The anatomy of a best-selling book [Infographic]

Have you ever wondered about the common features of some of the best-selling books?

There is no magic formula for creating the next blockbuster novel, but there are patterns in what popular books share. By looking at things like genre popularity, structural characteristics, and publishing trends, it is possible to identify some of what today’s readers respond to.

We have analysed bestselling titles across the following dimensions:

• Average page length
• Sex of the main protagonist
• Average number of words per sentence
• Genre popularity
• Whether to self-publish or get a publishing deal

The patterns that emerge can give writers a clearer picture of what readers in different parts of the world respond to, which genres carry the largest audiences, and what structural choices tend to appear in books that reach wide readerships.

All of these findings are presented in the infographic below: The Anatomy of a Best-Selling Book.

Based on our analysis of bestselling titles, the most successful books tend to feature a female protagonist, though male protagonists are more popular with male readers.

Romance books seem never to go out of style, and in the United States, the genre has grown considerably. It generates approximately $1.44 billion annually in the US. Our analysis of major bestseller lists shows the genre’s share grew significantly through the 2000s and into the 2010s. Romance now accounts for around 40% of Amazon e-book sales by category — a dominance partly driven by the rise of self-publishing and the e-reader market, which removed many of the barriers to distributing romance fiction independently.

Based on our analysis, a bestseller’s average length is around 375 pages. Over the last 100 years, the average number of words per sentence has declined, as has the use of the semi-colon. The use of the question mark, by contrast, has increased — a shift that may reflect broader changes in how writers engage their readers.

The romance genre that was popular with the European aristocracy of the 13th century consisted of prose or verse narrative following the heroic adventures of a knight, with an emphasis on love and courtly values. The romance novel as we know it today is a relatively modern concept. The precursor to the modern romance novel is thought to be Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson, published in 1740. The story itself is far from romantic — it is told in the voice of Pamela, a young servant who recounts her resistance to her predatory employer’s attempts to seduce her. Jane Austen later shaped the genre considerably, with Sense and Sensibility (1811) going through multiple editions in her lifetime and Pride and Prejudice (1813) becoming one of the most enduringly read novels in the English language. Austen did not attach her name to her novels during her lifetime; her brother Henry identified her as their author after her death.

In the United States, crime and mystery novels are in second place after romance, followed by religious and inspirational books in third. Science fiction and fantasy are in fourth place, with horror last. Favourite lead characters tend to be lawyers or detectives, and the favourite setting is often somewhere in the US.

Crime and mystery novels are popular because they offer strong narratives with a safe distance between the reader and the danger taking place — close enough to feel the tension, distant enough to enjoy it. Some research suggests that reading crime fiction can be therapeutic.

Religious and inspirational books serve a different but equally real need. For readers looking for meaning, spirituality titles can play an important role — particularly in healthcare contexts, where the relationship between spiritual wellbeing and physical health is well documented.

Fantasy and science fiction both offer a form of escape: fantasy by stepping outside modern reality entirely, and science fiction by extrapolating what is currently possible into a horizon of new possibilities.

Increasingly, popular books blend genres rather than sitting cleanly in one. A story can carry an underlying romance within a science fiction setting, or a crime narrative woven through a world set in the future. Twilight, for example, is a vampire fantasy built around a love story. The most successful genre hybrids find a way to satisfy readers of both.

If you are writing a best seller, the question is whether to follow what has proven popular or to use these patterns as a springboard for something fresher. The established formulas work — but readers who have read widely in a genre will notice when they are being recycled. 

Publishing in the United States is worth considering. The US publishing industry was valued at $27.98 billion in 2014, and remains the world’s largest. The six biggest book markets globally are the United States, China, Germany, Japan, France, and the United Kingdom. Whatever your publishing route — traditional or self-published — the e-book channel means your book can reach readers in any of these markets without a physical distribution deal.