Charles Stross Quotes

In leaving New York in 1957, I did leave without regret the literary demimonde of agents and would-be's and with-it nonparticipants; this world seemed unnutritious and interfering.

Her sister, Holly McGhee, is an agent, and she's my agent in New York. She's Alison's agent too. Even though Alison lives here in Minneapolis, I met Alison through Holly, when Holly came to Minneapolis to visit Alison.

I had a wonderful and very successful career in New York and had the privilege of working with some of the best editors and publishers in the business.

In New York I was always so scared of saying that I wrote fiction. It just seemed like, 'Who am I to dare to do that thing here? The epicenter of publishing and writers?' I found all that very intimidating and avoided writing as a response.

I didn't go out for a soap until I moved to New York. I wasn't even considering soaps, but my agents talked me into it and said it's nice, steady work.

The best compliment came from Knopf's Sonny Mehta. We were at lunch in New York with my editor, Gary Fisketjon, it was my first time meeting Sonny, and after ordering our food, he turned to me and said, 'Adam, I read 'Mr. Peanut' in two days; every page surprised me, and that, I can assure you, doesn't happen often.'

New York is the Hollywood of the publishing industry, complete with stars, starlets, suicidal publishers/producers, intrigues, and a lot of money.

I'm the New York Jew who actually grew up in Minnesota.

You know, it's sort of common wisdom among New York publishers that short story collections don't make money.

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.

I did everything pretty cliche as an actor in New York. I read the trades, I sent out 'head shots.'

I don't read a lot of books that were published after 1755. One thing about having friends in New York who belong to the literary world, however, is that I have a steady stream of books coming to the house.

But we discovered that, although I liked publishing, the commercial side meant nothing at all to me.

Authors worry. We worry about writing. Worry about our editors, our agents, our reviews, and our readers. We worry about everything, including all forms of social media including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and personal websites.

Practically everybody in New York has half a mind to write a book, and does.

I like people a lot, but I am not comfortable in literary New York situations. There is deep anxiety and tension around success here. I don't share problems I'm having about my work, and I think conversations around publishing are boring.

I spend a lot of time writing in New York.

Contrary to popular belief, editors and agents are gagging for good books.

The Dancing Girls of Lahore was offered to dozens of British publishers and was turned down by everyone. It is still on offer in the U.K., but I'm not confident there will be any takers.

To think that we as a publisher (i.e. people who have never actually MADE a game) can have a realistic impact on a project that a team of experts is slaving away on full time for 2 years is a bit arrogant.

I left for New York expecting to repeat my success, only to be turned down by almost every publisher in that city, till the Viking Press, my American publishers of a lifetime, thought of taking me on.

Try to meet as many authors, agents, and editors as you can.

The FBI had more agents in New York than the CIA had agents abroad. [In the 1990s].

I came to New York in 1974, when I graduated from college. And you had to use 'Backstage' because all of the auditions were listed there. Most people didn't come with agents, so you got to see a lot of what was auditioning and when and where. 'Backstage' made sure you knew the major places.

For while agents and editors often misunderstand their market and sometimes reject good or even great works, they do prevent a vast quantity of truly execrable writing from being published.