Success came abruptly to John Grisham, said Nicholas Wroe in the London Guardian. He was working as a small-town lawyer in Mississippi in 1991 when his second book, The Firm, became an overnight sensation. The legal thriller sold more than 7 million copies and was made into a blockbuster film starring Tom Cruise. “It became popular so fast I was in a daze,” he says. “It is something you can’t prepare for.”
But it was a chance meeting with a publishing executive that taught him to capitalize on his early success. “A young executive with a big book chain said in passing, ‘The big guys come out every year.’ He meant the likes of Clancy, King, Crichton,” Grisham explains. “At the time I was halfway through The Pelican Brief and had no idea when it would be finished. But I went home, locked myself away for 60 days, and finished the book. It was published a year after The Firm. One year after that I published The Client.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Is this the end of the late-night chat show?Talking Point Totems of US media landscape 'seem like relics of a bygone era' as ad revenues plummet and viewers switch to YouTube, TikTok and podcasts
-
Keep the fun going with these 7 subscription gift boxesThe Week Recommends Bring the party to their mailbox
-
Babies born using 3 people's DNA are without hereditary diseaseUnder the radar The method could eliminate mutations for future generations
