How to Land on the New York Times Bestseller List

The New York Times bestseller list is the gold standard for success in the writing field.  As editor Alan Rinzler asserts:  "It shouts:  'Read me!  I'm certified!'"  Some authors even buy their way onto the list.  However, most do it by good old fashioned hard work.  Here are nine tips to landing on the bestseller list, according to Mr. Rinzler (http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2011/09/12/what-authors-can-learn-from-the-bestseller-lists/).

1.  A Diverse List

As Anne Rice says:  "You can look at the New York Times bestseller list and you can be pretty sure that the writers on the list don't know each other very well."  The authors are diverse as well as the 23 different categories:  Combined Print and E-book Fiction, Hardcover, Advice, Political, Business, children's, etc.  There is no dominant category.  Alan Rinzler advises not to worry about trends. What's popular now might not be by the time your story is published. Visit http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/hardcover-fiction/list.html for a current list.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/07/29/numbercrunching-the-new-york-times-bestseller-list-for-comics/

2.  Book Length Varies

"A book should be as long as it needs to be and no longer," states Alan Rinzler.  Don't pad it or cut it short and avoid going off on tangents, advises the editor.  The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, is 544 pages while Blind Faith, by C. J. Lyon, is 392 pages.  Heaven is for Real, by Todd Burpo, is only 192 pages while Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, is 496 pages.

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/word-count-for-novels-and-childrens-books-the-definitive-post

3.  E-books Rule

Alan Rinzler says that you can sell a large quantity of books in virtual e-book form.  Between 2008 and 2010, e-books experienced a 1039.6% hike in sales.  During the latter year, 114 million units were sold.

https://digitalreader.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/risi-study-shows-20-decline-in-paper-usage-by-2015/



4.  Self-Published Books are Legitimate Competition

Self-published works are landing on the New York Times bestseller list including Blind Faith (#4), The Mill River Recluse (#5) and The Abbey (#6) in 2011.  Customers are no longer waiting for the cheaper paperback versions of books to come out, but purchasing the E-book instead.  Alan Rinzler says that E-books are "faster, give the author more control and a bigger share of the profits".

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11450591-the-mill-river-recluse

5.  Film & TV Adaptations

The Help spent 107 weeks on the Fiction bestseller list in 2009.  Two years later the movie debuted grossing over $123 million.  Don't assume that your novel has no chance of being adapted for the big screen.

The Help movie poster courtesy http://thehelpsummerhomework.tumblr.com/.

6.  Bestselling Authors are Avid Self-Marketers

Top Ten Fiction and Non-Fiction Authors know how to market themselves including:  Lee Childs, Kathy Reichs, James Patterson, J. A. Jances, John Grisham and Johanna Lindsey.  "Non one can sell your book as well as you can," explains Alan Rinzler.  Readers prefer direct contact with the author through blogs, online reviews, websites, Twitter and Facebook.

All of Johanna Lindsey's novels landed on the New York Times bestseller list, many reaching #1, courtesy 

http://blogs.rediff.com/kansurespe1975/2015/04/18/download-defy-not-the-heart-book/.



7.  Write a Brilliant Book

Garth Stein, author of New York Times bestseller Racing in the Rain, says the surest way to land on the bestseller list is to write a "brilliant book".  You can buy your way on to the list, but it won't last. If you write a page turning book, however, you will enjoy lasting success.


                                                   

Garth Stein's book courtesy http://www.amazon.com/Racing-Rain-My-Life-Dog/dp/0062015761.

8.  Find the Right Distributor or Become a Book of the Month Selection

"Target can make sleepy titles into bestsellers," says New York Times contributor Motoko Rich. When Sarah's Key, penned by Tatiana de Rosnay, was first published in 2007, its sales were dismal.  However, in 2008, Target chose the title as its Book of the Month Selection and it took off, landing on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years.  To read about the success of other Target selections, visit http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/books/22target.html?pagewanted=all.

http://www.amazon.com/Sarahs-Key-Tatiana-Rosnay/dp/0312370849

9.  Become a Book Club Selection

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, by Rebecca Wells, had an unspectacular debut in 1996. However, it was chosen as a book club selection and its sales soared, hitting #1 on the bestseller list two years later.  It also became a motion picture starring Bette Midler.  For more information about the surprise bestseller, read http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20126454,00.html.

http://guide.alibaba.com/shop/divine-secrets-of-the-ya-ya-sisterhood-a-novel_30384033.html

The History of Picture Books: The Illustrations

"Caldecott's work heralds the beginning of the picture book." 

(Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Grow)

Ralph Caldecott courtesy upload.wikimedia.org.

One hundred and thirty years ago, artist Randolph Caldecott was one of the first artists "to elevate the image into a storytelling vehicle" (http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/02/24/childrens-picturebooks/).  As Maurice Sendak explained:

"Caldecott's work heralds the beginning of the picture book.  He devised an ingenious juxtaposition of picture and word, a counter point that never happened before.  Words are left out -- but the picture says it.  Pictures are left out, but the words say it.  In short, it is the invention of the picture book."

The House That Jack Built and Ride a Cock Horse to Branbury Cross are but two of Caldecott's "toy books".  The precursor to the picture book, the toy book, popular in Victorian-era England, featured six illustrations, a small amount of text, and sold for six pence.

Caldecott's work was so influential that a picture book award was named in his honour.  The first Caldecott Medal, awarded in 1938 for "the most distinguishable American picture book for children", went to Animals of the Bible by Dorothy Lathrop.  It has been awarded every year since.

Walter Crane, another Victorian era illustrator, wrote toy books as well including Baby's Own Aesop, which included several fables, and The Alphabet of Old Friends, an early ABC book. 

According to blogger Maria Popova, picture books blossomed in the late 1800's and early 1900's thanks to the advances in print technology, the changing attitude towards children and the new class of artists.  

Picture books really came into their own in the 1920's.  The Story of Dr. Doolittle, which debuted in 1920, is about a man who discovers he can talk to animals.  It is one of twelve books written by Hugh Lofting.  The highly successful Millions of Cats, illustrated by painter Wanda Gag, appeared on bookshelves in 1928.  Gag penned over a dozen picture books.

While many successful picture books came out of Britain, we cannot neglect to talk about France. Cecile de Brunhoff used to tell her young sons a story at bedtime about an elephant who escapes from the zoo to a city which resembles Paris, marries and raises a family.  Her sons recommended to their dad, a painter, that he make the story into a picture book.  The result was Histoire de Babar which first appeared in print in 1931.  Two years later, it was translated into English as Babar the Elephant. 

Jean de Brunhoff, who wrote seven books, passed away in the 1940's, but his son Laurent took over the series, producing dozens more.

In 1937, Theodor Geisel debuted in the children's book field with his story And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street.  To learn how the former cartoonist broke into the children's book business, see my post "From Madison Ave to Mulberry St" at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2012/04/april-29.html. Full of unmistakable rhythm and rhyme, Geisel's books were an immediate success.  While his earliest works were drawn with pencil, he used pen and ink after the Second World War.  Later books, like The Lorax, were filled with colour.  Under the nom de plume Dr. Seuss, he published over 60 books.

While World War II limited the supply of paper and manpower in the publishing houses, new children's books still rolled off the presses.  Curious George, the creation of the Reyersbach's, a Jewish couple who fled Paris immediately before the Nazi invasion, was based on a monkey and his mishaps.  To learn more about how the book came to be published, read "The Journey that Saved Curious George" at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2012/10/october-21.html.  Still popular today, the series has sold 25 million copies.

The line between author and artist started to blur in the 1950's.  Paul Rand, a proponent of visual thinking, produced such books as Sparkle & Spin, Little 1, and Listen!  Listen!

British artists, known for their use of vibrant paint and colours, appeared in the 1960's.  Maurice Sendak produced his famous story Where the Wild Things Are (1963).  Meanwhile, in eastern Europe, Miroslav Sasek, a Czech immigrant to Germany, wrote Stone is Not Cold (1961) and This is Paris (1959) the first of 18 such books.  

Political subjects infiltrated the world of picture books with stories like The Butter Battle Book (1984), a Cold War tale, by Dr. Seuss, and No Hay Tiempo Para Jugar or No Time to Play (2004), based on child labourers in Mexico.  

Today, e-books are all over the Internet.  It's a Book (2010) by Lane Smith features a character examining a good old fashioned book and asking:  How do you scroll down?  Does it need a password?  Can it tweet?  But good old fashioned books continue to grace the shelves of our bookstores and libraries, full of beautiful artwork and compelling stories.

Note:  For more information, read Children's Picturebooks:  The Art of Visual Storytelling by Martin Salisbury & Morag Styles.