Reading is FUNda--no, it's just fun
I think a lot of writers try to pull apart what makes best selling novels, especially the big ones, tick. Writers who consistently hit the list, are huge names. The ones you see in parks, on airplanes, and I suppose, on the subway (I don’t live in New York).
Lately, I’ve been on a Harlan Coben binge. I haven’t read Harlan in a few years, even though he and I are New Jersey brethren. I grew up on his Myron Bolitar novels and I remember reading TELL NO ONE when it came out and broke out. Back then, that’s how I thought you broke out—slowly build readership with a series and then write a standalone that shoots up the charts.
It worked for Dennis Lehane, Robert Crais, and Coben, among others. (Sorry those three are the first that come to mind—I can dig deeper if you want, but it was the late 90s, people and I’m getting older.)
Anyways, maybe that was the old way. But I got to thinking about the books and why they are still selling. I was reading HOME by Coben and what I realized about halfway through was that Damn, I’m having a good time. The quips between Myron and Win, the twists and turns, the heighten stakes. Everything just made me keep going.
And what Coben does so well, while keeping the fun in the mix, is he keeps the emotions high. Everything is heightened. These aren’t cool characters that just make their way through everything with grace. They feel it.
And, by proxy, you feel it too.
Like I said, it’s been a bit since I’ve read Coben. I don’t cry when I read books, but if you’ve read HOME, you know that the book deals with children in jeopardy. Kids that are about my kids’ age.
The ending made me cry.
And, that is what I think sells. James Patterson knows it. Coben knows it.
Emotion sells. Especially emotion that the reader can relate to. I know people in NJ love Harlan Coben the same way they love the Sopranos. You can point to where each scene is happening.
But that’s now why Coben is a monster on the best seller lists. It’s because the books are packed with it all. Everything you want.
They are roller coasters with wit and feeling.
They’re fun.