She doesn’t exist. So who wrote the popular Nancy Drew mystery books? According to Wikipedia, Carolyn Keene is the pseudonym of the authors of the Nancy Drew mystery series, published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Stratemeyer hired writers, including Mildred Benson, to write the novels in this series, who initially were paid only $125 for each book and were required by their contract to give up all rights to the work and to maintain confidentiality. Edward Stratemeyer’s daughter, Harriet Adams, also wrote books in the Nancy Drew series under the pseudonym.
Just as there isn’t any Carolyn Keene, there’s no Franklin W. Dixon. It is a pseudonym for the authors of The Hardy Boys. This series is also the creation of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Various ghostwriters were employed to pen the stories but the first author was Leslie McFarlane who went on to write 21 of the books.
Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate was a genius. He hit the jackpot, didn’t he? Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys are still widely read today.
It’s so unfair for the ghostwriters to be paid so little!
Ya lah. Great concept, but unfair practices.
It’s also unfair of publishers to come out with short story collections and not pay the individual writers, especially when a publisher gets a sizeable grant from a foreign organization. They say it’s an honour to be published. C’mon, folks cain’t eat ‘onour, can they? Even a token sum of RM150 would encourage a writer.
Have y’all any experience in getting a short story published in a collection of works by many writers?
the practice goes on today, lydia. many books are farmed out to companies which employ hack writers. it only really came to light when the opal mehta book hit the news and it turned out that the little indian girl who supposedly wrote the book, really didn’t.
argus loo – yes, published in silverfish plus edited a collection
Xeus, that was aeons ago. I wonder how much the later writers got.
Argus, I agree that you cant eat honour and privilege. Writers should be paid. I had a story appear in True Malaysian Ghost Stories way back before Russell Lee became such a hit. It was by Federal Publications and they paid writers a one-off payment. I, the novice that I was then opted for royalty. Though I knew the amount would be miniscule, I wanted the experience of getting royalties which turned out to be peanuts when you have to share with 20 others.
Bib, So what’s the author called then, Pawn?
Bib, so were you paid as a writer?
I’m quite sure you were paid as an editor, right? So was it a princely sum?! (Ya, I’m dreaming here…)
Ghostwriting is fine…I do it too but $125???? For a whole book? I loved Nancy Drew and had a huge library of them! Didnt know Carolyn Keene is not a real person, though. But I guess $125 (RM465 now) was quite a bit of money…and the writers were also looking at long-term income, I suppose.
Great concept and fabulous money-churning business this is! Yes, they are definitely STILL making quite a bit of money from those books.
Marsha, Eh, what don’t you do ah?
i shall never look at another nancy drew or hardy boys book in the same light again. sigh!
don’t tell me the author of the tom swift series is a ghost writer also!!
Hi Doc, haha it turns out that the author of Tom Swift, Victor Appleton is a pseudonym. Here’s some interesting info about him :
Victor Appleton was the pseudonym used by Howard R. Garis for thirty-five of the stories and novels featuring the character of Tom Swift.
Garis was born on April 25th, 1873 in Binghamton, New York. He was a newspaper reporter for the Evening News. Garis married Lilian C. Garis on April 26th, 1900. Lilian was a prolific writer of fiction for the Stratemeyer Syndicate (which was responsible for nearly 1,600 series books), for which Garis also wrote.
Garis wrote numerous books as a ghostwriter: as Victor Appleton, Laura Lee Hope, Lester Chadwick, Roy Rockwood, and Clarence Young. He reserved his own name for writing the children’s series of Uncle Wiggily Longears stories, which featured an elderly, gentleman rabbit. The books are still read today.
Garis died in Amherst, Massachusetts on November 6th, 1962.
am i flabbergasted….
my favourite fiction books in lower secondary schools – all written by ghost writers!
carolyn keene, franklin w dixon and tom swift series……..
oh no!
thank god james hadley chase is real
gullu ja lassi la