Bestseller

By Celia Brayfield

Book Overview

The bestseller is a cultural phenomenon of our age, the only medium through which one person's individual vision can be communicated directly to millions. Most tantalizingly, the art of bestseller writing seems totally accessible to anyone with a pencil and paper - and an idea. Yet the bestseller has become embedded in its own money-driven mythology of massive advances, mega-sales, formula writing, book doctors and superagents. In this investigation into schlock, Brayfield looks at the hype and success of the superauthor, and explains how technique, commitment, timing and nuturing of the imagination all contribute to the art of hitting the charts.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1857023838
• ISBN13: 9781857023831
• Release Date: March 1996
• Publisher: Fourth Estate
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Comprehensive help for novelists

Finally a book on how to write a bestseller - from someone who has actually done so! Whether or not Celia Brayfield's books are your cup of tea, you can't deny that she knows the formula for writing a successful book. Here she shares her secrets, from what makes a bestseller and why people read them, to finding your story and characters, planning the book, getting on with writing, and what to do when you get stuck. Researching backgrounds is covered, along with how to navigate the minefield of finding an agent and publisher. Not bad for 250 pages! Even if you are not trying to write a novel that fits the formula of a 'bestseller', you'll still find Brayfield's advice invaluable. If you only buy one book on writing, this should be the one.

One of the best!

I must agree with the author's comments on her own book- Bestseller is the best how-to book on novel writing, and I've read lots of them. Her advice is practical, useful, and well explained; she's one of the few authors who actually illustrates how to create a mind map-giving you an example from one of her published novels- instead of simply suggesting that it's something to think about doing. Brayfield writes with intelligence and empathy for beginning, struggling, and even successful writers. A must read for anyone contemplating writing a novel, and for those of us who are wrestling with the process.

Illuminating and energetic

A detailed and entertaining dip into what it takes to become a successful novelist. You might find yourself tearing up your own previous attempts at writing greatness after reading this book, but the perspective is fresh, relevant and well supported by examples from many of the most successful writers of our age, so my feeling is you would profit from it in the end. Highly readable and illuminating.