Table Of ContentWhile the term ‘bestseller’ explicitly relates books to sales, W Writing Bestsellers
commercially successful books are also products of individual ILK
creative work. This Element presents a new perspective on IN
S
A Love, Money, and Creative
the relationship between art and the market, with particular N
d
reference to bestselling writers and books. We examine some B
E Practice
existing perspectives on art’s relationship to the marketplace N
N
to trouble persistent binaries that see the two in opposition; we ET
T
break down the monolith of the marketplace by thinking of it
as made up of a range of invested, non-hostile participants such
as publishing personnel and readers; we articulate the material
dimensions of creative writing in the industry through the
words of bestselling writers themselves; and we examine how
the existence of bestselling books and writers in the world of W
letters bears enormous infuence on the industry, and on the ritin
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practice of other writers. estse
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Cambridge Elements in Publishing and Book Culture
Series Editor:
Samantha Rayner
University College London
Associate Editor:
Leah Tether
University of Bristol
Publishing and Book Culture
Kim Wilkins
Bestsellers
ISSN 2514-8524 (online)
ISSN 2514-8516 (print)
and Lisa Bennett
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ElementsinPublishingandBookCulture
editedby
SamanthaRayner
UniversityCollegeLondon
LeahTether
UniversityofBristol
WRITING BESTSELLERS
Love, Money, and Creative Practice
Kim Wilkins
University of Queensland
Lisa Bennett
Flinders University
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108725637
DOI:10.1017/9781108663724
©KimWilkinsandLisaBennett2021
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https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108663724
Writing Bestsellers
Love, Money, and Creative Practice
ElementsinPublishingandBookCulture
DOI:10.1017/9781108663724
Firstpublishedonline:September2021
KimWilkins
UniversityofQueensland
LisaBennett
FlindersUniversity
Authorforcorrespondence:KimWilkins,[email protected]
Abstract:Whiletheterm‘bestseller’explicitlyrelatesbooksto
sales,commerciallysuccessfulbooksarealsoproductsof
individualcreativework.ThisElementpresentsanew
perspectiveontherelationshipbetweenartandthemarket,
withparticularreferencetobestsellingwritersandbooks.We
examinesomeexistingperspectivesonart’srelationshiptothe
marketplacetotroublepersistentbinariesthatseethetwoin
opposition;webreakdownthemonolithofthemarketplaceby
thinkingofitasmadeupofarangeofinvested,non-hostile
participantssuchaspublishingpersonnelandreaders;we
articulatethematerialdimensionsofcreativewritinginthe
industrythroughthewordsofbestsellingwritersthemselves;
andweexaminehowtheexistenceofbestsellingbooksand
writersintheworldoflettersbearsenormousinfluenceonthe
industry,andonthepracticeofotherwriters.
ThisElementalsohasavideoabstract:www.cambridge.org/
writingbestsellers
KEYWORDS:bestsellers,creativity,writing,publishing,mutualism
©KimWilkinsandLisaBennett2021
ISBNs:9781108725637(PB),9781108663724(OC)
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https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108663724
Contents
Introduction 1
1 The ‘Bestselling Writer’ Paradox 12
2 Behind the Magician’s Curtain 31
3 Bestselling Writers and Their Influence on Industry 55
Conclusion 71
Bibliography 74
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WritingBestsellers 1
Introduction
JamesPattersonwritesbooks.SodoesNoraRoberts.DanielleSteelwrites
themonanoldtypewriter;GeorgeR.R.MartinusesaDOS-basedword-
processing application called Wordstar. Each of them, along with every
otherbestsellingwriteronForbes’lists,isaflesh-and-bloodhumanlocated
withinaspecificsetofsocialandmaterialrelations,engagedinthemental
and physical labour of getting ideas out of their imaginations and onto
apage.Whiletheterm‘bestseller’explicitlyrelatesbookstosales,commer-
ciallysuccessfulbooksarealsoproductsofindividualcreativework:thatis,
‘bestsellers’arepeopleasmuchasproducts.Ourinterestliesinthematerial
conditions of writers and their creative writing, and specifically the influ-
enceofthemarketonthecreationofnewworks.ThisElementtherefore
presentsanewperspectiveontherelationshipbetweenartandthemarket,
withparticularreferencetobestsellingwritersandbooks.
Theviewthatart(conceivedbroadly)andcommerceareuncomfortably
relatedisawidelyheldone.AccordingtoA.O.Scott(2014:1)‘Thereare
fewmodernrelationshipsasfraughtastheonebetweenartandmoney’,and
Claire Squires (2007: 41) argues that this is ‘the central tension of the
publishingindustry’.VivianaZelizer(2005)coinedtheterm‘hostileworlds’
to describe a view that advocates a division between sacred/intimate and
profane/instrumentalspheresbecause,essentially,moneycancontaminate,
trivialise, and/or devalue the meaning of private pleasures. Building on
Zelizer’s work, Olav Velthuis writes at length about the ‘hostile worlds’
viewand‘thedetrimentaleffectsoftheconfrontationbetweenthelogicof
theartsandthelogicofcapitalistmarkets’(2007:24).Coslor’sethnographic
studyofthevisualartworldsuggeststhisviewofthe‘corrupting’influence
of money is a ‘legacy of Romantic sentiments’ and shows that while
nominallyarthistoriansagreethattheviewis‘simplisticandoutdated’,it
is still evident in attitudes about how art is compared and priced for
consumption (2010: 213–14). Tense, fraught, hostile, corrupting. These
are negative evaluations of an enduring cultural relation: ‘What strip-
miningisto nature,the artmarkethasbecome toculture’(Hughes,cited
inVelthuis2007:25).Butwhatifweputasideforawhilethenotionthatart
isdelicateorcorruptibleorvulnerabletostrip-mining?Whatifweimagine
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2 PublishingandBookCulture
itisnotonlyrobustenoughtowithstandcommercialpressure,butthatit
also has the potential to adapt and be energised by it, or even to shape
commercialprocesses?
InAustralia,wherewelive,bushfiresengulfeucalyptforestseveryyear.
Butafterafire,eucalyptforeststhrive.Anditisn’tsimplythatthetreeshave
adapted to fiery conditions; they are an active participant in those condi-
tions,withtheirpaperybark,cracklingleaffall,andcombustibleoil.When
aconflagrationroarsthroughtheforest,itlookstothecasualobserverlike
annihilation.Fireisferocious,powerful,difficulttoreckonwith.Yet,soon
enoughthickgreenshootsappearontheblacktrunksandtheunderstory
bristleswithsaplings.Firechangestheforest,butthatchangeisnotwholly
(orevennecessarily)negative.Couldartworks–inthiscase,stories–be
similarlyresilient,workingwiththeforcesofthemarketratherthanbeing
subjecttothemarket’spredation?
Thisquestionisaprovocationratherthanahypothesis,becauseclearly
bushfireswreakdevastationonweakerspeciesaswell.Butitisametaphor
that we, as storytellers, hope to seize your attention with, as well as
a leitmotif we can return to throughout this Element. The language of
biology and the natural world is often used metaphorically to describe
aspects of the publishing industry. Both in scholarship and in the grey
literature,itisnotuncommontoseementionofecosystems,DNA,adapta-
tion, evolution, webs, fields, fishing, buzz, and so on. Staying within this
well-developedmetaphoricalframework,weproposethattherelationship
between creative practice and the publishing industry canbe describedas
symbiotic.However,therearemanytypesofsymbiosis.Parasitismis,after
all, a type of symbiosis, and parasitism as a metaphor aligns with the
traditionally held views that this Element hopes to disrupt. Instead, we
argue that the symbiosis is of the ‘mutual obligate’ variety. According to
Bronstein(2015:7),obligatesymbiosisisamutuallybeneficialrelationship
whereinoneorganismcannotsurvivewithouttheother.Creativewriters,
inordertoreachanaudience,needtheexistinginfrastructureoftraditional
publishing or the emerging infrastructure of self-publishing. Publishers
cannotplytheirtradewithoutcontent,andcontentisprovidedbywriters.
Moreover,Bronsteinnotesthatinallcasesofmutualobligatesymbiosis,the
speciesinvolvedhavea‘longcoevolutionaryhistory’(2015:7).Again,this
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WritingBestsellers 3
metaphorholdsfortherelationshipbetweenwritersandpublishing,whose
roleshavedevelopedalongsideeachother,emergingthroughthehistoryof
challenges and opportunities that have arisen since mass print culture
developedinthenineteenthcentury.
ThisElementinvestigateswriters’resiliencewithinthemarket.Itpre-
sents a nuanced and evidence-based investigation of the relationship
between creative practice and commerce. Bestsellers are, in their name,
explicitlyassociatedwiththemarketplace.Butwhatistheirrelationshipto
art?Andhowisthatartshapedbyandabletoshapecommercialconcerns?
Theobligatesymbiosisviewofwritingandpublishingseestherelationship
asalong-standingtwo-wayexchange,whichhaschangedandwillcontinue
tochangeovertime,andunderstandsthatknowledgeoftheconditionsof
the exchange are vital to survival for both organisms. The health of one
affectstheother;theenergyofonepowerstheother;theconcernsofoneare
theconcernsoftheother.Writersandpublisherssinkorswimtogether.
We are not, however, blind to the power differences between multi-
nationalmediacorporationsandindividualwriters.Atthetimeofwriting
thisElement,wehavejustwatchedPenguinRandomHouseabsorbSimon
&Schuster,effectivelyleavinguswitha‘bigfour’dominatedmarketplace;
but,inlightofthismerger,itverymuchseemsthe‘bigx’paradigmmaybe
displacedinachangedpublishing environmentwiththe‘monstroustwo’:
Penguin Random House and Amazon, with all bets off over which com-
pany – indeed, which publishing model – will be left standing ten years
fromnow.1Nonetheless,withinthisarenaofcorporatebehemoths,content
ofallkindsisstillrequired.Writersprovidecontent.Writerswhoprovide
bestselling content gain power. To extend the biological metaphor, we
might think of bestselling writers as the fittest to survive, the ones who
can adapt to tough conditions, ensuring the fate of the species even as
individualsfalter.Itmaynotbethemostpalatableofmetaphorsfortalking
about art, but art is produced within this system. It behoves us all to
understandit,ratherthanlooktheotherway.
1 WiththankstoBethDriscoll,UniversityofMelbourne,forseedingthisnight-
marescenariointoourimaginations.
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4 PublishingandBookCulture
This Element argues that creativity is thoroughly sociomaterial, and
thusbestsellerstatusforanauthorwillaffecttheircreativewritingpractice;
however, this situation does not necessarily indicatea predatory relation-
shipwiththepublishingindustrysullyingpureart.Powerandinfluencecan
anddotravelbothways,especiallywhentheveryhighsalesofbestsellers
mean writers can ask for better terms on their contracts, spawn copycat
readalike books, and underwrite lower-selling authors’ careers. We write
backagainstthetraditionofromanticisingthesolitarycreativegeniuswho
has no connections to the marketplace, and against the notion that art is
necessarily vulnerable and precarious, although sometimes it can be. Our
research questions are sharpened and made more urgent by the rapid
changesinthepublishingindustry–whatwerecogniseasthepost-digital
transformationofthesector,which‘byitsveryspeed...canbearguedto
magnify tensions in cultural valuation that would otherwise take a more
leisurelytimetoworkthemselvesout’(Throsby,2008:np).Weapproach
thisargumentthroughanumberofmethodologies.
First, we have sourced interviews with creative writers who have
appearedontheNewYorkTimesbestsellerlist:eitherpublishedinterviews
inexistingoutletsorinterviewswehaveconductedourselves.Limitations
existed with the latter approach. Extreme fame makes some authors very
difficulttopersuadetoparticipateininterviews:insomecases,wedealtwith
multiplestagesofgatekeeperstonoavail.Moreover,whenawriterreaches
a certain level of fame and income, it becomes doubtful their experiences
willbeextrapolabletoothers.CanMargaretAtwood,forexample,ridethe
tideofhersuccesswithoutcaringtoomuchaboutwhatthemarketwants?
ThefactthatshewritesforWattpad(anonline,community-drivenstory-
telling platform) would suggest this is the case. We have supplemented
thesefirst-handaccountswiththoroughexaminationofthegreyliterature,
such as trade reports, op-eds, popular media, sales data, and social media
(withtheusualcaveatsthatplatformsforself-promotionarenotnecessarily
themostcomprehensiveoraccurateaccountofactualwritingpractice).
Finally,wehavealsoapproachedthisresearchinaparticipatoryspiritin
twokeyways.Wetookpartinanonlinewriting‘MasterClass’withJames
Patterson, which added to our understanding of some motivational and
aspirational cogs in the ‘bestselling’ machine, allowing us to experience
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https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108663724
