The Bestseller Code

by Jodie Archer

The word “bestseller,” by the way, has always been a book world term, and as a word it is relatively young. It first entered the dictionary in the late nineteenth century, about the time of the first list of books ranked by consumer sales.

The mix of topics that tend to dominate contemporary bestsellers suggests a reader who wants books to be something different from the lowest common denominator.

Bestselling authors pick combinations with guaranteed hooks—how about children and guns, faith and sex, or love and vampires. (Likely all three combinations have hit the lists.)

We learned that actually, when the novel is machine-read word for word, not one of the three most dominant topics in the novel is about kinky sex.

Douglas makes the point that nothing is intrinsically an anomaly or “dirt,” but it is treated as such if it does not fit the cultural system in which it is experienced.