In 1896 Bennett was promoted to be editor of "Woman"; by then he had set his eyes on a career as a full-time author, but he served as editor for four years. During that time he wrote two popular books, described by his biographer John Lucas as "pot-boilers": "Journalism for Women" (1898) and "Polite Farces for the Drawing Room" (1899). He also began work on a second novel, "Anna of the Five Towns", the five towns being Bennett's fictional Staffordshire locale, based on Hanley, Burslem and the neighbouring towns.