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issybird · 04-26-2017, 03:16 PM

It's not Hugh Howey.

I ran across an article at the Yale University Press blog which discusses the first American novelist who was able to make a living from his books. The takeaway is that things haven't changed all that much.

For those who don't want to click through, the popular writer was James Fenimore Cooper. I find him unreadable, but I have to admit I was heavily influenced by Mark Twain's hilarious critique of his work, which can be read in its entirety here or downloaded from Gutenberg or as part of GrannyGrump's terrific Twain compendium here at MR.

04-26-2017, 03:16 PM	#1
issybird o saeclum infacetum Posts: 21,341 Karma: 234636059 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New England Device: Mini, H2O, Glo HD, Aura One, PW4, PW5	First US novelist to transition from self-pub to mainstream and make a living at it It's not Hugh Howey. I ran across an article at the Yale University Press blog which discusses the first American novelist who was able to make a living from his books. The takeaway is that things haven't changed all that much. For those who don't want to click through, the popular writer was James Fenimore Cooper. I find him unreadable, but I have to admit I was heavily influenced by Mark Twain's hilarious critique of his work, which can be read in its entirety here or downloaded from Gutenberg or as part of GrannyGrump's terrific Twain compendium here at MR.