Thursday, February 25, 2016

Countdown Day #4: DARE TO LEAP INTO Dime Novels




It's all about books!
The earliest surviving scrolls date from 2400 BC. A long time and far from the millions of books available today. But perhaps the books that spurred the American masses into readers were the Dime Novels.

One of the first and most notable companies was formed by Erastus and Irwin Beadle. Their first book was put out in 1860. It was roughly the size of a small paperback and had a 100 pages and sold 60,000 copies in the first months.
 













Most of the stories were about the west & frontier and centered around a hero and his adventures. 

Later, to save cost, the books were printed on larger paper and were only 32 pages looking more like a magazine than book. 

But we can thank the Dime Novel for spurring Americans into readers hungry for story. And we haven't changed. We still want to read a good story. 

You can go on Amazon and still find reprinted Dime Novels, of course, they aren't a dime anymore.  : )


But have I got a deal for you. 



                                  


Day #4 of Countdown to Leap into Love featuring:

Patricia PacJac Carroll

Learn more about this author by visiting her author page. Click HERE

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on Monday, February 29th  Leap Day! ~ from 5:30 to 8:30p.m. Eastern Time
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8 comments:

  1. My favorite decade to read about is the 1910's, because it's such a time of transition. And I love dime novels! They're like the movie serials of reading. Lots of respectable late 19th/ early 20th century writers got their start penning dime novels for Street and Smith and similar publishers.

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    1. Thank you Marty. And yes, the detective stories started at that time too.

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  2. Oh the history of stories, writing and publishing. I've read some of the stories of Ned Buntline, and while written in the style of the time, they weren't half bad. Thanks Doris/Angela

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    1. Thanks for the comment Angela.
      And those writers wrote like the wind. I can't believe it, but I read that one of them wrote a 50,000 word novel in one sitting. They really cranked out the stories.

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  3. I think of all the corrections I make when I write--and it is so easy on the computer to changed sentences and paragraphs around, even scenes and chapters! I don't think I would have made it far as a writer back then. It would have taken ten years for me to get just one story perfect! LOL. Thanks for a fun look back!

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  4. Thanks for a fun and informative article, Patricia. You've whetted my appetite for dime novels! I must go see what I can find online...
    Thanks!
    Kristin

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  5. That's probably when I should have been a writer! Very interesting, Patricia! Loved it!

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  6. Thanks all. I am so thankful for computers. I don't think anyone would have been able to read my handwriting.

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