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It's getting tougher by the second.

Your first book may have been a bestseller, but don't expect the next one to be:
Indeed, the pressure seems to be greater for writers whose first books climb bestseller lists and garner adoration from far and wide. Since the arrival of Oprah Winfrey's sales-bestowing book club and its imitators, the anxiety level for some authors has intensified. Many have suffered cases of "second novel syndrome," as it's known, that are far worse than Parkhurst's.

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  1. Artemis Hunt17/8/06 3:26 pm

    Good article, Ted. It's so true. Every book is a new test all over again, and it's never guaranteed to be published, let alone sell.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ted Mahsun17/8/06 3:33 pm

    How about you, Xeus? Are you feeling the second book anxiety yet? Or is that still a long ways away...? hehe

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous17/8/06 5:13 pm

    Ted, that's a great article.

    I must say that the scenario is like having a celeb big sister in the family and inevitably, the other siblings also feel the pressure to perform. Is that a logical analogy?

    Well after my first book, I must admit that I've been inundated with, "Hey, when is your next book coming?" (where I tend to read it as if the person was saying "Will the next one be a bestseller too?")

    But I try not to let jittery gets in the way now that I'm writing my second book.

    At the same time, I'm also glad to say that I'm actually more excited about my next book, thanks to my first book's experience. There are oportunities of feeback of the first book to work with.

    When I look back, phew, the first book experience feels like treading through uncharted territory. Second time around, I basically know what it entails, and hopefully act wiser too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ted Mahsun17/8/06 5:31 pm

    I wish you lots of luck with your next book. Must be tough trying to ignore the pressure, so you can actually concentrate on writing.

    It's great you're using the experience learned from the first book to improve the next.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Artemis Hunt17/8/06 10:15 pm

    Ted, still writing Chapter 10 of the 2nd book. Must say I'm having more fun with it than the first, because this is a totally new genre.

    Yvonne, don't worry. The more you mix with writers, the more they will spur you on.

    ReplyDelete

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