Comments on: Would you rather be a Best-Selling Author or a Best Writing Author?

By: Selling 1 Million eBooks on Kindle: 5 Lessons John Locke Taught Me | Roy Eynhallow's Creative World

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:16:33 +0000

[...] It has been written before that John’s books are not exactly literary. Despite that, he is hugely successful by all standards. However, he does not aim to win a prize. He aims to entertain the readers and sell the books. He knows what he wants – and he does it! Click here to read Joanna Penn’s article about best-selling versus best-writing debate. [...]

By: Joanna Penn

Joanna Penn — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Thanks Vlad, I think we would all hope to be somewhere between the two but it helps to have a goal. Mine is not the Pulitzer

By: Vlad Mackevic

Vlad Mackevic — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:38:13 +0000

I think both can be combined. Umberto Eco cannot be called pop, but he sure is popular. Carlos Ruiz Zafon is also popular, but he is also literary. His words are charming, even in translation. Dan Brown, on the other hand, is a page-turner and you have to stop and reflect on what’s going on otherwise you can finish the book without learning much from it (there’s something to learn from each book – even if the lesson is “do not ever read it again”).

I aim high in my current novel. We’ll see how it goes.

By: Joanna Penn

Joanna Penn — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:19:31 +0000

Thanks Carolyn – Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose was always my aim – literary and multi-million selling. But I have been trying to reread it and I reckon everyone bought it because of the hype, not because it’s enjoyable!
I am also aiming more for Hocking these days – please people, sell lots!

By: Carolyn Elliott

Carolyn Elliott — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:02:33 +0000

Joanna,

Thank you for this post– I’ve had a life-long ambition to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, but I’ve gradually started to realize that I’d be delighted to be as rich as Amanda Hocking even if I can’t be as brilliant as Pablo Neruda. I’m hoping that as I write genre-fiction at break-neck speed some of my literary talent will seep through and provide some high-toned gloss to the fun.

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:18:29 +0000

I want to write books that I enjoy writing and that readers enjoy reading. I like creating worlds and telling stories that make me happy, just as I like reading books that keep me entertained and leave me feeling uplifted. I don’t care about critical reception, or about adhering to ‘literary’ standards. Which isn’t to say I don’t care about quality; I do want to continually improve as a writer. But my standards aren’t the same as those of the self-appointed literati. Providing good entertainment and making a decent profit are two big motivators for me, and I don’t mind admitting it : )

By: Christopher Wills

Christopher Wills — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:03:04 +0000

Like you I used to dream of being a prize winning author but now it’s definitely best selling writer for me. Maybe when I am living in my small and understated mansion in the Med, I will sit down and write that masterpiece…. no maybe not

By: Rob F.

Rob F. — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 05:42:51 +0000

I want to write stories that I enjoy and I want to write ‘em good. Ultimately, I want to sell what I’d be proud to have my name on. It might not be up to the standards of literary fiction, but it’ll be mine and I’ll have had fun writing it. Becoming a best-selling author would be gravy.

By: Bully

Bully — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 08:09:44 +0000

If Stephenie Meyer published literary fiction tomorrow it would be gobbled up by her Twilight fangirls. Anything she writes is gobbled up by the Twilight fans. Point is, you have to have fans to buy the friggin’ book and read it, and her millions of sales finance the writers in the article who sold 8,000 copies (rounded off). In a way I think literary writers a selfish; it’s like they only want to write on their own terms and the heck with the publishing industry. How do they expect the industry to sustain itself on literature, huh? Leases and salaries have to be paid somewhere by someone, and it falls on Meyer, Brown, King, Patterson).

And lit writers have the nerve to slam these writers who help pay their advances, when they should be grateful for commercial writers shouldering everybody.

I’d choose best-selling: you got fans together or else just write in a journal or publish online for free.

By: Ali Al-Hajamy

Ali Al-Hajamy — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 02:09:15 +0000

I can’t say I care. I wouldn’t want to associate myself with either group because the people who specifically aim to be best-selling writers seem mostly made up of greedy people who write whatever is currently in vogue just to make money and be liked by all, paying no regard to the quality of the work they excr…*cough cough* I mean, produce, and the people who specifically aim to be literary writers are made up of insufferable snobs who I would want to punch in the nose after five minutes of listening to their prattle. As far as I’m concerned, I’ll write what feels right to me, I couldn’t care less about money, and if someone, somewhere, is reading my work, and if their lives are made somewhat better by what they have read, I am happy. I won’t turn down any money given to me, but that will not be my main goal when I begin to write anything.