James McBride Quotes

I never set out to do this - getting to No. 1 in the 'New York Times' bestseller list wasn't even a pipedream.

I'm very lucky. I'm very fortunate that my books have never gone out of print - none of them.

The bewildering success of my books continues to surprise me.

There are writers who go their whole lives and never hit that No. 1 spot.

My first book was the most successful debut novel in the U.K. ever and every one of my books has reached number one in the U.K. Clearly the British know brilliance when they see it.

You can't be admitted to the ranks of writers of importance unless you have sales.

If I can hit No. 1 on the 'New York Times' best-seller list, I'm thinking of having the entire list tattooed on my body somewhere. It would be fabulous.

I've been very lucky with prizes. But the thing about prizes is that, when you talk about a prize-winning author, you can be talking about one that is well-regarded but doesn't sell any books.

Writers are not celebrities, so you don't expect to walk down the street and hear, 'Oh my God, there's Sylvia Day.' You prefer to be anonymous.

After a while, when the writer is mature, it doesn't really matter - not because of finances but because of reputation. It doesn't really matter how many awards you get.

I have high hopes for Renee Ballard's literary life, and it can't start out better than the top of 'USA TODAY''s best-seller list.

I didn't like being a name attached to a book.

Every time I had a book come out, I'm like, 'Is it going to be number one?'

A misconception that exists in the eyes of the general reading population is that authors make truckloads of money.

'Fallen Too Far' was my first NYT bestseller. That changed my life.

I'm probably one of the few authors in this country who could very comfortably live off my writing.

I don't aspire at present to be king of the hill in American literature.

I haven't been the kind of writer about whom book-length academic studies have been written.

When 'The Shadow of the Wind' became a success I had already been a working writer, I'd been through the ups and downs, I'd seen how it worked.

I'm a writer. I never expected to be recognised on the street. I never expected to get that kind of coverage, good or bad. I never expected to sell as many books as I have.

On the strength of Vonnegut's reputation, 'Breakfast of Champions' spent a year on the best-seller lists, proving that he could indeed publish anything and make money.

Bruce Sterling is one terrific writer and he's relatively new, but I don't know how long he's been doing it; he probably doesn't need the publicity anymore!

Saul Bellow never took my advice when he was my friend.

Sadly, I don't think books ever sell based on your name alone - the minute we make an assumption like that is the minute it all goes horribly wrong!

I'm not a best-seller, but through translations, I've accumulated some money.