How to Get the Best Books of All Time - or Learn How to Write Them.
  
Also available as a Trade Paperback.
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As part of helping authors train themselves to write bestsellers, a project was begun to enable writers to study the all-time great fiction. Thus began the Midwest Journal Writer's Club.
A first pre-step in this was to create a tool: "Becoming the Fiction Storyteller of Your Dreams." This book gives you little-known tools from Dorothea Brande and Marie Shedlock - which enable you to overcome writer's block and any non-writing inertia you may have stored up. These two then help you to learn how to tell a story which keeps a listener or reader rapt in their seat.
The project we have started here is to re-publish (and make readily accessible) the top 50 bestselling classic fiction books, as determined by actual downloads from Gutenburg.org, Goodreads, and Feedbooks (with help from Wikipedia, too...) So far we've gotten a year's worth (26) of books onlines to our distributors.
We will also be producing trade-paperback editions as well as study guides for each book on Lulu, which will have the original text, plus ample margins for notes, spiral bound on full letter-size pages for ready study. The idea is to enable ready study of these books by anyone.
An accompanying emal course will follow in turn, giving you access to versions of each book, one every other week for a year.
Right now, we are launching this quietly, while we assemble the digital masters, edit them into shape, and publish into the various formats.
Since you've found this page, it's assumed you'll bookmark it so you can find it again. As we can, we'll promote this page. Just for now, it's a record placed in order to build the books themselves. More resources will be added as we build the books and link to sales outlets, as well as the multiple versions of each - and references for each book (such as Wikipedia entries, fan clubs, etc.)
Stay tuned - sign up for the free review copies in the upper left so you don't miss out!
About the Study Guides
They're letter-sized printed pages with spiral bindings. We take the same text you'll find in the epub/ebook/paperback version and format it for easy reading. It starts out as a trade paperback format, and then gets extra margins added so you can put notes on the sides, or add tabs, and still be able to read the text. (And dog-earing the pages is perfectly acceptable, too.) This expands it to letter-sized pages. The text is still readable as it was originally.
Next, we put it in a spiral binding so that you can flip it over backwards. This way, you can take it to a coffeeshop and not have to wrestle the pages around on those tiny bistro tables.
The printing is done by Lulu on quality paper, so it can take a lot of wear and not give out. Figure that you can now put it in a knapsack or briefcase, or shopping bag and it will last for many re-studies. A sample is shown to the left.
As we can, most all of the books will get this treatment. Unfortunately, this is exclusively found on Lulu, not Amazon.
Some of these longer Writers' Club Selections will take some work, since Lulu has maximum page-counts possible to be bound this way. (Consider "War and Peace", "Les Miserables", and some others...) Meanwhile, the plan is to have these available as PDF's so you can print them out yourself.
Trade paperback, Kobo, iTunes, Nook versions
We publish as widely as we can. Unfortunately, many book distributors won't accept new versions of public domain books. Both B&N as well as iBookstore/iTunes take some time to get their ebooks just right - so we make them available via Lulu and Kobo so you can get the ebook versions right away. Download them right now if you want...
Trade paperback versions will follow shortly, and these will port to Amazon.
Yes, that's a lot of books, and a lot of versions. Thankfully, once you have a quality digital version, these can be "transmorgrified" easily - and Lulu enables fast publishing turnaround. We'd like to get you any format you prefer - so let us know if you want it some other format...
If you see an error - let us know...
Use the contact form to tell us about it (or leave a comment on one of the many blogs connected to this site.) If it's a digital version, we'll fix it and email you a new version.
PS. If you'd like to learn how to publish your own ebooks...
Check out "Just Publish! Ebook Creation for Indie Authors."
[Update: All these books and more have been added to GooglePlay - ready for your instant download!
The Currently Available Writers' Club Selections:
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
A Study in Scarlet is a detective mystery novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, introducing his new character of Sherlock Holmes, who later became one of the most famous literary detective characters. The book's title derives from a speech given by Holmes to his sidekick Doctor Watson on the nature of his work, in which he describes the story's murder investigation as his "study in scarlet": "There’s the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it."
Holmes reads a telegram requesting consultation in a fresh murder case. He's reluctant to help because credit would go entirely to the officials. Watson urges him to reconsider so Holmes invites him to accompany him as he investigates the crime scene, an abandoned rural manor...
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
This classic novel follows the lives of several protagonists through the French Revolution, with the parallels between Paris and London during these events.. The most notable are Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton. Darnay is a former French aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Carton is a dissipated English barrister who endeavors to redeem his ill-spent life out of his unrequited love for Darnay's wife...
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Alice is feeling bored while sitting on the riverbank with her sister, when she notices a talking, clothed White Rabbit with a pocket watch run past. She follows it down a rabbit hole when suddenly she falls a long way to a curious hall with many locked doors of all sizes. She finds a small key to a door too small for her to fit through, but through it she sees an attractive garden. She then discovers a bottle on a table labelled "DRINK ME", the contents of which cause her to shrink too small to reach the key which she has left on the table. A cake with "EAT ME" on it causes her to grow to such a tremendous size her head hits the ceiling...
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
During this transcontinental adventure, the reclusive bachelor finds love, is involved in mastering various catastrophes place in his path, and spends half his wealth in pursuit of the wager. He is meanwhile being tracked by a bounty hunter who is certain that Fogg is a notorious bank-robber. The story involves cliff-hanger outcomes in exotic locations - right through to the surprise ending...
Emma by Jane Austen
Emma forges ahead with her new interest, and tries to match her new friend Harriet Smith, a sweet, pretty, but none-too-bright parlour boarder of seventeen to Mr. Elton, the local vicar. Emma becomes convinced that Mr. Elton's constant attentions are a result of his attraction and growing love for Harriet. But before events can unfold as she plans, Emma must first persuade Harriet to refuse an advantageous marriage proposal...
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Born into a wealthy family in Geneva, Victor Frankenstein is encouraged to seek a greater understanding of the world around him through science. He grows up in a safe environment, surrounded by loving family and friends. As a young boy, Victor is obsessed with studying outdated theories of science that focus on achieving natural wonders. When he witnesses lightning strike an oak tree, splitting it in two, he is inspired to harness the power of lightning. His mother dies of scarlet fever weeks before he leaves for the University of Ingolstadt in Germany. At university, he excels at chemistry and other sciences, and develops a secret technique to imbue inanimate bodies with life...
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
On Christmas Eve, around 1812, Pip, an orphan who is about six years old, encounters an escaped convict in the village churchyard while visiting the graves of his mother, father, and siblings. The convict scares Pip into stealing food and a file to grind away his shackles, from the home he shares with his abusive older sister and her kind, passive husband Joe Gargery, a blacksmith. The next day, soldiers recapture the convict while he is engaged in a fight with another convict; the two are returned to the prison ships from which they escaped...
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
During his first voyage, Gulliver is washed ashore after a shipwreck and finds himself a prisoner of a race of tiny people, less than 6 inches tall, who are inhabitants of the island country of Lilliput. After giving assurances of his good behavior, he is given a residence in Lilliput and becomes a favorite of the court. From there, the book follows Gulliver's observations on the Court of Lilliput. He is also given the permission to roam around the city on a condition that he must not harm their subjects....
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
...From the riverbank they hear a very loud cry, followed by a discordant clamour. A few hours later, as safe navigation becomes increasingly difficult, the steamboat is hit with a barrage of sticks—small arrows—from the wilderness. The pilgrims open fire into the bush with their Winchester rifles. The native serving as helmsman gives up steering to pick up a rifle and fire it. Marlow grabs the wheel to avoid snags in the river. The helmsman is impaled by a spear and falls at Marlow's feet...
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The novel starts when Jane is ten years old, living with her maternal uncle's family, the Reeds, as her uncle's dying wish, and several years after her parents died of typhus. Mr. Reed was the only one in the Reed family to be kind to Jane. Jane’s aunt Sarah Reed does not like her, treats her worse than a servant and discourages and, at times, forbids her children from associating with Jane. Mrs. Reed and her three children are abusive to Jane, both physically and emotionally. The servant Bessie proves to be Jane's only ally in the household even though Bessie sometimes harshly scolds Jane. One day, Jane is locked in the red room, where her uncle died, and panics after seeing visions of him...
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
The story begins in 1815 in Digne, as the peasant Jean Valjean, just released from 19 years' imprisonment in the galleys—five for stealing bread for his starving sister and her family and fourteen more for numerous escape attempts—is turned away by innkeepers because his yellow passport marks him as a former convict. He sleeps on the street, angry and bitter.
Digne's benevolent Bishop Myriel gives him shelter. At night, Valjean runs off with Myriel's silverware. When the police capture Valjean, Myriel pretends that he has given the silverware to Valjean and presses him to take two silver candlesticks as well, as if he had forgotten to take them. The police accept his explanation and leave. Myriel tells Valjean that his life has been spared for God, that he should use the silver candlesticks to make an honest man of himself...
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
...Some time after sailing, Ahab finally appears on the quarter-deck one morning, an imposing, frightening figure whose haunted visage sends shivers over the narrator. One of his legs is missing from the knee down and has been replaced by a prosthesis fashioned from a sperm whale's jawbone.
Soon gathering the crewmen together, with a rousing speech Ahab secures their support for his single, secret purpose for this voyage: hunting down and killing Moby Dick, an old, very large sperm whale, with a snow-white hump and mottled skin, that crippled Ahab on his last whaling voyage...
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
Peter makes night-time calls on the Darlings' house in Bloomsbury, listening in on Mrs. Darling's bedtime stories by the open window. Peter invites her daughter Wendy to Neverland to be a mother to his gang, the Lost Boys, children who were lost in Kensington Gardens. Wendy agrees, and her brothers John and Michael go along. Their magical flight to Neverland is followed by many adventures...
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The novel centers on Elizabeth Bennet, the second of the five daughters of a country gentleman. The novel opens with news in the Bennet family that Mr Bingley, a wealthy, charismatic and social young bachelor, is moving into Netherfield Park in the neighbourhood. Mr Bingley singles out Jane for particular attention, and it soon becomes apparent that they have formed an attachment to each other, though Jane does not alter her conduct for him, confessing her great happiness only to Lizzie. By contrast, Darcy slights Elizabeth, who overhears and jokes about it despite feeling a budding resentment...
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise attributed to Sun Tzu, a high-ranking military general, strategist and tactician. The text is composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare. It is commonly known to be the definitive work on military strategy and tactics of its time. It has been the most famous and influential of China's Seven Military Classics, and "for the last two thousand years it remained the most important military treatise in Asia, where even the common people knew it by name." It has had an influence on Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy and beyond.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
The Call of the Wild is a novel by American author Jack London published in 1903. The story is set in the Yukon during the 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush—a period when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The novel's central character is a dog named Buck, a domesticated dog living at a ranch in California as the story opens. Stolen from his home and sold into the brutal existence of an Alaskan sled dog, he reverts to atavistic traits. Buck is forced to adjust and survive cruel treatments, fight to dominate other dogs, and survive in a harsh climate. Eventually he sheds the veneer of civilization, relying on primordial instincts through lessons he learns, to emerge as a leader in the wild.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
The poem tells of Dante's journey through the three realms of the dead, lasting from the night before Good Friday to the Wednesday after Easter in the spring of 1300. The Roman poet Virgil guides him through Hell and Purgatory; Beatrice, Dante's ideal woman, guides him through Heaven. Beatrice was a Florentine woman whom he had met in childhood and admired from afar in the mode of the then-fashionable courtly love tradition, which is highlighted in Dante's earlier work La Vita Nuova.
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Charles Baskerville, Bart, is found dead on the grounds of his country house, Baskerville Hall. The cause is ascribed to a heart attack. Fearing for the safety of Sir Charles's nephew and the only known heir, Sir Henry Baskerville, coming from Toronto, Canada to claim his inheritance, Dr James Mortimer travels to London and asks Sherlock Holmes for help.
The elder Baskerville had become fearful of the legendary curse and its hellhound. Mortimer decided that Sir Charles had been waiting for someone when he died. His face was contorted in a ghastly expression, while his footprints suggested that he was running away from something. The elderly man's heart wasn't strong, and he had planned to go to London the very next day. Mortimer says he had seen the footprints of a "gigantic hound" near Sir Charles's body, nothing was revealed at the inquest...
The Mysterious Affair At Styles by Agatha Christie
Originally written in 1915 and in the public domain, this edition returns this classic to its popular spot.
Late one night, the residents of Styles wake to find Emily Inglethorp dying of what proves to be strychnine poisoning. Hastings, a houseguest, enlists the help of his friend Hercule Poirot, who is staying in the nearby village, Styles St Mary. Poirot pieces together events surrounding the murder. On the day she was killed, Mrs Inglethorp was overheard arguing with someone, most likely either her husband, Alfred, or her stepson, John. Afterwards, she seemed quite distressed and, apparently, made a new will — which no one can find. She ate little at dinner and retired early to her room with her document case. The case was later forced open by someone and a document removed. No one knows exactly when or how the strychnine was administered to Mrs Inglethorp...
Now available as a free download on GooglePlay and Kobo
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
...Returning to the site where he arrived, the Time Traveller is shocked to find his time machine missing, and eventually works out that it has been dragged by some unknown party into a nearby structure with heavy doors, locked from the inside, which resembles a Sphinx...
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
James "Jim" Hawkins, is the young son of the owners of the Admiral Benbow Inn. An old drunken seaman named Billy Bones becomes a long-term lodger at the inn, only paying for about the first week of his stay. Jim quickly realizes that Bones is in hiding, and that he particularly dreads meeting an unidentified seafaring man with one leg.
Some time later, another of Bones' crew mates, a blind man named Pew, appears at the inn and forces Jim to lead him to Bones. Pew gives Bones a paper. After Pew leaves, Bones opens the paper to discover it is marked with the Black Spot, a pirate summons, with the warning that he has until ten o'clock to meet their demands. Bones drops dead of apoplexy (in this context, a stroke) on the spot. Jim and his mother open Bones' sea chest to collect the amount due to them for Bones' room and board, but before they can count out the money that they are owed, they hear pirates approaching the inn and are forced to flee and hide, Jim taking with him a mysterious oilskin packet from the chest...
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The novel begins in July 1805 in Saint Petersburg, at a soirée given by Anna Pavlovna Scherer—the maid of honour and confidante to the queen mother Maria Feodorovna. Pierre Bezukhov is the illegitimate son of a wealthy count, an elderly man who is dying after a series of strokes. Pierre is about to become embroiled in a struggle for his inheritance. Also attending the soireé is Pierre's friend, the intelligent and sardonic Prince Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky, husband of Lise, the charming society favourite. Prince Andrei makes the fateful choice to be an aide-de-camp to Prince Mikhail Ilarionovich Kutuzov in the coming war against Napoleon...
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Lyman Frank Baum
Dorothy is a young orphaned girl raised by her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em in the bleak landscape of a Kansas farm. She has a little black dog Toto, who is her sole source of happiness on the dry, grey prairies. One day the farmhouse, with Dorothy and Toto inside, is caught up in a cyclone and deposited in a field in Munchkin Country, the eastern quadrant of the Land of Oz. The falling house kills the evil ruler of the Munchkins, the Wicked Witch of the East.
The Good Witch of the North comes with the Munchkins to greet Dorothy and gives Dorothy the Silver Shoes (believed to have magical properties) that the Wicked Witch had been wearing when she was killed. In order to return to Kansas, the Good Witch tells Dorothy she will have to...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Huckleberry "Huck" Finn (the protagonist and first-person narrator) and his friend, Thomas "Tom" Sawyer, have each come into a considerable sum of money as a result of their earlier adventures. Huck's life is suddenly interrupted by the reappearance of his shiftless father, "Pap", an abusive alcoholic. Knowing that Pap would only spend the money on alcohol, Huck is successful in preventing Pap from acquiring his fortune; however, Pap still gains custody of Huck and leaves town with him. Huck, during one of his father's absences, elaborately fakes his own death, escapes the cabin, and sets off down river. He settles comfortably, on Jackson's Island on the Mississippi. Here, Huck reunites with Jim, Miss Watson's slave. Jim has also run away...