I work for two years on a book and it comes out and two days later I've got my first e-mail: When is the next one coming out?
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I'm not one of these writers who says, 'Oh yes, the next book is due out in one year and three days.' I just say, 'You're gonna get it when it's done. It's gonna be good, but you're not going to get it until it is good.'
I don't want to wait more than a year and a half or two years between books.
Books can now be on the stands within days from delivery of a formatted manuscript, and often are.
Typically, a book is published and gets one season in the sun. Eventually, you write another book, and maybe your old books get a bump, but my books seem to keep being discovered and recommended to new people of all ages.
If it's going to come out eventually, better have it come out immediately.
Every time you finish a book, you have a terrible feeling that there's just never going to be another one. But fortunately, so far, the next one has always shown up.
I gauge success in years, not weeks. The weekend box-office approach to book launches is short sighted and encourages crappy books.
In the middle of my fourth year teaching is when I got my book contract - in 2010. I knew the book would come out in May 2011.
It generally takes me about nine months from the point the book is conceived to the point my editor sends it off to be typeset.
I write a book over a period of months or years, and when I'm done with it, usually another year goes by before I see it in print. It's hard to be patient and wait.