Inside The Bestsellers

Inside The Bestsellers Review

What makes a book a bestseller? What separates The Celestine Prophecy, What to Expect When You're Expecting, and How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive from the rest of the pack? In Inside the Bestsellers, Jerrold R. Jenkins explores the stories behind these and 15 other bestselling books, in an attempt to uncover how a book becomes (and remains) a blockbuster. Jenkins's prose is less than lyrical, but the same could be said for many of the books he writes about, and that didn't stop them from reaching cult status. What Jenkins learns is that most of these books--such as Betty J. Eadie's Embraced by the Light, Richard Paul Evans's The Christmas Box, and Sandra Haldeman Martz's When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple--emanated from some deep-felt place within the writer or editor. He also learns that their authors are almost all indefatigable promoters. Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, for instance, the authors of Chicken Soup for the Soul, pride themselves on never turning down an interview. But don't be misled. While grit and passion might be necessary ingredients for making a bestseller, they are not necessarily enough. As Julie Bennett, the coauthor of 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth says here, "Nobody can 'create' a bestseller.... Once a book leaves the warehouse it takes on a life of its own. It's either going to hit a nerve or not." --Jane Steinberg