Chapter 16 - Professional Authorship

Summary

While the author has been represented as emerging from dependence on aristocratic patronage owing to a change in author/publisher relations at the turn of the eighteenth century, the difficulties faced by those who sought to make a living by the pen must be taken into consideration. After printing at his own risk and publishing by subscription, Defoe reached a financial agreement with the bookseller, John Baker, to be paid two guineas for every five hundred pamphlets sold. He also received £100 a quarter from the government for his services during the reign of Queen Anne. Patently, Defoe did try to make money from his writings, but in terms of income from sales he does not appear to have been particularly successful, despite the popularity of works like The True-Born Englishman. In the absence of information, it is difficult to judge whether this changed after the publication of Robinson Crusoe in 1719.