I had an interesting conversation with Anthony Neil Smith yesterday. Short, but interesting *. He got me thinking, what makes a best-seller a best-seller? Is there some kind of alchemy, a formula that makes a book sell? How do you get your novel on the shelves of a Hudson News? To me, it's the ultimate sign of success when your novel is sold in a shelf stuck in between a pile of People magazine and a fridge full of Gatorade and Doctor Pepper. It's not a sign of quality, but of success...yeah. Your novel, elevated to the status of commodity, what writers doesn't dream of that at least once? When I flied for my Argentina/Uruguay trip last October, I had this killer layover in JFK Airport. Seven hours. I freaked out because in both of the terminals we were in, there were more Hudson News' stands than actual bathrooms **. It can't be that hard. Dennis Lehane sells a shitload of books, so it must be possible to keep your integrity and sell enough to feed yourself (and subsequent children).
I'm not so convinced the answer lies in the content. The more I know about the publishing industry, the least I believe that. I mean to a certain degree it is, a shitty story and unlikeable characters won't get you anywhere, BUT I think people love what they are told to love. Call me a cynical bastard if you want, but think about it. I don't even escape that. If I'm being marketed a novel correctly (a writer, in my case), I will check him out and actively LOOK for the positive elements of his fiction. Let's be shallow for a second and break down the latest New York Times Best-Seller List, a list I haven't read a single book from. At least the sections I know a little something about.
1. THE SIXTH MAN, by David Baldacci
2. THE LAND OF THE PAINTED CAVES, by Jean M. Auel
3. THE FIFTH WITNESS, by Michael Connelly
4. CHASING FIRE, by Nora Roberts
5. I'LL WALK ALONE, by Mary Higgins Clark
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. BOSSYPANTS, by Tina Fey
2. UNBROKEN, by Laura Hillenbrand
3. LIBERTY DEFINED, by Ron Paul
4. SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY, selected and introduced by Caroline Kennedy
5. I'M OVER ALL THAT, by Shirley MacLaine
It's pretty self-explanatory here. People who pay good money for a hardcover want some bang for their buck.They want a name, some insurance policy that what they are going to like what they buy. It's very much the case for me. The only hardcover I bought in 2010 was Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane, which I knew I would like. I even turned from the temptation of reading über-hot Freedom, reading Strong Motion and The Corrections instead, waiting for the paperback. It's going to hit the shelves in September and Freedom might just be my next Holidays read.
PAPERBACK TRADE FICTION
1. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, by Sara Gruen
2. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett
3. THE 9TH JUDGMENT, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
4. A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD, by Jennifer Egan
5. CUTTING FOR STONE, by Abraham Verghese
PAPERBACK MASS-MARKET FICTION
1. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, by Sara Gruen
2. THE SEARCH, by Nora Roberts
3. A GAME OF THRONES, by George R. R. Martin
4. SOMETHING BORROWED, by Emily Giffin
5. CHASING THE NIGHT, by Iris Johansen
This is more interesting. Some of those titles are powered up there by powerful outside factors.Sara Gruen *** is sitting on top of the charts because her novel's adaptation, just hit the big screen and it happens to have Robert Pattinson in it. I am afraid most people that read her book right now are looking for another cheap Pattinson fantasy more than for a good story. George R.R Martin is he king of HBO right now and will most likely be for many years to come. Jennifer Egan just won the Pulitzer (which I think launched her back up there). James Patterson and Nora Roberts are two writers who crafted their way up there. Patterson by flooding the books stores with his name in big, puffy, glowing letters and Roberts by doing what she does best, romance. Kathryn Stockett, Abraham Verghese, Emily Griffin and Iris Johansen might have a piece of the puzzle as to explain how do you get to build a best-seller.
This is food for thoughts. The New York Times Best-Seller list (at least this week) seems like a pretty democratic place to me. The Oprah club style books sure have their piece of it, but it's comforting to see the names of writers I don't even know up there. Oh well, I have some reading to do ****.
HARDCOVER FICTION
1. THE SIXTH MAN, by David Baldacci
2. THE LAND OF THE PAINTED CAVES, by Jean M. Auel
3. THE FIFTH WITNESS, by Michael Connelly
4. CHASING FIRE, by Nora Roberts
5. I'LL WALK ALONE, by Mary Higgins Clark
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. BOSSYPANTS, by Tina Fey
2. UNBROKEN, by Laura Hillenbrand
3. LIBERTY DEFINED, by Ron Paul
4. SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY, selected and introduced by Caroline Kennedy
5. I'M OVER ALL THAT, by Shirley MacLaine
It's pretty self-explanatory here. People who pay good money for a hardcover want some bang for their buck.They want a name, some insurance policy that what they are going to like what they buy. It's very much the case for me. The only hardcover I bought in 2010 was Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane, which I knew I would like. I even turned from the temptation of reading über-hot Freedom, reading Strong Motion and The Corrections instead, waiting for the paperback. It's going to hit the shelves in September and Freedom might just be my next Holidays read.
PAPERBACK TRADE FICTION
1. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, by Sara Gruen
2. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett
3. THE 9TH JUDGMENT, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
4. A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD, by Jennifer Egan
5. CUTTING FOR STONE, by Abraham Verghese
PAPERBACK MASS-MARKET FICTION
1. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, by Sara Gruen
2. THE SEARCH, by Nora Roberts
3. A GAME OF THRONES, by George R. R. Martin
4. SOMETHING BORROWED, by Emily Giffin
5. CHASING THE NIGHT, by Iris Johansen
This is more interesting. Some of those titles are powered up there by powerful outside factors.Sara Gruen *** is sitting on top of the charts because her novel's adaptation, just hit the big screen and it happens to have Robert Pattinson in it. I am afraid most people that read her book right now are looking for another cheap Pattinson fantasy more than for a good story. George R.R Martin is he king of HBO right now and will most likely be for many years to come. Jennifer Egan just won the Pulitzer (which I think launched her back up there). James Patterson and Nora Roberts are two writers who crafted their way up there. Patterson by flooding the books stores with his name in big, puffy, glowing letters and Roberts by doing what she does best, romance. Kathryn Stockett, Abraham Verghese, Emily Griffin and Iris Johansen might have a piece of the puzzle as to explain how do you get to build a best-seller.
This is food for thoughts. The New York Times Best-Seller list (at least this week) seems like a pretty democratic place to me. The Oprah club style books sure have their piece of it, but it's comforting to see the names of writers I don't even know up there. Oh well, I have some reading to do ****.
* Everything is short on Twitter
** Terminal eight (5:4), Terminal four (3:2)
*** Otherwise known as the only writer who ever accomplished anything during NaNoWriMo
**** The story of my life. Really, I should get that phrase tattooed on my chest.
3 comments:
I actually took a class in college called The Modern Bestseller (it's where I read Mystic River). I sadly wish I could remember more of the class but we read a lot of crime fiction. It seemed like the modern bestseller stories almost followed the same path of an urban legend: people read stories about things that scared them. Or perhaps it just seemed that way because that was what the class syllabus focused on.
I like that you looked at the difference between hardback & paperback. It's interesting to see how the choices differ depending essentially on cost.
If you're interested in the idea of a formula for a bestseller, I highly recommended How I Became a Famous Novelist. If there were a formula, this book outlines it, then makes fun of it.
Yes, there is a lot of importance placed on marketing a book. For example, I went to a conference recently where there was quite a bit of dicussion just on the cover art and how essential that is to a book's success.
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