How to Write a Best Seller

Best sellers are rare. When you have a best seller, everyone involved is almost guaranteed to make money--book sellers, publishers, and authors. In fact, an entire publishing company can be built around a single best-selling title. Look at Wiley. The Dummies series which started with DOS for Dummies has led to one of the most successful publishing programs in history. The Missing Manual series, by Studio B author David Pogue and published by O'Reilly Media, is another excellent example of how a successful series can transform a publishing company.  Likewise, publishers that don't publish at least one best seller a year can quickly lose market share and fade away.

Many people believe that a best seller happens because of luck, timing, or marketing. Sometimes people attribute a best seller to a great cover, author or just a great title. The truth is, publishing a best seller is almost a magical experience. What does that mean, you ask? It's simple.

Publishing books is a fairly simple business. Almost anyone with a little bit of cash, desire and time can publish a book. The trick is in doing it well. Every book is the culmination of hundreds of small decisions. Each individual decision on its own won't determine the book's overall success. However, if enough good decisions are made, you have a shot at a best seller.

Although the process of publishing is fairly simple, doing it well requires the skill of a craftsperson. Think about anyone who can construct a chair out of wood. Depending upon the person's skills and talents, that chair may look bad but function well. Or, it may look great but fall apart. The skilled craftsperson, using skill and ingenuity, will select just the right wood, tools, and design to create something wonderful.

Because there is no formula for creating a best seller, none will be offered here. However, the questions below will help you begin to understand the subtleties of the craft. Consider the issues carefully and you'll increase your chances of publishing the elusive best seller. Good luck!

The more questions you can answer 'yes' to, the better your chances of publishing a best seller.

Questions for Authors

Can and will the author write a book that's appropriate for the selected audience?

Authors and publishers sometimes fall into a terrible trap: They forget that people actually read these books. If you don't believe me, just check out about a third of all the computer books published each year. It's a little-known secret that in the computer book industry alone, about 600 books each year are published that could put people to sleep faster than any sleeping pill. The question is, 'How do we allow these mind-numbing books to be published in the first place?'

The answer is quite simple. Although no publisher has cornered the market on boring books that are inappropriate for their target audience, editors are rarely judged on how well a book sells. Instead, editors are often compensated on keeping royalty rates low, and on the timeliness of their books. It's not unusual for a novice editor to acquire or edit a mass of words that resembles a book just so the book can be published on time. I don't want to knock timeliness: Timing is everything in this type of publishing. However, best sellers happen because the book is well-timed and it reads well; one should never supersede the other.

The other shocking thing is that these editors who are more attuned to timing than quality are often promoted into management positions. It's remarkable how many senior-level publishing executives have never read their own books, nor have any idea why certain books sell and others don't.

Since many publishers don't care, many authors have stopped caring too. It's remarkable how many authors just write for their advance money. If they get a $10,000 advance, some will only put that level of effort into a book. Have you ever read a completely vague chapter, section, or step-by-step process in a book? It's hard and time-consuming to research the best way to do something on a computer. It's often easier to write a paragraph that sounds like it gives the obvious answer, but never actually provides any worthwhile advice.

The author must have an intimate knowledge of the target audience so that he can write the book in a personal and engaging way. The text should be filled with simple and amusing analogies that never denigrate a reader's intelligence. The author must be empathetic, and even sympathetic, with what a reader is going through when tackling a topic. The author who writes like he's writing for someone he truly cares about can write a best seller. In addition, authors should feel comfortable with putting their email address in the book for people to ask questions. Perhaps the best way to keep publishers and authors honest is for them to put their phone numbers in the front of their books to solicit reader feedback. When I was a publisher, my phone number was in the front of every book I published. It kept me honest.

Does the author build confidence in a reader by covering familiar ground?

Several best-selling books I studied did an excellent job of helping the reader build confidence by covering some familiar ground. If you look at some best sellers like Macintosh Secrets by David Pogue, you quickly learn that only a small fraction of the book is comprised of true secrets. The majority of the book covers much of what has been covered before, but with a new twist--extra secrets. Remember, learning something new is hard. We're all starting at slightly different levels when we're tackling something new. Books that help ease people into learning seem to do better than those that just drop you into a topic without any context.

Does the author have a vested interest in the topic beyond the advance money?

Although there's nothing wrong with authors wanting to become wealthy by writing books, chances are that book writing will only be one part of a well-balanced career for a writer. Typically, teaching, writing for magazines, consulting, seminars, and training can be important complements to authoring books. Published authors can take on lucrative consulting positions, offer seminars, and write for prestigious magazines. As many of us know, authoring a book is tough work and rarely pays well.

So, if you're an author, make sure the book you're about to take on somehow fits into a complete career plan for yourself. If you're a publisher, make sure that you fully understand an author's motivations for wanting to write a book. If it's just for the advance money, and it doesn't fit into a larger scheme for what an author is trying to achieve, chances are good you won't have a best seller on your hands. Your readers are smart; they'll figure out very quickly just how important the topic is to an author.

Does the author provide unique advice on a topic?

Most programs are fairly well-documented. Therefore, more than anything else, best-selling computer books provide advice for their readers. Although most readers can figure out how to do something, they're looking for advice on how to do things well. After reading a few paragraphs of a best seller, the reader should say, 'I wouldn't have thought of that!' In other words, people are looking for insights that are not immediately obvious.

Does the author take responsibility even for contributed sections?

It's rare when a publisher-controlled book becomes a best seller. Some publisher-controlled books begin as author-controlled books and then the publisher takes over the general management of a title. The lead author, even if several sections will be contributed, must take a serious interest in the entire book. The reader is buying the whole book, not just a mix of little books pushed together between two covers.

One characteristic present in all best sellers is how well the entire book works as a complete package. How can one author not know what another author is writing? Some really terrific editors, who almost serve as co-authors, are capable of bridging the gap, but these people are very rare. In short, if you're a publisher, seek authors who care about every aspect of the project even if they're not directly responsible for it. If you're an author, don't leave anything to chance. Your royalties and reputation will be based on the sales of the entire work, not just the part you contributed. In other words, writing requires commitment, not just involvement.

Does the author want to participate in packaging, marketing, content and design decisions?

Even if the publisher can't afford to offer complete or even partial control to an author, the publisher should take it as a good sign that the author is interested in the whole project. The author who expresses interest in the whole package is really trying to understand all of the pieces so that he can bring as much to the project as possible.

It's amazing how many publishers trust authors to write the content of the book, but adamantly refuse to solicit their opinion on cover copy, press releases, and cover design. Just because a publisher asks for an opinion, it doesn't mean he has to do what the author says. However, authors appreciate the opportunity to be a part of the process, and quite possibly will significantly improve the end result.

Has the author clearly defined the audience for the book? And does the publisher agree with the author's definition?

Many books fail because authors and publishers don't stay true to their target audience, or never actually define a target audience from the start. From an author's perspective, books that try to be all things to all people are invariably difficult to write. From a publisher's perspective, they are difficult to edit, market, and sell.

Because computer books are difficult to write, authors sometimes don't bring the level of inspiration they need to the text and the book can quickly become dull. Publishers need a clear definition of and understanding of who the author is targeting. Otherwise, the challenge of providing guidance to the author on editorial issues, developing useful information for sales and marketing people, and convincing book sellers to carry your product becomes quite daunting.

The best way to simplify the whole publishing process is to select from one to five real people who represent the target audience. This group (or individual) will help everyone make important publishing decisions. Think about it: If the publisher and author can agree on the same people to represent the target audience, then it's really a simple matter to test out ideas concerning content, design, packaging, and marketing. This type of feedback is essential if you plan to publish a best seller.

Has the author taught the subject successfully?

There's no substitute for the experience you obtain by teaching a topic to the uninitiated. Perhaps the best part of the experience is having an opportunity to hear firsthand the questions that come up. Readers don't have the opportunity to ask questions, so it's incumbent upon the author to anticipate those questions. Most best-selling authors have the uncanny ability to predict the questions readers are going to have before they ask them. In my discussions with several best-selling authors, I've found that either they have taught formal classes or seminars, or they have at least taught a friend or family member the topic they're writing about. Some people became teachers by being active on a Listserv or Usenet news group.

Also, most authors who have taught classes seem to have learned how to keep their students interested with real examples and anecdotes. Of course, not all teachers can become best-selling authors, and not all authors can become teachers. The important thing is for your book to take into consideration how people learn. Sometimes experience is the best teacher.

If software is included in the book, will the author take responsibility for selecting the software and integrating it into the book?

If you're going to include software in a book, be sure to include software that adds significant value and complements the book. It's best for the author to select the software for the disk and to work coverage of the software into the actual text of the book. This way, authors can offer advice on how to use the disk that's been included.

Readers can quickly tell when a disk was an afterthought, especially when the text talks extensively about one application program and the disk includes an application that just received a quick mention. Well-constructed books must work as one complete integrated package.

Is the author a perfectionist?

Although a perfectionist can be a real pain to deal with, it seems that almost all best-selling authors are perfectionists. The difference between a book that becomes a best seller and a book that sells moderately well is often buried in the text. Those little details that ensure the reader's success with a project make all the difference. Having just the perfect anecdote or example that clarifies a concept is very important. Publishers can't really tell if that level of perfection is in a manuscript until they actually try to implement the suggestions in the text. In theory this sounds good, but editors rarely have time to work through everything in the text.

To further compound the problem, when publishers bring in expert reviewers to determine the quality of a text, they are oftentimes too expert to determine if all the important minutiae are present. So what happens? Only the readers and the author know if the book is really worth the time it takes to read it. Of course, if the book does poorly, the author is quick to point out that the book was never marketed. My advice to publishers: If you're looking to publish best sellers, work with authors who are perfectionists. My advice to authors: If you're not already a perfectionist, become one.

If you're an editor, one of the best ways to know if you're working with a perfectionist is to suggest ideas for improving the book that involve restructuring portions of text. A perfectionist is likely to go through a hundred different reasons why he wrote it the way he did, to debate and argue, and then to come up with a wonderful solution to make the book better after careful consideration. This author has the potential to become a best-selling author.

If an author is quick to lop off 200 pages at the end of a book and to throw out entire chapters without even a whimper, you really have to wonder if the author is putting together a finely woven book, or just a patchwork quilt. The content of best sellers should be woven like fine silk.

Is the author deadline-driven?

Timing is critical in this business. Best sellers come from committed authors who use their extensive resources and perfectionist personality traits to do great work within a short time frame. The entire editorial, sales, and marketing process falls apart when the author is late in delivering a manuscript.

If an author is responsive to email and requests during the early stages of a project (like in the signing stage), he'll probably be responsive later on. It's worthwhile for an editor to ask an author about his other commitments just to make sure the author is being realistic. Most authors write between 30 and 40 pages per week. Some are a lot faster, and some a lot slower. The author and publisher need to be very realistic when setting deadlines.

Is the author serious about writing a best seller?

Writing a best seller is hard work. The author must be mentally prepared for the challenge. A book written by an author who wants to publish a lead book in a market segment is far more likely to succeed than an author who just wants to publish a book for a market segment.

Is the author successfully addressing the social needs of the target audience?

If your target audience is comprised of people who earn over $50K a year, and who have on average five years of higher education under their belt, it's best to address these people in a way that they'll enjoy and can relate to. If you think they appreciate art, bring in some examples about art. It you think they enjoy theater, bring in some examples about theater.

Many beginning book authors forget that smart people read their books. This was particularly true of some of the early Idiot's guides. Many of these guides assumed that the reader really was an idiot. They spent lots of time on how to turn a machine on, and what a disk was. On the other hand, the Dummies books seemed to recognize that the reader was smart, knowledgeable about culture, and well-educated, but that the computer made them feel dumb. There's a big difference between writing for an idiot, and writing for someone who feels like an idiot.

The Macintosh Bible did a particularly good job of capturing the spirit of the Macintosh community. The people in the Mac community, especially in the early days, liked to discuss and debate issues concerning their Macs. For me, reading The Macintosh Bible from Peachpit was like going to a Macintosh User Group Meeting. The book, and its multiple authors with their slightly irreverent tone, really matched the content and manner in which people liked to talk about the Mac.

Is the author well-known, accomplished, and well-connected in the industry? What resources can the author tap into?

Although many writers have become well-known as a result of books they authored, the chances of publishing a best seller are enhanced dramatically when an author is well-connected with vendors and other industry experts.

Readers value books that are complete and well-researched. Often, authors obtain the answers they need to write well-researched books from key contacts at software and hardware companies, and at magazines. As an author, if you're not already a key player in your market, you should figure out how to get to know the key players. Key contacts will let you know when new releases are going to ship, and how to obtain special software for your book.

Is there an attitude of 'we're in this together' in the manuscript?

Most people don't enjoy a lecture. They like friendly interaction. If your book conveys the idea that you want to help and motivate a reader by guiding his hand and pointing to things on the screen, there's a better chance that your book will build a positive rapport with the reader. As you can imagine, it's much harder to build a rapport with a reader if an author is perceived to be standing at a podium pontificating. The feeling conveyed from a 'we're in this together' attitude builds a strong rapport with a reader that leads a reader to recommend your book to friends. Best sellers become best sellers due to word of mouth more than any other type of advertising or sales promotions.

As you're reading some of your own sample text or the sample text of any author, try to form a mental picture of where the author is when he's speaking to the reader. Is he next to you? Is he in front of a class? Is he in a lecture hall with 300 other students? Does it seem as though the author wants to help you? Is he smiling? In my eight years of publishing experience, I've found that happy, friendly authors write happy, friendly books. Authors who are always stressed out tend to write boring books.

I can still remember the text of an Excel book that I once read. It was clear from reading the text that the author was frustrated with the program because it still had some serious bugs. The author let his frustration with the program seep into the text. As a result, readers walked away from the book slightly more frustrated than they were before they sat down with it. That book, which will go nameless, sold fewer copies than any Excel book in history.

On the other hand, authors like Robin Williams, Don Crabb, David Pogue, and Adam Engst really build a terrific rapport with their readers. After you read one of their books, you feel as though you kind of know these authors. These authors write in such a way that you want to recommend one of their books to a friend. These pleasant people write pleasant books.

Will the author continue his relationship with the reader after he writes the book?

It's really important for authors to continue their relationship with their readers after the book is published. Readers love to see authors at trade shows, see an author's name in news groups, and attend user group meetings where the author is speaking. By simply including an email address or phone number in the book, authors can sometimes develop a rapport with their readers.

Many authors and publishers worry too much about what will happen if they include their phone number or email address in a book. I've put my own phone number in literally millions of copies of books. On average, I received a few calls per week. Sometimes these calls led to business opportunities, and other times they helped me to develop new thoughts on how to serve my customers better.

For a best-selling author and a best-selling publisher, a book is just one part of a complete relationship that he has with his readers.

Questions for Editors

Do illustrations convey more information than just screen shots?

For some authors, screen shots are an easy way to fill out a thin manuscript and prop up substandard text. With a best seller, every word and every illustration has to add value to the overall work. Keep in mind, your readers are smart. They can immediately sense a gratuitous illustration that just makes an unclear point even more unclear. After all, most of these people saw the screenshots when they were fumbling through their software.

Give your reader as much value as possible. Provide complete captions, and avoid stating the obvious. Captions are a great place to add a little extra advice. Also, feel free to annotate illustrations and screenshots just to make sure you're driving your point home. And finally, illustrations should never be a substitute for poorly constructed text. Your text should be just as effective without the illustrations as it is with them.

Do readers have a multitude of ways to find information they need?

People read books in different ways. Some people like to flip through books until they find something interesting. Other people like to read sequentially. Still others will use the index as their primary point of entry into the book. In computer book publishing, it's essential that you think of all the different ways people could use your book so that you can create devices to help them find what they're looking for.

Simple devices like a brief table of contents, a detailed table of contents, and a very complete index are terrific places to start. After these basics are covered, there are tables of tables, and figures you can include. Similarly, you can include a table of examples included in the book. Also, the beginnings of chapters and parts can outline the contents of a section. In addition, tabs, appendices, and running heads can all help people find the information they want quickly.

Best sellers always make it easy for a reader to find what they're looking for.

Does it break new ground?

If you endeavor to write a best seller, you must break some new ground. What does it mean to break new ground? It means doing something different, new, and unique.

Once you've been in publishing a while, you learn that there are very few completely new ideas. Ideas are borrowed and modified on an ongoing basis not only within computer book publishing, but within all of book publishing. And for that matter, ideas are borrowed and modified from every aspect of our lives. Although breaking new ground can mean publishing 40-pound books or books smaller than the tip of your pinky, it really means developing a few unique ideas that clearly differentiate your book from the pack.

If you're writing on a completely new topic, don't worry; you're definitely breaking new ground. The greater challenge is determining how much and which new ground to break in extremely competitive markets like operating systems and word processing. The more competitive and mature the market, the more new ground you need to break if you want to create a best seller. Of course, there are several examples of books that don't break new ground and that still sell well. But to truly create the best seller in a category, it's critical to do something unique.

The Unleashed series from Sams is a good example of a line of books that broke new ground. If you've never seen an Unleashed book, you should; they're expertly crafted mega-tomes, often published day and date with new technology releases. Although not necessarily a conscious move, the series borrows the Bible concept that The Macintosh Bible used to its advantage. Each Unleashed book is written by a team of experts who target intermediate to advanced users. At first they targeted their books for emerging technologies like the Internet, World Wide Web, programming, and networking. In those categories, they were unique. No other publisher was offering the level of value and timing that Sams offered. The Unleashed series quickly established itself as a best-selling series. With its new reputation, Sams entered some of the more competitive markets with Unleashed titles like Windows 95, where the argument can be made that although they are still breaking new ground, it's relatively less than the differentiation created in the earlier titles. Had Sams started in the more competitive markets with their new series, I'm not sure they would have experienced the same level of success.

Ziff-Davis Publishing, with How Computers Work, broke new ground in general computing by developing the first general interest computer book that focused on a visual approach to learning about computers. Their goal was not to teach someone to be more productive, but to help people understand what was going on inside computers. Their idea was borrowed from How Things Work, but the idea in their market was unique. This is an example of a modified idea that broke lots of new ground in a very competitive market segment. They took a home run swing and knocked the ball right out of the park.

If you're original in your target market segments and you've done your homework to make sure that the market will like your ideas, then you're far more likely to publish a best seller.

Does the book at a glance seem dynamic and advice-packed?

If you watch people purchase books in stores, you notice how they do the flip test. Essentially, they're looking to see how much information is on a page and how easy it is to find.

When you take a good look at established best sellers, you quickly notice how every page looks packed full of information. You typically don't see pages with just two or three paragraphs and lots of white space. You often see notes, tips, illustrations, sub-heads, and cross-references. And even though there's a lot of information on a page, the well-designed best seller is always logical, elegant, and easy on the eyes.

Does the book deliver more than it promises?

Best sellers always deliver more than they promise. In other words, readers are never disappointed. This means that every chapter has not only to help the reader accomplish what it promised, but to share some insight with a reader that saves the person time, money, or a headache that they didn't even realize they had.

Books that include software have a real opportunity to deliver value. For example, if a book includes a fully functional software package with a high retail value, you can be sure the market will respond will. In fact, The Internet Starter Kit from Hayden Books was the first vehicle to make MacTCP widely available. Apple was selling the software for $60 and you practically had to hire a private detective to find it in stores. However, Hayden made it available with the book for $30. This one feature alone was more than worth the price of the book. What's more, it was responsible for hundreds of positive reviews.

Does the editor understand and appreciate how to have an effective relationship with the author?

Often editors know too much, and sometimes too little. Some are too busy, and some don't have enough to do. Some have years of experience, and some just a couple of weeks. All of this is just as true for authors. As a result, the two individuals working on a book as editor and author must work together effectively if they stand a chance at creating a best seller.

The dynamic of the author/editor team will influence a book's sales potential more than anything else. The decision of determining which editor to assign to an author is as critical for the publisher as it is for an author selecting a publisher. The relationship between the author and editor must be one of synergy, where one plus one equals three. In a relationship that works, you can almost witness the magic that takes place when a best seller is born. Both the author and the editor need to understand and respect the dynamic of the relationship.

Ultimately, the author needs to be the captain, and the editor needs to be the first mate. As first mate, the editor brings out the best in an author through support and wise counsel. By knowing the captain's weaknesses and strengths and the waters being navigated, the first mate can earn the trust of the captain and can quickly function as the captain's right hand. but not as a co-captain.

Although healthy debates about the needs of the market should be frequent, there should never be a question as to who the captain is and who the first mate is. Authors (or captains) need to have the ultimate say since they have to write the words. Very few people have the ability to write well about something or use an approach that they don't believe in. Through logic, reason, and knowledge of the market, both the author and editor can determine the best solution together.

If the first mate is always barking orders at the captain, then the boat clearly has two captains. Long experience indicates this situation leads to big problems. Similarly, the captain needs to give the first mate the leeway and respect to do the job. The same is absolutely true of books. The author must accept personal responsibility for the book, while keeping an open mind to criticism.

Does the editor understand and appreciate the market?

In order for editors to add value to a project, they must know enough about the market to ask penetrating questions, think critically, and offer insights based upon thoughtful observation. This appreciation of the market, the book, and the author allows the relationship between the author and the editor to work properly. This ultimately provides the dynamic that can lead to a best seller.

An editor who has no appreciation of a market is like a thick layer of barnacles on the bottom of a speed boat--he'll just slow everything down. When editors understand their markets, they can brainstorm innovative ideas with their authors. Conversely, the editor with limited knowledge will be doomed to ask lots of unnecessary questions. Or worse yet, some editors will offer opinions even if they don't know what they're talking about.

Best sellers come from many great ideas. Great ideas usually come from people who know what they're talking about.

Does the editor understand and appreciate the special aspects of the book?

Every book is different. And that's a good thing. The problem is that many editors forget to fully acquaint themselves with the original vision of a book. On more than one occasion, editors have been half way through editing a book before they've asked the question, 'Who's the audience for this book?' Clearly, this is the wrong time to be asking this question. The better question is, 'How did the editor manage to edit half a book without knowing the answer to this question?'

Best sellers come from a shared and almost perfect vision, by all those involved, of what a book is intended to be. When an editor fails to understand the vision, leading the cover designer, the interior designer, and the marketing people is an exercise in futility.

Even worse is when an author doesn't understand the special aspects of a book. You might be thinking, 'How could this happen?' Well, it's simple. Many books are part of series. Or oftentimes, authors are asked to write a single chapter or two. It's absolutely critical that an author spends the necessary time studying the successful books in a series if he's asked to contribute just a piece of book, or an entire book for that matter.

The vision for a book must be crystal clear, and everyone working on the book must understand that vision from the very start.

Have you selected the right audience, and are you creating a product they'll be excited about?

Before a title is published, the author and publisher need to do plenty of homework. It's absolutely critical that you fully understand the needs of the market segment you're targeting. Without a firm understanding of what your audience desires, you're absolutely bound to fail.

There are several questions to consider when selecting an audience and positioning a book: How big is the target audience? How similar are the needs of the people within the target audience? Do those people buy computer books? What must be included in a book to catch the attention of the target audience? Are these people buying the book for work to solve problems, or are they buying the book much the way they would a Tom Clancy novel?

To illustrate the idea of targeting the right audience, here's an example. Take the game programming market as an example. The audience for game programming books ranges from the first-time programmer who wants to try his hand at creating a game to the professional game developer. At first glance, you might think that the book market size of novice game developers is larger than professional developers. In terms of numbers of people, you're probably right. However, many of those first-time programmers aren't necessarily buying books. As a result, sales results have proven that the professional game developers' book market is actually stronger than the introductory market. It turns out that high-end books like Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus from Sams significantly outsold any other game programming book targeted at the low end of the market.

There are a few reasons for this book's success. One, many programmers, even those who don't intend to program games, are very intrigued by the secret techniques game developers use in their code. Since the people who wrote the book were the top people in game development, the book appealed to professional developers and game developers alike. Second, there are many excellent introductions to programming. An introductory programming book that uses a game as its primary example will probably not serve the majority of new programmers adequately, and certainly will leave game developers in need of real content. Third, the book really delivered a great deal. It had sample games that could be added to and modified, sample code from the book, insights and secrets from a who's who of game development, and a healthy assortment of useful tools.

Critical thinking about the market you are targeting will determine the success of your publishing efforts.

Is the content broad enough to meet the needs of the entire target audience?

Most best sellers are fairly complete in their coverage. Now, I'm not saying that every book needs to be a large tome--there are plenty of small, concise books that are best sellers. However, if you have to choose between being a little too small and a little too big, you're probably better off with a little too big. Even if you define your target audience pretty specifically, every reader will come to your book with a different experience set. It's OK to set the stage by providing concise yet expertly written background material to ease a reader into a topic. Also, don't hesitate to include appendices that provide some additional background information. Readers will appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Is the content organization solid? Does it accommodate people with various needs?

A best seller offers comprehensive and complete content for its readers. Although comprehensive and complete coverage sometimes means the book is large, there have been many comprehensive and complete best sellers that are relatively small. In other words, comprehensive, complete, and solid are relative terms with respect to what the author is setting out to accomplish with his book. Although we tend to define book markets as though they are comprised of a single type of person with individual needs, people's content needs vary quite substantially within a market segment. The best seller stays focused, yet accommodates a broad spectrum of people within the target market.

For example, it's completely appropriate that The Macintosh Bible is large. Part of its promise is that it delivers thousands of tips and tricks from a large cast of Macintosh gurus. People expect The Macintosh Bible to cover a wide range of topics in detail. On the other hand, The Little Mac Book, although considerably smaller, contains information on a significant portion of what's included in The Macintosh Bible. Quite simply, The Little Mac Book is comprehensive and complete in its own unique way.

The difference is that The Little Mac Book attempts to be more economical, simpler, and more hands-on than The Macintosh Bible. The Mac Bible and The Little Mac Book represent two books, both best sellers, that are comprehensive, solid, and complete but with different approaches. Simply put, both of these books stay true to their respective promise to the reader.

Many introductory books fail to become best sellers because they are not comprehensive and complete. Their focus is often too narrow for the majority of people approaching a topic for the first time. Likewise, some advanced books, although large and detailed, don't have the necessary breadth of coverage to become a best seller.

The QuarkXPress Book, also from Peachpit, has a very simple, yet complete, table of contents that is very general in nature. The QuarkXPress Book is organized in way that makes the whole book seem useful to everyone using Quark, regardless of the project they're working on. Conversely, if you put together a Quark book that was organized by type of project--let's say part one is brochures, part two is flyers, part three is booklets, etc.--then people picking up your book who are only interested in one type of project may think that the rest of the book is useless and never buy it. In addition to remaining entrenched as a best seller within its market, it's clear that it will be difficult for any other QuarkXPress book to come in and displace it. Not only is the content expertly crafted, it accommodates a wide array of people with various needs.

Is the outline well-constructed before the writing begins?

Although a good outline won't guarantee a best seller, it can certainly make the entire writing process far more comfortable and productive for everyone involved. Best sellers result when a whole series of good decisions are made by the author, publisher, and book seller. One of the best ways to ensure that you are in the right frame of mind to make excellent decisions is to have a clearly defined working plan for how a book will be constructed.

The well-constructed outline will help the publisher better anticipate the content of the manuscript, so that misunderstandings don't arise between what the author hoped the book would be and what the publisher thought he was buying. In addition, authors typically won't waste as much time taking wrong turns during the writing process. They'll know how the content is supposed to map. Furthermore, it gives the author and the publisher an opportunity to set up detailed schedules to chart progress and anticipate potential problems before they occur.

Best sellers come from lots of the right decisions. In order to make the best decisions, you need the right environment. A thoughtful outline will help you plan effectively. This, in turn, will help you enjoy a writing and product development process that is smoother and more conducive to creative thought and value-added problem-solving.

Is the title uniquely positioned?

Anyone who says you can't judge a book by its cover has never sold books. Even if you have an expertly crafted book that breaks new ground, it's essential that you position your title with respect to the other books in your target market segment. If your book is on a new technology, you have less to worry about because timing will be the most important factor. But if your book is targeted at an established and mature market with entrenched best sellers, you've got to position your book in a unique way.

There's a classic marketing book called Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind that I recommend to everyone even remotely involved with product creation. The idea behind positioning is that customers will look at your title and try to figure out how it fits in with all the other product choices available. For example, if you are writing a Special Edition Using book for Que, your book will be uniquely positioned in the market because the Special Edition series has a long tradition and reputation for being known as a complete tutorial reference on a topic. After Que sold more than 30 million Using books over an 11-year period, you can be sure it won't be easy to publish the exact same large tutorial reference in a market where Que is doing a good job and expect similar results unless you have positioned your title in some unique fashion.

IDG did just that with the Dummies series. They didn't create knockoffs of Que's books, but instead positioned their books 'for the rest of us.' As a result, both Que and IDG publish lots of best sellers. Both publishers continue to sell more books today than they ever have before. I'm not sure Que was as successful with the Idiot's guides. They positioned these books head to head with Dummies, and haven't really made a dent yet in the Dummies series. Although Idiot's Guides are highly marketed and promoted, they don't even come close to being as profitable as IDG's Dummies books.

So, as a publisher without an established series, or an author proposing to write a book in a competitive market, you have to pick a unique position that allows your book to stand on its own if you're truly hoping for best-seller status. If you merely look at 20 Microsoft Word books and take the best features from all of them to create a new and improved Using book, the Using book will still win hands down in the market. However, if you look at the Word market and determine that there is no super-advanced Word book, and there's an audience for such a book, than you might have a uniquely positioned product that has the opportunity to become a best seller.

Another interesting example would be to publish a WordPerfect for Lawyers book. To my knowledge, no one has ever published such a book. However, virtually everyone in the legal profession seems to use WordPerfect. If marketed properly, this book idea could become a best seller. The problem is that very few computer book publishers are equipped to reach the legal market. Therefore, it doesn't make sense to develop a new channel for just one book. Furthermore, few law publishers are knowledgeable in publishing computer books.

Sounds tough, doesn't it? You bet. The art of publishing best sellers requires vision, perseverance, risk-taking, and doing your homework.

Is your timing good?

Whenever a new technology is about to be released, timing will mean the difference between success and failure. If your book comes out before the competition, even if books in established series come out after yours, you still have a chance to publish a best seller.

On a hot topic like JavaScript where there is tremendous anticipation in the market and there's a history of best-selling Java books, you can be sure that there will be lots of JavaScript books published. Some of them will be in established series like JavaScript for Dummies, Using JavaScript, or JavaScript Unleashed, and others will be stand-alone books. With established series, you're almost guaranteed to receive the shelf presence to be successful. With unbranded books, you had better be first. The second, third, and fourth unbranded book out without a unique position are sure to receive little attention from buyers even if they are better books.

If your publishing company is not equipped to publish day and date with software releases, you have no choice but to pick out a unique position in the market once all the other books are out for a few months. Although it's harder to publish a best seller in this situation, it's still absolutely possible--you just have to be a bit smarter and more inventive. In short, be first out, or be first out with a unique idea.

Will the book receive the appropriate attention inside the editorial group?

Behind every best seller is a first-rate editor. An editor becomes first-rate when he develops sensibilities like those of a master chef at a gourmet restaurant. What do I mean? Well, a great editor has to know just when to add a little salt and pepper to a manuscript, when to cook an idea a little longer, and when not to overcook a concept. He typically knows how much manuscript to prepare, and selects just the right combination and presentation of delicious items to serve. And most importantly, his sense of timing is impeccable.

As the master chef, the editor must guide the other chefs (like the author, marketing group, and sales group) to work in harmony towards a collective goal: the making of a best seller. In addition, the editor must be a coach. The editor teaches and motivates everyone to put forth their best effort. Also, the editor must be like an air-traffic controller who ensures that every aspect of the project, both internally and externally, is well-coordinated.

What constitutes inappropriate attention? An editor who over-edits could kill a really great book with the stroke of a red pen. Sometimes an author's idiosyncrasies are what make the text special. A good editor knows when to leave them in. Likewise, the editor who lets portions of a manuscript sit on his desk without providing any feedback to an author, while the author completely finishes a book, is not providing an appropriate level of attention. If this happens, the book may turn out OK with a truly outstanding author. But, more often than not, the editor will provide all sorts of feedback and suggestions a week before the final manuscript is due. This is what causes books to be delayed or cut. What's more, inappropriate editorial attention can completely destroy a publisher's reputation among authors.

With just the right editor and author team, the chances of publishing a best seller are enhanced.

Will the editor champion the book and the author's vision for it within the organization?

The effective editor will serve as a champion of the author's vision within the publishing compan