Karen Heller analysiert in der Washington Post, was Bestseller-Autoren ausmacht:
«Mega-best-selling authors don’t just have readers. They have fans, the way rock stars have fans. (…)
Chiefly, they’re extraordinarily productive. They publish with Swiss-clock regularity — once a year, twice a year, monthly if it’s Patterson, who’s an industry unto himself, with a stable of writers working for him. (…)
The big writers rarely take their popularity for granted. They go where the readers are and continue to make appearances long after they’ve become established — and wildly wealthy — superstars. (…)
Most of all, though, the top sellers deliver a terrific story. In their novels, especially thrillers and science fiction, plot is paramount. The heroes tend to be relatable — shy, clumsy, anxious, myopic, in recovery, short-tempered, middle-class, broke — but their stories are fantastic, over-the-top, a wild ride and a welcome escape from a reader’s quotidian life. In romance, the love is for the ages, destined, the opposite of casual. The story does not bog down with the challenge of dirty dishes or tax audits.
“You can’t underestimate the value of entertainment that these guys are delivering,” says Suzanne Herz, executive vice president of Doubleday, which publishes Grisham and Brown. “There’s usually a David-versus-Goliath theme. You want the hero to come out on top.”
That’s because the heroes are worth rooting for. Scribner publisher Nan Graham edits King. “One of the things that makes Steve so exceptional is he navigates the line between the common and the supernatural, but he always begins with a common man,” she says. “Many of his heroes are working-class. They’re absolutely from the heartland of America.”»