and apparently her suggestions for the 7th book were dismissed by the fans in the chat room.
In the end, I gave up trying to impart any gems of wisdom and joined the discussion about SpongeBob SquarePants.
If I were a wildly popular author, I'd do that. I sometimes wonder, for example, if Barbara Mertz, who writes the Amelia Peabody books under the name Elizabeth Peters, incorporates some of her fans' comments and questions into her writing, because often it seems the next book will answer some great curiosity we tried to work out at some point before on a discussion board. She seems to have a good rapport with fans. It's an important skill that most writers probably don't think about in the beginning.
I think any bestselling author has to remember that whatever the reasons for writing--an inner impetus, to pay the rent, whatever--it is the fans who buy the final product, and publishing goes through phases and fads just like anything else, so just because one book is a great hit, it doesn't mean all will be. It still means--hopefully--good writing (although to be honest, that's not always a prerequsite to sell books), characters people can identify with, and the right balance of elements to draw someone in for a time.
There are some (probably not so wildly successful) authors who would not deign to talk about a cartoon in lieu of their own book ideas. It's kind of refreshing.
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