Examines how and why women earned a living publishing material, tracing the pattern of growth of women's fiction, occupation stucture, payment, and access to women's fiction. With comprehensive indexes this book is an invaluable resource.

Living by the Pen traces the pattern of the development of women's fiction from 1696 to 1796 and offers an interpretation of its distinctive features. It focuses upon the writers rather than their works, and identifies professional novelists. Through examination of the extra-literary context, and particularly the publishing market, the book asks why and how women earned a living by the pen. Cheryl Turner has researched and lectured widely in the field of eighteenth-century women's writing.