Will C. Barnes Quotes

I believe if you write a great book, the chances are it'll get a great reception.

The idea is to become a best-selling author first and then the rest of my books will be slam dunks.

I made a very conscious effort to finish 'The Cypress House' before 'So Cold the River' launched, because I thought that would help build a buffer between my writing and any impact that came from either the success or the failure of that first book.

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 published 'Rules of Civility' while I was still working. It became a best seller. I was working on this book, and then I decided to retire.

I want to write a best-selling book.

I know another New York Times bestselling author - Beth Kephart - she self-published one of her books.

It took a brave editor in the U.S. to sign a contract for Dancing Girls, and without her belief in the book, I'm not sure it would ever have found its way into print.

I didn't make 'The New York Times' bestseller list until 'Charmed Thirds,' and then again for 'Fourth Comings.' It gave me a certain validation, and it certainly helps position me for future books, but it's not something I think about on a daily basis.

If you're going to write a book that might, in its very best accidental career, sell 30,000 copies, you've got to have a day job.

I'm surviving and developing as a writer. I don't know what brings you to mass attention in terms of sales. But I've gotten more and more comfortable with it. Of course if that changes, I'll be comfortable with that. All I can do is write the best books I can.

I got lucky, and the first book, 'The Black Echo,' got published.

As an author, I love to know my book sells really well.

I know very well that one cannot become an author by just writing a book.

I started writing 'The Lobster Kings' the day after I sold my first novel, 'Touch.'

I always grew up with the idea that in order to be a successful writer, I should have a book published.

My first novel was a critical success in a matter of weeks.

Write the best book you possibly can, then dedicate yourself to getting people to read it.

I have been rejected 120 times, probably because I didn't write the right book.

When I wrote about media and technology, I had a lot of lonely, even intimate book talks. Since writing about dogs, I have a lot of company at book signings.

I'm like a unicorn; I'm a midlist writer who hasn't done anything else but write. But because I wasn't amazingly famous, I didn't become Stephanie Meyer, or even a huge literary name like a Jonathan Franzen or a Joshua Ferris.

I know publishing now more as an author than with occasional peaks inside those elite offices than as an industry insider. It was difficult publishing a novel the first time around, while working behind the scenes, knowing all that has to happen to make a book a success and to still make the leap as an author.

I think people become consumed with selling a book when they need to be consumed with writing it.

Jerry and I hoped that it would be a popular bestseller.

Every writer hopes his or her book will be its own thing.