Lately I’ve been reading through a lot of a course in miracles, some good, some less so. And I’ve been looking at a lot of books that are absolute winners when it comes to the best-seller lists. These are the books being held high by publishers, books stores owners and authors as winners for them.
What I wanted to do was take a look at these real winners and find out what they had that the other books didn’t have. And what I found out was more than a little surprising. In fact, it might change the way you think about writing your book.
So, without further delay, here are some insights and what your book absolutely MUST have if it’s going to succeed…
What I’d love to say is that the number one indicator of whether a book will be a success is the writing ability of the author. That’s for fiction. For non-fiction, I’d love to say that the number one indicator of whether that kind of book will be successful is the originality of the information offered to the reader.
I’d love to say that. I really would. But that’s just not what I found. I found a lot of best-selling books that, well, either weren’t that well written (especially the non-blockbusters) and a lot of the non-fiction books touted by loads of people to be, well, not that informative. Sort of the same old stuff but told with a new song and dance, or with a sprinkling of new technology.
Ironically, I found a boatload of books (usually in the remainder bin) that really sparkled if they were telling a story-some were pure poetry. Or they give real insight and innovative strategies to the world of how-to.
In short, if you think content or creative ability is what will rocket your book to the top of the charts, that’s simply not the case. Mind you, it doesn’t hurt. But it isn’t the panacea that will turn your writing attempt into a literary retirement plan for both you and your family for generations to come.
Then, of course, we have the problem of one man’s trash and another man’s treasure. What one person declares is outstanding writing is another person’s basis for satire, sarcasm and sadness. No matter how good you (or your publisher) think you are, not everyone is going to agree. Luckily, no matter how bad you (or your prospective publisher) think you are, not everyone is going to agree with that, either
