What Makes a Bestseller? | Jonny Geller | TEDxOxford

Jonny looks at what lies behind some of the most successful books of recent years. He explores the patterns and trends underlying their popularity and describes what a literary agent looks for in a writer.
After spending twenty years as a literary agent, he reveals some of the secrets he has learned and argues about the power of the reader in the making of a bestseller.

Jonny Geller is a literary agent and joint CEO of Curtis Brown, the world’s oldest Literary and Talent agency, based in London. After working as an actor in early 1990s, Jonny became an agent in 1995 and now represents some of the world’s bestselling writers, from authors of first class literary fiction to best-selling thriller writers, from ground-breaking journalists to public figures and business people. His clients include John le Carre’, Tracy Chevalier, David Mitchell, David Nicholls, William Boyd, Howard Jacobson, Elif Shafak, Tony Parsons, Nelson Mandela Foundation and many others.

[continuousimprovement]

IMPORTANT: Remember to turn down the volume before moving to the next video.

[daviddrew]

Never judge a book by the sound. A Fascinating talk despite the poor audio quality.

[Tori-vzer]

when you praying the sound doesn't randomly normalise because you'll go deaf if it does

[booksalessecrets]

Best-seller = Interesting book + Effective promotion.

To be a Best-seller, not only must you write an interesting book, but you must also know how to promote it well !

[scarletpimpernel]

everything aspiring writers needs to hear, and at the end he says 'reading is a creative act'. right on.

[AnnaMaledonPictureBookAuthor]

Cat sat on a mat. - this is not a story
Cat sat on a dog's mat. - now, this is a story.
There are more little gems in this talk. Highly enjoyable.
The sound gets better after a minute or so. I was able to hear everything just fine.

[gunpowderboardgames]

A really interesting window into how the book industry chooses and creates bestsellers. Good talk.

[heitorla]

sound is so low on many of your videos. Please work on it, TED !!!

[vrhetinst]

Attention everyone who chooses to watch this--the sound quality is extremely poor. There are two main work-arounds for this:

(1) Headphones. For some reason, when I plugged in my headphones the sound came through fine, at half the volume.

(2) Captions. If you have good eyesight, and don't mind reading your videos, this works, too.

[yomyomcam]

excellent talk. people complain volume is low, but that makes you pay real attention to it

[BeCtieR]

Finally helpful video about writing. Thank you.

[lovetownsend]

My friend recommended me the show trigun and it changed my life. And i recommended my other friend neon gensis and it changed his life!

[endrehalasz]

“Nobody knows Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess and, if you're lucky, an educated one.” – William Goldman – Advantures in the Screen Trade – Warner Books, 1983

[mooncheese]

Fun fact:if you cant hear turn on captions. You can read. It makes you better.

[thejimparks]

Well done Jonny, brilliant, informative and fun talk.

[fancyloafwinifred]

Thank you. So, so helpful :) Honored to hear what a literary agent is looking for!

[TravellinMatt]

The author makes some good points, but a guaranteed bestseller still comes down to three elements --- thriller genre, brand-name author, and major publisher. For example, here are the current top-five hardcover fiction bestsellers according to the New York Times (as of this writing): 1. Where the Crawdads Sing (Delia Owens) 2. Verses for the Dead (Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child) 3. The Reckoning (John Grisham) 4. Fire & Blood (George R. R. Martin) 5. Every Breath (Nicholas Sparks). All of these books are from longtime authors, all from major publishers, and three of them are thrillers. Despite some sudden bestsellers from previous unknowns (such as E.L. James, Stephanie Meyer, Suzanne Collins, and Andy Weir), I do believe that they are the exception rather than the rule. Brand names still drive the industry. And while I'm glad that Jonny Geller at least touched upon book covers, there is a lot more to book marketing than that. Marketing is essential--getting word out to established or potential readers, getting the books into the hands of reviewers, and publicizing books in trades. Do that, and you give yourself a good chance at seeing increased sales.

[Zeltan]

A lot of people dream about writing a book and hope it becomes a success.
I believe it is more important to visualize yourself writing a succesfull book and doing everything that is necassary to do so.

[myth]

I have never before in my life been so grateful for youtube subtitles

[CeruleanSounds]

Thanks for taking a chance on fellow Eastleigh boi David Nicholls, Jonny.
-Cerulean