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Rating:  -
The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories from Authors and the Editors, Agents, and Booksellers Behind Them by Brian Hill and Dee Power is an unusual book. The "authors" of the book basically sent out email or fax interview questions to folks in the book business to get their opinion on a variety of topics, all to answer the basic question how a book becomes a bestseller. While on the surface this sounds like a good idea, reading this book was something of a chore.
The book has plenty of useful information, but there's also a whole lot of blather. The chore comes in wading through the blather to get to the kernels of good insider information, but they are there. One idea that I picked up today could easily pay for the book several times over.
The book is geared more towards published or to-be published authors, "the making" here referring not to the actual creation of the book, but all the behind the scenes efforts and promotional tactics that can help to sell more copies of a book. Because there are a mix of folks from different stages in their careers and different roles within publishing, the advice of every interviewee will not apply to everyone.
There's plenty of food for thought here, but it's of the watermelon variety, with every bite of tasty fruit you'll also get a few inedible seeds.
Rating:  -
As the unpublished auhor of two novels I have read dozens of books about writing and publishing. Most either regurgitate tiresome old addages ( write everyday; use rejection as a motivator) or worse are filled with false hope and flowery descriptions of how to raise your craft to the level of great literature (usually written by other frustrated authors who have either not been able to publish fiction or who have published but not sold well).
This book is written witht he insight of two seasoned veterans of the publishing business who share their experience and knowledge with anyone willing to read. We learn about the ins and outs of the best seller list and are given a strong dose of realism about our chances af making the list or of getting published in the first place. Realistic but not discouraging the authors are carefully temper our enthusiasm so that we an absorb the information in a way that we can make useful.
In the end this book gives many clues to how to be the excption and crack the best seller list while preparing us for the long road that we must travel to have a chance. Write a good book and be persistant in our efforts in getting published are the themes that stand out the most after reading this book and if we as writers do that then we should be satisfied in our efforts regardless of our comercial success
Rating: -
"The Making of a Bestseller" is like getting a front row seat in a panel interview with various bestselling writers, their editors and agents, and a few publishers. Newbies get great insight about how the publishing industry operates. The best parts of this book are, to me, the reflections shared by authors about their experience when they "made it big." In a lot of ways, "The Making of a Bestseller" responds to those who are curious about what it's like to be in the heart of the action.
Given the cover price of "The Making of A Bestseller," however, I was expecting more than just pearls of wisdom. The title gave me the impression that the book would reveal the process, the specific strategies used by publishers in the packaging and marketing of a particular bestselling book. Or, at least, practical knowledge one would need to navigate the industry. Yes, one would be able to spot a tip here and a gem of advice there, but it's not the true focus of the book.
So the three stars is really about the cover price vis-a-vis its contents. The information the book holds is top quality, but not enough to justify the expense.
Rating: -
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.
Rating: -
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.
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