After 80 million copies sold, bestselling author Harlan Coben still suffers from self-doubt

32:00Harlan Coben: After 80 million copies sold, the bestselling author still suffers from self-doubt

Harlan Coben still gets impostor syndrome, which is kind of wild if you stop to think about it.

The mystery and thriller writer is one of the most successful authors working today, with more than 80 million books in print, published in 46 languages. Several of his books have been turned into television series or miniseries, with two more still in pre-production. And yet, in a Q interview, Coben tells host Tom Power that he's frequently racked with self-doubt.

But then again, he says, all the best writers are.

"I think when you lose that, you sort of lose your edge," he says. "It's an interesting dilemma because on the one hand, you always think you suck. And if you don't think you suck, you're in trouble as a writer — only bad writers think they're good. I know a lot of terrific writers. I don't know any who think that they're good and don't have those sorts of doubts."

At this point, 34 years after publishing his first novel, Coben says he's come to embrace self-doubt and imposter syndrome as part of the creative process.

"[This] happens every time I'm writing a book," he says. "I'll be writing a book and I'll be going, 'Oh my God, this is total crap. I was so good before. What happened to me?' And then five minutes later, I'll go, 'This book I'm writing now is sheer genius. The old books are no good, and someone's going to read an old book and never give this work of Shakespearean proportions a chance!' That sort of thing will go through your head, changing every five minutes…. I think when you start to even out, when you're not so all over the place, is probably when you're becoming that author that's beginning to phone it in."

Coben's path to success was anything but rapid. Instead, he built a dedicated audience, and grew it year by year, book by book, until eventually he became a blockbuster bestselling author. He points out that his first New York Times bestseller was actually his 10th book. This slow burn success is something that, in retrospect, he's grateful for. He says that a lot of authors who experience success early struggle to sustain it.

"Are there authors who hit [the bestseller list] with the first book? Yeah. Of course," he tells Power. "In a way, I almost feel bad for them because a lot of them can't maintain it. When you hit a New York Times bestseller list, or you start making it as a writer, it messes with your head. And that's why you see a lot of them don't repeat it."

He adds that his approach to his career has been one of "incremental ambition." 

"All I dreamed about was to one day have a book published," he says. "I didn't care if anybody bought it. I [didn't] care if anything sold. I just wanted to walk past a store and have my book published. And then it was like, 'OK. Two books. Just to show it wasn't a fluke.' Let me have two books. OK, let's just see if I can scratch out enough money so I'm not embarrassing myself, so it doesn't just look like a hobby."

Eventually, he says, he set a goal of making it to the top of the bestseller list — and he did. And this philosophy of "incremental ambition" might be his biggest recommendation for aspiring novelists.

"I recommend this incremental ambition. I recommend not getting discouraged," he says. "If you like what you're doing, and you think you're good at it, keep going."

The full interview with Harlan Coben is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Harlan Coben produced by Ben Edwards.