"Dime novels" refers to inexpensive, paperback books that were sold for ten cents in the past. They were usually short and exciting stories, often focusing on adventures and heroes. Full definition
I'd never thought of the connections between dime novels & indie, but that makes a lot of sense. (susankayequinn.com)
The other major American literary trend of the 1850s was the growing popularity of dime novels: cheap, throwaway stories that favored action over introspection, fantasy over reality, and directness over metaphor or symbolism. (chicagoreader.com)
Westerns have been selling variations on that line, and this sort of story, ever since the silent days (and in dime novels before that). (chicagotribune.com)