What Do Writers Owe Readers? ‹ Literary Hub

But does buying a writer's book mean you have purchased an open ticket to further interaction with her? Not to go too far out on a ledge, but isn't this the same sort of thing Stephen King was writing about in Misery? George R. R. Martin had to write a manifesto begging his "detractors" to lay off after getting one too many angry emails objecting to him spending time on anything other than Game of Thrones. He ends by asking if it's "okay if I take a leak once in a while?" Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, recently asked, among other things, for readers to respect that writers have needs too. "Without readers, writers would have no context; no audience; no voice," Harris writes. "But that doesn't mean we're employees, writing books to order."