Lisa Gardner Quotes

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

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

Making the best-seller list is a big deal; it's like being nominated for an Oscar. Hitting No. 1 is like actually winning the award. It's very gratifying.

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

My position as the best-selling author at E! is secure - unless Salman Rushdie develops a show with them.

I don't chase publishers. Publishers chase me.

B is for bestseller.

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.

The first story I ever sold was to 'Argosy' magazine, which no longer exists. That issue also contained work by several other more celebrated writers, like Ray Bradbury - so I felt I had at least one toe on the ladder.

Writers in Britain aren't really celebrities. You become kind of a darling of a small set.

Winning the second Pulitzer firmly places me in conversation with this culture.

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

The bewildering success of my books continues to surprise me.

I'd only been in the business three or four years, but I told myself that someday I'd like to be Mort Janklow.

I'm never going to be in danger of getting the Nobel Prize for literature.

Is the prestige conferred by the Man Booker prize for the book or me? I would prefer it on the book and for me to be treated ordinarily.

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.

I'm sure I wouldn't have been asked to judge the Man Booker if it weren't for 'Downton.'

I wanted to see my name on the cover of a book. If your name is in the Library of Congress, you're immortal.

I wrote my first full book when I was fourteen, and that was 'Obernewtyn.' It was also the first book I had published. It was accepted by the first publisher I sent it to, and it was short listed for Children's Book of the Year in the older readers category in Australia.

My second book, Follow Me Down had some success, got good critical notices, went into a second printing and things like that, but Shiloh was by far the most successful of those first five novels.

The Booker Prize is a big, popular prize for big, popular books, and that's the way it should be.

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.