The Making Of A Bestseller by David Morrell
ITW contributing editor James Scott Bell sat down with ITW co-founder and NYT bestselling author David Morrell for a Between The Lines in-depth chat.
What does it take to make a bestseller these days? In addition to a ripping good read, there's a market reality to consider.
"Publishing changed so much in the past decade,"
says bestselling author David Morrell (Long Lost, Creepers, Scavenger).
"The only certainty about bestsellers seems to be that if you're a brand name,
you'll probably continue to have bestsellers because your publisher sees an
economic benefit in paying chain stores to feature your books in prominent
displays."
These displays are rented space, so "aggressive support from the publisher is essential. Without it, you won't get on the list."
Independent bookstores also factor into the bestseller lists, and those stores don't get paid for displays. But it still takes a major push from publishers to make an impact here, Morrell says.
"One hundred or two hundred ARCs aren't going to do it. You need thousands, and that goes back to how much money your publisher is willing to spend to attract attention to you. This is not good news. But knowledge is power. Authors need to learn how to promote themselves and do what their publishers should be doing."
So what can a new author do in this climate?
"Learn to promote," Morrell counsels. "The Internet is one way to do this, using viral-marketing techniques. But I think there's no substitute for making friends in the book-store world. It's only natural that a store would pay attention to an author whom the clerks have met and who has made an effort. A while ago, Barry Eisler drove 11,000 miles to visit every book store he could find. It made a huge difference in his sales. For Creepers, I drove 5,000 miles and visited something like 73 stores in 10 states."
Morrell's superb book on writing, which was
originally titled Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing, is going to be
re-released by Source Books under a new title: The Successful Novelist—A
Lifetime of Lessons About Writing and Publishing. It will have a new 5,000
word chapter called "The Novelist as Marketer."
"But never assume that self-promotion will help a terrible book," Morrell reminds us.
"Ultimately our task is to write as well as we can."
And one of the perennial problems for the writer is that long middle portion, which can sag. Morrell has some advice.
"I recently had the pleasure of spending several hours with Stephen Cannell, the great television writer who is now a bestselling novelist. He told me that second acts used to give him trouble until he realized that he was spending too much time with his main character and it was time for the villain to make some challenging moves. I thought that was interesting. In a single character, strictly limited viewpoint, the second act can get dull inasmuch as we continue to stay with the same person. But in a viewpoint that changes from character to character, we have the opportunity to freshen the story by giving the villain more attention."
But what if you're writing in first person, or limited third person POV?
"Then the premise needs to be strong enough that the twist in the second act holds our attention," says Morrell. "I think Neil Simon once said that second act problems start in the first act. That's the place to look hard at if the second act drags."
James Scott Bell is the author of
Try Dying (Center Street) and
Write Great Fiction: Plot &
Structure (Writers Digest Books).
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