How my first novel made number one on the bestsellers list*

*Spoiler alert; obviously if I knew the answer to this, I'd be a very wealthy woman (!) but I do have some stuff to say about it.

Photo by Araix Rand on Unsplash

A week or so ago I did an event for a writer’s group which was advertised with the above tagline. I didn’t see it before it went out and was more than a little bit mortified when it popped up on my Instagram. I had visions of me sitting in front of an eager audience of writers, pens poised, ready to take down my in-depth knowledge and analysis of the above, then promptly walking out and asking for their money back on seeing me at the front of the room like a rabbit in the headlights, shrugging and saying ‘errrr I dunno.’

That didn’t happen of course. The audience was a wonderful group of people, all of whom were wise enough to understand that I definitely don’t have all the answers to the above, but that I might have some knowledge and experience to share about what it is like to have that experience with my first novel, The List of Suspicious Things, including what I learned and what I am taking into the publication of my second The Barbecue at Number 9 (out next year). I thought I would share some of those things here.

My first point will be of no surprise to anyone who is engaged in the ‘business’ of writing, which is that almost everything in traditional publishing is outside of the writer’s control. Including (and maybe especially) how many copies of the book are sold. This might sound depressing, but once you’ve got your head around that fact (and crucially, accepted it) it is actually quite freeing. It means you, as the writer, get to focus on what matters most which is, of course, the writing.

The making of a bestseller is a curious cocktail of factors, some obvious, some mysterious (luck and timing anyone?!). My publisher frequently says to me that ‘it all starts with a great book’ and there is, of course, truth in that (which we will come back to later) but the things that make a book a bestseller are almost all things that a publisher does; from how many copies of the book they print/sell into bookshops to how they market it, and even then, that doesn’t guarantee anything.

A publisher can do everything in their power to make a book enticing to readers, but those readers can and do have their own opinions (and thank goodness for that). I’ve seen enough books go through this cycle in the last few years to see that clearly for myself. So, what is a writer to do? Well, given that it’s mostly in the hands of the gods, very little, but (just like in life generally) there are always things we can do to give ourselves the best possible chances of success, even if they feel limited.