{{short description|American publisher}} {{About| the Simon & Schuster division| other meanings|Pocketbook (disambiguation){{!}}Pocketbook}} {{Use American English|date=February 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox publisher | name = Pocket Books | image = 150px|class=skin-invert | caption = | image_size = 150px | founded = {{Start date and age|1939}} | founder = {{ubl|Richard L. Simon|M. Lincoln Schuster|Robert Fair de Graff}} | country = United States | headquarters = 1230 Avenue of the Americas,<br />Rockefeller Center,<br />New York City | key_people = | parent = Simon & Schuster | divisions = | imprints = }}
'''Pocket Books''' is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/29/business/the-media-business-pocket-books-publisher-to-bantam.html |title=The Media Business; Pocket Books Publisher To Bantam |newspaper=The New York Times |first=Esther B. |last=Fein |date=29 April 1992 |access-date=November 9, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/24/obituaries/herbert-alexander-pocket-books-editor-and-publisher-78.html |title=Herbert Alexander, Pocket Books Editor And Publisher, 78 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 24, 1988 |first=Edwin |last=McDowell |access-date=November 9, 2019}}</ref>
== History == Pocket Books produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in the United States in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry. The German Albatross Books had pioneered the idea of a line of color-coded paperback editions in 1931 under Kurt Enoch, and Penguin Books in Britain had refined the idea in 1935 and had one million books in print by the following year.
Penguin's success inspired entrepreneur Robert Fair de Graff, who partnered with publishers Richard L. Simon, M. Lincoln ("Max") Schuster and Leon Shimkin of Simon & Schuster to bring the concept to the American market by founding ''Pocket Books''.<ref name="goldenage">{{cite book |title=The Time of Their Lives: The Golden Age of Great American Publishers, Their Editors and Authors |last=Silverman |first=Al |publisher=Truman Talley |year=2008 |isbn=978-0312-35003-1 |pages=256–257}}</ref> Priced at 25 cents and featuring the logo of Gertrude the kangaroo (named after the mother-in-law of the artist, Frank Lieberman), Pocket Books' editorial policy of reprints of light literature, popular non-fiction, and mysteries was coordinated with its strategy of selling books outside the traditional distribution channels. The small format size, {{convert|4.25|by|6.5|in|cm|abbr=on}} and the fact that the books were glued rather than stitched, were cost-cutting innovations.
The first ten numbered Pocket Book titles published in May 1939 with a print run of about 10,000 copies each: # ''Lost Horizon'' by James Hilton # ''Wake Up and Live'' by Dorothea Brande # ''Five Great Tragedies'' by William Shakespeare # ''Topper'' by Thorne Smith # ''The Murder of Roger Ackroyd'' by Agatha Christie # ''Enough Rope'' by Dorothy Parker # ''Wuthering Heights'' by Emily Brontë # ''The Way of All Flesh'' by Samuel Butler # ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' by Thornton Wilder # ''Bambi'' by Felix Salten<ref name="NY">{{cite news |last=Ennis |first=Thomas W. |title=Robert F. De Graff Dies At 86; Was Pocket Books Founder |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/03/obituaries/robert-f-de-graff-dies-at-86-was-pocket-books-founder.html |access-date=November 9, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=November 3, 1981}}</ref>
This list includes seven novels, the most recent being six years old (''Lost Horizon'', 1933), two classics (Shakespeare and ''Wuthering Heights'', both out of copyright), one mystery novel, one book of poetry (''Enough Rope''), and one self-help book.
The edition of ''Wuthering Heights'' hit the bestseller list, and by the end of the first week sold out of its initial 100,000 copy run.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-04-19 |title=How Paperbacks Transformed the Way Americans Read |url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/12247/how-paperbacks-transformed-way-americans-read |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=Mental Floss |language=en-US}}</ref> By the end of the year Pocket Books had sold more than 1.5 million units. Robert de Graff continued to refine his selections with movie tie-ins and greater emphasis on mystery novels, particularly those of Christie and Erle Stanley Gardner.
Pocket and its imitators thrived during World War II because material shortages worked to their advantage. During the war, Pocket sued Avon Books for copyright infringement: among other issues, a New York state court found Pocket did not have an exclusive right to the pocket-sized format (both Pocket and Avon published paperback editions of Leslie Charteris' ''The Saint'' mystery series, among others).
In 1944, the founding owners sold the company to Marshall Field III, owner of the ''Chicago Sun'' newspaper. Following Field's death in 1957, Leon Shimkin, a Simon & Schuster partner, and James M. Jacobson bought Pocket Books for $5 million.<ref name="goldenage" /> Simon & Schuster acquired Pocket in 1966.
Phyllis E. Grann who would later become the first woman CEO of a major publishing firm was promoted to run Pocket Books under then CEO Richard E. Snyder. Grann left for Putnam in 1976.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/features/5618/ |title=Now for the Grann Finale| last=Maneker |first=Marion |date=January 21, 2002 |work=New York Magazine |access-date=November 9, 2019}}</ref>
In 1981, Dr. Benjamin Spock's ''Baby and Child Care'' was listed as their top seller, having sold 28 million copies at that time and having been acquired in 1946.<ref name="NY" />
In 1989, ''The Dieter'' by Susan Sussman became the first hardcover published by Pocket Books.
Pocket was for many years known for publishing works of popular fiction based on movies or TV series, such as the ''Star Trek'' franchise (owned by former corporate siblings CBS Television Studios and Paramount Pictures). Since first obtaining the ''Star Trek'' license from Bantam Books in 1979 (with a publication of the novelization of ''Star Trek: The Motion Picture''), Pocket has published hundreds of original and adapted works based upon the franchise and continues to publish a new novel every month.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/70867-for-star-trek-books-the-voyage-shows-no-sign-of-stopping.html |title=For Star Trek Books, the Voyage Shows No Sign of Stopping |first=Karen |last=Raugust |date=July 8, 2016 |newspaper=PublishersWeekly.com |access-date=November 9, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/licensing/article/57405-moving-at-warp-speed.html |first=Karen |last=Raugust |title=Star Trek Publishing Program Moves at Warp Speed |date=May 24, 2013 |publisher=PublishersWeekly.com |access-date=November 9, 2019}}</ref> Beginning in 2017 with novels based on ''Star Trek: Discovery'', the Star Trek novel lines have gradually moved to Simon & Schuster's Gallery Books line.
Pocket also previously published novels based on ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. The author credited for one of the Buffy products is Gertrude Pocket, a reference to the company's kangaroo logo. (The Buffy novels are now published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment, another division of Simon & Schuster.) Pocket Books is also the division that currently owns publication rights to the well-known work of James O'Barr, ''The Crow''.
==Imprints== * Baen Books — science fiction and fantasy (distributed), including the Honor Harrington series * Cardinal Edition * Downtown Press — chick lit * Gallery Books * G-Unit Books * Juno Books — formerly an imprint of Wildside Press * MTV/VH1 Books * Paraview Pocket Books * Permabooks * Pocket Star Books — media tie in, eBooks * Threshold Editions — conservative titles * WWE Books
===Defunct imprints=== * Sonnet—romance * Timescape Books - science fiction * Wanderer Books
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080211095708/http://paperbarn.www1.50megs.com/ "Paperback Publishers"] (archived version). *[https://web.archive.org/web/20190624024406/https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_6764611 Finding aid to Thomas L. Bonn papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.]
{{BIG6_PUBLISHERS_USA}} {{Kohlberg Kravis Roberts}}
01 Category:Simon & Schuster Category:Book publishing company imprints Category:Book publishing companies based in New York City Category:Publishing companies based in New York City Category:American companies established in 1939 Category:Publishing companies established in 1939 Category:1939 establishments in New York City Category:Gulf and Western Industries