This is not a children's book, as may be supposed from the title, but a collection of essays first published in <i>The Idler</i> magazine, in which over twenty well-known authors write with characteristic style and humour of their experiences in writing their first book... and getting it published.<br /><br />Authors include Jerome K. Jerome, R. L. Stevenson, Bret Harte, Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling, Conan Doyle and Mary Braddon. Full of charm, humour and pathos, this book is like a fireside chat with great writers of the past, as well as being a fascinating insight into the literary scene of the late 19th century.<br /><br />The listener is warned that a few of the authors give away the ending of their book, especially when they were pressurised into changing it by the publisher.<br />.<br />Here are links to online texts of the works discussed, where available: <br /><a href="http://www.archive.org/details/readymoneymorti02besagoog" target="_blank">Ready-Money Mortiboy</a>; <br /><
