More than 3,500 hardcover novels are published each year. Even the most avid reader buys fewer than one a week.

Is there a secret? Yes. Anaïs Nin and Pauline Réage and Anne Rampling and Erica Jong all knew it. E. L. James knows it. It is the secret behind all of our writing. And our reading. Arousal starts in the mind. And grows in the mind. The brain is the most erogenous zone in a woman’s body. That is our secret. And it is what we share.

There's no one thing you can do to have success, but if you have a plan and you keep doing things, you'll eventually build to a success.

Keep in mind that television, magazines, movies, and even newspapers rarely show images of average-shaped bodies.

As Oedipus learned, the more you run away from what is predetermined the more you run toward it.

Perfume is magic. It's mystery. We recreate the smell of a flower. Of wood. Of grass. We capture the essence of life. Liquefy it. We store memories. We make dreams.

What we do is a wonder, an art, and we have a responsibility to do it well.