What makes a best-seller in India? That is, quite literally, the big question that has long occupied the minds of writers, agents and publishers. There are many who claim to have the answer, but with the rapid advances in print and communications technology leading to a vast expansion and diversification of media and entertainment outlets, the old criterion of the number of copies sold is not sufficient to define a best-seller.
Should rights like translations, television/film rights and digitalization of editions also be included in a proper definition of a best-seller today? Should the totality of the market and its various segments be included in the final reckoning to optimize the sales potential of a book because publishers are no longer interested only in the print editions?
But first, the traditional definition of a best-seller. A best-seller is a book which sells more copies than other books. That difference, although an obvious one, is the single most important point to bear in mind. It is the yardstick by which wholesalers or the big book-sellers define a best-seller. People must want to buy it; not just a few but lots of people, which means that the book must have broad appeal. For instance, a book on the mating habits of jungle fowls may be well-written and researched but it will appeal only to a limited market. What this means is that most best-sellers fall in the fiction category. How can we tell a book has what it takes? Does it have all the qualities that are common to most best-selling novels, which make us want to buy them and thereafter spread the word around?
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