Jon Samsel

Banish from your mind the idea that one must be a genius to write a bestseller. It just isn’t true. The following realities should encourage you. Get them clear in your mind:

• About 60,000 new books are published now each year. Of this total, the number of really fine books is a great deal smaller
• Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm went through a heated auction for reprint rights
• When James L. Halperin embarked on a writing career, he had no idea that his first novel, The Truth Machine, would go on to become a national science fiction bestseller

Most major publishers are looking for the next mega book and they could care less if the author is experienced or not. The point is that some debut authors are making stunning entrances into the marketplace.

• A bestseller can cover any one of a variety of subjects
• Many terrific books are written by authors over forty and also by authors in their twenties. No one is too young or too old to hit big, providing they create the right book at the right time
• Many top sellers are written in the home of the author but also in hotel rooms, cabins, in cottages by the sea, formal office settings, and even bedrooms with just the mattress as the desk
• Imaginative publicity and promotion are what often boost a book into a star seller. Certainly they help

If you have an appealing, attention-holding story to tell, but you can’t write very well, editors will work with you. Publishing companies are geared to handle this and help an author within reason if they like the story enough. The classic example of this is Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel manuscript, which was over a thousand pages––a sea of words––when he brought it to legendary editor Max Perkins. It was painful for Wolfe to cut his manuscript, but that is exactly what he and Perkins did over a considerable period of time to get the novel published.

Bestseller Realities

A study of authors and novelists reveals that many, including the star names, have to do a lot of writing (usually) before they get that big book. A good example is Barbara Taylor Bradford. Over a six year period, she started four novels but discarded them all after a few hundred pages. She asked herself what she really wanted to write most and decided that it was a book about a girl in Yorkshire, England, who builds a huge business empire.

The result was A Woman of Substance, a very successful book. In Barbara’s view, “A story is only interesting if it’s about people, their tragedies, dramas, their joys.”

Once they have had their first novels published, numerous fiction authors reveal they wrote and experimented on one or more previous novels. Few are lucky enough to sell the first work they finish. A period of time seems to be generally required during which a new author learns the craft. Many publishing veterans refer to this as “paying your dues,” and for most authors who enter the publishing gates this is usually what happens.

In the words again of Barbara Taylor Bradford, “A novel is a monumental lie that has to have the absolute ring of truth if it is to succeed.” To achieve that vital ring of truth takes time. For most authors, it can’t be dashed off in a few months.

Look at it this way. You have the chance to produce a bestseller on your very first try, but it’s usually a slim chance. If you fall short of your goal, you may have at least a mini-bestseller. If not, then your first book, whatever it sells, can pave the way for a best—seller on your second or third effort. Many wise authors are content to simply do all in their power to write the best book they can and don’t even think about the bestseller lists.