Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers is a Simon and Schuster imprint that is considered to be private equity. The books published by this imprint range from picture books to young adult novels. BFYR publishes a wide variety of genres including graphic novels, award winning fiction, classics, romance, fantasy, action and adventure, mysteries, historical, and thrillers. They print physical books, ebooks, and audible books that can be found at many retailers including Books a Million, Barnes and Noble, Target, and Walmart.

Simon and Schuster

Simon and Schuster is currently owned by KKR which is a publicly traded company and is for-profit. KKR does, however, support non-profit organizations. Simon and Schuster has more than 1500 employees and KKR had 4834 employees as of December 31, 2024. S&S has become more private since the purchase of KKR, making their last public financial report in October 2023 which states that they made $101 million in sales and $18 million in operating income. Their largest sales report was in 2022 when they made $1.1 billion in sales and $248 million in operating income.

Simon and Schuster's Mission Statement

“Simon and Schuster is a global publisher dedicated to sharing a broad range of works that educate, entertain, and inspire readers of all ages. We publish books that represent many perspectives, to stimulate readers’ curiosity and intellectual exploration. We believe the books we publish have the capacity to inform and challenge our views, and to create change in the world. Our passionate commitment to excellence in all aspects of publishing starts with our dedication to our authors, and is reflected in our unceasing effort to bring our authors’ works to the widest possible audience.”

Simon and Schuster's History

Simon and Schuster was founded in 1924 by Richard L. (Dick) Simon and M. Lincoln (Max) Schuster. There isn’t a specific year that Books for Young Readers was founded, at least none that has been released by S&S. Simon and Schuster was then sold in 1944 to Marshall Field and repurchased by Simon, Schuster, Leon Shimkin, and James M. Jacobson in 1957 when Field died. From here, the company was resold many times. Gulf + Western acquired S&S from Shimkin in 1975 and became Paramount Communications in 1989. S&S then became part of Viacom Inc. in 1994 when Viacom Inc. acquired Paramount. Viacom sold S&S in 1998 to Pearson PLC which then integrated with Paramount motion picture and TV studios, essentially giving S&S back to Paramount in 2002. S&S was considered part of Viacom Entertainment Group at this point. In 2006, CBS and Viacom separated, making S&S part of CBS Corporation which later became Paramount Global. S&S was sold to KKR in 2023, returning the company to an independent publishing company. In 2023, Richard E. Snyder died at the age of 90 from heart failure. He worked at S&S from 1960-1994 when he was abruptly dismissed after Viacom purchased the company. During his time at S&S, Snyder’s positions included President, Chief Executive, and Chairman. Most recently, Jonathan Karp stepped down from his CEO position to launch a new imprint, Simon Six. As the name implies, Simon Six will be an imprint publishing only six books a year similar to his Hachette imprint in 2005 which only published one book a month.

Structure

Simon and Schuster have many different locations, both national and international. Corporate headquarters is located in New York, New York. They have two locations in Massachusetts, one in Stoughton and the other in Concord. There are two locations in Tennessee, one in Jackson and the other in Jefferson City. The two last national locations are both in New Jersey, one in Parsippany and the other in Riverside. The international locations are in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and India.

Simon and Schuster itself has over 1500 employees while Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers has 15 employees.

BFRY Editorial Team

The editorial team of Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers is comprised of Justin Chanda (Senior Vice President, Publisher), Kendra Levin (Editorial Director, Vice President), Sarah Barley (Editorial Director), Krista Vitola (Executive Editor), Nicole Ellul (Executive Editor), Celia Lee (Executive Editor), Alexa Pastor (Senior Editor), Deeba Zargarpur (Editor), Alyza Liu (Editor), Dainese Santos (Associate Editor), Daniela Villegas Valle (Assistant Editor), Alma Gomez Martinez (Editorial Assistant), Jessica Egan (Editorial Assistant), Tionne Townsend (Editorial Assistant), and Xenia Weakly (Editorial Assistant).

Publishing Program

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Significant Books and Authors

Some notable books published by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers are Powerless by Lauren Roberts, Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han, Spy School by Stuart Gibbs, and Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter. Other notable authors include Neal Shusterman, Kelly Yang, Janet Fox, Rachel Lynn Solomon, Peter Brown, and Nikki Grimes.

Specific Publications

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Audience and Community

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Identity and Impact

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