When I got my very first phone call that I'd hit the 'New York Times' list, I had a small rush of 'I've made it!' But the next morning, it occurred to me I didn't know what it was, so I called my agent and asked what being a 'New York Times' bestselling author really meant. He informed me that I was now a thousand pound gorilla.

The life of a bestselling novelist sounds like it ought to be spectacularly glamorous and fun, but in fact I spend most of my time incognito, and in fact were you to pass me in the street you would think I was just another dowdy suburban mom.

People who were always hardbodies love that competitive style of team-sports activity: they come up with timers and fitness contests and personal bests. But for the vast majority of people, competition in exercise is not fun. It's no fun to compete if you know you can never win.

Let's get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.

There's many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.

It was the earliest demonstration of a phenomenon popularized by-and now named for-James Surowiecki's bestseller The Wisdom of Crowds. Aggregating the judgment of many consistently beats the accuracy of the average member of the group, and is often as startlingly accurate as Galton's weight-guessers.

"Please welcome Professor Varen Nethers, famous depressed dead poets historian and author of the bestselling books

These books can't possibly compete with centuries of established history, especially when that history is endorsed by the ultimate bestseller of all time.

There's many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.

Beyond that I seem to be compelled to write science fiction rather than fantasy or mysteries or some other genre more likely to climb onto bestseller lists even though I enjoy reading a wide variety of literature both fiction and nonfiction.

Dune is the bestselling science fiction book of all time. It's something you really need to read in your lifetime. If you're going to read The Lord of the Rings which everyone should then you have to read Dune too.

I wanted to write and direct movies and not be forced to adapt them from a bestselling book.

When I got my very first phone call that I'd hit the 'New York Times' list I had a small rush of 'I've made it!' But the next morning it occurred to me I didn't know what it was so I called my agent and asked what being a 'New York Times' bestselling author really meant. He informed me that I was now a thousand pound gorilla.

I'm the only girl on The Food Network who grills - I have two bestselling grilling books. I try to really focus on what men and women can do outside together out on the grill. I think it's really fun to have men and women out there together having fun working and enjoying themselves.

'The Purpose-Driven Life' is not just a mega-bestselling work of Christian faith it is the thing that every voter secular or not yearns for.