by Sandra Gulland | Jun 2, 2009 | Adventures of a Writing Life |
Iris, my editor and publisher, just emailed me that Mistress of the Sun was #1 on the Globe and Mail Historical Fiction list! She and Norma, the receptionist at HarperCollins Canada, “enjoyed the sight of it for several minutes,” and then Norma pointed out that Under the Sun by Sandra Gulland was also on the list, further down. “We are mystified by this,” Iris wrote, “an error on someone’s part. But, you have to admit it’s pretty nice to be in two places on one bestseller list.”
I do indeed! I jokingly wrote back that if The Next Novel were titled Under the Sun it could be called a bestseller before it was even written, much less published.
by Sandra Gulland | May 9, 2009 | Adventures of a Writing Life |
One becomes a numbers junkie, watching the lists. This morning I was pleased to see that Mistress of the Sun was still on the “Globe & Mail” Canadian fiction list, and that it had gone up to #8. I feel like Mine that Bird, coming from behind. I’m hot on the tail of Water for Elephants. Sing ye!
I also know that Mistress would have to rise into the upper altitudes to even make it onto the “all fiction” list—the list of titles that include U.S. favorites such as Stephenie Meyer, Dan Brown and Jody Picoult.
And speaking of Jody Picoult, I read last night in Bookmarks—a magazine I love— what she has done researching her books: lived with an Amish dairy farmer for a week, watched cardiac surgery, went ghost hunting (and found some), sat in a jail. I admire her commitment.
