...
Show More
Are you ready to publish that novel of yours? You know, the one that’s headed straight for the bestseller list as soon as you can convince a publisher of your genius? Well, take some tips from Mr. Steve Martini and his novel The List. Here are his 10 ways to make the top 10 bestseller list:
1. Write according to formula.
2. Create a new genre.
3. Hide any previous published works that didn’t make the bestseller list.
4. Hire a good-looking model.
5. Choose a sexy pen name.
6. Make up a bio filled with adventure and sexiness.
7. Send the novel to an agent using the pen name.
8. Take the good-looking model to New York and pretend he’s the author.
9. Make the rounds of high-powered meetings and fancy parties to publicize the book
And finally...
10. Make sure you have plenty of legal backup so that later you can prove the novel was really yours.
Perhaps I should end all resistance and admit that I like thrillers. Typically, I deny that. I've never read a Stephen King novel and was disappointed in the only Dean Koontz novel I've ever read. But every so often I forget to send back that Mystery Book Club slip and I get a surprise in the mail that leaves me reading late into the night.
The List by Steve Martini was one of those "pleasant" surprises that I've since re-read many times and thrilled to each new reading. Perhaps it could be classified as a mystery, but the suspense level is such that it is just as close of a fit in the thriller genre.
The heroine of The List, Abby Chandlis, is a published writer who can't sell another book because her first effort never made the "list"--the New York Times Bestseller List. She’s also determined that a middle-aged, mildly attractive but graying woman will never make a book sleeve.
A lawyer by day, she’s figured out how to make her fortune as a writer of bestsellers so that her more literary works can also make their way to a publisher. She hires a model–Jack Jermaine–to be the “author,” whom she has named Gable Cooper, and sends her action-packed formula thriller off
to New York. She then plays the part of the “author’s” legal advisor as the New York literary agent goes ga-ga over what she is certain is a gold mine.
Then things start going awry. Jack Jermaine, himself a frustrated author with lots of ambition but little talent, charms the literary agents. Abby has tried to protect herself with legal copyright documents proving that she owns the novel, but suddenly people close to her start showing up dead. She flees the country with Jack and learns that he is more dangerous than she suspected.
If you want more plot details, you’ll have to read the book. But you’re not here just to read about the plot or to find details you could find on any dust jacket. You want to know why I think you should read this book, right?
The List is a fast-paced thriller that is as suspenseful as it is action-filled. Martini builds an atmosphere of terror through simple human paranoia, fear, and lack of knowledge. Lies get interwoven so tightly that it becomes impossible to know who to believe. That Abby is in danger, we can feel certain of. How she will get out alive is an entirely different story and one we don’t get to figure out until taking a ride filled with many twists and turns.
Perhaps one of the reasons that I enjoyed this book was its pure believability. Martini does not rely on goriness or far-out weirdness to get your attention. There is nothing supernatural, nor does it rely on the stuff of which urban legends are made. While the plot becomes outlandish at points, it always remains completely plausible and believable.
The ending was a pure delight. It left me with an, “Oh man, you got me,” reaction. I laughed aloud when I realized the cleverness of what he had done.
This is also a book with a fair amount of not-so-gentle poking at the publishing industry. He strips away their facade and shows all of the nasty games that make a book a bestseller. We get to watch as Martini skewers literary agents, booksellers, and the bestseller list itself. We see how marketing is the name of the game and how little literary effort or skill matters.
I find myself re-reading this book frequently, seeing if on a subsequent time through I’ll pick up the clues I missed the first time. It’s a great book for anyone who likes thrillers, mysteries, or wants to publish that best-selling novel.
1. Write according to formula.
2. Create a new genre.
3. Hide any previous published works that didn’t make the bestseller list.
4. Hire a good-looking model.
5. Choose a sexy pen name.
6. Make up a bio filled with adventure and sexiness.
7. Send the novel to an agent using the pen name.
8. Take the good-looking model to New York and pretend he’s the author.
9. Make the rounds of high-powered meetings and fancy parties to publicize the book
And finally...
10. Make sure you have plenty of legal backup so that later you can prove the novel was really yours.
Perhaps I should end all resistance and admit that I like thrillers. Typically, I deny that. I've never read a Stephen King novel and was disappointed in the only Dean Koontz novel I've ever read. But every so often I forget to send back that Mystery Book Club slip and I get a surprise in the mail that leaves me reading late into the night.
The List by Steve Martini was one of those "pleasant" surprises that I've since re-read many times and thrilled to each new reading. Perhaps it could be classified as a mystery, but the suspense level is such that it is just as close of a fit in the thriller genre.
The heroine of The List, Abby Chandlis, is a published writer who can't sell another book because her first effort never made the "list"--the New York Times Bestseller List. She’s also determined that a middle-aged, mildly attractive but graying woman will never make a book sleeve.
A lawyer by day, she’s figured out how to make her fortune as a writer of bestsellers so that her more literary works can also make their way to a publisher. She hires a model–Jack Jermaine–to be the “author,” whom she has named Gable Cooper, and sends her action-packed formula thriller off
to New York. She then plays the part of the “author’s” legal advisor as the New York literary agent goes ga-ga over what she is certain is a gold mine.
Then things start going awry. Jack Jermaine, himself a frustrated author with lots of ambition but little talent, charms the literary agents. Abby has tried to protect herself with legal copyright documents proving that she owns the novel, but suddenly people close to her start showing up dead. She flees the country with Jack and learns that he is more dangerous than she suspected.
If you want more plot details, you’ll have to read the book. But you’re not here just to read about the plot or to find details you could find on any dust jacket. You want to know why I think you should read this book, right?
The List is a fast-paced thriller that is as suspenseful as it is action-filled. Martini builds an atmosphere of terror through simple human paranoia, fear, and lack of knowledge. Lies get interwoven so tightly that it becomes impossible to know who to believe. That Abby is in danger, we can feel certain of. How she will get out alive is an entirely different story and one we don’t get to figure out until taking a ride filled with many twists and turns.
Perhaps one of the reasons that I enjoyed this book was its pure believability. Martini does not rely on goriness or far-out weirdness to get your attention. There is nothing supernatural, nor does it rely on the stuff of which urban legends are made. While the plot becomes outlandish at points, it always remains completely plausible and believable.
The ending was a pure delight. It left me with an, “Oh man, you got me,” reaction. I laughed aloud when I realized the cleverness of what he had done.
This is also a book with a fair amount of not-so-gentle poking at the publishing industry. He strips away their facade and shows all of the nasty games that make a book a bestseller. We get to watch as Martini skewers literary agents, booksellers, and the bestseller list itself. We see how marketing is the name of the game and how little literary effort or skill matters.
I find myself re-reading this book frequently, seeing if on a subsequent time through I’ll pick up the clues I missed the first time. It’s a great book for anyone who likes thrillers, mysteries, or wants to publish that best-selling novel.
