Victor Appleton was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Many of the Tom Swift books were actually written by Edward Stratemeyer. Stratemeyer (1862-1930) was a prolific American author and publisher. Beginning in the 1890s, Stratemeyer hired free-lance writers to turn out consistent and long-running juvenile fiction series for his publishing enterprise, known as the Stratemeyer Syndicate. This book-packaging technique resulted in a number of popular book series for young readers, including the ROVER BOYS, THE BOBBSEY TWINS, DAVE PORTER, TOM SWIFT, THE HARDY BOYS and NANCY DREW. Stratemeyer wrote some 1300 books himselft selling more than 500 million copies, making him one of the most successful, and most obscure, authors in history.