The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel

In this quest to answer the million-dollar question of what makes a book a best seller, writer Archer and educator Jockers (Susan J. Rosowski Associate Professor of English, Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln) explore a computerized approach and have developed an algorithm that can predict the likelihood of a book becoming a New York Times hit. This may seem like a technical treatise at first glance, but it actually contains helpful hints and an interesting dissection of items that authors might want to pay attention to, such as plot, pacing, characterization, and theme. The goal is not to give writers a road map to writing a best seller but rather to give them tools to use and things to consider when writing. The authors offer this as a mathematical exercise, and for anyone involved in publishing or writing, it is an entertaining one. While there are other titles that cover this topic, none can claim the data-mining and sheer detail of what Archer and Jockers have done. This title belongs in the space between your favorite writing books and titles on brain science such as Lisa Cron's Story Genius.