Editing Tom Swift (section)

== Authorship ==
The character of Tom Swift was conceived about 1910 by [[Edward Stratemeyer]], founder of the [[Stratemeyer Syndicate]], a [[book packager|book-packaging]] business,<ref name="SS2">{{cite web| last=Andrews|first=Dale| title=The Hardy Boys Mystery | url=http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2013/08/the-hardy-boys-mystery_27.html |work=Children's books |publisher=SleuthSayers| location=Washington |date= August 27, 2013}}</ref> although the name "Tom Swift" was first used in 1903 by Stratemeyer in ''Shorthand Tom the Reporter; Or, the Exploits of a Bright Boy''.  Stratemeyer invented the series to capitalize on the market for children's science adventures.<ref name="Molson">Molson (1985).</ref> The Syndicate's authors created the Tom Swift stories by first preparing an outline with the plot elements, followed by drafting and editing the detailed manuscript.<ref>This method was used for all Stratemeyer Syndicate series: for further discussion, see Carol Billman, ''The Secret of the Stratemeyer Syndicate.'' Ungar, 1986. {{ISBN|978-0-8044-2055-6}}.</ref> The books were published using the house [[Pen name|pseudonym]] "[[Victor Appleton]]". [[Howard Garis]] wrote most of the volumes of the original series; Stratemeyer's daughter, [[Harriet Adams|Harriet Stratemeyer Adams]], wrote the last three volumes.<ref>Johnson (1982), 23.</ref>  The first ''Tom Swift'' series ended in 1941.

In 1954, Harriet Adams created the ''Tom Swift, Jr.'' series, which was published using the pseudonym "Victor Appleton II" as author. The main character Tom Swift, Junior, was described as the son of the original Tom Swift. Most of the stories were outlined and plotted by Adams. The texts were written by various writers, among them William Dougherty, John Almquist, Richard Sklar, [[James Duncan Lawrence (author)|James Duncan Lawrence]], Tom Mulvey and Richard McKenna.<ref>Johnson (1982), 26–27.</ref> The ''Tom Swift, Jr.'', series ended in 1971.

A third series was begun in 1981 and lasted until 1984. The rights to the Tom Swift character, along with the Stratemeyer Syndicate, were sold in 1984 to publishers [[Simon & Schuster]]. They hired New York City book packaging business Mega-Books to produce further series.<ref>Plunkett-Powell (1993), 29.</ref> Simon & Schuster has published three more Tom Swift series: one from 1991 to 1993;''Tom Swift, Young Inventor'' from 2006 to 2007; and ''Tom Swift Inventors Academy'' from 2019 to present—eight volumes as of ''Depth Perception'' (March 2022).<ref name="sscurrent"/>