Louisa May Alcott's enduring Little Women was published in two volumes during 1868 and 1869. Alcott began writing in 1851 as a means to support her family financially. At the urging of a publisher, she reluctantly began to write a novel for young girls. Little Women was an immediate and phenomenal success, selling 60,000 copies in the first year. The book inspired a new mass audience of readers able to purchase inexpensively priced books.