What makes a book popular?

Reviewer X asked this question recently, and I decided to blog about it myself.

(And right now, I'm calling Sunday as my day to post weekly ramblings about bookish topics, 'kay? And I realize that this is Monday, not Sunday, but I started writing this on Sunday with the intention of finishing it, but then I felt like watching Music and Lyrics and then my younger brother and I watched Camp Rock and laughed at it and by then it was like ten thirty and I went to sleep.)

When I was younger, I really didn't read that many bestsellers. I mean, I liked historical fiction. That wasn't exactly mega-popular for the most part. I mean, yes, there was American Girl and Little House on the Prairie but for the most part, who read historical fiction? Not many.

Eventually, my reading tastes started to change. I remember when The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants came out. I didn't really want to read it; it didn't seem like my kind of book. (And one of the rules of the Sisterhood...well, let's just say I was positive the book would not be appropriate.) Regardless, I added it to my "list of books to read someday" because it was so popular. And one summer when I was at camp, I bought it and ended up really enjoying it. The same with The Lord of the Rings and Twilight. It seemed like everyone else had read them so I thought that I should.

In the case of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, one reason I think it became so popular is simply because it was real. You could relate to Carmen, Lena, Tibby, and Bridget. So there probably is no such thing as a pair of pants who fit four girls with very different body types, but it's not really about the pants. It's about four young women who are best friends spending their first summer apart. And the story is real. The characters, their emotions, are real. They don't always make smart decisions, aren't always likable, but they are girls you can know, girls you could be friends with yourself. Despite being a great summer read, Ann Brashares' young adult series has substance. It's not all happy-happy, but nor is it depressing. It's about life. Why wouldn't it be popular?

Gossip Girl and similar series are very popular right now. I've never read Gossip Girl, The A-List, or The Clique. I've read Private by Kate Brian, though. It's about a girl from the suburbs of Pennsylvania who ends up with a scholarship to an elite prep school and what happens when she falls in with the most powerful girls at the school. The seventh book, Ambition, recently came out, and I decided not to buy it. I've already read spoilers online, and I know there's just going to be another cliffhanger, probably more frustration, and it would just probably be a waste of ten dollars. Probably fun to read, but just overall not worth it.

Private is highly unrealistic. Seriously, if you thought the drama in BoBRPGv1 was over-the-top, I don't know what you'd think about Private. But it's addicting. Really. Who doesn't want to read about girls who have like zero self-respect despite seeming super-confident? And who doesn't read about a life they can only dream about: the life of the mega wealthy. I imagine the draw of Gossip Girl is the same.

Reviewer X discusses the Gallagher Girl books by Ally Carter. I have read both these books and I really enjoyed them. They're clean, fun, cute, and just impossible but whatever. Still fun, and that's all they're supposed to be. But then I reread the first (I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, and for the sake of my sanity, from now on, I'm going to call it LYKY) and thought it was only so-so. It sort of annoyed me, mainly the writing. The premise is so farfetched, and why the writing is just so spy-oriented...it just became "Enough already!" I wasn't sure I hated it, but I'm kind of sorry I reread it because the books are kind of ruined for me now. Actually, I'm hoping that they do make LYKY into a movie (it's been optioned) because it might be a better book than movie.

I think part of what makes the Gallagher Girl books popular is that how many books are about teenage girls who attend spy school? Not that many. I think that books that take place at boarding schools of any kind are popular (Private is another bestselling series, and there is of course Harry Potter) and the Gallagher Academy is like Hogwarts in that it's populated by normal enough kids with super-special talents and the actual building is just so zany and you'd love to take a class or two there someday.

Maybe it's sort of the same draw as Hannah Montana: A mostly normal teenage girl with a huge secret.

Reviewer X brings up The Da Vinci Code, which I've never read. I agree with her that the controversy is responsible for its popularity. Controversy never hurts. However, I must disagree with her discussion of Prep, another book I've never read (but again, set at a prep school). I'm not looking at the Amazon.com page, so I don't know what it's average rating is, but I've seen it appear in many lists and stuff on Amazon.com, and I'm thinking that the number of negative reviews might be a reflection of its popularity. The proportion of fans to non-fans might be the same, but the numbers are larger. Also, if you love a super-popular book, why write a review? Yours is just going to be lost among the other gushing five-star reviews. But if you dislike a bestseller, you want to tell others that they may not want to waste their time and money, that keeping up with the latest trend is just not worth it.

Most people read for fun, so they want fun books. They don't want to have to focus on what they're reading in order to understand it. I know when I'm feeling sick or whatever, I'm more likely to reread one of my favorites or pick up a Meg Cabot book or something similar. Why? Because Meg Cabot's books are entertaining.

It's really hard to pinpoint what is and isn't going to sell well. (Okay, so if you read some editors'/agents' blogs, you'll see that there are some obvious "My goose, what on earth was this person thinking?" type queries, but mostly...) I mean, who knew Twilight was going to be so huge? Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone? How many rejections did J. K. Rowling receive, and what was the initial printing? Bloomsbury was pretty clueless that they were publishing the next literary phenomenon.

So publicity is another thing. I know that I would recommend LYKY simply because it's a pretty easy read (if torturous sometimes) and is fairly entertaining and it's clean. A book being put out on display...talked about a lot...it's going to sell. (So maybe I should just start throwing in Books of Bayern randomly?...) But how does a book get put on display? I don't know. Someone with power really likes that book? And how does a book get talked about? Someone either loves it or hates it.

So really, it comes down to people. Marketing people. Bookstore people. Reader people. And then the readibility/funness/power of a book...that sort of thing. But I don't think it can be pinpointed, my conclusion after this lengthy discussion.

READ BOOKS OF BAYERN BY SHANNON HALE! (Even though I know you guys have. :P)

♥anilee