Reception history of Jane Austen
In the last year of her life, Austen revised Northanger Abbey (1817) and wrote Persuasion (1817). She also began another novel, which was later titled Sanditon. She could not finish it before her death. Austen did not have time to see Northanger Abbey or Persuasion through the press. However, her family published them as one book after she died. Her brother Henry included a "Biographical Notice of the Author". This short biography made people think of Austen as a quiet aunt who wrote in her free time. "Neither the hope of fame nor profit mixed with her early motives (purposes) ... [S]o much did she shrink from notoriety, that no accumulation of fame would have induced (made) her, had she lived, to affix (put) her name to any productions of her  public she turned away from any allusion to the character of an authoress." However, Austen shows excitement in her letters about getting her books in print. She was also interested in how much money the books would make. Austen was a professional writer.