Avon (publisher)
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Parent company HarperCollins | | |
Founded | 1941 | |
---|---|---|
Founder | Joseph Meyers and Edna Meyers Williams | |
Country of origin | United States | |
Headquarters location | New York City | |
Fiction genres | Romance | |
Imprints | Avon Impulse, Avon Inspire, Avon Red, Avon Romance | |
Official website | avonromance |
Avon Publications is one of the leading publishers of
Early history (1941–1971)
Avon Books was founded in 1941 by the
As well as normal-sized paperbacks, Avon published
In 1953, Avon Books sold books in the price range of 25¢ to 50¢ (for the Avon "G" series, the "G" standing for "Giant") and were selling more than 20 million copies a year. Their books were characterized by
Avon was bought by the
In the late 1960s there was a surge of interest in Satanism largely due to the emergence of Anton LaVey's Church of Satan in 1966 and the success of Ira Levin's novel Rosemary's Baby in 1967. In 1968, an Avon editor named Peter Mayer approached Anton LaVey with the idea of publishing a "Satanic Bible", and he asked Anton to author it. Anton obliged, and in December 1969 The Satanic Bible was published as an Avon paperback.[4]
History of Avon Romance (post-1972)
In 1972, Avon entered the modern romance genre with the publication of Kathleen Woodiwiss' The Flame and the Flower. The novel went on to sell 2.35 million copies.[5] Avon followed its release with the 1974 publication of Woodiwiss's second novel, The Wolf and the Dove. The next two romances by newcomer Rosemary Rogers, Sweet Savage Love and Dark Fires, also published in 1974, reached bestseller status. The latter sold two million copies in its first three months of release and the former inspired the name of the genre: "sweet savage romances".[6]
In 1999, the News Corporation bought out Hearst's book division. Avon's hardcover and non-romance paperback lines were moved to sister company Morrow, leaving Avon as solely a romance publisher.[7]
Avon launched the erotica imprint Avon Red in 2006.[8] Avon developed the event KissCon in 2014, in order to serve the population of romance readers looking for more interaction with their authors and opportunities to strengthen their reading community connections.[7]
For its 75-year anniversary in 2016, Avon published 65 original titles, along with an anniversary edition of Shanna, a romance novel by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, published in 1977 that held a spot on the New York Times Best Seller list for over thirty weeks. In addition to the re-release, the book included a foreword by the more recent bestseller, and another author represented by Avon, Lisa Kleypas.[7]
Avon Comics
From at least 1945 through the mid-1950s, Avon published
- All True Detective
- Atomic Spy Cases
- Attack On Planet Mars
- Avon Fantasy - An Earth Man On Venus
- Bachelor's Diary
- Badmen of the West
- Badmen of Tombstone
- Behind Prison Bars
- Betty and Her Steady
- The Blackhawk Indian Tomahawk War
- Blazing Six Guns
- Boy Detective
- Buddies in the U.S. Army
- Butch Cassidy
- Campus Romance
- Captain Silver's Log of the Sea Hound
- Captain Steve Savage (1950 and 1954 series)
- Chief Crazy Horse
- Chief Victorio's Apache Massacre
- City of the Living Dead
- Complete Romance
- Cow Puncher
- Custer's Last Fight
- The Dalton Boys
- Davy Crockett
- Diary of Horror
- Eerie
- Escape from Devil's Island
- Famous Gangsters
- Fighting Daniel Boone
- Fighting Davy Crockett
- Fighting Indians of the Wild West! (plus 1952 annual)
- Fighting Undersea Commandos
- Flying Saucers (1950 and 1952 series)
- For a Night of Love
- Frontier Romances
- Funnies Annual
- Funny Tunes
- Gangsters and Gun Molls
- Geronimo
- Going Steady with Betty
- Jesse James (24 issues plus 1952 annual, 1950–56; no issues #10–14 published)
- King of the Bad Men of Deadwood
- King Solomon's Mines
- Kit Carson
- Last of The Comanches
- Little Jack Frost
- The Mask of Dr. Fu Manchu
- The Masked Bandit
- Merry Mouse
- Molly O'Day
- Murderous Gangsters
- Night of Mystery
- Out of This World
- Out of This World Adventures
- Outlaws of the Wild West
- Pancho Villa
- Parole Breakers
- Penny
- Peter Rabbit Comics (#1–6, 1947–1949) and Peter Rabbit (#7–34, 1950–56)
- Peter Rabbit Easter Parade (one-shot)
- Peter Rabbit Jumbo Book (one-shot)
- Phantom Witch Doctor
- Pixie Puzzle Rocket To Adventureland (one-shot)
- Police Line-Up
- Prison Break!
- Prison Riot
- Realistic Romances
- Red Mountain featuring Quantrell's Raiders
- Robotmen of the Lost Planet
- Rocket to the Moon
- Romantic Love (1949 and 1954 series)
- The Saint (12 issues, 1947–1952)
- The Savage Raids of Chief Geronimo
- Sea Hound
- Secret Diary of Eerie Adventures
- Sensational Police Cases
- Sheriff Bob Dixon's Chuck Wagon
- Sideshow
- Slave Girl Comics
- Space Comics
- Space Detective
- Space Mouse
- Space Thrillers
- Sparkling Love
- Spotty the Pup
- Strange Worlds (22 issues, 1950–1952, 1954–1955)
- Super Pup
- Teddy Roosevelt and His Rough Riders
- Television Puppet Show
- U.S. Marines in Action
- U.S. Paratroops
- U.S. Tank Commandos
- Undersea Fighting Commandos
- The Underworld Story'
- The Unknown Man
- War Dogs of the U.S. Army
- Western Bandits
- White Chief of the Pawnee Indians
- White Princess of the Jungle
- Wild Bill Hickok (28 issues, 1949–1956)
- Witchcraft
- With the U.S. Paratroops Behind Enemy Lines
References
- ISBN 0-9673639-5-0
- ^ "Highbrow Smorgasbord", Time, August 10, 1953.
- ^ "Quiet Deal", Time, August 31, 1959.
- ISBN 978-1494447335.
- ^ Darrach, Brad (January 17, 1977). "Rosemary's Babies". Time. Archived from the original on November 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
- ISBN 9780807841259.
- ^ a b c Garrett, Lynn (January 5, 2016). "At 75, Avon Books Is Still Going Strong". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved February 8, 2019.
- ^ "It's Not Just You—It Really Is Hot in Here". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2019-04-03.