Can you write a bestselling book on the first try? The odds are naturally against your duplicating the success of a Jaws, The Godfather, or Thorn Birds, but let's be clear about it.
It can be done.
Just don't count on it.
Jacqueline Susann turned out at least a mini bestseller on her first try.
The book about her dog was Every Night, Josephine.
It was a worthy first effort and hinted at better things to come.
The important thing was that author Jackie kept writing, in between her acting and modeling assignments.
She decided that she knew the world of television, movies, and Madison Avenue advertising well, certainly far better than most.
She had a clear knowledge of how the people of these worlds lived and what their lives behind the scenes were really like..
One day Jackie sat down and started a book that was destined to make publishing history--Valley of the Dolls.
By the spring of that year, 1969, her book had sold about ten million copies in paperback.
The paperback reprint rights were sold to Bantam for $125,000.
Years later sales eventually passed 25 million copies.
Jackie worked hard on her books.
She believed that bestsellers require more than a few months of work.
She spent two years on Valley of the Dolls and more years turning out Once Is Not Enough, The Love Machine, and Dolores.
So look at it this way.
You have the chance to produce a bestseller on your very first try.
If you fall short of your goal, you may well have at least a mini best seller.
If not, then your first book--however many copies it sells--can pave the way for a bestseller on your second or third try.
I think Jackie Susann is an inspiring example of an author because she took her writing seriously.
She believed that a bestseller takes time, and that does not mean a few months.
I want to be quick here to 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: 1.
Not many really good books are published each year generally speaking.
2.
A bestseller can cover any one of a variety of subjects.
3.
Being older will never prevent authors from turning out bestsellers.
Many bestsellers have been written by people over fifty, the sixties, and beyond.
Ladies of the Club, an enormous bestseller, was written by a woman in a nursing home in her nineties.
She wrote her book very slowly over a number of decades and lived to see it become a huge bestseller and make publishing history.
4.
Imaginative publicity and promotion are often what turn a book into a bestseller.
Subjects for Bestsellers Bestselling books have been written on a variety of subjects including (just to name a few) cooking, sex, all kinds of physical fitness topics, the pursuit of happiness, money-making, investments, the business world, godfathers, family sagas, romances, and many others.
One good example of a bestseller is a book that was called Jogging.
In only four short months, the book sold 275,000 copies.
The fact that jogging had become a national craze and hot subject (at that time) added a great deal of extra appeal to the book.
The point here is that timing for a book can be very important.
The JOGGING book shows that picking the right subject can give your book a stronger chance to become a bestseller.
You can learn to be clever at choosing subjects for your books.
When The Complete Book of Running came out, the author, James Fixx, a daily runner himself, thought it would sell about 30,000 copies.
The timing could not have been more perfect with the increasing popularity of jogging.
When James got his first royalty check for his book he could not believe it and was not sure his bank would.
His first royalty check was $750,000.
Remember this.
That was an exceptional lucky story for one author, but I think it reveals how fortunate the time a book comes out can be.
If the book subject happens to be in the national, or international spotlight, the author may well hit the jackpot.
So keep the above information in mind and simply be assured that a bestseller can be written on the first try.
The odds may be against it, but some new authors have hit real home runs on their first times at bat.
Maybe you, a relative, or friend will actually do it too, but you have to write the book first.
May these truths about writing a bestseller inspire you to step up to the publishing plate and knock the ball out of the park.
Go for it.
by L.
Perry Wilbur
It can be done.
Just don't count on it.
Jacqueline Susann turned out at least a mini bestseller on her first try.
The book about her dog was Every Night, Josephine.
It was a worthy first effort and hinted at better things to come.
The important thing was that author Jackie kept writing, in between her acting and modeling assignments.
She decided that she knew the world of television, movies, and Madison Avenue advertising well, certainly far better than most.
She had a clear knowledge of how the people of these worlds lived and what their lives behind the scenes were really like..
One day Jackie sat down and started a book that was destined to make publishing history--Valley of the Dolls.
By the spring of that year, 1969, her book had sold about ten million copies in paperback.
The paperback reprint rights were sold to Bantam for $125,000.
Years later sales eventually passed 25 million copies.
Jackie worked hard on her books.
She believed that bestsellers require more than a few months of work.
She spent two years on Valley of the Dolls and more years turning out Once Is Not Enough, The Love Machine, and Dolores.
So look at it this way.
You have the chance to produce a bestseller on your very first try.
If you fall short of your goal, you may well have at least a mini best seller.
If not, then your first book--however many copies it sells--can pave the way for a bestseller on your second or third try.
I think Jackie Susann is an inspiring example of an author because she took her writing seriously.
She believed that a bestseller takes time, and that does not mean a few months.
I want to be quick here to 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: 1.
Not many really good books are published each year generally speaking.
2.
A bestseller can cover any one of a variety of subjects.
3.
Being older will never prevent authors from turning out bestsellers.
Many bestsellers have been written by people over fifty, the sixties, and beyond.
Ladies of the Club, an enormous bestseller, was written by a woman in a nursing home in her nineties.
She wrote her book very slowly over a number of decades and lived to see it become a huge bestseller and make publishing history.
4.
Imaginative publicity and promotion are often what turn a book into a bestseller.
Subjects for Bestsellers Bestselling books have been written on a variety of subjects including (just to name a few) cooking, sex, all kinds of physical fitness topics, the pursuit of happiness, money-making, investments, the business world, godfathers, family sagas, romances, and many others.
One good example of a bestseller is a book that was called Jogging.
In only four short months, the book sold 275,000 copies.
The fact that jogging had become a national craze and hot subject (at that time) added a great deal of extra appeal to the book.
The point here is that timing for a book can be very important.
The JOGGING book shows that picking the right subject can give your book a stronger chance to become a bestseller.
You can learn to be clever at choosing subjects for your books.
When The Complete Book of Running came out, the author, James Fixx, a daily runner himself, thought it would sell about 30,000 copies.
The timing could not have been more perfect with the increasing popularity of jogging.
When James got his first royalty check for his book he could not believe it and was not sure his bank would.
His first royalty check was $750,000.
Remember this.
That was an exceptional lucky story for one author, but I think it reveals how fortunate the time a book comes out can be.
If the book subject happens to be in the national, or international spotlight, the author may well hit the jackpot.
So keep the above information in mind and simply be assured that a bestseller can be written on the first try.
The odds may be against it, but some new authors have hit real home runs on their first times at bat.
Maybe you, a relative, or friend will actually do it too, but you have to write the book first.
May these truths about writing a bestseller inspire you to step up to the publishing plate and knock the ball out of the park.
Go for it.
by L.
Perry Wilbur
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