Recently a contributor to Askville by Amazon posed the question, "Who is the most overrated 'popular' novelist of the 20th century?" The top answers included Stephen King ("extremely formulaic and predictable"), Nicholas Sparks ("sheer ineptitude"), John Grisham ("unable to write a remotely elegant sentence"), JK Rowling ("her books all seem to be similar") and John Steinbeck ("very dull stories").
What is so striking about this list is that these writers are not just popular; the works they have created are unbelievably high-grossing, widely read, enduring stories that are referenced everywhere. How many times have you heard that a legal predicament was "like a Grisham novel"? Or that a dark house at night was so scary it would scare the bejeezes out of Stephen King? And didn't we all have to read and respect at least one Steinbeck novel in grade school?
There are worse things than being labeled "overrated". Like being unknown, in a state in which no one will over- or underrate you. For every detractor of these household names there are millions of fans. These writers probably do/did not sweat the critics.
Don't let fear of appearing overrated keep you from sharing your art. Don't worry over the possibility that one day you will have become so successful with The People that you won't appear to be a true artist anymore, that all the beauty and poignancy you once had will seem to have been washed out in the face of fame and glory. Don't fret over what the spotlight might do to you before you're in it!
Just write to us, your audience. If it means something to you, you never know what it may mean to us.
Sometimes the stigma of being overrated is no stigma at all. It's just jealousy, or bitterness, or simply an opinion with all the weight of a grain of sand. Remember that getting discovered is about connecting with your audience.
And that nothing else matters.
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