With
over 350 million novels sold, Stephen King is a real success story. It is more
of a rags-to-riches success story for a man who was raised by a struggling single
mother. For a time, this master storyteller his brother and mother had to
live off handouts from neighbors. As he says:
“My mother was a single
parent. Her husband deserted her when I was 2, and she went through a lot of
menial jobs. We were the little people. We were dragged from pillar to post,
and there was none of this equal opportunity stuff going on at that time. We
were latchkey kids before there were latchkey kids, and she was a female wage
earner when, basically, women did scut work and cleaned up other people's
messes.”
Stephen
King was far from an overnight success. Although he started writing early in
his life he had a long way to go before becoming the multi-million dollar
writer that he is today. Early on, he was a struggling author, and as the earnings
from his writings was not enough, he had to work as an industrial laundromat, a
janitor and an English teacher in a public school. He struggled to pay his
bills and wrote whenever he could.
Stephen
King’s success story took a turn for the better when he finished writing the manuscript
for Carrie. For this, he received a $2500 advance. The book did not disappoint
when it got published. In fact, it was so successful that it ended up being
adapted into a movie in 1976. That was not the best part though. The phone call
that informed him of the sale of the rights to New American Library was. King
was to get half of the $400,000 sale price!
What
followed was a rollercoaster ride that saw Stephen King write over 50 novels. The
novels have earned Stephen King both money and awards. He has over the years
received: Bram Stoker Awards, World Fantasy Awards, British Fantasy Society
Awards, an O. Henry Award, a Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American
Letters, the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, the Canadian Booksellers
Association Lifetime Achievement Award and the Grand Master Award. His is an
inspiring success story for aspiring writers.
Stephen King Success Quotes
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