I've had the experience of having a book praised but then it doesn't sell. Or not praised but then it sells.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Publishers like a good buzz, and negative responses sell books just as well as positive ones.
My experience is that books take on a life of their own and create their own energy. I've represented books that have been sold for very little money and gone on to great glory, and I've seen books sold for an enormous amount of money published to very little response.
Whether I'm critically well received, whether or not I sell books - of course it becomes progressively harder to get them published - nevertheless, it's what I do, every day.
It feels wonderful to get praise from other authors who I admire, but with each new book, my confidence is always the thing I struggle with the most until I start getting positive feedback from readers.
Publishing is a very mysterious business. It is hard to predict what kind of sale or reception a book will have, and advertising seems to do very little good.
I never sell a book. I sell myself. And the way to sell yourself is to be an instrument of love.
When we had to do book reports, I would pick a book that no one read and just make it up and turn that in. I got praised for my imagination.
I don't write for an audience, I don't think whether my book will sell, I don't sell it before I finish writing it.
Selling a book or story has never become absolutely automatic for me.
I don't write for publishers, certainly not for critics, and not for readers, But I am delighted that so many people have found my books enjoyable and want to continue to read them.