The kind of books that sell, and manage to still sell, are books that communicate timeless truths in a universal way.

No author wants a flash in the pan kind of book.

They want a book that gets better with time – a Perennial Seller.

This is the desire for blog posts too, actually.

Bad books sell; people have bad taste. Bad books don’t sell; people prefer great books. Great books sell; after all, they are great. Great books don’t sell; they are too great to be understood. Great books sell only after their authors die. We’re comfortable with all of these clichés even though they can’t logically coexist.

-Sarah Manguso, 300 Arguments (Amazon)

Literary taste is subjective, after all.

But I think the issue here is literary time – because my grandfather was the same way.

The simple fact is that for most of human history, few people had the time and luxury to even consider literary things.

My grandfather worked so hard for so long that outside his prominently displayed Louis L’amour collection, he read very little.

I do vividly remember looking at saddles with him…

How I came to acquire literary taste at all remains a mystery to me. My parents were indifferent to books, and, indeed, to taste itself, although my father might admire a fine saddle. But taste of a broader sort would have fallen very low in their catalogue of values.

-Larry McMurtry, Literary Life (Amazon)