David Baldacci crashed upon the publishing world in 1996 with the success of his first novel, Absolute Power, which was later made into a gripping movie. He has now written 11 other novels as well as seven screenplays and agreed to an email interview as part of promotions for his latest book, The Collectors, which comes out in mid-October.

With the possible exception of Michael Connelly, Baldacci is the most widely-read author I have interviewed, so I took the opportunity to ask him some questions about any problems resulting from being a best-selling author.

Scott Butki: How did you come up with the idea for this book? Do you consider it one of your best?

David Baldacci: I've long been interested in doing a story set at the Library of Congress, and in particular the rare books reading room, which is not very well known, despite being the repository for the literary treasures of this country.

The Camel Club was a unique vehicle to tell this story, especially since one of the characters, Caleb Shaw, works in the reading room. I do think it's one of my best because it combines an original story with great characters, an unpredictable ending, humor, excitement and you even learn something in the bargain. What more can a reader hope for?

SB: What's your writing regimen? Do you write every day?

DB: I don't write every day nor do I have a "words per day" goal. That is just too artificial. I think about what I'm going to write every day. I'm not happy unless there're plot ideas swirling around in my mind. I also spend a lot of time researching and interviewing people for the books.

SB: Most people I interview are not as well known as you. So I'd like to ask a few questions about that. Are there different pressures you face as a best-selling writer, such as a push to crank out another bestseller?

DB: It's not pressure to crank out another bestseller, at least it's not for me. It's about the challenges of not covering the same ground, not becoming formulaic, not becoming a book factory where you lose the original drive and motivation and love of writing that got you here in the first place. Success can be crippling and limiting, sort of give your readers what they've come to expect. I fight very hard against that.