Definition of a classic: a book everyone is assumed to have read and often thinks they have.
This morning I looked at the books on my shelves and thought that they have no knowledge of my existence. They come to life because I open them and turn their pages, and yet they don't know that I am their reader.
The book salesman should be honored because he brings to our attention, as a rule, the very books we need most and neglect most.
You want people to be eager for your book; the downside is when the people forget the series even exists.
Like all those possessing a library, Aurelian was aware that he was guilty of not knowing his in its entirety.
I think it's a fallacy to say that a good book sells itself. It doesn't happen. I'm a voracious reader and I can give you a long list of books which should have been best sellers but they aren't. How can you buy a book if you haven't heard of it?
I remember one letter from a girl in a midwestern town who read one of my books and thought she had discovered it- that no one had ever read it or knew about it. Then one day in her local library she found cards for one or two of my other books. They were full of names- the books were borrowed all the time. She resented this a bit and then walked around the town looking in everybody's face and wondering if they were the ones who were reading my books. That is someone I write for.
Publicity doesn't work for books. It really doesn't. All it does is get your name in front of a reader who might then glance at your book. Or not.
I think 'Miracle's Boys' made more people aware of my work.
As an author, I realise, you're on your own. You have to do everything you can to help The Book. If I make sure people know it's out there, they can make up their own minds whether they want to read it.
The reader became the book; and summer night Was like the conscious being of the book.
I'm constantly running across people who have never heard of books I think they should read.
There are a lot of wonderful books out there that aren't marketed properly, and readers who might love them never even know they exist.
