Franklin Mowry Watts was born in Sioux City, Iowa, the son of John Franklin Watts, a Baptist minister, and Amanda Mowry. Watts was raised primarily in Northampton, Massachussets His father was well read in history, economics, and sociology, and the family had a substantial library, which cultivated in Watts a strong interest in literature.
He attended Boston University and received a B. A. in business administration in 1925.
Watts owned a bookstore, the Book Nook, in Lawrence, Kans. , and was a book buyer for the George Innes Company of Wichita, Kans. , and L. S. Ayers and Company in Indianapolis from 1925 to 1932. He worked as the sales manager for several publishing firms in New York City, including Vanguard Press from 1932 to 1934, Julian Messner from 1934 to 1950, and Heritage Press from 1936 to 1950. In September 1942, Watts started his own publishing company, Franklin Watts, Inc. , at 285 Madison Avenue in New York City, and was its president until 1969 and vice-chairman from 1970 to 1978. Franklin Watts, Inc. , published its first book, Voices of History: Great Speeches and Papers of the Year, edited by Watts himself, in October 1942. Although the book did not sell well, it received favorable reviews. The second book published by the company was How to Write Better Letters by Marcel M. Swartz. It was a great success, with more than 100, 000 copies sold in the company's first ten years. It was the first of the company's line of eight-and-a-half-by-eleven-inch paperback home reference books, preceding such successful titles as Houses for Homemakers (1945) by Royal Barry Wills, which sold more than 400, 000 copies in one year. Watts's experience as a salesman enabled him to recognize the growing demand for children's books. He decided to publish a volume on trains for children, many of whom had never seen a steam engine. Little Choo Choo, written by Helen Hoke, was published in 1943, and by 1952 had sold more than 140, 000 copies. In addition to writing for children, she was a distinguished children's book editor for publishers, including Holt, Messner, Reynal and Hitchcock, and McKay. She joined Franklin Watts, Inc. , as its vice president in 1948 and served as editor in chief from 1948 to 1956. Watts's famous First Books series began with An Airplane Rebus by Jeanne Bendick, which had disappointing sales when first published. Watts changed the title into The First Flying Book (later retitled The First Book of Airplanes) after he had carefully checked in the New York Public Library and found that the word "first" had been used in about forty-two bibliographic entries, but none for a children's series. Thus was initiated a successful children's series that ran continuously up to some 300 titles during Watts's presidency. Many of the volumes were written by well-known authors. The series covered a variety of subjects, such as nature, geography, history, and sports, and included The First Book of Stones, The First Book of World War II, and The First Book of Japan. All the First Books were uniform in size and price, but varied in length, type styles, illustrations, and reading level. Watts started to seek a merger in 1956 because he felt the company was not making enough of a profit to finance internal expansion. On March 26, 1957, Franklin Watts, Inc. , was sold to Grolier Enterprises, Inc. , with Franklin and Helen Watts retaining 20 percent of the stock. After the merger, the company expanded its publishing business (about 100 new titles a year) and personnel, increased its sales over the industry averages every year, and became one of the leading publishers of juvenile books. The acknowledged aim of Franklin Watts, Inc. , was "never to underestimate the intelligence or overestimate the knowledge of the reader. " Its goal was "to enrich the minds and hearts of children for generations to come. " Watts continuously solicited ideas from librarians, teachers, writers, and colleagues for children's publications. The juvenile series Terrific Triple Titles began with the anthology Horses, Horses, Horses by Phyllis Fenner, which sold more than 22, 000 copies in its first six months. It was followed by about twenty others, including Elephants, Elephants, Elephants; Ghosts, Ghosts, Ghosts; Jokes, Jokes, Jokes; and Doctors, Doctors, Doctors. In 1966 Watts initiated another successful children's series, Let's Find Out, which was geared toward first- and second-grade readers. Watts's books, with their fine design and low price, sold very well to libraries and schools as well as to the general public. Watts was also involved with Keith Jennison in publishing large-type books for the visually handicapped. The first such title was Profiles in Courage. Being a distinguished publisher of children's books, Watts also wrote for children. He was the editor of Pocket Book Magazine from 1954 to 1956. He frequently wrote articles advising would-be authors and sharing with other publishers his experience in the publishing business. In 1969 Watts retired from the presidency of Franklin Watts, Inc. , to establish Franklin Watts, Ltd. , a joint venture with Grolier International, in London, England. He was the managing director there from 1970 to 1976. There was no direct business relationship between the London and American companies. It published both original books and anglicized versions of some Franklin Watts, Inc. , books. In 1976, Watts retired to return to New York City to found the Franklin Book Corporation, an independent book company. Watts was a member of the American Book Publishers Council and the Government Book Program advisory committee. He was also a member of a United States Department of State advisory committee on international book projects. Watts died at Doctors Hospital in New York City.
Among his publications were The Complete Christmas Book (1958), which he edited, and Let's Find Out About Christmas (1967), Let's Find Out About Easter (1969), Corn (1977), Rice (1977), Wheat (1977), Oranges (1978), Peanuts (1978), and Tomatoes (1978). In addition to working for his own companies, Watts developed a series of more than fifty nonfiction juvenile titles for Doubleday, the Real Books. He also created a series of adult titles for Pocket Books.
Watts married Helen Hoke on May 25, 1945.
