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Edward Stratemeyer Facts

Edward Stratemeyer Facts
Edward Stratemeyer was an American children's writer and publisher best known for creating the series Tom Swift, The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, The Bobbsey Twins, and The Rover Boys. He was born Edward L. Stratemeyer on October 4th, 1862 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to Henry Stratemeyer, a tobacconist, and Anna Siegel. Edward began reading rags-to-riches tales as a young boy and began operating his own printing press in his father's tobacco shop basement as a teenager. Edward was 26 by the time he sold his first story to Golden Days, a children's magazine, in 1888. In 1899 Edward wrote and published the first book in the series The Rover Boys.
Interesting Edward Stratemeyer Facts:
Edward Stratemeyer's first published book was Richard Dare's Venture, in 1894.
Edward Stratemeyer founded Stratemeyer Literary Syndicate in 1906. Through his syndicate he launched several series that would go on to become highly successful including The Rover Boys (1899), The Bobbsey Twins (1904), Tom Swift (1910), Baseball Joe (1912), The Hardy Boys (1927), and Nancy Drew (1930).
Edward Stratemeyer pioneered the book-packaging method that is used to produce a long-running series of books, written by freelance writers under a pseudonym that remains the same regardless of whatever freelance writer is hired to write a particular title in the series.
Edward Stratemeyer wrote under the pseudonym Arthur M. Winfield for the series The Rover Boys. He wrote all 30 books in that series himself.
Edward Stratemeyer wrote under the pseudonym Laura Lee Hope for The Bobbsey Twins. It is believed that Edward wrote the first of 72 books in the series himself, which began in 1904 and concluded in 1979.
Edward Stratemeyer wrote under the pseudonym Victor Appleton for the series Tom Swift. Edward and Howard Garis were responsible for writing most of the original Tom Swift series.
Edward Stratemeyer used the pseudonym Lester Chadwick for the series Baseball Joe. Howard Garis wrote most of the books in the series and Edward is believed to have written several as well.
Edward Stratemeyer's series The Hardy Boys was written under the pseudonym Frank Dixon. Edward created the characters and storyline but hired freelancers to write the books.
Edward Stratemeyer's series Nancy Drew was written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Again Edward created the characters and storyline but hired freelancers to write the books.
Fortune magazine wrote of Edward Stratemeyer and his impact on literature, "As oil had its Rockefeller, literature had its Stratemeyer."
Edward Stratemeyer married Magdalena Van Camp in 1891. Together they had two daughters Harriet (1892), and Edna (1895). They would both later run Stratemeyer Literary Syndicate. Edna also wrote several Nancy Drew volumes.
Stratemeyer Literary Syndicate employed a large number of people to package books including secretaries, co-authors, editors, copy writers, and stenographers.
In his lifetime Edward Stratemeyer wrote hundreds of books, and short stories.
Edward Stratemeyer died on May 10th, 1930 at the age of 67 in Newark, New Jersey. He had lobar pneumonia.
The publisher Simon & Schuster bought all rights to Stratemeyer Literary Syndicate in 1984.


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