Editing Stratemeyer Syndicate (section)

== History ==
Created by [[Edward Stratemeyer]], the Stratemeyer Syndicate was the first [[Book packaging|book packager]] to have its books aimed at children, rather than adults. The Syndicate was wildly successful; at one time it was believed that the overwhelming majority  of the books children read in the United States were Stratemeyer Syndicate books, based on a 1922 study of over 36,000 American children.<ref>Romalov (1995), 118.</ref>

Stratemeyer's business acumen was in realizing that there was a huge, untapped market for children's books. The Stratemeyer Syndicate specialized in producing books that were meant primarily to be entertaining. In Stratemeyer's view, it was the thrill of feeling grown-up and the desire for a series of stories that made such reading attractive to children. Stratemeyer believed that this desire could be harnessed for profit. He founded the Stratemeyer Syndicate to produce books in an efficient, assembly-line fashion and to write them in such a way as to maximize their popularity.

The first series that Stratemeyer created was ''The [[Rover Boys]]'', published under the pseudonym [[Edward Stratemeyer|Arthur M. Winfield]] in 30 volumes between 1899 and 1926, which sold over five million copies.<ref>Rehak (2006), 8.</ref> ''[[Bobbsey Twins|The Bobbsey Twins]]'' first appeared in 1904 under the pseudonym [[Laura Lee Hope]], and ''[[Tom Swift]]'' in 1910 under the pseudonym [[Victor Appleton]].<ref name="Billman">Billman.</ref>

Stratemeyer published a number of books under his own name, but the books published under pseudonyms sold better. Stratemeyer realized that "he could offer more books each year if he dealt with several publishers and had the books published under a number of pseudonyms which he controlled."<ref name="Keeline">Keeline, "Stratemeyer Syndicate."</ref> Stratemeyer explained his strategy to a publisher, writing that "[a] book brought out under another name would, I feel satisfied, do better than another Stratemeyer book. If this was brought out under my own name, the trade on new Stratemeyer books would simply be cut into four parts instead of three."<ref>Rehak, (2006), 25.</ref>

Some time in the first decade of the twentieth century Stratemeyer realized that he could no longer juggle multiple volumes of multiple series, and he began hiring [[ghostwriter]]s, such as [[Mildred Benson]], [[Josephine Lawrence]], [[Howard R. Garis]]<ref name="Billman" /> and [[Leslie McFarlane]].<ref name="SS1" /> Stratemeyer continued to write some books, while writing plot outlines for others.

While mystery elements were occasionally present in these early series, the Syndicate later specialized in children's mystery series. This trend began in 1911, when Stratemeyer wrote and published ''The Mansion of Mystery'', under the pseudonym [[Chester K. Steele]].  Five more books were published in that mystery series, the last in 1928. These books were aimed at a somewhat older audience than his previous series. After that, the Syndicate focused on mystery series aimed at its younger base: ''[[The Hardy Boys]]'', which first appeared in 1927, ghostwritten by Leslie McFarlane and others; and ''[[Nancy Drew]]'', which first appeared in 1930, ghostwritten by [[Mildred Benson|Mildred Wirt Benson]], [[Walter Karig]], and others. Both series were immediate financial successes.<ref name="SS1" />

In 1930, Stratemeyer died, and the Syndicate was inherited by his two daughters, [[Harriet Adams|Harriet Stratemeyer Adams]] and Edna Stratemeyer Squier. Stratemeyer Squier sold her share to her sister Harriet within a few years. Harriet Stratemeyer introduced such series as ''[[The Dana Girls]]'' (1934), ''[[Tom Swift Jr.]]'', ''[[The Happy Hollisters]]'', and many others. In the 1950s, Harriet began substantially revising old volumes in ''The Hardy Boys'' and ''Nancy Drew'' series, updating them by removing references to outdated cultural elements, such as "roadster". Racial slurs and stereotypes were also removed, and in some cases (such as ''[[The Secret at Shadow Ranch]]'' and ''[[The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion]])'' entire [[Plot (narrative)|plot]]s were cast off and replaced with new ones. In part, these changes were motivated by a desire to make the books more up-to-date. [[Grosset & Dunlap]], the primary publisher of Stratemeyer Syndicate books, requested that the books' racism be excised, a project that Adams felt was unnecessary.<ref name="Rehak 2006, 243">Rehak (2006), 243.</ref> Grosset & Dunlap held firm; it had received an increasing number of letters from parents who were offended by the stereotypes present in the books, particularly in ''The Hardy Boys'' publications.<ref name="Rehak 2006, 243"/>

In the late 1970s, Adams decided it was time for Nancy and the Hardys to go into paperback, as the hardcover market was no longer what it had been.{{clarify|date=April 2016}} Grosset & Dunlap sued, citing "breach of contract, copyright infringement, and unfair competition".<ref>Johnson, Deirdre. ''Edward Stratemeyer and the Stratemeyer Syndicate.'' Page 16.</ref> The ensuing case let the world know, for the first time, that the Syndicate existed; the Syndicate had always gone to great lengths to hide its existence from the public, and ghostwriters were contractually obliged never to reveal their authorship.

Grosset & Dunlap was awarded the rights to ''The Hardy Boys'' and ''Nancy Drew'' volumes that it had published, but the Syndicate was judged free to take subsequent volumes elsewhere.<ref>Johnson, 17.</ref> Subsequent volumes were published by [[Simon & Schuster]].

Adams died in 1982. In 1984, Simon & Schuster purchased the syndicate from its partners&nbsp;— Edward Stratemeyer Adams, Camilla Adams McClave, Patricia Adams Harr, Nancy Axelrod and Lilo Wuenn&nbsp;— and turned to Mega-Books, a book packager, to handle the writing process for new volumes.<ref>Plunkett-Powell (1993), 29.</ref>