On Writing A Best-Seller (Shhh, There's a Formula)

by SARAH WEINMAN

Like many people in the book world, I've found it impossible to ignore the phenomenon that is E.L. James' erotic novelFifty Shades of Grey and its two sequels, which morphed from Twilight fan fiction to word-of-mouth blockbuster. The books aren't to my taste, to put it tactfully, but I keep reading article after article attempting to explain their appeal. Some of the most popular theories put forward so far: The escapist fantasy is catnip for exhausted working moms. It's a BDSM-flavored take on the Cinderella fantasy. It's a dirty book for people who don't ordinarily read dirty books (or read much at all).

Naturally, I have my own theory: James, like other 21st-century mega-sellers Stieg Larsson and Dan Brown, writes genre fiction that reaches far beyond genre readership, bursting open the doors to what the savvy may find old hat but newbies find intoxicating. But is it possible to find a more substantive explanation for James' breakout success by looking back at the previous century's biggest and fastest sellers?

In her excellent overview of American best-sellers, critic Ruth Franklin warned, "No possible generalization can be made regarding the 1,150 books that have appeared in the top 10 of the fiction best-seller list since its inception." But in his new book, Hit Lit, mystery writer James W. Hall makes a case that the biggest hits from the past hundred years share 12 features.

Click here to read this article in its entirety and to read an excerpt from Hit Lit.