Last year I saw Sara Gruen speak at a Book Expo about her novel Water for Elephants. I remember how she described forcing herself to overcome procrastination to write the book. She put a desk in a closet, put on earphones to block noise, and then just sat there until she got the thing written. That impressed me so much it helped me to focus more on my own novel.

Well, the NYTimes is reporting that Gruen’s novel is outselling everybody–even the Oprah picks.

Despite the presence of not one but two Oprah Winfrey selections in bookstores, it is a sleeper hit from last year that has muscled its way to being a big paperback read this summer.

The continuing success of “Water for Elephants,” a novel by Sara Gruen, is helping Spiegel & Grau, the author’s new publisher, rationalize its decision in November to pay more than $5 million for Ms. Gruen’s next two books.

Very cool. What every novelist dreams for.