Patrick Brigham
asked
Dan Brown:
As far as I can judge, many writers struggle for years, before they become an overnight success. When was your great moment of triumph - when you finally realized that you had finally made it as an author - and what did you do?
Dan Brown
I certainly remember that initial phone call from St. Martin’s Press telling me that they would be publishing my first novel Digital Fortress. I was thrilled simply to be published, and the fact that they were printing only a few thousand books did not bother me in the least. I felt like I was on my way.
Ten years and three books later, I was still publishing novels, but I was struggling with low sales. I worked two teaching jobs to pay my rent while I wrote my next manuscript – an art history thriller. After submitting the manuscript to my new publisher Doubleday, I embarked on a much needed vacation into the rain forests of Costa Rica. I had virtually no connection to the outside world, but several weeks into the trip, my agent managed to reach me through an email sent to a tiny internet café; she told me to come home right away because the pre-orders for my recently submitted manuscript were growing quickly -- faster than any of us could imagine.
By the time I got home, the pre-orders had outpaced the sales of my previous three novels combined, and it became clear that my upcoming book – The Da Vinci Code – was going to be my first successful novel.
Ten years and three books later, I was still publishing novels, but I was struggling with low sales. I worked two teaching jobs to pay my rent while I wrote my next manuscript – an art history thriller. After submitting the manuscript to my new publisher Doubleday, I embarked on a much needed vacation into the rain forests of Costa Rica. I had virtually no connection to the outside world, but several weeks into the trip, my agent managed to reach me through an email sent to a tiny internet café; she told me to come home right away because the pre-orders for my recently submitted manuscript were growing quickly -- faster than any of us could imagine.
By the time I got home, the pre-orders had outpaced the sales of my previous three novels combined, and it became clear that my upcoming book – The Da Vinci Code – was going to be my first successful novel.
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