Robinson Crusoe was an instant bestseller in 1719, yet Daniel Defoe never became rich from it. Why not? In this episode, we look at how authors made (and failed to make) money in the early 18th century, and how printers like William Taylor profited far more than the writers themselves.

Books Discussed

Robinson Crusoe (1719) — Daniel Defoe
The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719) — Daniel Defoe
Serious Reflections During the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1720) — Daniel Defoe
Journal of the Plague Year (1722) — Daniel Defoe
Moll Flanders (1722) — Daniel Defoe
Frankenstein (1818) — Mary Shelley
The Martian (2014) — Andy Weir

People Referenced

00:16 - Daniel Defoe — Author of Robinson Crusoe, pamphleteer, journalist, and one of the early writers of the novel
00:55 - William Taylor — London printer and bookseller who published Robinson Crusoe
01:25 - Nathaniel Mist — Printer and publisher of Mist’s Weekly Journal, for whom Defoe worked while secretly reporting to the government
13:15 - Mary Shelley — Author of Frankenstein
15:30 - Charles Dickens — 19th-century novelist who published many works as serials
15:35 - Louisa May Alcott — Author of Little Women, also serialized before book publication
15:20 - Rose Wilder Lane — Daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, who targeted serialization markets in the 1930s
15:40 - Andy Weir — Author of The Martian, first published as a serialized story on his blog

Episode Links

Episode 11: Defoe, the Pillory, and Seditious Libel
Episode 3: Laura Ingalls Wilder (part 1)
Episode 4: Laura Ingalls Wilder (part 2)

Piatkus Books started as a small U.K. publisher focused on supplying books to libraries. Judy Piatkus founded her second publishing company in 1978, while still in her 20s. This episode tells the story of the company's founding and early days, up through its growth into fiction, international sales, and £10M in revenue before selling in 2007, just ahead of the global financial crisis.

People Discussed

00:00 | Judy Piatkus — Founder of Piatkus Books; author of Ahead of Her Time
06:42 | Edwin Buckhalter — Co-founder with Piatkus of Severn House (sold to him in 1978)
13:14 | V. C. Andrews — Bestselling Gothic/romance novelist
13:19 | Danielle Steel — Prolific romance novelist and perennial bestseller
16:51 | Mary Berry — British baking icon; author of multiple Piatkus cookbooks
19:25 | Nora Roberts — American author and perennial bestseller
19:25 | J. D. Robb — Nora Roberts’s pen name for the “In Death” series
14:33 | James Patterson — Thriller writer, covered in Episode 7 and Episode 8

Bibliography

Ahead of Her Time (2021) by Judy Piatkus:
https://www.amazon.com/Ahead-Her-Time-Judy-Piatkus/dp/1786785315

The Great Crash 1929 (Piatkus 2008 edition) by John Kenneth Galbraith:
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Crash-Market-Plunged-Depression/dp/0749909870

“Marketing James Patterson” (2002) — Harvard Business School case by John Deighton:
https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/505029-PDF-ENG

Episodes Referenced

Episode 9 - Covering Ingram Book's start as the Tennessee Book Depository
Episode 8 - Covering James Patterson's Marketing on ALong Came a Spider, including patterson's view of book clubs.

The author of Robinson Crusoe, started his professional life as the 1700s equivalent of a blogger and a hot-take merchant. Daniel Defoe’s satirical pamphlet The Shortest Way with the Dissenters landed him in the pillory. Listen to learn about the early career of the author of one of the great early English novels, why Queen Anne’s government treated political criticism as treason, and how a booming London led to a vibrant press despite political crackdowns.

Books/Works Discussed

The True-Born Englishman (1701) by Daniel Defoe:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30159/30159-h/30159-h.htm

The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (1703) by Daniel Defoe:
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?cc=ecco;idno=004844761.0001.000;node=004844761.0001.000:2;rgn=div1;view=text

Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe:
https://www.amazon.com/Robinson-Crusoe-Wordsworth-Classics-Daniel/dp/1853260452

Daniel Defoe: His Life (1989) by Paula R. Backscheider:
https://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Defoe-Paula-R-Backscheider/dp/0801845122

People Referenced

00:48 | Daniel Defoe — Prolific English pamphleteer, satirist, and later author of Robinson Crusoe.

02:56 | John Baker — London printer who paid Defoe per 500-copy pamphlet run, giving the author an unusually high royalty share.

06:24 | Queen Anne — British monarch (1702-1714) whose ministers prosecuted Defoe for seditious libel.

12:44 | William III (William of Orange) — Took the English throne after the 1688 Glorious Revolution, shaping the political landscape Defoe inherited.

15:36 | Jonathan Swift — Tory-leaning contemporary satirist and author of Gulliver’s Travels.