Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People which would go on to be the biggest bestseller in the Simon & Schuster's early history. Shimkin also persuaded Rabbi Joshua Loth Liebman to write the book Peace of Mind which was a bestseller from 1946 to 1948.

Shimkin was also responsible for J.K. Lasser's tax books. Simon & Schuster was already publishing a guide that was not selling