Literary Culture

» power30 - What makes a best seller

It's an excellent question. I have read many best sellers. Some of them are not always that great. Some of the biggest names do disappoint me.
Here's my opinion. One must grab the interest immediately. The best example I have of that is a novel by Tami Hoag. Her work was about some very evil in a niche way. She presented him very quickly and got my attention right away.
Don't make the reader wait till the 3, 4 or 5th chapter for the story to pick up. Make the character interesting with humor or very deadly. What is coming up next! Some times what I read actually scares me like a Dracula movie with Bela Lugosi. When I'm in the dark, believe or not, he manages to be in my bed room. His eyes are very hypnotic and glow. How scary can you get.
Now, you owe it to your reader to keep that work engrossing. Make trouble legal or not legal, but cause trouble. They have to hang on to something.
When you're coming to the final chapter, cause the reader to regret they have come to the end of a very enjoyable piece of work. Make them not want it to end.
That is the way I try to write. My latest novel is "Armed Forces in Harm's Way." It starts are Harvard, gos to Annapolis Naval Academy and West Point and ends up in New York at the FBI regional office in the city.
That's my idea of a best seller.

-- posted by power30