author of children’s books, romance novels, video games, and non-fiction books. Her work has repeatedly earned 4½ Star Top Pick reviews from Romantic Times magazine, as well as praise from Booklist and ...

, and

Debbie Raleigh Alexandra Ivy is an American novelist mostly known for her ''New York Times'' Best Selling contemporary paranormal series ''Guardians of Eternity''. She also writes regency historicals using the name Deborah or Debbie Raleigh. Her writing has ga ...

Horror publishers

If romance novels built the house of Zebra in the 1970s, horror made it famous in the 1980s. The imprint's first hit horror title was

William W. Johnstone William Wallace Johnstone (October 28, 1938 – February 8, 2004) was an American author most known for his western, horror and survivalist novels. Life and career Early life Born and raised in southern Missouri, Johnstone was the youngest ...

's ''The Devil's Kiss'' in 1980. Knowing their authors were not famous enough to sell books on name alone, Zebra focused on sensational covers.

Skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

s were such a recurrent theme in Zebra's covers that the imprint is nicknamed "the skeleton farm" among collectors. Mainstay authors in Zebra's horror roster were Johnstone,

Rick Hautala Rick Hautala (February 3, 1949 – March 21, 2013) was an American speculative fiction and horror writer. He graduated from the University of Maine in 1974, where he received a Master of Art in English Literature. Rick arrived on the horror sc ...

, and

Ruby Jean Jensen Ruby Jean Jensen (March 1, 1927 – November 16, 2010) was an American author of pulp horror fiction. A "constant presence in Zebra's catalogue", she specialized in the "creepy child" or "child in supernatural peril" trope. Life and work Jensen ...

. Other horror authors published were

Bentley Little Bentley Little (born 1960 in Mesa, Arizona) is an American author of horror fiction. Publishing an average of a novel a year since 1990, Little avoids publicity and rarely does promotional work or interviews for his writing. Early life Little is ...

Ken Greenhall Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in ...

Joe R. Lansdale Joe Richard Lansdale (born October 28, 1951) is an American writer and martial arts instructor. A prose writer in a variety of genres - Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense - he's also written comic books and screenplays. Se ...

and

William M. Carney William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conqu ...

. Though still active in the early 1990s, by 1993 Zebra reduced its horror output to two titles per month. In 1996 it stopped publishing horror authors, focusing on romance and suspense instead.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zebra Books Book publishing company imprints Romance book publishing companies Book publishing companies based in New York (state)