Jump to content

Simon & Schuster

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 49.151.11.154 (talk) at 10:01, 15 January 2017 (→Controversies). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Simon & Schuster
Parent companyCBS Corporation
Founded1924; 100 years ago (1924)
FounderRichard L. Simon
M. Lincoln Schuster
Country of originUnited States
Headquarters location1230 Avenue of the Americas
Rockefeller Center,
New York City, New York
Key peopleCarolyn K. Reidy (President and Chief Executive Officer, Simon & Schuster, Inc.)[1]
Christopher Lynch (President and Publisher, Simon & Schuster Audio)
Ian Chapman (Chief Executive and Publisher, Simon & Schuster UK and International)
Jon Anderson (President and Publisher, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division)
Jon Karp (President and Publisher, Simon & Schuster Publishing Group)
Judith Curr (President and Publisher, Atria Publishing Group)
Kevin Hanson (President, Simon & Schuster Canada)
Lou Johnson (Managing Director, Simon & Schuster Australia)
Louise Burke (President and Publisher, Gallery Publishing Group)
Rahul Srivastava (Managing Director, Simon & Schuster India)
Susan Moldow (President and Publisher, Scribner Publishing Group)
Publication typesBooks
ImprintsMany (see below)
Official websitewww.simonandschuster.com

Simon & Schuster, Inc., a subsidiary of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln ("Max") Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster publishes 2,000 titles annually under 35 different imprints.[2]

History

Middle 20th century HQ, Broadway

Early years

Crossword puzzles first appeared in the New York World in 1913, and 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.[3] At the time, Simon was a piano salesman and Schuster was editor of an automotive trade magazine[4] and together they pooled $8,000 to start the company.[5]

The ad proved prophetic, and crossword puzzles were indeed the craze of 1924.[3] Simon & Schuster continues to be the preeminent U.S. publisher of crossword puzzle books. To attract attention, the book came with a pencil attached.[3]

This "fad" publishing would turn into a philosophy for the new publishing house.[4] Simon & Schuster set out to exploit current fads and trends that published books with commercial appeal. Simon called this, "planned publishing."[4] Instead of signing authors with a planned manuscript, they came up with their own ideas, and then hired writers to carry them out.[4]

In the 1930, the publisher moved to what was known as Publisher's Row at 386 Fourth Avenue.[4]

Expansion

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.[6] 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.[7]

In the 1950s and 1960s, many publishers including Simon & Schuster turned toward educational publishing due to the baby boom market.[8] For some publishers that meant textbooks, but Pocket Books took a different approach focusing on paperbacks for the educational market. Pocket Books introduced the Washington Square Press imprint for quality paperbacks in 1959.[8] By 1964 it had published over 200 titles and was expected to put out another 400 by the end of that year.[8] Books published under the imprint included classic reprints such as Lorna Doone, Ivanhoe, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and Robinson Crusoe.[9]

In 1966, Max Schuster retired and sold his half of Simon & Schuster to Leon Shimkin.[5][10] Shimkin then merged Simon & Schuster with Pocket Books under the name of Simon & Schuster.[5][10]

Corporate ownership

Simon & Schuster headquarters at 1230 Avenue of the Americas, Rockefeller Center, New York City

In 1976, Gulf+Western headed by Charles Bluhdorn acquired the company which was grossing about $50 million a year for $11 million, most of it in Gulf+Western stock.[5]

1980s

After the death of Bluhdorn in 1983, Simon & Schuster made the decision to diversify. Bluhdorn's successor Martin Davis told the New York Times, "Society was undergoing dramatic changes, so that there was a greater need for textbooks, maps and educational information. We saw the opportunity to diversify into those areas, which are more stable and more profitable than trade publishing."[11]

In 1984, CEO Richard E. Snyder acquired Esquire Corporation, buying everything but the magazine for $180 million.[11] Prentice Hall was brought into the company fold in 1985 for over $700 million and Martin Davis said that Prentice Hall became the road map for remodeling the company and a catalyst for change.[5][11] This acquisition was followed by Silver Burdett in 1986,[12] mapmaker Gousha in 1987 and Charles E. Simon in 1988.[12] Part of the acquisition included educational publisher Allyn & Bacon which according to Michael Korda became the "nucleus of S&S's educational and informational business."[5] Three California educational companies were also purchased between 1988 and 1990—Quercus, Fearon Education and Janus Book Publishers.[11] In 1990 Simon & Schuster purchased Computer Curriculum Corporation (C.C.C.) which specialized in computer-based learning systems for schools. In all, Simon & Schuster spent more than $1 billion in acquisitions between 1983 and 1991.[12]

G+W would change its name to Paramount Communications in 1989.

In the 1980s, Richard E. Snyder also made an unsuccessful bid toward video publishing which consequently lead to their success in the audio book business. Snyder was dismayed to realize that Simon & Schuster did not own the video rights to Jane Fonda's Workout Book, a huge bestseller at the time, and that the video company producing the VHS was making more money on the video. This prompted Snyder to ask editors to obtain video rights for every new book. Agents were often reluctant to give these up—which meant the S&S Video division never took off. According to Michael Korda, the audio rights expanded into the audio division which by the 1990s would be a major business for Simon & Schuster.[5]

1990s

In 1990, the New York Times described Simon & Schuster the largest book publishing in the United States with sales of $1.3 Billion the previous year.[11]

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.

From 1995 to 2003, Simon & Schuster ran a video game and software publisher named Simon & Schuster Interactive. It was distributed by Vivendi Universal Games from 2001 to 2003, when Simon & Schuster Interactive shut down due to lack of interest.

In 1998, Viacom sold Simon & Schuster's educational operations, including Prentice Hall and Macmillan, to Pearson PLC, the global publisher and owner of Penguin and Financial Times. The professional and reference operations were sold to Hicks Muse Tate & Furst.[13]

2000s

Viacom would split into two 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 part of CBS, Simon & Schuster is the primary publisher for books related to various media franchises owned by and/or aired on CBS, such as How I Met Your Mother, Star Trek, and CSI.

In 2005, Simon & Schuster acquired Strebor Books International, which was founded in 1999 by Kristina Laferne Roberts.[14] Roberts, known by her pseudonym, Zane, published Black Erotica.[15]

In 2006, Simon & Schuster launched the conservative imprint Threshold Editions.[16]

In 2009 Simon & Schuster signed a multi-book and co-publishing deal with Glenn Beck which fell over many of their imprints and included not only adult non-fiction, but also fiction, children and YA literature as long as e-book and audiobook originals.[17]

2010s

In 2011, Simon & Schuster signed a number of co-publishing deals. Glenn Beck signed a new co-publishing deal with Simon & Schuster for his own imprint, Mercury Ink.[18] Under Atria, Simon & Schuster also launched a publishing venture with Cash Money Records called Cash Money Content.[19]

In April 2012, the United States Department of Justice filed United States v. Apple Inc., naming Apple, Simon & Schuster, and four other major publishers as defendants. The suit alleged that they conspired to fix prices for e-books, and weaken Amazon.com's position in the market, in violation of antitrust law.[20]

In 2012 Simon & Schuster launched a self-publishing arm of the company, Archway Publishing.[21]

In December 2013, a federal judge approved a settlement of the antitrust claims, in which Simon & Schuster and the other publishers paid into a fund that provided credits to customers who had overpaid for books due to the price-fixing.[22]

In October 2014, Simon & Schuster signed a multi-year partnership deal with Amazon.com in negotiations concerning the price of e-books.[23]

Simon & Schuster launched SimonSays.com a portal for online video courses in 2016, along with Scout Press, a new literary fiction imprint under Gallery Books Group. They also launched North Star Way, a platform-based program to provide authors with services beyond publishing including brand management, online courses, sponsorship and business partnerships.[24] Also as of 2016, Simon & Schuster had over 18k e-books available for sale and signed a deal to distribute Start Publishing LLC, a catalog of 7,000 e-book titles.[24]

Controversies

In late 2016, Simon & Schuster's imprint Threshold Editions signed a book deal with controversial figure Milo Yiannopoulos for a purported advance of $250,000.[25] The signing sparked outrage and a larger discussion of the role of the freedom of press in the United States on social media and in the mainstream media.[26] The Hollywood Reporter broke the news and social media quickly responded.[27][28] The Chicago Review of Books announced that they would not be reviewing Simon & Schuster's books in 2017 and others called for a boycott.[27][29] The book is not scheduled to release until later in 2017, but within 24 hours of the book being announced it had reached number one on the Amazon best-seller list.[30][31][32] Simon & Schuster posted a statement on social media on December 30, that stated, "We do not and never have condoned discrimination or hate speech in any form. At Simon & Schuster we have always published books by a wide range of authors with greatly varying, and frequently controversial opinions, and appealing to many different audiences of readers. While we are cognizant that many may disagree vehemently with the books we publish we note that the opinions expressed therein belong to our authors, and we do not reflect either a corporate viewpoint or the views of our employees."[33][26] Of a possible boycott, both the NCAC and PEN America have said that boycotts would have "chilling effect" on publishing.[34] While Dennis Johnson of the independent publisher Melville House Publishing said, "Nobody in the protest is saying 'you have no right to be published.You have no right, Simon & Schuster, to publish this guy, and this guy, you have no right to be published — nobody's saying that. What they're saying is, 'we're shocked and we're outraged that you would stoop so low to make a buck as to publish this purveyor of vile hate speech.'"[34] On January 12, 2017, 160 children's book authors and illustrators published a letter to publisher Carolyn Reidy and the leadership at Simon & Schuster. The letter first praised Simon & Schuster for which they described as publishing "the strongest, most diverse list it can acquire, for the betterment of literature and children everywhere." It then went on to criticize the Threshold Editions imprint and it's decision to publish Yiannopoulos's book which would associated Simon & Schuster as a whole with Threshold's decision to "legitimize this reprehensible belief system..."[35]

Notable Editors and Publishers

Notable Authors

Simon & Schuster has published thousands of books from thousands of authors. This list represents some of the more notable authors (those who are culturally significant or have had several bestsellers). For a more extensive list see List of Simon & Schuster authors.

"The Sower", Simon & Schuster logo, c. 1961

According to one source, The Sower, the logo of Simon & Schuster, was inspired by the 1850 Jean-François Millet painting of the same name.[36] According to Michael Korda, the colophon is a small reproduction of The Sower by Sir John Everett Millais.[7]

Imprints

Adult publishing

Children's publishing

  • Aladdin – initially the children's mass-market paperback imprint of Atheneum Books[2][40]
  • Atheneum – initially (1959) a publishing house and adult imprint, with a children's division from 1961,[a] it now publishes children's titles, formerly just part of its output.[2][41]
  • Beach Lane Books[2]
  • Little Simon[2]
  • Margaret K. McElderry Books[2]
  • Paula Wiseman Books[2]
  • Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers[2]
  • Simon Pulse
  • Simon Spotlight[2]

Audio

Former Imprints

  • Bookthrift (Inexpensive reprints, discontinued)
  • Earthlight (UK science fiction imprint, discontinued)
  • Downtown Press (women's fiction, discontinued)
  • Fireside Books
  • Free Press[2]
  • Green Tiger Press
  • Half Moon Books
  • Inner Sanctum Mysteries
  • Linden Press
  • Long Shadow Books
  • Minstrel Books (children's imprint)
  • Poseidon Press (operated 1982–1993)
  • Richard Gallen Books
  • Sonnet Books
  • Summit Books
  • Wallaby Books

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Alfred A. Knopf, Jr.'s Atheneum—the publisher of Pulitzer Prize winners Edward Albee, Curtis Johnson and Theodore H. White—which included a children's division set up in 1961 by Jean E. Karl.[40] 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.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "Carolyn K. Reidy Named President and Chief Executive Officer of Simon &... - re> NEW YORK, Sept. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/". Prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2014-01-16.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Global Publishing Leaders 2016: Simon & Schuster". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
  3. ^ a b c Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s, p. 165. ISBN 0-06-095665-8.
  4. ^ a b c d e Miller, Donald L. (2014). Supreme City: How Jazz Age Manhattan Gave Birth to Modern America. Simon & Scuster. ISBN 9781416550198.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Korda, Michael (1999). Another life : a memoir of other people (1st ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 0679456597.
  6. ^ "Announcing Little Golden Books". Publishers Weekly. September 19, 1942, pp. 991–94.
  7. ^ a b Business Timeline Archived September 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ a b c Gilroy, Harry (1964-01-06). "Publishers Hope Wider Market Will Mean Better Profit Margins". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-01-14. There is no doubt that expansion is coming. Publishers talk of census projections that indicate there will be almost 70 million persons in the 5-to-24 year old age bracket by the end of the year. Battle maps will have to replace bookshelves in the executive offices, one publisher comments.
  9. ^ "Searching Out the Paperbacks; Searching Out the Paperbacks". Retrieved 2017-01-14. Some searching, though disclosed that in Washington Square Press Books, for instance, there's an astounding assortment, many of them books I'd recently paid several times the price for in hardcover: "Lorna Doone," "Huckleberry Finn," "Robinson Crusoe," etc. etc.
  10. ^ a b Freeman, William M. (December 21, 1970). "Max Lincoln Schuster, Editor and Publisher, Dies". New York Times. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  11. ^ a b c d e Mcdowell, Edwin (1990-10-29). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Is Simon & Schuster Mellowing?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  12. ^ a b c Cohen, Roger (1991-06-30). "Profits - Dick Snyder's Ugly Word". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  13. ^ Myerson, Geraldine Fabrikant With Allen R. (1998-05-18). "SIMON & SCHUSTER IN SALE TO BRITISH". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  14. ^ "Strebor Books International LLC: Private Company Information - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  15. ^ "Strebor Books International LLC: Private Company Information - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  16. ^ "Threshold Editions | Home". simonandschusterpublishing.com. Retrieved 2016-12-31.
  17. ^ "Glenn Beck Signs Multi-Book Deal with Simon & Schuster". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
  18. ^ "Glenn Beck Re-Ups with S&S; Launches New Imprint". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2016-12-31.
  19. ^ "Baby And Slim Celebrate Their New Publishing Venture, Cash Money Content [Photos]". Hip-Hop Wired. 2011-05-25. Retrieved 2017-01-08.
  20. ^ Mui, Ylan Q. and Hayley Tsukayama (April 11, 2012). "Justice Department sues Apple, publishers over e-book prices". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  21. ^ "Archway Publishing, Self Publishing Company from Simon & Schuster". Archway Publishing. Retrieved 2016-09-08.
  22. ^ Molina, Brett (March 25, 2014). "E-book price fixing settlements rolling out". USA Today. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  23. ^ Amazon signs multi-year deal with Simon & Schuster. Reuters, 21 October 2014
  24. ^ a b "Global Publishing Leaders 2016: Simon & Schuster". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
  25. ^ Roy, Jessica. "Milo Yiannopoulos, controversial Breitbart editor, lands a reported $250,000 book deal". latimes.com. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
  26. ^ a b "Milo Yiannopolous Book Deal with S&S Generates Backlash". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
  27. ^ a b Hunt, Elle (2016-12-29). "Breitbart's Milo Yiannopoulos claims lucrative deal struck for autobiography". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
  28. ^ "Leslie Jones rips Simon & Schuster for publishing book by Milo Yiannopoulos". NBC News. Retrieved 2017-01-08.
  29. ^ Writer, Claire Fallon Culture; Post, The Huffington (2016-12-30). "Critics Vow Boycott Of Simon & Schuster After Milo Yiannopoulos Book Deal". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
  30. ^ "Milo Yiannopoulos' just-announced book hits No. 1 on Amazon — here's our Q&A with him". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
  31. ^ Seipel, Brooke (2016-12-30). "Alt-right leader's book hits No. 1 on Amazon". TheHill. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
  32. ^ "Milo Yiannopoulos's Cynical Book Deal". The New Yorker. 2016-12-30. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
  33. ^ "Simon & Schuster on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
  34. ^ a b "Free Speech Advocates, Publishers Wrestle With Questions Of Censorship". NPR.org. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  35. ^ "S&S Children's Authors Protest Yiannopoulos Deal". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
  36. ^ Larson, Kay (April 16, 1984). "Poet of Peasants". New York Magazine.
  37. ^ "New Davis Imprint Named 37 Ink". Publishers Weekly. June 29, 2013. Retrieved 2014-01-16.
  38. ^ Barnes, Brooks (2014-05-21). "Media Companies Join to Extend the Brands of YouTube Stars". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-04-10.
  39. ^ "Our Imprints | Atria Books". atria-books.com. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
  40. ^ a b "Birthday Bios: Jean E. Karl". No date. Vicki Palmquist. Children's Literature Network. (c) 2002–2008. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
  41. ^ Company history at simonsays.com.
  42. ^ "Who Are 'The Big Six'?". Fiction Matters. 5 March 2010. Retrieved 2014-01-16.

Further reading

  • Korda, Michael (1999). Another Life: A Memoir of Other People. United States: Random House. ISBN 0-679-45659-7.
  • "Simon & Schuster Inc." International Directory of Company Histories. 4:671–672.
  • "Simon & Schuster Inc." International Directory of Company Histories. 19:403–405.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Simon_%26_Schuster&oldid=760163193"