The secret DNA behind bestsellers

Is it possible to predict whether a book will sell well? Former publisher Jodie Archer and Matthew L Jockers, of Stanford University’s Literary Lab, built an algorithm to find outYour program can identify, from scanning 20,000 books, ones which made the New York Times bestseller lists with 80% accuracy, and one of your key discoveries was that the topics covered in a novel – marriage, work, technology – are more important than its genre in terms of predicting its success. Why?JA: If you look at a bestseller list, you might think it was very diverse in genre – a Stephen King alongside a Jojo Moyes. But certain topics were strong indicators of a bestseller, regardless of genre. “Human closeness” came out on top. This doesn’t mean romance – it could be talking with someone you are intimate with or shopping with a parent. It may be to do with pacing – when Dan Brown knows he has to slow his pace down a little bit and let the characters reflect before a big chase scene in the Vatican, his characters talk it out. John Grisham does it perfectly because in all the legal machinations and suspense and back stabbing, there are always scenes where a lawyer gets a bottle of red wine and a Chinese takeaway and sits on the couch with his female counterpart and they chew the cud for a bit. It is almost the opposite of a formulaic how-to; make a boy meet a girl, make them fall out. Related: Bestselling books 2015: Fifty Shades still on top Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2016-09-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This Week's Bestsellers: January 11, 2016

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestselling Books of 2015

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestselling books 2015: Fifty Shades still on top

Books by women make up seven of the top 10 most bought this year, while colouring-in is more popular than TV tie-insAfter a 2014 that saw books for kids – led by John Green and David Walliams novels – ruling the annual sales chart, 2015 was the year of the women. Female authors, including Harper... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple reveals bestselling iBooks of 2015

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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