Jack Woodford was the primary pen name of Josiah Pitts Woolfolk, an American novelist and non-fiction writer active during the mid-twentieth century. Born in 1894, Woolfolk adopted his famous pseudonym by combining the first name of Jack Lait, a Hearst Publications writer he admired, with Woodford County, Kentucky, where his father was born. Throughout his prolific career, he also published under various other pseudonyms, including Jack Woolfolk, Gordon Sayre, Sappho Henderson Britt, and Howard Hogue Kennedy.
Woodford established himself as a highly successful author of pulp novels and instructional non-fiction. He is perhaps best remembered for his landmark guide on writing and publishing, Trial and Error. The book caused a significant scandal upon its release due to its candid, no-holds-barred insights into the inner workings and commercial realities of the publishing industry. Beyond his instructional guides, Woodford's pulp fiction captured the popular imagination of his era, cementing his reputation as a versatile and pragmatic figure in American popular literature. He passed away in 1971.
