In 1833, Dickens started publishing "sketches,"or brief, informal stories and essays, in the Monthly Magazine and in the Morning Chronicle under the pseudonym "Boz."In February 1836, a collection of his sketches appeared as Sketches by Boz. Also in February, Dickens received a contract to write his first novel, a series of 20 monthly installments called The Pickwick Papers. The popularity of the story of Samuel Pickwick and his Pickwick Club increased with each installment; by the last chapter, the number of copies being sold had grown from 1,000 to 40,000, an exceptional number for the time.
The success of The Pickwick Papers launched a new era in publishing. The concept of publishing a novel in installments was a new one at the time, but it soon caught on with other authors, including Anthony Trollope, William Makepeace Thackeray, and Wilkie Collins. Serial literature benefited the publisher, the reader, and the author through its affordability and accessibility. Publishers could introduce a new title for one-twentieth the cost of publishing an entire book, plus the advantage of selling advertising space in the publication. Meanwhile, readers gained a cheap source of literature and authors received payment for each installment, rather than waiting for the entire book to be finished before they could sell it and be paid. Writing in installments worked well for Dickens, and he used this method to publish all of his major fiction.
