What Gets A Book To The Top Of The Bestseller List?
The business of books is big business with 172,000 new titles released in 2005 and sales in the United States of about $40 billion. But what makes a book successful? Are there any common characteristics that can spur on sales? As part of the research for “The Making of a Bestseller” Dee Power and Brian Hill, the authors, surveyed over 100 editors and agents to answer those questions.
*Previous Success is the Key Indicator of Future Success *
Editors and agents are in agreement that an authors previous bestselling book is the key factor in determining future success.
*Quality of Writing is Paramount*
For writers yet to produce a bestseller, comfort can be taken in that both agents and editors rank quality of writing highly. Great writing wins out. However, there are no hard and fast criteria about what constitutes great writing. It comes down to subjective judgments made by individuals. Book reviewers may argue that a successful book by the very virtue of its sale’s success can not be considered great writing.
*Reviews, Whether Good or Bad, Dont Count*
And...