In his short 29 ½ years, he published to critical acclaim a number of novels dealing with the plight of the lower classes.

Of particular interest to Reshetnikov were the lowly burlaki, who became the subjects of the author's first major work, the "ethnographic essay" Podlipovtsy, a withering indictment of their deplorable condition.

In 1863 Reshetnikov moved to Saint Petersburg and earned a meager existence by publishing essays in a newspaper, then becoming a clerk in the Ministry of Finance.

Shortly after arriving he was introduced to Nikolay Nekrasov, who agreed to publish Podlipovtsy in his authoritative literary journal Sovremennik (1864).

During the balance of the 1860s, Reshetnikov undertook investigative trips to the Ural Mountains region of his birth, and wrote numerous essays and novels exposing and critiquing the plight of the laborer and peasant classes.