Quote

I try to keep all my novels in print. Sometimes publishers don't agree with me as to their worth.

I didn't think I would be an exceptional writer, and I thought I might be a useful publisher. I've never regretted it.

But if I worried too much about publishers' expectations, I'd probably paralyze myself and not be able to write anything.

The conclusion I came to was that even if I couldn't sell books, I still liked the process of writing.

Sometimes I ask myself if writing novels is even respectable.

I believe my publisher has shown a great deal of faith in me over a lot of years but I'm not prepared to be so arrogant to say that the long-term literary value of my work would compensate them for a financial failure.

A friend of mine suddenly announced she had written a novel and got a publishing deal; I thought, 'Hang on... if she can do it, I can bloody well do it, too.' That novel went to a bidding war, and went on to be a huge best-seller.

My first novel was rejected by some of the most eminent publishers in the world. Starting again was a real wrench.

From the very beginning, I envisioned success as selling enough books so I could keep getting published and continue to write what I wanted to without compromising.