Can you write a 'Bestseller' without ever reading one?

[Marky Lazer]

Well I would say a brilliant idea, an abundance of talent and an ability to write in a style that is worthy of a Best Seller, not necessarily to have read one.

My original question was to stimulate a debate on this subject as a friend of mine is writing a book, he is very dyslexic and I have read his book and I thought it was well written, well researched, I hung on every sentence which surprised me. So I wondered if he might be successful.

Well, let me get the best and worst example: The Da Vinci Code. Yes, it's a best-seller, no doubt about it. But come on! Does Dan Brown have any writing talent?

 

[ctg]

Well, let me get the best and worst example: The Da Vinci Code. Yes, it's a best-seller, no doubt about it. But come on! Does Dan Brown have any writing talent?

Not in Shakespearean way, but Dan Brown has a talent to pick a subject that is interesting to a wide audience, and he has an ability to tie it to an story.

How do you define a writing talent?

 

[iansales]

Not in Shakespearean way, but Dan Brown has a talent to pick a subject that is interesting to a wide audience, and he has an ability to tie it to an story.

I'd say Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln had the talent to pick "a subject that is interesting to a wide audience" first, although I don't believe The Holy Blood & The Holy Grail has sold as many copies as The da Vinci Code...

 

[ctg]

My bad, sorry.

 

[Gary Compton]

Well, let me get the best and worst example: The Da Vinci Code. Yes, it's a best-seller, no doubt about it. But come on! Does Dan Brown have any writing talent?

Surely talent in the publishing industry is measured by the number of books you sell, thats the whole point isnt it? Cant see how you can critisize Dan Brown in view of his sales figures.

 

[chrispenycate]

Talent measured by sales? I suppose you think that holds for the music business, too.

Not that I have any idea what the number of sales does represent; it definitely isn't lack of talent. Mind you, my "talentometer" is broken, so I don't know how to measure that, either, in any art form. Since no two people will agree as to who is more talented (and no artist displays the same skill on all oeuvres, despite his talent presumably being constant – no, perhaps talent is a variable, in which case different portions of a book will show different values of talent, to be measured in centimuses…

 

[John Jarrold]

Commercialty is measured by sales - and 'commercial' publishing does what it says on the tin...

 

[j d worthington]

Surely talent in the publishing industry is measured by the number of books you sell, thats the whole point isnt it? Cant see how you can critisize Dan Brown in view of his sales figures.

John is right. There's a world of difference between writing talent and bein able to market yourself. The vast bulk of best-sellers are quickly forgotten, and for a reason: there's seldom any substance to what they write, and usually very little originality in either subject or development. They're most often formulaic and trite (again, generally speaking), and happen to hit the public taste at that moment. Sales and talent are very rarely connected.

This does not mean that a talented writer can't be a best-seller; it does happen now and again. But no one who takes their craft seriously sits down intending to write a best-seller. The concern is to do the best writing you can, and if you hit the jackpot, then you've been very, very fortunate....