The Secret Formula for Writing a Bestseller
If you’re looking for the “secret formula” to turn your next book into a bestseller, there’s good news and bad news…
Bad news: there is no secret formula.
Good news: there are lots of formulas!
If you’ve been following Succeed Speaking for long, you’ve probably read my outline of Brendon Burchard’s strategies for making The Millionaire Messenger a #1 New York Times Bestseller, and perhaps you picked up some tips from my interview with Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project (also a #1 New York Times Bestseller). Both of those authors took a different approach with their books, but both achieved what most authors dream of.
If you’d like to see how another author got his book on the New York Times Bestseller List, read this new post from Dan Blank: How to Become a Bestselling Author – Lessons From Eric Ries. Dan did a great job of capturing the highlights from Eric’s conversation with Andrew Warner at Mixergy.com, including how he:
- set a goal to become a bestseller from the outset
- drove presales of his book for an entire year (so a large number of sales would hit during that first week of release)
- created a movement based on the ideas in his book
- tested numerous marketing messages on his website
- leveraged the power of bundling (a la Tim Ferriss)
- and more!
There are great tips and strategies here that I encourage you to review.
As you look “behind the curtain” of more and more bestseller campaigns, you’ll see that there are some central themes that show up time and time again (like fueling word of mouth and building a movement), but no two books follow the exact same formula… because every book and every author is unique.
Actually, if there is any “secret formula” for creating a bestseller, I would say it’s this:
- Learn what you can from others.
- Identify your own unique strengths, assets and opportunities.
- Leverage that combo to achieve your goals.
Time to get back to the lab and start working on your formula!
