The Write Stuff Literacy Campaign

There are books that make a big splash and others that end up a huge thud. What do you think makes a book a bestseller: the author, the marketing or the interest of the reader?

IT'S THE MARKETING

IF SONY CAME OUT WITH A GARBAGE CAN, IT WILL SELL OUT BECAUSE OF ITS PREVIOUS BRANDING OF THE TV. THE INTERESTED READER IS INTERESTED BECAUSE OF WHAT HE/SHE HEARD ABOUT THE BOOK. AND CAN NOT JUDGE IT UNTIL AFTER IT'S READ. MARKETING MAN!!

I agree, it's the marketing.  You could have written the best book in the world, but if it's tucked away on a dusty shelf, where the world doesn't even know it exist, your work will never reach those interested readers and never become the bestseller is was written to be.

I think bestsellers are filled with suspense... Will she or won't she?  Is the medicine going to cure the disease?  Even if a book is on a dusty shelf, if it intrigues someone enough to finish reading it, and the ending is satisfying, they will tell others about it.  Word of mouth is a powerful form of marketing -- but the story has to provide the suspense to propel the reader to the end.