Simon Schuster Popular Books
Simon Schuster Biography & Facts
Simon & Schuster LLC ( SHOO-stər) is an American publishing company owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins and Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster is considered one of the 'Big Five' English language publishers. As of 2017 Simon & Schuster was the third largest publisher in the United States, publishing 2,000 titles annually under 35 different imprints. History Early years In 1924, Richard Simon's aunt, a crossword puzzle enthusiast, asked whether there was a book of New York World crossword puzzles, which were very popular at the time. After discovering that none had been published, Simon and Max Schuster decided to launch a company to exploit the opportunity. At the time, Simon was a piano salesman and Schuster was editor of an automotive trade magazine. They pooled US$8,000, equivalent to $142,000 today, to start a company that published crossword puzzles. The new publishing house used "fad" publishing to publish books that exploited current fads and trends. Simon called this "planned publishing". Instead of signing authors with a planned manuscript, they came up with their own ideas, and then hired writers to carry them out. In the 1930s, the publisher moved to what has been referred to as "Publisher's Row" on Park Avenue in Manhattan, New York. Expansion In 1939, Simon & Schuster financially backed Robert Fair de Graff to found Pocket Books, America's first paperback publisher. In 1942, Simon & Schuster and Western Publishing launched the Little Golden Books series in cooperation with the Artists and Writers Guild. In 1944, Marshall Field III, owner of the Chicago Sun, purchased Simon & Schuster and Pocket Books. The company was sold back to Simon and Schuster following his death in 1957 for $1 million. In the 1950s and 1960s, many publishers including Simon & Schuster turned toward educational publishing due to the baby boom market. Pocket Books focused on paperbacks for the educational market instead of textbooks and started the Washington Square Press imprint in 1959. By 1964 it had published over 200 titles and was expected to put out another 400 by the end of that year. Books published under the imprint included classic reprints such as Lorna Doone, Ivanhoe, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and Robinson Crusoe. In 1967, Simon & Schuster acquired Monarch Press Publishing, Inc., along with its extensive line of college and high school study guides published. In 1960, Richard Simon died of a heart attack; six years later, Max Schuster retired and sold his half of Simon & Schuster to Leon Shimkin. Shimkin then merged Simon & Schuster with Pocket Books under the name of Simon & Schuster. In 1968, editor-in-chief Robert Gottlieb, who worked at Simon & Schuster since 1955 and edited several bestsellers including Joseph Heller's Catch-22, left abruptly to work at competitor Knopf, taking other influential S&S employees, Nina Bourne, and Tony Schulte. Simon & Schuster was acquired by Gulf+Western in an 8-for-1 stock swap on January 28, 1975. Four years later in 1979, Richard Snyder was named CEO of the company. Over the next several years he would help grow the company substantially. 1980s After the death of Gulf+Western head Charles Bluhdorn on February 19, 1983, the company made the decision to diversify. Bluhdorn's successor Martin Davis told The New York Times, "Society was undergoing dramatic changes so that there was a greater need for textbooks, maps, and educational information. We saw the opportunity to diversify into those areas, which are more stable and more profitable than trade publishing." In 1984, Simon & Schuster with CEO Richard E. Snyder acquired educational publisher Esquire Corporation, owner of companies including Allyn & Bacon (and former owner of Esquire magazine), for $180 million. Prentice Hall was brought into the company fold in 1985 for over $700 million and was viewed by some executives to be a catalyst for change for the company as a whole. This acquisition was followed by Silver Burdett in 1986, mapmaker Gousha in 1987 and Charles E. Simon in 1988. Part of the acquisition included educational publisher Allyn & Bacon which, according to then editor and chief Michael Korda, became the "nucleus of S&S's educational and informational business." Three California educational companies were also purchased between 1988 and 1990 – Quercus, Fearon Education and Janus Book Publishers. In all, Simon & Schuster spent more than $1 billion in acquisitions between 1983 and 1991. In the 1980s, Snyder also made an unsuccessful bid toward video publishing which was believed to have led to the company's success in the audiobook business. Snyder was dismayed to realize that Simon & Schuster did not own the video rights to Jane Fonda's Workout Book, a huge bestseller at the time and that the video company producing the VHS was making more money on the video. This prompted Snyder to ask editors to obtain video rights for every new book. Agents were often reluctant to give these up – which meant the S&S Video division never took off. Simon & Schuster launched its audiobook division in 1985. According to Korda, audiobooks were a major business for Simon & Schuster by the 1990s. In 1989, Gulf and Western Inc., owner of Simon & Schuster, changed its name to Paramount Communications Inc. 1990s In 1990, The New York Times described Simon & Schuster as the largest book publisher in the United States with sales of $1.3 billion the previous year. That same year, Simon & Schuster acquired the children's publisher Green Tiger Press. In 1993, Simon & Schuster bought Macmillan (including Scribner's, Free Press, and Jossey-Bass), and changed its name to Paramount Publishing. Viacom then bought Paramount in 1994 and changed the name back to Simon & Schuster. Macmillan was acquired for US$552.8 million. Later that year, Snyder was suddenly fired from S&S and was replaced by the company's president and chief operating officer Jonathan Newcomb. Simon & Schuster then sold several peripheral assets, such as selling Charles E. Simon Co. to CDB Infotek. Gousha was sold to Rand McNally in 1996. In 1994, S&S acquired the software operations of Markt+Technik. Later that year, Simon & Schuster (through Paramount) launched a software publisher in partnership with Davidson & Associates named Simon & Schuster Interactive. The studio published video games such as Outlaw Golf, Deer Avenger, I.M. Meen, Chill Manor, EVE Online, and games based on Richard Scarry's characters. S&S Interactive shut down in 2003. In 1998, Viacom sold Simon & Schuster's educational operations (including Prentice Hall, Macmillan, and Jossey-Bass) to Pearson plc, the global publisher and then owner of Penguin and t.... Discover the Simon Schuster popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Simon Schuster books.
Best Seller Simon Schuster Books of 2024
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A Stolen Life
Jaycee DugardIn the summer of 1991 I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother who loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen. For eighteen years I ...
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen ChboskyRead the cultfavorite comingofage story that takes a sometimes heartbreaking, often hysterical, and always honest look at high school in all its glory. Now a major motion picture s...
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The Great Gatsby
F. Scott FitzgeraldThe only authorized edition of the twentiethcentury classic, featuring F. Scott Fitzgerald’s final revisions, a foreword by his granddaughter, and a new introduction by National Bo...
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All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony DoerrNOW A NETFLIX LIMITED SERIESfrom producer and director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) starring Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Laurie, and newcomer Aria Mia LobertiWinner of the Pulitzer Prize an...
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Maybe Someday
Colleen HooverFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Starts with Us and It Ends with Us comes a passionate tale of friendship, betrayal, and romance.At twentytwo years old, Sydney i...
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Beautiful Disaster
Jamie McGuireNow a major motion picture! The “deliciously intense” (USA TODAY) New York Times bestselling phenomenon follows a good girl drawn to a very bad boy...The new Abby Abernathy is a go...
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The Glass Castle
Jeannette WallsTHE BELOVED #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFROM THE AUTHOR OF HANG THE MOONThe extraordinary, oneofakind, “nothing short of spectacular” (Entertainment Weekly) memoir from one of the ...
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Proof of Heaven
Eben AlexanderThe #1 New York Times bestselling account of a neurosurgeon's own neardeath experiencefor readers of 7 Lessons from Heaven. Thousands of people have had neardeath experiences, but ...
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Doctor Sleep
Stephen KingNow a major motion picture starring Ewan McGregor!From master storyteller Stephen King, his unforgettable and terrifying sequel to The Shiningan instant #1 New York Times bestselle...
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City of Fallen Angels
Cassandra ClareTrust is dangerous, and to love is to destroy. Plunge into the fourth installment in the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series and “prepare to be hooked” (Entertain...
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American Assassin
Vince FlynnIn #1 New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn’s explosive and “captivating” (Glenn Beck) thriller, witness the young Mitch Rapp as he takes on his first assignment.Mitch Rapp...
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Mr. Mercedes
Stephen KingWINNER OF THE 2015 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL #1 New York Times bestseller! In a highsuspense race against time, three of the most unlikely heroes Stephen King has ever created try...
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Luckiest Girl Alive
Jessica KnollNOW A NETFLIX FILM STARRING MILA KUNIS Fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train will thrill at this “perfect pageturner” (People)that Reese Witherspoon describes as “one of thos...
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The Survivor
Vince Flynn & Kyle MillsThe #1 New York Times bestselling novel that picks up where the “tight, right, and dynamite” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis) The Last Man left off, The Survivor is a noholdsbarred race...
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The War of the Worlds
H.G. WellsThe chilling novel account of a Martian invasion of London in the nineteenth centurya science fiction classic for all time.The War of the Worlds inspired the international bestsell...
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City of Glass
Cassandra ClareLove is a mortal sin, and the secrets of the past are deadly. Plunge into the third installment in the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series and “prepare to be hook...
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November 9
Colleen HooverBeloved #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Starts with Us, It Ends with Us, and All Your Perfects returns with an unforgettable love story between a writer and his unexpect...
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The Secret
Rhonda ByrneThe worldwide bestselling phenomenon that has helped millions tap the power of the law that governs all our lives to createintentionally and effortlesslya joyful life.In 2006, a gr...
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The Time Machine
H.G. WellsThe H.G. Wells classic that helped launch the time travel genre. The Time Traveller, a dreamer obsessed with traveling through time, builds himself a time machine and, much to his ...
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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Taylor Jenkins ReidNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“If you’re looking for a book to take on holiday this summer, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo has got all the glitz and glamour to make it a perfect beac...
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A Man Called Ove
Fredrik BackmanNow a major motion picture A Man Called Otto starring Tom Hanks!#1 New York Times bestsellermore than 3 million copies sold! Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeonthe kind of man who points a...
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City of Lost Souls
Cassandra ClareWhat price is too high to pay, even for love? Plunge into fifth installment the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series and “prepare to be hooked” (Entertainment Week...
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Black List
Brad Thor#1 New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Brad Thor returns with his most explosive thriller ever. Somewhere deep inside the United States government is a clo...
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Too Much and Never Enough
Mary L. TrumpIn this revelatory, authoritative portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that made him, Mary L. Trump, a trained clinical psychologist and Donald’s only niece, shines a b...
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It Ends with Us
Colleen HooverFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Starts with Us and All Your Perfects, a “brave and heartbreaking novel that digs its claws into you and doesn’t let go, long aft...
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The Light Between Oceans
M.L. StedmanThe yearslong New York Times bestseller and major motion picture from Spielberg’s Dreamworks is “irresistible…seductive…with a high concept plot that keeps you riveted from the fir...
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Walking Disaster
Jamie McGuireThe highly anticipated followup to the New York Times bestseller Beautiful Disasternow a major motion picture!Can you love someone too much? Travis Maddox learned two things from h...
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It
Stephen KingIt: Chapter Twonow a major motion picture! Stephen King’s terrifying, classic #1 New York Times bestseller, “a landmark in American literature” (Chicago SunTimes)about seven adults...
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10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse
J.J. SmithThe New York Times bestselling 10Day Green Smoothie Cleanse will jumpstart your weight loss, increase your energy level, clear your mind, and improve your overall health.Made up of...
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Steve Jobs
Walter IsaacsonWalter Isaacson’s “enthralling” (The New Yorker) worldwide bestselling biography of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs.Based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs conducted over tw...
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Kill Shot
Vince Flynn#1 internationally bestselling author Vince Flynn delivers the young, hungry, and lethal Mitch Rapp at the onset of his career as a CIA superagent.In the year since the CIA trained...
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The Summer I Turned Pretty
Jenny HanNow an Original Series on Prime Video!Belly has an unforgettable summer in this stunning start to the Summer I Turned Pretty series from the New York Times bestselling author of To...
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Twelve Years a Slave
Solomon NorthupThe story that inspired the major motion picture, with an introduction by the bestselling author of Wench, Dolen PerkinsValdez, Twelve Years a Slave is a harrowing, vividly detaile...
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City of Bones
Cassandra ClareDiscover this first installment of the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series and “prepare to be hooked” (Entertainment Weekly).When fifteenyearold Clary Fray heads ...
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A Christmas Carol
Charles DickensCelebrate the spirit of the season with this complimentary edition of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol–the perfect companion for a cozy night by the fire. Includes an exclusive e...
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Free Fall
Brad ThorThe prelude to Hidden Order, Brad Thor's riveting and pulsepounding Scot Harvath thriller.Experience the suspense and thrills only Brad Thor can write in Free Fall, the shocking pr...
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City of Ashes
Cassandra ClareIs love worth betraying everything? Plunge into the second adventure in the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series and “prepare to be hooked” (Entertainment Weekly)....
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The Last Man
Vince Flynn#1 New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn “has never been better” (The Providence Journal) in this highoctane thriller following Mitch Rapp as he searches for a missing CIA ...
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Hatchet
Gary PaulsenCelebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the Newbery Honor–winning survival novel Hatchet with a pocketsized edition perfect for travelers to take along on their own adventures. This...
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Finding Cinderella
Colleen Hoover#1 New York Times bestselling author of It Starts with Us and It Ends With Us writes a free novella about the search for happily ever after.A chance encounter in the dark leads eig...
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The Storyteller
Jodi PicoultAn astonishing novel about redemption and forgiveness from the “amazingly talented writer” (HuffPost) and #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult.Some stories live foreve...
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Hidden Order
Brad Thor#1 New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Brad Thor returns with his hottest and most actionpacked thriller yet!The most secretive organization in America ope...
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The Woman in Cabin 10
Ruth WareINSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER FROM THE AUTHOR OF IN A DARK, DARK WOOD Featured in TheSkimm An Entertainment Weekly “Summer Must List” Pick A New York Post “Summer...
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Fear
Bob WoodwardOVER 2 MILLION COPIES SOLD RUNAWAY #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SENSATIONAL #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER “Explosive.”The Washington Post “Devastating.”The New Yorker “Unprecedented....
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The Last Thing He Told Me
Laura DaveDon’t miss the #1 New York Times bestselling blockbuster and Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick that’s sold over 2 million copies–now an Apple TV+ limited series starring Jennifer Ga...
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It Starts with Us
Colleen HooverBefore It Ends with Us, it started with Atlas. Colleen Hoover tells fan favorite Atlas’s side of the story and shares what comes next in this longanticipated sequel to the “gloriou...
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Fahrenheit 451
Ray BradburyRay Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of twentiethcentury literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclai...