Comments on: High expectations

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:44:43 +0000

Whatever. Stephanie Meyers is not having this problem. Val Joyner

By: Kristin Laughtin

Kristin Laughtin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:36:15 +0000

I've heard the same concerns about Audrey Niffenegger and Elizabeth Kostova recently. The sophomore slump is a real threat, obviously. How can it not be? Even if the second book would be considered successful, sales-wise, if it were written by anyone else, if it doesn't live up to the first, it's seen as a failure. That is one advantage we unpublished writers have, I guess, and I'll be grateful for what I can.

Besides, writing the second book is hard no matter what stage your career is in. I loved my first (fully finished, polished) manuscript, but I've been working on my second for over a year (although it's turned into 2-3 books at this point), and it is not coming out half as easily as my first one did at its toughest points. Adding the stress of living up to expectations on top of that difficulty must be no fun at all.

By: Joelle

Joelle — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:20:24 +0000

It's funny how so many people (in general – I'm not referring to any commentors here) seem to hold the money against a successful author. If EPL had been a critical success, with modest sales, and the second book was not a critical success, many people would say, "Oh, how disappointing. Maybe she'll do better with her next book." but because she made so much money, you see comments all over, "Well, she's got her millions so she's fine." Gilbert made a good living before EPL and without its success, I thinks she would've continued to make a good living as a writer. My guess is she'd much rather write something worth reading, not only now, when she can afford it, but always.

By: Haste yee back ;-)

Haste yee back ;-) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:10:07 +0000

I think Norman Mailer said. "The only thing harder than achieving success in this culture is... maintaining it!"

Haste yee back ;-)

By: Joanne

Joanne — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:13:19 +0000

In publishing, we hear so much talk about wanting new and innovative and fresh, modern ideas. So the best the industry can produce is a rambling on the institution of marriage? No one saw these poor sales coming with this "done" topic?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:33:11 +0000

Isn't Cleaving about the freaky bondage sex she was having on the side while writing Julie/Julia?

Not hard to see why it isn't having the same success as the first book -- it isn't even the same genre or audience.

By: DGLM

DGLM — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:19:12 +0000

Thanks, all good comments. Another nonfiction author who is going through something similar is Julie Powell, author of Julie/Julia and the new much less popular Cleaving, which coincidentally also has marriage as a main theme. And I agree with Lt. Cccyxx's comment that lack of amazing sales doesn't necessarily equate to failure, but it's the publisher's expectations I'm really referring to in my post (as opposed to her own), and their bottom line, which speaks to her publishing future and what she will be able to do going forward as an author. Only time will tell. Thanks for reading!

By: Lt. Cccyxx

Lt. Cccyxx — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 02:47:51 +0000

From a position of comfort like Gilbert's, she can afford to define success however she likes, not just by sales. Having achieved commercial success and financial security, if she is now able to be true to her art and her vision – even at the cost of some of these other things – more power to her.

(Of course, I don't really know if this is true. I'm kind of projecting. But lack of amazing sales doesn't necessarily equate to failure – especially if you are her. Also, a bad review in the NYT – or anywhere else – is probably not a good measure of commercial success, much less failure in general.)

By: Jonas Samuelle

Jonas Samuelle — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:42:43 +0000

I'm not about to boo-hoo over the poor millionaire author whose second book only makes 500k, but I understand the concept of being a victim of your own success. (Philosophically, if not personally)

I think the best thing to do is not try to market it as "as good or better than" the first.
An author typically has to stick to a very specific formula for back to back successes anyway. (Think Dan Brown)
Have the guts to say "If you liked her first book, you'll like one of her future books, whether or not it's the next book."
-Colin Hill

By: Larissa

Larissa — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:27:48 +0000

I'm sure authors stress about that a lot. Elizabeth Gilbert even talked about it in this talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/453

It's a really great speech if you haven't seen it before…