The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories from Authors and the Editors, Agents, and Booksellers Behind Them
By Brian Hill, Dee Power
Product Description
According to Bowker, there are over 150,000 books published in the U.S. every year. Less than 1 percent of the books published make the bestseller list. People are fascinated by bestselling authors who have become every bit as much celebrities as rock musicians or film stars. Through some mysterious process, these individuals take blank pages and turn them into gold. And many authors do this over and over again. For authors, earning a spot on the bestseller list is the grand, often elusive prize at the end of many years of work. But what makes a bestseller happen? Brian Hill and Dee Power interviewed over 50 successful authors, publishers, editors, agents, book reviewers, and other experts to find the answer. The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories from Authors and the Editors, Agents, and Booksellers Behind Them presents a comprehensive look at the publishing process from start to finish. Authors and would-be authors, individuals in the publishing industry, and passionate readers will learn:
* How bestselling authors approach the craft of writing and marketing their books.
* The many different paths authors take to the top of the list.
* The impact a first bestseller makes on an author's life.
* The workings of the selection process, from the query letter to the decision to publish.
* How publishers know a book has bestseller potential.
* The agent's role in helping create a bestseller.
* Factors and events that influence whether a book makes the bestseller list, including TV "reading book clubs," the review process, publicity, marketing programs, and timing.
* How Hollywood impacts the reading public. To provide a broad spectrum of experience, interviews are included with authors of nonfiction and fiction, as well as first-time novelists to serial bestsellers. In addition, avid readers will find fascinating stories behind some of their favorite authors' works.
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Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #403134 in Books
Published on: 2005-03-01
Released on: 2005-03-01
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
272 pages
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
As publishing industry insiders know, there is no way to guarantee a book will be a bestseller. Sometimes a sleeper hits the lists; other times a book, despite being flogged to death, never moves many copies. Nevertheless, it is possible to study how books have become bestsellers in the past and try to learn from them. Hill and Power, founders of the research and consulting firm Power Dynamics Inc., have interviewed a score of people involved in making bestsellers, from the authors to the editors and, last in the chain of reaching the consumer, booksellers. The authors offer a serious look at the business of publishing and how its components must work together to produce a bestseller. Frustratingly, what they don't offer is a complete case history; they never follow any one book from idea to bestseller list. Instead, the book is divided by subject matter, and each chapter consists of short snippets quoting a range of people on the topic under discussion. Publishing industry veterans won't learn much new here, and readers looking for an engrossing account of a bestseller will also be disappointed. So this book is perhaps best directed at newcomers to the industry or aspiring authors who want to know more about how editors make decisions, about the role of the chains, etc. Though filled with quotes from leading publishing people, the text remains a bit dry and textbook-ish.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
"The secret bestseller sauce is made up of this key ingredient--a great book." OK! After budding writers chasing the best-seller dream take care of that pesky detail, they can absorb more carefully the other information offered in this valuable compendium. Unfortunately, much of it is depressing. Literary agencies average about 11 new clients a year. One senior editor says she buys about 1 out of 100 submissions from agents. The book covers such topics as what publishers are looking for; the editor-writer relationship; how bookstores choose stock; the importance of reviews; and the ever-popular debate, commercial versus literary. There are also interviews with writers who have scaled the heights, including Dan Brown and Barbara Bradford Taylor. As a final carrot, big-name writers explain what best-sellers have meant to their lives (money, freedom, and money). With so many hungry writers out there, Hill and Power may have hit on a--dare we say--best-selling topic. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Bookviews, April issue
"run out and get a copy of this book to learn the secrets that people in the trade have shared."
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Customer Reviews
Realistic Insight for Any Would-Be Book Author
Dee Power and Brian Hill have put together a fascinating look at bestselling authors and what it takes. They interview a number of bestselling authors, booksellers and editors about what made the difference for a book to become a bestseller. Here's a few quotes from the book:
"Now we know: The "secret bestseller sauce" is made up of this key ingredient--a great book." p. 88 Then on the next page: "in our survey, agents on average said they accept 2 out of 1,000 submissions. A senior editor with a top publishing house told us she accepts 1 out of 100 submissions that she receives from agents. If we combine the two, it means that there is a 1 out of 50,000 chance of a new book by an unknown author making it from the author's word processor to successfully attracting an agent, and then on to the contract stage with a publisher."
See what I mean about realism into the pages of this book?
Yet the tone is not discouraging but informative and helpful to stimulate would-be authors to excellence in their writing, in their pitches to editors and in their promotion efforts. I learned a great deal from this book and recommend it.
Backstage Pass
Brian and Dee's book is like having a one-on-one conversation with today's top fiction and non-fiction writers.
What questions would you want to ask them?
...How do you stay focused?
...What quality is present in all "good writing"?
...What is the life of an author truly like?
...How did you get into writing?
...Where do you get your ideas?
Chances are good that whatever your question Brian and Dee asked it.
The Making of a Bestseller is a book that you can pick-up, read for a few minutes, and get something out of it. If you want a book that delivers a step-by-step marketing strategy this is not the book for you. However if you want to get a glimpse into the mindset of today's top authors buy this book.
This is a book you'll want to read again and again.
You'll feel like you just had a scintillating dinner conversation with some of the top players in the publishing industry. This book is firmly grounded in reality and offers so much more than a pseudo-"sure-fire formula" for hitting bestseller lists-- it offers real insight into the ways success flourishes. This is a book you'll want to read again and again to glean new pieces of wisdom each time.
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