There are 10 things that make bestsellers. Five of them are discussed in this article. Please read on!

Write on a best-selling topic

I have listed 10 best-selling topics in the early chapter of this book. Why not think of working on one of them?

But think carefully before you choose a subject. You don't want to write on a topic because everyone is writing on it and winning prizes.

I can tell you what is happening this moment zillions of light years up there in the world of stars and galaxies. But can you imagine that? If things like that are beyond your imagination, then don't dream of writing science fiction. Come down to earth and spy on your neighbors who are marrying this moment and divorcing after the wedding day.

You will be at home here. And you are probably familiar with stories of that sort. Like the man who married a woman and divorced her after having 7 male children for him. (He badly needed female children to pay off his debts incurred on their wedding day.) His divorced wife remarried and got a baby girl while the man married a second wife and had a male as well. They divorced again and remarried and had a ninth boy. And the man sold all the boys to pay his debts! Fact.

Don't miss an opportunity to write a best-seller from great news events. Such stories present little research challenges.

Do you remember the British boy who wanted to be famous, climbed the wall of Buckingham Palace and made his way into the queen's bedroom? When the cops came to the rescue they met him helping himself with a glass of wine and chatting with the queen. And the police, thinking of what offence he has committed, thought of charging him for stealing a bottle of wine. (Did the boy say that the queen was his friend?) Best-sellers are made of such stuff. Master your subject

You can't do a good story if you do not know your topic. You will even find it difficult to communicate because you will be groping for words, qualifying every word, or reaching out for every figure of speech and idiom in the book. Bad writing! A good reader will find out that you are not a master of your subject, and you are done in!

You have every opportunity to research your story. You have the libraries. And thank God, there is the Internet. Why not take advantage of it.

This is very important if you are writing a factual story. But even then that word "factual" has changed meaning. But there has to be a measure of credibility in your work. Writers don't just write. They educate. Would the reader find something to learn from your story?

Know your audience

This is one of the first things for you to consider before you begin writing your book. For example, are you writing for men / women, boys / girls, youths / adults, learned / general reader?

When J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter, she had the youths in mind. Youths are, however, fast in spreading word about a book that they enjoyed reading. But Harry Potter happened to have a subject matter that interests the adults as well. Now readers in the two worlds read the book.

So ask yourself this question if you have not already done so: Who will read my book?

Write your style

"All authors are like mounds of literature. They grow from the light of the ancient." That was what one writer said. But is it true that all writers are "copycats"?

Not really. You might have a favorite author, or another writer would have influenced your work. But one thing is clear: no one in this universe is your equal. You are unique!

It means that your writing style has to be different from mine. It is for this reason that an editor at Random House who saw a typed copy of The Thirty-Nine Steps as a new book had no difficulty in likening it to the style of Jerzy Kosinski. But sad enough, he didn't know it really was the author's book.

When you speak in a foreign voice, a discerning listener would have no problem recognizing the hypocrisy. In the same way, when you borrow another writer's style, a good reader will equally know that you are masquerading. And that is not good enough for you.

Promote your book before and after publication

The best time to begin your book's promotion is when you start writing it. This is the right time for you to make use of the promotional options discussed earlier in this book. This means that you can start your media adverts, book reviews, and serialization of your story. Then keep record of contacts from readers and bookstore owners who are interested in your work. Send them a press release as soon as your book is ready and see the response that you will get.

This book started that way when it was first published as an e-book. When the author contacted his initial list of potential buyers after the book's release, he had tremendous response. Why don't you do the same? If it worked for him, it will work for you.

Pre-release publicity has helped writers sell tremendously when their books were made available to the public. For instance, Tom Wolfe's book, A Man in Full sold over a million copies before anyone could say Jack Robinson!

But do not just promote your book. HYPE IT! That is what they all do. Let them know that your book is the greatest thing to happen in the world in this millennium. Tell them that your work will make writers like Tom Clancy, John Grisham, Tom Wolfe, Salman Rushdie, Dan Brown, and J.K. Rowling look like Lilliputians. You won't be docked for perjury.

The fact is that people will believe anything as much as they hear it often. Ask advertisers. And then on the date of your book's release, readers will queue up before bookstores to behold the Brobdingnagian of English literature!

For example, this book you are now reading is nulli secundus--second to none. And there will be none like it. Before anyone would think of besting it, I would have issued a more surpassing edition!

Read the rest of the book excerpt below:

http://arthurbookhouse.com/bestseller.html

ARTHUR ZULU is an editor, book reviewer, playwright, and published author.