"All publishers are Columbuses. The successful author..." - Quote by Mark Twain
All publishers are Columbuses. The successful author is their America. The reflection that they-like Columbus-didn't discover what they expected to discover, and didn't discover what they started out to discover, doesn't trouble them. All they remember is that they discovered America; they forget that they started out to discover some patch or corner of India.
More by Mark Twain
“Education is what you must acquire without any interference from your schooling.”
“The law of work seems unfair, but nothing can change it; the more enjoyment you get out of your work, the more money you will make.”
“Let us consider that we are all insane. It will explain us to each other. It will unriddle many riddles”
More on Publishing
“I should be sorry to think it was the publishers themselves they got up this entire little flutter to enable them to unload a book that was taking too much room in their cellars, but you can never tell what a publisher will do. I have been one myself.”
“For nearly twenty years I have been a published author... But I have never yet seen a book of mine offered for sale in a shop window.”
“As 99 per cent of English authors and 100 per cent of American ones [authors] are just such imbeciles, managers and publishers make a practice of asking for every right the author possesses.”
More on Authors
“Liking an author may be as involuntary and improbable as falling in love.”
“Some stories or passages are more difficult and demand more fussing with than others, but, in general, I'm a two-draft writer rather than a six-draft writer, or whatever.”
“The authors who affect contempt for a name in the world put their names to the books which they invite the world to read.”