Eventually I figured out what was happening. This was a word-of-mouth book. It’s a truism of the book business that the best advertising is the kind you can’t buy: the personal recommendation of one reader to another. That was what was selling Pillars. You did it, dear reader. Publishers, agents, critics, and the people who gave out literary prizes generally overlooked this book, but you did not. You noticed that it was different and special, and you told your friends; and in the end the word got around. And so it happened. It seemed like the wrong book; I seemed like the wrong writer; and I
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