How Do Books Become Bestsellers?
I would like to be able to say that the quality of the book is ALWAYS the most important factor, but sometimes this is not so. Many things can affect the sale of a book; but the most significant can be the reputation and popularity of the author, and the ability of the publisher to market the book. The quality of the book itself is always important, but sometimes a popular author with a
good publisher can put out poor book which will become a
bestseller because people who have enjoyed the authorīs previous books will buy it.
It a fact of marketing that an excellent book by an unknown author will generally not sell as well as a good book by a well-known author. There are of course exceptions. Unknown authors do hit the top ten on a semi-regular basis.
As a book rises on the bestseller list, its sales tend to rise pyramidically ... that is, a book that is tenth on the list will sell more copies than a book which is 15th on the list, simply because of the rating.
A really poor book usually wonīt rise to the top rankings ... people read it, discover itīs drek, and the negative reviews start to impact sales. However it does occasionally happen, particularly for authors who are "in vogue" at a specific time. Usually when this occurs, it will affect the sales of later books ... readers, who generally care about quality, will feel "burned" after being hyped into buying a poorly-written book.
