THE DIME NOVEL
by Celia Yeary
A "dime novel" was an inexpensive and generally
sensational tale of adventure sold as popular entertainment in the 1800s. Dime
novels can be considered the paperback books of their day, and they often
featured tales of mountain men, explorers, soldiers, detectives, or Indian
fighters. Despite their name, the dime novels generally cost less than ten
cents, with many actually selling for a nickel.
The most popular publisher was the firm of Beadle and Adams
of New York City.
The
heyday of the dime novel was from the 1860s to the 1890s, when their popularity
was eclipsed by pulp magazines featuring similar tales of adventure. Later,
comic books had a part in the trend.
Critics of dime novels often denounced them as
immoral, perhaps because of violent content. But the books themselves actually
tended to reinforce conventional values of the time, such as patriotism,
bravery, self-reliance, and American values.
Today, Western Historical novels and Western Historical Romance
novels hold to the same standards: Truth, Justice, and The American Way: i.e.,
treat women and children with respect, as well as your neighbor, protect the
downtrodden, and carry out justice within the law...if at all possible.
Western Historical Romance novels and true Westerns are
published as Dime Novels at "Publishing by Rebecca J. Vickery"
through the imprint Western Trail
Blazers. The Dime Novels are shorter stories, perhaps novellas, priced at
99Cents.
The idea intrigued me. Since I had nine full-length novels
published traditionally, along with two novellas and three anthologies, I found
myself writing 22,000 word stories with catchy titles. As of this moment, I
have four as WTB Dime Novels:
~*~*~*~
ANGEL AND THE COWBOY--
He needs a wife…
Because the sheriff summons him, U.S. Marshal Max Garrison rides to town. He resents learning he must supervise a young man just out of prison who will work at his ranch for a time. But when he meets the beautiful young woman who owns the teashop, he knows his trip is not wasted. Max decides she's the one for him.
She faces more loneliness …
Daniella Sommers lives alone above the book and teashop her English parents left her. When U.S. Marshal Max Garrison walks in and asks for tea, she almost laughs. Soon, her merriment turns to hope. Then Daniella learns a shocking truth about herself. If she reveals her past, will Max still love her?
Is it time for miracles and hope?
Because the sheriff summons him, U.S. Marshal Max Garrison rides to town. He resents learning he must supervise a young man just out of prison who will work at his ranch for a time. But when he meets the beautiful young woman who owns the teashop, he knows his trip is not wasted. Max decides she's the one for him.
She faces more loneliness …
Daniella Sommers lives alone above the book and teashop her English parents left her. When U.S. Marshal Max Garrison walks in and asks for tea, she almost laughs. Soon, her merriment turns to hope. Then Daniella learns a shocking truth about herself. If she reveals her past, will Max still love her?
Is it time for miracles and hope?
~*~*~*~
ADDIE AND THE GUNSLINGER--
He's
not looking for anything except freedom. Ex-gunslinger Jude Morgan lands in
jail in a far-flung West Texas town. On the fourth day in his cell, the sheriff
arrives with a beautiful woman dressed in men’s pants and toting her own
six-shooter. Adriana Jones claims he is her worthless husband who married her
but never came home.
She needs a stand-in for a husband.
The
young woman makes a bargain with Jude in front of the sheriff. Jude is to come
home where he belongs, and she will have him released. When they’re alone, she
explains his job is to pose as her husband to thwart the marriage advances of
her neighbor, wealthy rancher Horace Caruthers. The older man wants her ranch
to join his, because the Pecos River runs through her property.
To seal the bargain, Jude wants a kiss. During the
next few weeks, however, Jude and Addie learn that the kiss meant more than
they meant it to be. Then, Addie's life is in danger.
Will
Jude rescue his Addie? Or will Addie save herself and her gunslinger?
~*~*~*~
CHARLOTTE AND THE TENDERFOOT
While
driving home in her buggy, Charlotte Dewhurst discovers a man lying by the
road. William Montgomery, an attorney, was passing through the area when
accosted by two hoodlums. The resulting court case keeps Will in town. His
attitudes confuse Charlotte as he seeks her company, yet proclaims he will soon
be moving on. But Will may be the most confused one of all.
~*~*~*~
KAT AND THE U.S. MARSHAL
U. S. Marshal Diego Montoya rides into
Old San Antonio on an assignment to track down and arrest a swindler and
killer. That's his job. But his first goal is to visit beautiful Katherine
Garrison, the woman he loves, to learn if she will welcome him.
Kat Garrison answers the door, thinking
her gentleman friend has arrived early. When she sees Diego Montoya instead,
she can't believe he's standing on her front step. All she can think of was the
encounter in the barn that cold December night, while her brother and new bride
occupied the house.
While carrying out his mission, Diego
becomes involved with Kat. But can a beautiful society lady really love a
homeless rough lawman enough to take a chance on a life together?
Marshal Montoya always gets his man, but
can he capture Kat's heart?
~*~*~*~
All Dime Novels by Celia Yeary may
be found on her Amazon or B&N page:
Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit
'o Texas
Celia, I love the dime novel ideas. Wish I could find some of the originals. Wouldn't it be fun to read them and the outlandish way of description and grammar of that time. At least your dime novels are well written and interesting. ☺ Although the stories are fiction, I know that all your background facts are well researched and accurate.
ReplyDeleteCelia, I have read all of your dime novels and thoroughly enjoyed every one. You have a gift for telling a good story with memorable characters in novella length. And you have done so with historical and contemmporary settings. I look forward to the release of the next one.
ReplyDeleteI think Rebecca's idea of calling her line's "ebook singles" "dime novels" was ingenious. It fits perfectly for our genre.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see Dime novels coming back in a sense. Great idea.
ReplyDeleteCelia,
ReplyDeleteYou and Rebecca have a surefire hit on your hands with those Dime Novels. People like reading shorter works these days, and your stories really tear up the page!
Caroline--You can find some of the originals on Amazon..be prepared to pay $30-$40 for one! That's not ever close to a dime...but maybe a good bargain for a collectro.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the compliment--I'll take all I can get!
Linda--Thank you! It's fun to write that length--when I got the hang of it. It's really not that easy to get an entire story down in such a few pages. It was rather satisfying...but now, back to longer books.
ReplyDeleteTroy--you are so right. I had no idea the Dime Novel category would catch so much attention, but that name coupled with Jimmy Thomas covers, gave me some winners. I'm happy.
ReplyDeletePaty--Rebecca Vickery came up with this for her Western authors. It was rather ingenious.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Maggie! They were good sellers for me. But I thought four were enough. Back to novels.
ReplyDeleteHEY CELIA!
ReplyDeleteSo good to have you here with us at the Western Fictioneers blog! As you know, I love your writing and boy, talk about a wonderful idea Rebecca had for us to sell our short works--the "dime novel" concept is catchy and something every western reader is going to want to at least have a look out to check them out. So good to see you here on WTB day and thanks to Troy for putting this feature together!
Cheryl
The belief that readers prefer shorter fiction is a matter of debate. Smashwords has said recently that among readers surveyed, a common complaint is that many ebooks are too short.
ReplyDeleteThe return of the dime novel is perfect for the genre. Rebecca had a fantastic idea there. Celia, I haven't had a chance to read any of your dime novels yet, but I've enjoyed several of your full-length novels. Keep up the great work! :-)
ReplyDeleteHi, Cheryl! I was so pleased to be asked to post on Western Trail Blazer day, and Troy did such a good job with my post. Yes, the Dime Novel idea was pure genius--she's also though of the tag "e-book single," Troy says, that seem to be catchy, too.
ReplyDeleteI've loved writing all my books, but the Dime Novels were sheer joy. Not being using to writing 22,000 word stories, there was a little bit of learning, there. But then I realized I really had fun with those.
Thanks, too, for putting it on FB--I do appreciate it so much.
Ron--I've heard that, too. I think it's when readers think they are buying a long book, but it turns out to be a short story. I think the 22,000 words sell very well, but the novella length--about 45,000--seems to be the most popular.
ReplyDeleteMe...I still like a full-length book.
But these four Dime Novels I wrote have done very, very well--made me happy!
Kathleen--I very much appreciate your reading my longer stories. If you choose a couple of my Dime Novels, I'd read Addie and the Gunslinger (the most popular and on 3 Top Ten lists on Amazon), and Kat and the U.S. Marshal (same with this, but slightly less than Addie).
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by.
Thanks for the fine article, Celia. As a footnote, the original dime novels were killed off early in the 20th century by a change in postal rates. The dime novel no longer qualified as 2nd class mail. This added to the expense of shipping dime novels and hastened their demise.
ReplyDeleteJim Meals
Good stuff here, Celia. And best wishes for continued success with your wonderful stories. xo
ReplyDeleteJim--I love trivia, and that is something I did not know. Thanks so much.
ReplyDeleteTanya--thanks so much for visiting and commenting. I do appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post, Celia. I love the idea of the dime novels. Over here in Britain we had the penny dreadfuls, which flourished from the 1830s until the 1890s. They cost one old penny (there were 240 pennies in a pound!) They were sensational works aimed at the poor, newly literate working class, as an alternative to the magazines that contained the works of authors like Charles Dickens, and which were 10 or 12 times as expensive. My grandfather used to tell me about them, which he read as a youngster. And he especially liked the westerns.
ReplyDeleteI loved Addie and the Gunslinger. I think it's such a great idea to have $.99 novels. For just under a dollar, a reader can check out a new-to-them author and maybe fall in love with their work.
ReplyDeleteKeith--did you know the American Dime Novels originated from the Penny Dreadfuls from Britain? That is the truth. I should have added that to my post. I was very surprised to learn that, but...it is true.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for visiting the blog and commenting. I appreciate it so much.
Sarah--that means a lot to me. I'm glad you liked Addie. That has been the most popular of the four, with Kat and the U.S.Marshal coming in second. It's been a fun ride, I can tell you. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGreat post today, everyone.
ReplyDeleteWe would definitely love for Celia to write a few more of these, but she said she wants to quit while she's ahead. LOL Maybe she will go back to this between some longer works.
I have to share credit for the Dime Novel and Ebook Singles with Kit Prate. She brought the original idea to me and we ran with it. I'm glad to see it help revive interest in Western reading whether it be Western romance or more traditional tales of gunfights and lawmen or cowboys & indians. And it has proven a great way for readers to discover new authors without spending a lot.
I did a lot of research into dime novels when I wrote Much Ado About Marshals because my heroine was obsessed with the detective Honey Beaulieu (I made her up). Lots of those dime novels weren't original works, but plagiarized from their American competitors or English publications. Copyright law, if any, was ignored for the most part, and that's another thing that spelled the end--they couldn't do that any more. Even so, there was a tremendous amount of original content. Some of the authors ended up writing scores of books, and many of those stories were published by several of the companies, and serialized in magazines, too, without compensation to the author.
ReplyDeleteWe thought we had that all taken care of but now there's the whole issue of ebook piracy. Sigh.
Rebecca--it is a wonderful idea, and one day I may write another series under Dime Novels. I'll have to think up something catchy.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the information about Kit Prate helping you with the idea..thanks to her, too!!
I'm thrilled there is a revival of interest in the Western Romance. I do write some contemporary, and none have ever sold as well as the WH. Now, I suspect that's my moniker--and what people expect.
Jacquie--thanks for sharing your research about the Dime Novels. Isn't that something, that book pirating began so long ago. Of course, it shouldn't surprise us--it's human nature to want something for nothing.
ReplyDeleteIn reference to shorter vs. longer ebooks... I did receive several complaints early on about my dime novels' length from amazon reviewers, despite the fact they were clearly labeled as short stories. I made sure to go on each one's amazon info page and reiterate prominently just how long the stories were, to make sure readers understood what they were getting; I haven't received any more complaints since doing that.
ReplyDeleteQuite a difference in book covers! LOL - I think I like the colorful ones better. :-D
ReplyDelete