Sara Sheridan Quotes

For a lot of people, becoming an author is a change in occupation... they are coming from something that totally has nothing to do with this. If they are expecting to come into a room full of people praising them, then they are in the wrong place.

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

In so many ways, being a literary agent is an irresistible job to me. Not only does it involve all the things I love - being an advocate for others, problem solving, and going to meetings - yes, that's true, I love meetings, though everyone says it's bizarre! - but most importantly, I love working with people whose writing excites me.

My first book, 'The Age of Wire and String,' came out in 1995, and it was hardly reviewed at all.

I thought I would write non-fiction. I thought I would enter the New York literary scene as copy editor, work my way up, and then write my own books.

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.

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

Around the time I turned 30, I wanted to publish a novel.

Since I make my living as a literary journalist, not a book scout, I spend inordinate amounts of time either reading or writing.

One of the things you want as a successful writer is the anonymity.

I'm not sure if you can strive your way into a career as a novelist. You have to write books; there are no short cuts.

As I see it, my job has always been to champion the work of the authors I publish.

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

I have to be honest about this: I wouldn't tell a lot of kids to go and be writers. It's a tough, tough business. It's not a business. It's more like a tough road. It's a really tough road.

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 started out as a novelist and wrote several novels before deciding to publish one, and I fully intend to go back to the form.

I started blogging in 2006 when I had sold my first novel but it had not yet been published, in those anxious months in between while I learned the whole process.

How lucky am I? Quite often I speak at book festivals, and people ask me how I got published. There's people who have been working on a book for as long as ten years, and I feel like such a cow.

It wasn't until I was 26 or 25 when I started sending work out to magazines.

Once I decided to write, to be published, I knew it would happen.

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.

As a writer, I'm always aware of the fact that there are so many books out there.

Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.

The digital revolution has wrest a little control away from corporate publishers and white, male, middle-aged critics, but the financial value put on the job of the writer and the misconceptions around that make it extremely difficult to enter the profession.