If the public likes you, you're good. Shakespeare was a common, down-to-earth writer in his day.

Where I am they can smell out a hurricane. My house survived Hurricane Hazel, but it didn't get past Hugo.

The first page sells this book. The last page sells your next book.

I have no fans. You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends.

I started off at the high level, in the slick magazines, but they didn't use my name, they used house names. Anyway, then I went downhill to the pulps, then downhill further to the comics.

No one likes my books except the public.

I'm not an author, I'm a writer, that's all I am. Authors want their names down in history; I want to keep the smoke coming out of the chimney.