A pulp fiction novel, "Spring Fire" was sold in train and bus station kiosks and drug stores with other sensationalist books about crime, drugs, gangsters, and cowboys. Although it was not reviewed by any renowned literary critics, "Spring Fire" sold more copies in 1952 than "The Postman Always Rings Twice" by James M. Cain and "My Cousin Rachel" by Daphne du Maurier, also released the same year. When the paper in pulp novels was not designed to last more than a year, "Spring Fire" went through three printings, eventually selling nearly 1.5 million copies. Its success earned Meaker an invitation to meet Roger Fawcett, the owner of Gold Medal Books' parent company, who wanted to, "shake the hand of the writer who outsold "God's Little Acre" (Erskine Caldwell)."