Alva Review-Courier -

Borden Deal’s publisher refused to issue any more of his books because – while they were well-written and interesting – they no longer appealed to a large reading audience.

In order to make money, publishers have to offer the public what will sell. And what would sell in the 1970s and 1980s was sex.

So, Borden decided to create (pun intended) a “new Deal.” The new Borden Deal would write the sexiest stories anyone had ever seen.

And so, he cranked out ten “novels” that were little more than sexcapades designed – in the words of the U.S. Supreme Court – to appeal to the “prurient interests” of their readers.

Deal devised an arrangement with an agent and an attorney whereby these books would be written by “Anonymous.” Nobody, not even the publisher, would know who Anonymous was until Deal died.

At that point, the truth would have to come out so that his wife and children could collect royalties that accrued after his death.

Meanwhile, he wanted to keep his identity a secret so that his racy romps would not detract from his well-deserved literary reputation.

Bantam Books, a huge producer of inexpensive “mass market” paperbacks, published the Anonymous novels. Consequently, the books sold millions of copies, both in the U.S. and other countries.

Each volume in the series had a suggestive one-word title which, Bantam executives believed, added to their allure. The first book (“Her”) sold almost two million copies before Deal’s death in 1985. The second (“Him”) amassed sales of close to 1.4 million.

Succeeding volumes (“Them,” “Us,” etc.,) sold less than previous ones, but still enough to make their publisher happy and Deal rich!

A 19th-century business tycoon noted that to be successful, he had to give the public what they wanted. That the general reading public prefers cheap, salacious prose rather than quality fiction is sad but, unfortunately, true.

Everyone but Borden Deal’s family would have been better off if he could have channeled the energy and effort used to produce the “Anonymous” books into significant literary works.