George Platt Brett

George Platt Brett Jr. (December 9, 1893 – February 11, 1984) served at Chairman of the American division of Macmillan Publishing and secured publishing rights to Gone With the Wind.

Biography

Career George Brett started with Macmillan in 1913 as a traveling salesman and took over as President of Macmillan in 1931. Brett took over as chairman in 1936 after the death of his father, George Platt Brett Sr.

Brett is best known for having "scored one of publishing's all-time triumphs by gaining the rights to 'Gone With the Wind.' In addition, Brett published notable authors C. S. Lewis and Marianne Moore.

In 1939, Brett promoted a special motion picture edition of Gone with the Wind at the same time the film was being released. Brett was the first to introduce marketing a book and movie at the same time. This was perhaps the earliest instance in the book publishing industry of the "tie-in," a marketing strategy which involves a mass media commodity appearing simultaneously in several formats that advertise each other.

In 1944 Brett fought efforts by the British Publisher Bureau to corner the American market for British publishing houses. In 1951, Brett bought the US division from London based Macmillan Publishing. At this time Macmillan was the second largest publisher in the United States

Brett was succeeded by his son, Bruce Y. Brett in 1958.

Personal life Brett was born in Darien, Connecticut, and attended the Salisbury School in his home state and the Collegiate School in New York City. Brett was married to Isabel Stevenson Yeomans. He died in 1984.