Michael Korda (b. October 8): “Finish your first draft and then we’ll talk.”

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Michael Korda, born 8 October 1933, is an English-born writer and novelist who was editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster in New York City.

Quotes about writing:

Finish your first draft and then we’ll talk.
Ask a book publisher how many copies a book has sold, and he or she, presuming you’re not the author, will probably try to remember the size of the first printing, then double it. If you’re the author, the publisher will try to remember the number of copies that were shipped and cut that in half in order to avoid encouraging you to expect a big royalty check.
Escapism sold books, to be sure, but not nearly as many as were sold by exposing America’s flaws and making the average American reader (and book club member) look closely at his or her most cherished social assumptions. Americans might not be eager to accept integration, feminism, homosexuality, juvenile delinquency, and the drug culture – or to shoulder the blame for the existence of these problems – but they were certainly willing to read about them.