Comments on: Making a bestseller

By: Kevin A. Lewis

Kevin A. Lewis — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 19:49:54 +0000

Try this acid test: (which I use for all my stuff-if if doesn’t pass, into the recylatron it goes) open the book to any random page; if, notwithstanding your cluelessness of what’s gone before the action/dialogue/story ON THAT Page doesn’t grab your interest and make you want to keep reading, well, try,try, again. If it fails 3 tries running, let the next sound be of your own fleeing feet. Even so, I’m all for publisher push, even if a lot of it is for holiday fool’s gold.

By: Meredith Whitford

Meredith Whitford — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 06:14:38 +0000

After reading some of the hype about \\”The Widow\\” I got a sample on my Kindle. It didn\\’t grab me at all; in fact I thought it amateurish and boring. But as the buzz went on I wondered if I\\’d missed something about the book, perhaps had only skim-read the sample. To my regret, I finally bought the book. I found it without merit, and certainly unable to hold its own with real \\”psychological thrillers\\”. (Compare, e.g., to Michael Robotham.) In fact I can\\’t remember a single thing about it, not a thing. I also found \\”Girl on a Train\\” so boring and trite I couldn\\’t read more than a few chapters, and \\”Gone Girl\\” was terrible. I\\’ve been caught before by publisher-led hype, and the only comfort is that word-of-mouth often kills off these allegedly great books.

By: Jane Dystel

Jane Dystel — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 01:38:18 +0000

They don’t have the resources.

By: GH Eckel

GH Eckel — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 22:03:14 +0000

Why don’t publishers “manufacture” success for every novel they publish?

By: Jane Dystel

Jane Dystel — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 20:38:20 +0000

I believe it was, yes.

By: David Kazzie

David Kazzie — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 17:45:07 +0000

I had never heard of this book (I LET YOU GO) until earlier this morning, when a friend posted about it on Facebook, singing its praises. Weird.

By: Stephen Kozeniewski

Stephen Kozeniewski — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 15:31:18 +0000

Wasn’t GIRL ON THE TRAIN also a “manufactured” bestseller?

By: Kevin A. Lewis

Kevin A. Lewis — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 18:29:43 +0000

Buzz is like the classic good news/bad news phenomenon: It can be influenced, like blowing on a fire to make it grow, but if the wind shifts, all you’ve got is a faceful of smoke. I’m actually a fan of left-field bestsellers that come out of nowhere, thereby proving that most buzz arises from the readers-something a lot of handlers in this field tend to lose sight of. I most definitely was not a fan of BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY a few years back, but I got no end of fun out of watching the Conventional Wisdom crowd rave and throw furniture because it burned straight to the bestseller list. Also, virtually nobody on the grownup end ever expected the Lemony Snicket series to take off; the Edward Gorey-ish weirdness of the whole thing was just something they’d forgotten how to deal with, (if they ever did) although they lost no time trying to knock the idea off once it got airborne. 90% of this game is, and always will be, getting actual merchandise into the hands of Interested Parties and making them glad you did. Still very much an experimental science, admittedly………………

By: GH Eckel

GH Eckel — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 08:33:23 +0000

1. I’m amazed that a publishing house can create a buzz that would make a novel a bestseller. 2. I’m amazed a publishing house wouldn’t do that for every novel they publish.

I completely sympathize with your sense of foul play that the good book should be the bestseller instead of the bad one. When I run across such a book, first, I wonder what is wrong with me that I love a novel that no one else loves. Then, I wonder what’s wrong with everyone else who doesn’t love the novel. LOL. Subjectivity is absolutely maddening and we’re not left with much else. When I find novels I love, like The Fault in Our Stars or Eleanor & Park given 1 star by reviewers, I realize how dumb, er, I mean, diverse all of us are. But am I still surprised that novels I don’t like become bestsellers? Every time. Am I surprised that awful movies get made? Every time. The one thing those bestsellers and movies have in common is that someone at some time thought their publication was a good idea. And unless we figure out how to tap into the collective unconscious, I guess that’s the best we have to go on.

By: Jane Dystel

Jane Dystel — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 01:51:56 +0000

You make an interesting point and I think you might well be correct in many cases.