Nora Roberts recalls the first time her books made the New York Times bestseller list

In an undated article appearing in the Novelists Inc. Ninc Newsletter entitled "My First Time," Catherine Coulter provides a summary of many writers' responses to their first appearances on the New York Times Bestseller List. Coulter includes Nora Roberts among the authors discussed.

Roberts' name first appeared in that prestigious publication in 1991 for her novel Genuine Lies. Here is what she had to say about the experience:

I got the call on Thursday morning when I was in the shower. I happen to have a phone in the bathroom, which we call the potty line. I answered it, dripping wet, and heard lots of screaming and excitement on the line.

It was the best time I have had in my bathroom. I remember feeling thrilled and dazzled, but mostly relieved. Thank God that was done. Even if I never hit again, I could have NYTBSA engraved on my tombstone. I'm putting that in my will.

Did any of Coulter's other respondents top Roberts' account of her best bathroom experience?  Virginia Henley came very close. When her novel Seduced made the list in 1994, she literally shouted the news from the rooftops:

When my editor from Dell called she said, 'Are you sitting down?' When I replied in the affirmative she told me I had made the New York Times. I shouted to my husband, 'Quick, get out the ladder!' In spite of bad bronchitis, I climbed to the roof and shouted the news to the world at the top of my voice.

Linda Howard had trouble finding people with whom to celebrate when Dream Man appeared on the list in 1995. Unable to reach anyone by phone to share the news, she spent the day running errands instead:

I was alone, driving around, all day long. To celebrate, I had my Explorer washed.

When I finally got home, the answering machine was full of messages and the phone never stopped ringing for the next ten hours."

Sandra Brown had better luck spreading the news when Mirror Image appeared on the list in 1990. "I was on the phone for about an hour and a half," she explained. "It takes a while to tell the whole world."

Jonathan Kellerman described his astonishment when his first novel, When the Bough Breaks, made the list. "The entire process of 'making the list' and staying there for a few weeks was surprising . . . and surreal," he said. "Looking back, my only explanation is word-of-mouth. People picking the book up and telling their friends. God bless the readers."

Jayne Ann Krentz realized the importance of making the list with Surrender in 1990 when her agent sent her a case of champagne. "An entire case," she emphasized. "No one had ever sent me an entire case of anything before in my life. Right away I figured out that hitting the NYT was a GOOD THING."

Phillip Margolin had trouble convincing himself that he actually had made the list with Gone, But Not Forgotten in 1993. Even seeing his name in print didn't help:

I remember thinking that it looked like a spoof of the Times list. There was John Grisham, Stephen King, Danielle Steel and, as a joke, one of my friends had gotten a printer to insert my name. To tell the truth, it still feels that way every time I see one of my books on the list.

Steve Martini had given up hope that Compelling Evidence would make the list in 1992 when his agent called to inform him that it had done so. "It was like a prisoner getting a reprieve from the gas chamber," Martini commented. "We had a big celebration and I didn't even mind paying for all my friends who came out to dinner."

Like the other writers included in Coulter's article, Nora Roberts' name has since appeared many more times on the New York Times list. However, as Coulter points out, nothing ever replaces the first experience. "There are certain moments in our lives that we will never ever forget until we pass on to the hereafter, moments so sharp they're like photographs that will never fade," writes Coulter. "Making the New York Times Bestseller List for the first time is one of them."