Publisher’s Weekly has an interesting and (very) short interview with publisher Shaye Areheart, discussing debut novels and Robert James Waller.
PW: You’ve published several debut novels over the past few seasons. Do you have a special affinity for publishing first-time authors, and what are the challenges involved in that?
SA: I think because we have published so many debut novels and have had some notable success with them that agents think of us for those books. The challenge, of course, is always to make people pay attention and to get them to actually read the book. Because with a fine debut novelist you’re saying this book is great, this story is wonderful, these characters are affecting, please, please read this book. If you can get people to read something, the chances are good that they’ll say, yeah, this really is quite wonderful; or at least they’ll give it a fair chance.