A Writer's Tale

If a thing or two had happened differently, its not unlikely that my books would’ve been residing on bestseller lists in the U.S. for the past seventeen years. I would have made millions of dollars.

But who would want something like that?

(Me.)

The deal is, it didn’t happen that way.

Maybe it’s for the best.

(Sure.)

As things stand, it’s easy to remain somewhat humble.

And happy.

Real happy.

If someone had come up to me when I was a fifteen year old kid and explained what would happen by the time I hit fifty, I would’ve been incredulous… and overwhelmed with delight.

Then I would’ve wanted to kick his butt for telling me ahead of time and ruining all the fun surprises.

At fifteen, I daydreamed of being an author.

I didn’t exactly expect it to happen.

And never in my wildest fantasies did I imagine being read all over the world (in English and approximately fifteen foreign languages), making bestseller lists, writing novels that would be main selections of book clubs, becoming friends with some of my favorite authors, being nominated for awards alongside several of the major writers of our time, or having so many deeply devoted fans.

I never even dared to hope for such things.

But they’ve happened.

It boggles my mind.

So where do I go from here?

My intention is to keep on going.

Write one novel after the next.

Write each one as well as I can.

Play around with them. Experiment. Search for new angles on traditional ideas.

Try to discover deeper secrets and truths.

Take chances.

As you should know if you’ve read this book, taking big chances led to some of my most significant books (The Cellar, The Stake, Savage, Body Rides, Island and After Midnight, for instance). Sometimes, I thought I couldn’t write them. Sometimes, I thought I shouldn’t. But I wrote them, regardless. Each time, the risk paid off.

Because of that, because the number of my fans continues to increase and because Headline has stood by me, my confidence has grown over the years. I find myself more and more welling to follow my inclinations about what and how to write.

So far, I haven’t written a book that has been widely proclaimed by my fans to be a disappointment.

I would like to keep the streak going for as long as possible. In my opinion, the best way to keep it going is to write stuff that pleases me.

My fans obviously like what I like.

So as long as I remain true to myself, I’m fairly sure that my fans ‘will stay true to me.

While my intention is to keep on doing what I have been doing, I am obviously not pleased by the course of my career in the United States.

I would like to be as popular here as I am in the rest of the English-speaking world.

How might that happen?

1. A film based on something I wrote becomes a hit, or; 2. a fan of mine takes control of a major U.S. publishing firm, or; 3. for some other reason, a major U.S. publisher decides to get behind me the way Headline is behind me in the U.K.

One or more of the above is almost certain to happen eventually.

I am held back, now, only by the perceptions of people in the major U.S. publishing firms. Many have publicly acknowledged that I am a “star” in Great Britain. They assume, however, that I can’t be a star in America.

Why?

They seem to think (I’ve heard it with my own ears) that I’m successful “over there”

because humans who reside in such areas as England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, etc. are different.

Actually, the difference is not in the tastes of the readers, it’s in the attitudes of the publishers.

Over there, they stuck with me.

Here, time and time again, they’ve dropped me like a Wallenda.

I expect the situation to change, someday. When it does change, when a publisher gives me publicity and some loyalty, my books will sell very well indeed. Not just my new novels, but my backlist. At this point, I own the U.S. rights to all my adult novels. That’s more than twenty-five, so far. If handled properly, the backlist will be a gold mine for whatever publisher manages to get it.

In the meantime, I’m fine and dandy with the way things are.

Even without sales in the U.S., I’m well off.

I have no problem with waiting. My books won’t go away.

They’re like parcels of real estate. I’m holding them for the right buyer.

I do, however, feel bad for my American fans. In order to obtain my books, they have to hunt out a British contact, then pay through the nose. Most of the current Headline paperbacks go for $15 to $20 in this country. The hardbounds are usually about $40.

That’s a lot more money than my fans would need to pay if my books were published in the U.S. And the British hardbounds skyrocket in price as soon as they go out of print.

Many of my fans can’t find all of my books.

If they can find them, they can’t always afford them.

I don’t like that.

But I salute them for their devotion and persistence.

Someday, all my books will be in print in this country.