{"product_id":"9781250088758","title":"The Bestseller Code : Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eThe Bestseller Code\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Jodie Archer, Matthew L. Jockers\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"When a story captures the imagination of millions, that's magic. Can you qualify magic? Archer and Jockers just may have done so.\"—Sylvia Day, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAsk most people about massive success in the world of fiction, and you’ll typically hear that it’s a game of hazy crystal balls. The sales figures of E. L. James or Dan Brown seem to be freakish—random occurrences in an unknowable market. But what if there were an algorithm that could reveal a secret DNA of bestsellers, regardless of their genre? What if it knew, just from analyzing the words alone, not just why genre writers like John Grisham and Danielle Steel belong on the lists, but also that authors such as Junot Diaz, Jodi Picoult, and Donna Tartt had telltale signs of success all over their pages? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThanks to Jodie Archer and Matthew Jockers, the algorithm exists, the code has been cracked, and the results bring fresh new insights into how fiction works and why we read. \u003ci\u003eThe Bestseller Code\u003c\/i\u003e offers a new theory for why \u003ci\u003eFifty Shades of Grey\u003c\/i\u003e sold so well. It sheds light on the current craze for dark heroines. It reveals which themes tend to sell best. And all with fascinating supporting data taken from a five-year study of twenty thousand novels. Then there is the hunt for \"the one\"—the paradigmatic example of bestselling writing according to a computer's analysis of thousands of points of data. The result is surprising, a bit ironic, and delightfully unorthodox.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book explains groundbreaking text-mining research in accessible terms and offers a new perspective on the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestseller list. It's a big-idea book about the relationship between creativity and technology that will be provocative to anyone interested in how analytics have already transformed the worlds of finance, medicine, and sports. But at heart it is a celebration of books for readers and writers—a compelling investigation into how successful writing works, and a fresh take on our intellectual and emotional response to stories.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Non-formulaic, eye-opening, deeply-researched — and really worth your time.\"—\u003ci\u003e GQ \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A thought-provoking and interesting book.\" — \u003ci\u003eThe Financial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Reveals the diverse directions in which popular fiction may be taken. . . the bestseller-ometer may find its most noble application as a democratizing force\" — \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[T]his is a delightful book to read. I would recommend it as both an entertaining and educational read for anybody interested in the business of books.\" —\u003ci\u003eDigital Book World Daily\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This interesting little tome shares some of the Bookputer’s insights with us, just in case we want to become author-millionaires too. And who doesn’t? . . . Fascinating.\" —\u003ci\u003e The Times Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Aspiring novelists who thumb through this volume will find plenty to think about. . . [T]his book actually represents an opportunity for literary scholars.\" — \u003ci\u003ePublic Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Archer is not some Silicon Valley whizz-kid looking to reduce the novel to 0s and 1s, nor is she a pretentious academic coming over the hills to sling around jargon about middlebrow novels. . . [She] is smart, savvy and full of ideas.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe Times of London\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A laboratory is a more compelling setting than a church.\" — \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal,\u003c\/i\u003e which named \u003ci\u003eThe Bestseller Code\u003c\/i\u003e one of the most-anticipated books of Fall 2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[The] claims are eye-grabbing. . . [and] also highly plausible.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe Spectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Archer and Jockers “are ‘literature-friendly’ and want good books to succeed.\"—\u003ci\u003eWired\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"When a story captures the imagination of millions, that's magic. Can you qualify magic? Archer and Jockers just may have done so.\" —Sylvia Day, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Bestseller Code\u003c\/i\u003e excited me, scared me, and generally blew my mind. Archer and Jockers have built a reading robot that can teach readers, writers, and publishers a great deal about how popular fiction works.  This is a pioneering work in a new science of storytelling.\" —Jonathan Gottschall, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Archer and Jockers take an astonishing insight into the DNA of bestsellers and turn it into a gripping page-turner about how we read. Truly remarkable!\" —Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, co-author of \u003ci\u003eBig Data \u003c\/i\u003eand professor at Oxford\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"May revolutionize the publishing industry.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Bestseller Code\u003c\/i\u003e is an intriguing read and its analysis of what makes a plot tick and how readers are grabbed is compelling.\"\u003ci\u003e—Literary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781250088758\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"St. Martin's Griffin","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40667648229582,"sku":"9781250088758","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_a6ead2df-8e45-4039-b2cc-4e29dfd12f17.jpg?v=1639715036","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781250088758","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}