Writers, do you want to be Dan Brown

Dan Brown's new novel "The Lost Symbol" sits on top of the Amazon bestseller list even though it won't be released for another three days. 5,000,000 copies have already been printed. The buzz about this book has been strong, partly because the exact nature of the plot has been guarded with the level of security we've come to expect of Ft. Knox and the Coca-Cola formula.

Let's set aside the good, the bad, and the ugly of all "The Da Vinci Code" reviews, controversies, and criticisms. The book h...