Or C. Brontë Takes on the Publishing Establishment and English Literati
Today’s so-called “indie” authors bemoan the state of the publishing industry, complaining that they don’t get respect nor a fair shake from the publishing establishment and, thus, have no choice but to resort to the “vanity” of publishing their works themselves. They proceed as independent publishers or employ a publishing service, such as Amazon’s KDP or Ingram’s IngramSpark, or one of the many other outfits offering similar editing, production, and distribution services.
Historically speaking, this grumbling (ignoring Charlotte Brontë’s admonition: “no grumbling allowed”) constitutes, in today’s parlance, “same ol’–same ol’.” Nothing has really changed in the past 200 years. If the author is not a celebrity or well-known politician, or does not have an inside track—or is a woman—getting one’s work published has been a challenge for centuries. The only thing that has really changed is that, thanks to technological advances, the relative cost has come down—and more doors have opened for women.
So, those of you traveling on your own on what turns out not to be the road less traveled toward the celebrated Land of Publication, in fact, encompass a time-worn tradition. Look no farther than the celebrated 19th century authors Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters who labored at a time when conventional wisdom held that women did not have the intellect to write poetry or novels of any merit, and would be better off keeping house for their husbands and children, or, if they had to “make their own way,” work as a lowly paid governess.
The Brontë sisters faced the additional challenge of bucking the social mores of their day. While some critics loved their books, others reviled the works as “coarse,” “vulgar,” and “anti-Christian”—even diving so low as to include “indigenous [Yorkshire] dialect.” Worst of all, the critics lamented, the sisters dared to suggest that women were the equals of men and could be passionate and emotional and have a heart. In other words, these authors, Charlotte in particular, were—horror of horrors—rabble-rousing feminists!
To which Charlotte—writing as Currer Bell—pointedly rebutted that these “hypocrites” had criticized “him” for writing “the Truth,” as noted in Rebecca Fraser’s exhaustive biography, Charlotte Brontë: A Writer’s Life. https://archive.org/details/charlottebrontew0000fras.
Harsh criticism notwithstanding, the Brontë sisters pulled off what could well be characterized as a major miracle thanks to Charlotte’s perseverance and determination to speak “the Truth”—to write about the real world and the dark side of human nature—rather than the fantasy world of romance and idyllic culture created by the elite male authors and most of the few women authors of the early to mid-19th century.
How did they pull this off? Take heart, dear reader . . .
At Charlotte’s insistence, reclusive Emily and demur Anne agreed, in 1846, to collaborate with their short-statured but forceful older sister on a book of poetry. They were, respectively, 30, 28, and 26 years old and had been writing since they were children. Charlotte believed (prophetically) their poetry, Emily’s in particular, could hold its own, if not exceed, that of other poets.
Having feared (rightly) that publishing under their true names, as women, would get them rejected for certain, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne presented themselves as three brothers under the noms-de-plume of Currer Bell, Ellis Bell, and Acton Bell. Nevertheless, publisher after publisher rejected their manuscript.
One publisher, however, offered to publish the book “on their own account.” Meaning that the Brontë sisters would have to pay for the production of their book at a cost of £31 10s (or £35 18s 3d, depending on whom one chooses to believe). In 2023 U.S. dollars, roughly $5,600 to $6,400.*
They ordered an ambitious 1,000 copies (at the recommendation of a somewhat less than scrupulous publisher?) of their book, titled understatedly as Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Charlotte debated whether to sell the book for four or five shillings, about $36 or $45 each. (Paper was pricy in those days.)
Charlotte suggested to her sisters that they initially limit their spending on advertising to £2. When reviewers praised the poems for their “freshness” and “originality,” the sisters spent another £10, for a total of £12 (est. $2,100).
Unfortunately, as remains true today, poetry books rarely sold well, even being viewed, in Charlotte’s own words, as “a profitless encumbrance on the shelves of the booksellers’ shop[s].” In round numbers, they invested $7,900 to $8,500 in the venture.
They sold two copies. (I will leave it to you to calculate the ROI on that.)
However, they did get “notices” in a few publications. Charlotte also sent copies to some prominent authors of the day, including Wordsworth and Tennyson. These calculated moves proved advantageous.
You indie authors of today take note: Yes, Charlotte Brontë had devised a marketing plan prior to publishing their book.
The positive reviews of the poetry, particularly the poems of Ellis Bell (Emily), encouraged them to publish their novels the following year. Charlotte wanted to publish their manuscripts as a set, but again the works were rejected, being described charitably as “unconventional.” Their writing did not comport with the accepted style or nature of the popular fiction of the day.
The “brothers” eventually found a publisher for the books written by Ellis (Emily: Wuthering Heights) and Acton (Anne: Agnes Grey). ut the publisher rejected Currer’s (Charlotte: The Professor), even though they agreed to publish the books, again, “on their own account.” Emily and Anne had to contribute £50 (est. $8,900) for production costs—although the slapdash publisher printed the uncorrected proofs (which Charlotte later edited and republished).
Charlotte submitted The Professor to another publisher, which also rejected it. Undeterred, she sent them the manuscript for Jane Eyre (again under her pseudonym, Currer Bell) which the publisher accepted. Moreover, Charlotte would not have to contribute to the cost of production, although I suspect she would have agreed to contribute if that was her only option.
How could the unmarried daughters of an impoverished country vicar afford such an exorbitant expense? Fortune had shined a brief light on the otherwise tragic lives of the three young women who lived in a tiny village on the bleak moors of rural Yorkshire, far from the hustle and bustle of London. Their father’s spinster sister, Aunt Elizabeth Branwell, had left her three nieces the not inconsiderable sum of £900 (about $160,500).
One advantage the Brontë sisters had over indie authors today was that even though they paid for most of the costs of publication, their publishers, Charlotte’s in particular, were established and respected book publishers who handled the distribution of the Brontë books and assisted in the marketing by notifying relevant newspapers and literary publications, as well as influential authors.
While some reviewers praised the controversial books, a number of reviewers pilloried them, in particular Charlotte’s “naughty” Jane Eyre, as being unrefined, without a moral, coarse, vulgar, and characterizing clergymen unfavorably. Although Charlotte took issue with her critics, she and her publisher saw the value in the controversy—and thus demand—her book had created. The Bell brothers (if, indeed, they were men, and if, indeed, they weren’t just one man) had leaped like a fox on the run from obscurity to notoriety, and eventually fame.
The upshot: Jane Eyre became an immediate bestseller, requiring subsequent editions to be printed, while Currer Bell became the talk—and the debate—of London, of particular note being the whispered “sex” question. Some folks insisted the book could only have been written by a woman, while others argued for the opposite conclusion.
Only a few figures have come to light in terms of book sales and revenue, but we do know that within a few months after publication Charlotte received two payments of £100 each, or roughly $36,000. These were not royalty payments, however, as Charlotte, in the wake of the dismal sales of the poetry book, agreed to a flat fee rather than opting for the riskier percentage of sales.
Perhaps even more telling, she received £500 (approximately $89,000) for her second novel, Shirley, and £480 for Villette, plus £82 10s for the foreign copyright for Villette, and another £100 for the Jane Eyre “small edition.” Again, these were flat amounts, not royalties, so she did not reap the benefits of a bestseller as she would have had she agreed to be paid on a percentage basis. She also received an additional £137 10s, or roughly $24,500), which is unaccounted for.
Emily and Anne achieved their fame posthumously due to their early deaths from “consumption” (tuberculosis), although Anne completed and published a second novel, Wildfell Hall, before her death barely one month after Emily’s death in May 1848, less than a year after their books were released. It’s not clear what happened to their earnings, nor the amount, but the money likely went to their father.
How much did Charlotte actually make from her three books? In 1853, she told her friend and biographer, Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell, that she had received £1,500 (roughly $243,000) from her writing. She had begun writing a fifth novel, Emma, but did not complete it before her death in 1855. Broken down annually, minus expenses, that amounted to roughly $30,000 a year, about the same as her father received as the village vicar.
In their brief sprint across life’s stage, the Brontë sisters may not have made a fortune, but they had not only turned the publishing world upside down, they had introduced the “modern” novel, turning the literary world on its head. Their influence endures to this day.
So, you indie authors take heart, if not inspiration, from the unlikely success story of the previously unknown Bell brothers., er, Brontë sisters. Perhaps you, too, (or your heirs) can lay claim to an improbable, if not time-honored, publishing success story.
Write on!
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* Author’s note regarding the monetary figures:
The figures I include as conversions of the historic income and expenses to modern U.S. dollars are estimates and applied for comparative purposes only; they should not be taken as precise amounts, because the rate of inflation fluctuated, sometimes wildly, during this period, and the conversion of pounds to dollars fluctuates daily. I calculated the figures quoted in 2023 U.S. dollars by using a rate of inflation calculated from 1854, the year Charlotte Brontë set up a financial trust to protect her assets prior to getting married. I used an inflation figure of 141.84 percent, as provided by the CPI Inflation Calculator (https://www.in2013dollars.com/uk/inflation/1854?amount=1) and a British pound-to-dollar conversion rate of 1.257, as provided by Google Finance (https://www.google.com/finance/quote/GBP-USD) effective 7 May 2023. The inflation figure is a compromise between the rates dating from 1847, a year of relatively low inflation (132.3) in Great Britain, and 1848, a year of relatively high inflation (152.3).
Polishing Your Prose 