Words of wisdom (sort of)

On selling lots of books

Stern: Uh, yes. But you’d need to brag about that for people to know exact figures, and then you risk being shot by your fellow writers.

Strauss: No downside. To paraphrase Updike, a writer’s fundamental responsibility is to find as many readers as possible.

Sorrentino: It’s not that important to my own notion of success. I’ll bet I could store every copy I’ve ever sold of each of my books in my bedroom closet.

Maazel: Unless you are one of five writers in America, “lots of books” is really not so many books at all. Still, I think publishers set the bar pretty low for sales, so I don’t know how important it is to your career to crest well over it.

Park: I’d love to sell lots of books! But how? Yet another thing that you can’t control.

NEXT: MEDIA COVERAGE »

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The authors

Jonathan Ames
Essayist (I Love You More than You Know) and novelist (Wake Up, Sir!)

Tao Lin
Novelist, poet (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy), blogger

Fiona Maazel
Author of Last Last Chance

Ed Park
The Believer coeditor and author of Personal Days

Christopher Sorrentino
Author of Sound on Sound and the NBA-nominated Trance

Amanda Stern
Curator of the Happy Ending Series and author of The Long Haul

Darin Strauss
Novelist (Chang and Eng and More than It Hurts You)

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Time Out New York / Issue 669 : Jul 22–30, 2008

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1. Posted by anonniemuss on Sun, May 10, at 08:49pm

   This is an interesting feature and that makes it all the more annoying that it is chopped up into tiny bits and pieces over 8 pages. It's maddening to read and I can't understand why a publication would discourage readers this way. I am not a regular reader of this website and I am not coming back because of this.

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