The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories from Authors and the Editors, Agents, and Booksellers Behind Them

In The Making of a Bestseller, authors Brian Hill and Dee Power reveal the secrets of the highest levels of publishing. They achieve this notable goal by asking those who occupy those dizzying heights questions designed to probe the mysterious mechanisms that propel books to the bestseller lists. To dig this information out they interview bestselling authors, agents, editors, booksellers; in short every one who plays a part in the process of creating books that fly off the shelves. The insight they provide, along with Hill and Power's fun and entertaining writing style, makes this book a must read for anyone curious about what it takes to make a bestseller. I highly recommend this book.

The collaboration of Brian Hill and Dee Power, The Making Of A Bestseller: Success Stories From Authors And The Editors, Agents, And Booksellers Behind Them answers the fundamental question of why certain authors seem to be able to have what they write consistently end up on best seller lists. Readers will learn how literary agents affect the publishing process, how good and bad reviews affect sales, what the role of the bookseller is with respect to a book's success or failure in the marketplace, the importance of marketing and publicity in determining a books impact upon the reading public. The Making Of A Bestseller reveals just how more than fifty best-selling authors approach the craft of writing and marketing their books in ways that aspiring authors can emulate with their own works. If you want to be a professional author whose books are commercially successful, then give a very careful and considerate study to The Making Of A Bestseller.

In preparing their book The Making of a Bestseller Brian Hill and Dee Power interviewed more than fifty authors, agents, editors, booksellers, and assorted publishing industry experts on the subject of bestsellers--how books attain that status, what it costs an author to remain on the bestseller lists, what role various parties play in the creation of a best-selling book. The responses Hill and Power received form the backbone of their book, in which interview snippets are arranged thematically and interspersed with explanatory or introductory narrative. The book's eighteen chapters are divided into three broad sections--The Bestseller, Publishing, and The Author. The topics covered are too numerous to mention here, but the authors have included discussions of, for example, the various best-selling lists and how they are compiled; the importance--or not--of print reviews to a book's success; the influence of agents and editors on a manuscript; how booksellers select the titles they stock; and the process of adapting bestsellers for the screen. The Making of a Bestseller is well written and clearly organized, and it is chock full of information about how the publishing industry works. Its authors, in interviewing so many subjects from throughout the publishing world, show readers a cross-section of the industry with its various strata, from author to bookseller, laid bare. The book should be of interest to would-be authors looking to scale the heights of bestsellerdom themselves as well as to industry insiders. Fans of the authors interviewed--among them Dan Brown, Peter Straub, Barbara Taylor Bradford, and Nicholas Sparks--may also be interested in this behind-the-scenes look at their favorite books. Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece

Here's a book that can really deliver. You have questions? They have answers. Brian Hill and Dee Power interview over fifty authorities to give us an in-depth and close-up look into the complex publishing world of best selling books. In an easy to read format, we receive our information by way of informal interview. Authors, editors, agents, and booksellers explain what it takes and how it works. Candid tips and tidbits reveal the steps to success with personal stories that punctuate the enormous difficulty and ultimate reward of perseverance. More than worth the cover price, "The Making Of A Bestseller" is a must read for anyone interested or invested in learning more about this industry. Excellent.

I was pleasantly surprised to find so much information packed into this book. Readers learn how the best seller lists are compiled, how (sadly) few new titles rise to the top each year, what factors make a best seller and what agents and editors are looking for. The interviews with industry pros and successful authors are insightful and this book not only prompts questions, but comes through and delivers ANSWERS. A great insight into the publishing industry for writers or anyone interested in how the book industry operates.