OT: What makes a bestseller (was Harold Bloom on HP)

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 11266

John wrote:

>When you write books that are good enough to become
> worldwide bestsellers (and without media publicity), you've come to 
the
> pinnacle. 

Ouch.  "Books that are good enough to become bestsellers" implies that 
the books that become bestsellers are necessarily good and the books 
that don't are less good.  Unfortunately this is seldom the case.  The 
vast majority of bestsellers are garbage, I'm afraid (if Stephen King 
isn't a convincing example for you, pick your own--Danielle Steel?  
Harold Robbins?), while lots of terrific books are written that never 
get published, much less hit the charts.  I think it's that good books 
tend to be challenging and that tends not to popularity.  

Sometimes you get both at once:  a good book that actually sells.  
That's what we have with JKR (my opinion, not Harold Bloom's! <g>) and 
it is something to celebrate.  But that doesn't mean that there's a 
causal relationship between the quality of the books and the number 
sold.

Amy Z

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