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Edward Stratemeyer was a publishing genius. Born in Elizabeth,NJ, he began writing juvenile fiction shortly after he graduatedfrom high school. He wrote using many pseudonyms. He beganThe Stratemeyer Literary Syndicate in 1905. His greatestdesire was to be a "paperback writer" not unlike Horatio Alger. Stratemeyer's acumen for business helped him find a nichemarket, children's books. But, not like any children'sbooks before. He began a series of books called The RoverBoys He produced several books in this series at once(called breeders). These books would be written under apseudonym. Why? Stratemeyer knew that he would die one day, butother writers using the same pseudonym could continue the seriesand live on. So we have names like Carolyn Keene and Franklin W.Dixon. Another genius move was that he made the books look like booksthat adults read. He bound the books and used the same typefaceas books for adult readers. These books would not be long andtedious and chapters would end with a kinda cliff hanger (notunlike each segment of the TV drama Alias does today).With these innovations The Rover Boys was an overwhelmingsuccess. What next? Of course, other series came along like TheBobbsey Twins which appeared in 1904 and Tom Swiftin 1910; The Hardy Boys in 1927 and Nancy Drew in1930. The latter two series survive till this day. Stratemeyerdied in 1930. He left his publishing business to his twodaughters of which one took up the business and began moreseries after the model of her father. One of the little known pseudonyms of the Stratemeyer Syndicatewas Chester K. Steele. This pseudonym was used for a series ofmystery books aimed at an older audience. The first book wasThe Mansion of Mystery and was written by Stratemeyerhimself while the others in the series were all ghostwritten. One of these books is The Golf Course Mystery (1919) isamong six of these mysteries. This novel in the Public Domainand you can read it at Vintage Literature () |
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