First Sale Quotes

I think I made my first short fiction sale in 2005. I had been writing unsuccessfully before that.

The story of my very first sale is the fact that I dreamed up a foolproof paper to cheat an insurance company out of several hundred thousand dollars.

I sold my first story when I was 21 in 1973.

If someone has copyright over some piece of your stuff, you can sell it without permission from the copyright holder because the copyright holder can only control the 'first-sale.' The Supreme Court has recognized this doctrine since 1908.

So, in effect, my first sale was actually two books.

I started in 1957 when I sold my first story to a magazine.

There is no magic in all the world like that magic when you sell your first bit of writing.

I had written four scripts before I wrote Recount. Each one progressed my career a little bit, but I didn't make a dime off any of them. Recount was the first thing I sold, and I actually sold it as a pitch to HBO. They bought it as a pitch, which was a miracle. I thought, "Wow, this could be the last time I'll be paid to write a script again, which would be too bad because that was an amazing experience I just had."