{"id":444,"date":"2012-08-30T09:20:34","date_gmt":"2012-08-30T14:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/?p=444"},"modified":"2012-09-01T10:10:41","modified_gmt":"2012-09-01T15:10:41","slug":"5-myths-about-best-sellers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/30\/5-myths-about-best-sellers\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Myths About Best Sellers"},"content":{"rendered":"

There seems to be some confusion about what makes a best seller. A few myths are floating around and make people believe there\u2019s a foolproof formula to writing a book. I even wrote a slightly cheeky post <\/a>about this very subject. It seems to me that most writers look at the best seller list as some sort of special club that the people \u201cIn the Know\u201d managed to slip on to by knowing the mystical secret. But there\u2019s no secret, just a misunderstanding of facts.<\/p>\n

Myth: The Prose Must be Mind-blowing<\/strong><\/span>
\nFact:<\/strong><\/span> Truth is, it doesn\u2019t really matter. I know this is going to make some people get themselves in a knot, but most stories that find success do so from being approachable<\/em>. Whether the writing is spectacular, average or subpar.<\/p>\n

Myth: Unique Concept<\/strong><\/span>
\nFact:<\/strong><\/span> The story you\u2019re reading off the bestseller list has likely been written before. More than once. In different incarnations, of course. Fairytale retelling, classic story mash-ups or just a new twist on an old favorite. You don\u2019t need to concern yourself with discovering the one thing that\u2019s never been written\u2014give something a fresh look and make it your own.<\/p>\n

Myth: Stereotyped Characters<\/strong><\/span>
\nFact:<\/strong><\/span> Granted, many stories pull from character molds or stereotypes, but a successful novel often showcases a variety of characters and the majority of which are multidimensional.<\/p>\n

Myth: Romance Heavy<\/strong><\/span>
\nFact:<\/strong><\/span> There doesn\u2019t need to be a prominent love triangle, quadrangle or even decagon for people to find a relationship they attach to. People like romance, and they\u2019ll find it even if you don\u2019t write it. But it does help to write it \ud83d\ude09 And write it well.<\/p>\n

Myth: Every Reader is Pleased<\/strong><\/span>
\nFact:<\/strong><\/span> This is just wrong. Any book will have its lovers and haters. Even those on the best sellers list.<\/p>\n

In reality, any type of book can make a best sellers list. And there\u2019s no such thing as THE Best Seller\u2019s List. There are so many lists out there your novel could be on, you don\u2019t need to fret about making a sacred single list. Now that light has been shed on some of the darkest myths, you can write freely without the best seller monkey on your back. Unless of course you know more myths that need debunking! Please, share!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There seems to be some confusion about what makes a best seller. A few myths are floating around and make people believe there\u2019s a foolproof formula to writing a book. I even wrote a slightly cheeky post about this very subject. It seems to me that most writers look at the best seller list as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[48,70,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cliches","category-myths","category-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YHlB-7a","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":446,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions\/446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}