Quotes About Attention

A paparazzo once jumped out of a car and started running backward with me. I slowed down out of courtesy because she started drifting into the street. I reached out my hand and moved her back so she didn't get hit by a bus.

Certainly political capital-slash-celebrity attention, whatever you want to call it, certainly is part of the reason why I've been reaching out to CEOs. There's a lot of folks who probably would have taken a call from me before but are even more inclined now and are interested in what we're doing because of all the attention.

With a lot of attention comes criticism, but I'll take that. I'm reaching all the goals I've set for myself, so you can't say anything bad about that.

To say how you would react if you were really storming the charts and had people running around after you... who's to say how any of us would deal with that.

Acting is reacting. You can't react if you're not paying attention, if you're not listening.

What you don't see are the cameras shoved in my face and the bizarre intrusive questions being asked, or the people falling over themselves, screaming and taunting to get a reaction.

I read about myself in the papers all the time.

People do not read first. First and foremost, they see color. Then they see numbers, then shape, and then, if you still have their attention and they understand what you put in front of them, then they will read.

The writer's object is - or should be - to hold the reader's attention.

A great comic-book cover occurs when it gets a potential reader to pick the book up and start thumbing through it. That's a comic cover's job: Attract someone's attention, and persuade them to try the issue out.

Will the reader turn the page?

In fiction, it's a big challenge to keep the reader in one place for so long.

Too many ads that try not to go over the reader's head end up beneath his notice.

The reader really has to step up to the plate and read a short story.

But I care about the reader, and I'm trying to keep the reader's attention for as long as I can.

The first paragraph of my book must get me my reader. The last paragraph of a chapter must compel my reader to turn the page. The last paragraph of my book must ensure that my reader looks out for my next book.

Numbers of sales do not correspond to numbers of readers.

A playwright must be his own audience. A novelist may lose his readers for a few pages; a playwright never dares lose his audience for a minute.

It is more difficult to keep the attention of hearers than of readers.

I have to be careful. My readers are very detail-oriented, and if I make a mistake they'll call me on it.

What I would not like is to be ignored. I write from the heart. I don't write for me. I write for my readers.

Point-of-view is a matter that readers rarely pay attention to, yet it's one of the most important story decisions an author makes.

We all need to focus on our writing. Because the millions of readers out there don't care about your blog.

Readers who claim a preference for short-form over long often tell me it's because they don't have time to commit to a book-length chunk of writing.