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 BOOK WATCH
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HISTORY OF THE PAPERBACK BOOK--Part 2
The Rise of the "Dime" Novel
The first 'dime' novel wasn't a dime at all. It was thirty-five cents. However, the success of the cheap paperback Malaeska by Mrs. Ann S. Stephens (65,000 copies sold) published in June 1860, was such a huge success that publishers Beadle & Adams realized the opportunity and changed the publishing process.
They created a smaller size book, used cheap paper and bound their books with glue instead of string. These changes allowed them to reduce the cost to a dime. The covers, however, remained attractive and enticing. The new genre of novel featured tales of swarthy frontiersmen and were first known as "Beadles" .
It was during the Civil War that the dime novel soared in popularity. By the 1880's Prentiss Ingraham, who wrote Buffalo Bill stories, was turning out one a week for about $200 per story. Thank goodness for the invention of the typewriter!
With the growth of cities, Nick Carter, detective, was one of the first urban cowboys. His creator, Frederic Marmaduke Van Rensselaer Dey is said to have written a book a week for 20 years.
The Library of Congress has accumulated, through copyright deposit, a Dime Novel collection of nearly 40,000 titles from 280 different series!
We have NICK CARTER books in our store, along with other 'dime' novel reprints. You guessed right. They are no longer a dime! November: The unexpected story of Penguin Books | 
Now through DECEMBER