Editing Nancy Drew (section)

== Ghostwriters ==
Consistent with other Stratemeyer Syndicate properties, the Nancy Drew novels were written by various writers, all under the [[pen name]] Carolyn Keene.<ref name="SS1">{{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=2013-08-27}}</ref> Following the customs of Stratemeyer Syndicate series production, ghostwriters for the Syndicate signed contracts that have sometimes been interpreted as requiring authors to sign away all rights to authorship or future royalties.<ref>Plunkett-Powell (1993), 24.</ref> Contracts stated that authors could not use their Stratemeyer Syndicate pseudonyms independently of the Syndicate.<ref>Keeline (2008), 21.</ref> In the early days of the Syndicate, ghostwriters were paid a fee of $125, "roughly equivalent to two months' wages for a typical newspaper reporter, the primary day job of the syndicate ghosts."<ref>Keeline (2008), 22.</ref>

During the [[Great Depression]], this fee was lowered to $100 and eventually $75.<ref>Rehak (2006), 149.</ref> All royalties went to the Syndicate, and all correspondence with the publisher was handled through a Syndicate office. The Syndicate was able to enlist the cooperation of libraries in hiding the ghostwriters' names; when [[Walter Karig]], who wrote volumes eight through ten of the original ''[[Nancy Drew Mystery Stories]]'', tried to claim rights with the [[Library of Congress]] in 1933, the Syndicate instructed the Library of Congress not to reveal the names of any Nancy Drew authors, a move with which the Library of Congress complied.<ref>Plunkett-Powell (1993), 26–27.</ref>

The Syndicate's process for creating the Nancy Drew books consisted of creating a detailed plot outline, drafting a manuscript, and editing the manuscript. Edward Stratemeyer and his daughters [[Harriet Adams]] and Edna Stratemeyer Squier wrote most of the outlines for the original Nancy Drew series until 1979. Volume 30, ''[[The Clue of the Velvet Mask]]'' (1953), was outlined by [[Andrew Svenson]]. Usually, other writers wrote the manuscripts. Most of the early volumes were written by [[Mildred Benson|Mildred Wirt Benson]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson Papers |url=http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/findingaids/html/BensonMildred.htm |work=Iowa Women's Archives |publisher=University of Iowa Libraries |access-date=27 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510065205/http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/findingaids/html/BensonMildred.htm |archive-date=10 May 2013 }}</ref> Other volumes were written by [[Walter Karig]], [[George Waller, Jr.]], [[Margaret Scherf]], [[Wilhelmina Rankin]], [[Alma Sasse]], [[Charles S. Strong]], [[Iris Vinton]],<ref>Plunkett-Powell (1993), 39.</ref> and [[Patricia Doll]].

Later titles were penned by [[Nancy Axelrad]], [[Sharon Wagner]], and [[James Duncan Lawrence (author)|James Duncan Lawrence]], and according to ''[[Book Riot]]'', [[Carol Gorman]], [[Ellen Steiber]], and [[Alison Hart Edward]] "each wrote several Nancy Drews in the 1980s and '90s."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Klein |first=Annika Barranti |date=2019-10-24 |title=Carolyn Keene and the Mystery of the Real Nancy Drew Author |url=https://bookriot.com/real-nancy-drew-author/ |access-date=2022-12-19 |website=BOOK RIOT |language=en-US}}</ref> Stratemeyer edited the first three volumes, and Harriet Adams edited most subsequent volumes until she died in 1982. In 1959, the earlier titles were revised, largely by Adams.<ref>Rehak (2006), 245.</ref> From the late 1950s until she died in 1982, Adams herself wrote the manuscripts for most of the books.<ref>Farah (2005), 431–521; Rehak (2006), 249.</ref>

After Adams' death, series production was overseen by Nancy Axelrad (who also wrote several volumes). The rights to the character were sold in 1984, along with the Stratemeyer Syndicate itself, to [[Simon & Schuster]]. [[Book packager]] Mega-Books subsequently hired authors to write the main Nancy Drew series and a new series, ''[[The Nancy Drew Files]]''.<ref name="plunkett-29">Plunkett-Powell (1993), 29.</ref>

=== Legal disputes ===
In 1980, Harriet Adams switched publishers to Simon & Schuster, dissatisfied with the lack of creative control at Grosset & Dunlap and the lack of publicity for the Hardy Boys' 50th anniversary in 1977. Grosset & Dunlap filed suit against the Syndicate and the new publishers, Simon & Schuster, citing "breach of contract, copyright infringement, and unfair competition."<ref>Johnson (1993), 16.</ref>

Adams filed a countersuit, claiming the case was in poor taste and frivolous and that, as the author of the Nancy Drew series, she retained the rights to her work. Although Adams had written many of the titles after 1953 and edited others, she claimed to be the author of all of the early titles. She had rewritten the older titles and was not their original author. When Mildred Benson was called to testify about her work for the Syndicate, Benson's role in writing the manuscripts of early titles was revealed in court with extensive documentation, contradicting Adams' claims to authorship. The court ruled that Grosset had the right to publish the original series as they were in print in 1980 but did not own characters or trademarks. Furthermore, any new publishers chosen by Adams were completely within their rights to print new titles.<ref>Johnson (1993), 17.</ref>