The Puzzle of Creating Best Sellers

Trying to judge which books will catch the public imagination doesn't get any easier, however long you struggle on in the publishing world.
I was pretty certain as I wrote "Cry Myself to Sleep" with Joe Peters that it was a story that people would really want to read, but follow-up books are always hard to pull off. We had had a number one success with "Cry Silent Tears" and it seemed almost too much to hope we could do it again, however much Joe might deserve it.
The second book picks up his story from when he ran away to London at sixteen to live on the streets. It is all about what happens to damaged kids once they grow up and go looking for a place in the world. Joe is an incredibly inspiring character.
Thankfully, my gut feeling has been proved right and the book is already at number three in the charts, battling it out with Jade and Barak and the rest. But then I was equally sure that "For the Love of Julie" which I wrote for Ann Ming, would soar straight to the top of the charts. Everyone who reads this story of a mother fighting for justice for her murdered daughter, (whose body she herself found,months after the killing), tells me that they sobbed almost all the way through it. Ann is another inspiring person who has achieved the most incredible things in getting the 800 year old law of double jeopardy changed, but the book has not soared as fast as Joe's.
I'm confident that word of mouth will result in big sales for Ann eventually, albeit at a slower and steadier rate, but it is a puzzle why the one title has taken off so much faster than the other.
In between these two lies "Disgraced", which I wrote for Saira Ahmed, telling of how she ended up on the game after escaping from her arranged marriage. The book went into the charts, and is selling well around the world, but did not go straight into the top three like Joe.
I guess if we could predict accurately who the big winners were going to be, some of the excitement would have gone.

Paranoia on the Amazon Roller coaster

I have discovered a wonderful new game that feeds both my paranoia and my ego as a writer in a dizzying succession of highs and lows – it is called “The Amazon Roller coaster”. My addiction to chart-watching no longer satisfied with the weekly fixes provided by publications like The Bookseller and The Sunday Times, (more or less identical charts with a few minor adjustments by the ST to try to level the playing fields when television heavyweights and the Highway Code come on to play), I can now get fresh highs and lows every few hours by logging on to Amazon and looking up “The Overnight Fame of Steffi McBride” or any number of other titles.

Like all drugs you take your first hit out of curiosity, thinking that you can handle it. You see that your ‘sales rank’ is pleasantly high – let’s say you are at number 1,000. Thinking this is a good omen you go back the next day to see if you have climbed any higher – you have, you are now down to three figures. Now they’ve got you.

The next time you tune in you have plummeted, maybe in the space of just a few hours, to number 150,000. How can this be? You are filled with angst. Has your publisher failed to send them a new order? Has a bad review appeared somewhere and halted sales in their tracks? Or are you simply doomed to a future of abject failure?

You tentatively go back in a few hours later and, miracle of miracles, you are back in three figures. You are high again, thrilled with yourself and the world. Now you are Amazon’s slave. It will now only be a matter of time before you are unable to stop yourself from checking in almost every hour. It will become a new distraction from the job of writing as irresistible as making another cup of coffee (each cup a little stronger than the last, but that’s another story).

To purchase a copy of The Overnight Fame of Steffi McBride for a discounted price of £6.00 (inc p&p) please call John Blake Publishing on 0207 381 0666.

Latest Fix for Chart Addict

Just had another jolly email from a pleased publisher to say that “Cry Silent Tears” by Joe Peters will be number one in the next Bookseller and Sunday Times paperback bestseller charts for the fourth week running.
If anyone deserves a run of success like this it is Joe, a boy who was struck mute at the age of four by the sight of his beloved father burning to death in front of him and then fell into the merciless hands of a mother who eventually sold him to a paedophile ring. It is a story of someone who spent his childhood in the very depths of hell but somehow managed to grow up to be a kind, forgiving and charming man, husband and father.

Arts Council Website Backs Celebrity Short Story Competition

Youwriteon.com, the Arts Council sponsored website that helps new writers get published, is backing a competition for short stories around the theme of modern celebrity. It is linked to the publication of my novel, “The Overnight Fame of Steffi McBride”.

The site is backed by some of the biggest names in the world of publishing, editing and literary agenting and has already produced a couple of best sellers.

The Steffi McBride competition is linked to the website www.steffimcbride.com and I have agreed to judge the entries and help the winner to develop their 1,000 word or less story into a full-length book. The entries are already coming in and I’m hopeful that we will be able to find a future best seller amongst them. Nothing, of course, is ever certain in the publishing world, as we all know only too well, but it seems to me that youwriteon.com is providing pretty much the best opportunity around for new talent in search of free mentoring.

Steffi McBride herself is due to be published on Monday, so this is going to be a nerve-wracking weekend.

To purchase a copy of The Overnight Fame of Steffi McBride for a discounted price of £6.00 (inc p&p) please call John Blake Publishing on 0207 381 0666.