What Makes a Bestseller? | Jonny Geller | TEDxOxford
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- čas přidán 18. 04. 2016
- Jonny looks at what lies behind some of the most successful books of recent years. He explores the patterns and trends underlying their popularity and describes what a literary agent looks for in a writer.
After spending twenty years as a literary agent, he reveals some of the secrets he has learned and argues about the power of the reader in the making of a bestseller.
Jonny Geller is a literary agent and joint CEO of Curtis Brown, the world’s oldest Literary and Talent agency, based in London. After working as an actor in early 1990s, Jonny became an agent in 1995 and now represents some of the world’s bestselling writers, from authors of first class literary fiction to best-selling thriller writers, from ground-breaking journalists to public figures and business people. His clients include John le Carre’, Tracy Chevalier, David Mitchell, David Nicholls, William Boyd, Howard Jacobson, Elif Shafak, Tony Parsons, Nelson Mandela Foundation and many others.
www.curtisbrown.co.uk/agent/jo...
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx
IMPORTANT: Remember to turn down the volume before moving to the next video.
Thank you ☺️
Needed that! Thanx lol!
😂 wish I would have read this sooner!
A hero!
should have read your advice before opening another youtube window...
when you praying the sound doesn't randomly normalise because you'll go deaf if it does
U 1ST um okay....
Hehehe. 😂
Never judge a book by the sound. A Fascinating talk despite the poor audio quality.
Best-seller = Interesting book + Effective promotion.
To be a Best-seller, not only must you write an interesting book, but you must also know how to promote it well !
Cat sat on a mat. - this is not a story
Cat sat on a dog's mat. - now, this is a story.
There are more little gems in this talk. Highly enjoyable.
The sound gets better after a minute or so. I was able to hear everything just fine.
A really interesting window into how the book industry chooses and creates bestsellers. Good talk.
everything aspiring writers needs to hear, and at the end he says 'reading is a creative act'. right on.
Attention everyone who chooses to watch this--the sound quality is extremely poor. There are two main work-arounds for this:
(1) Headphones. For some reason, when I plugged in my headphones the sound came through fine, at half the volume.
(2) Captions. If you have good eyesight, and don't mind reading your videos, this works, too.
vrhetinst, Thank you
sound is so low on many of your videos. Please work on it, TED !!!
it's TEDx Oxford that's the problem, not "TED."
Shhhh, you're writing too loud. I'm trying to hear.
Finally helpful video about writing. Thank you.
Fun fact:if you cant hear turn on captions. You can read. It makes you better.
Thank you
Thank you. Stupidly, it really hadn't occurred to me and I ended up finding this vid very helpful.
excellent talk. people complain volume is low, but that makes you pay real attention to it
Good point
Couldn't hear it
Caz Greenham
enable captions. it might help =)
Use Headphones. You're welcome!
I using headphones and I still can't hear it.
Headphones help but still too low. The video should be fixed and uploaded again.
@@vrindagupta2472 It did help. the closed captioning was well done.
My friend recommended me the show trigun and it changed my life. And i recommended my other friend neon gensis and it changed his life!
Thank you. So, so helpful :) Honored to hear what a literary agent is looking for!
Really enjoyed watching this talk.
Well done Jonny, brilliant, informative and fun talk.
This is a wonderful talk, thank you!
Thanks for taking a chance on fellow Eastleigh boi David Nicholls, Jonny.
-Cerulean
“Nobody knows anything...... Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess and, if you're lucky, an educated one.” - William Goldman - Advantures in the Screen Trade - Warner Books, 1983
Thanks for sharing your valuable experiences.
A beautiful talk!
Omg I'm geting sooo manyyy goosebumps... He is totaly right 🤯
Fabulous speech! Thank you
very good this one, well-stuffed with striking examples as well, fine bitter conclusion
Quite insightful.liked it very much.
Interesting talk. Well worth watching and listening.
Wonderful talk
fantastic talk
"talk" how did you hear it?
with headphones
I have never before in my life been so grateful for youtube subtitles
Very well put across...
A brilliant mind.
Loved it until I turned my music on afterwards and went deaf
hahaha - the same happened to me! :)
Loved this, despite the sound level.
good talk on making it best seller
Thank you
Very good.
Very good !
Mr. Geller, thank you. Brilliant and insightful content. I thoroughly enjoyed the exercise of listening with intent due to poor sound quality. Captions helped tremendously.
Take away for me was:
Communicate the core idea easily.
Allow your writing style to be open, free, generous, uncluttered.
"All that really matters is that the next book I buy might just change my life."
Brilliant!
A lot of people dream about writing a book and hope it becomes a success.
I believe it is more important to visualize yourself writing a succesfull book and doing everything that is necassary to do so.
The author makes some good points, but a guaranteed bestseller still comes down to three elements --- thriller genre, brand-name author, and major publisher. For example, here are the current top-five hardcover fiction bestsellers according to the New York Times (as of this writing): 1. Where the Crawdads Sing (Delia Owens) 2. Verses for the Dead (Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child) 3. The Reckoning (John Grisham) 4. Fire & Blood (George R. R. Martin) 5. Every Breath (Nicholas Sparks). All of these books are from longtime authors, all from major publishers, and three of them are thrillers. Despite some sudden bestsellers from previous unknowns (such as E.L. James, Stephanie Meyer, Suzanne Collins, and Andy Weir), I do believe that they are the exception rather than the rule. Brand names still drive the industry. And while I'm glad that Jonny Geller at least touched upon book covers, there is a lot more to book marketing than that. Marketing is essential--getting word out to established or potential readers, getting the books into the hands of reviewers, and publicizing books in trades. Do that, and you give yourself a good chance at seeing increased sales.
Put the volume up. Right up.
That was really good! Nice work.
A cat sit on the mat
A cat sit on the dog's mat
Realy good to hear.❤️
Speakers blown not because of this content but having to turn up volume!
Writers out there. This is good stuff, it gives a different perspective. Put on the subtitles.
Thanks for all the tips. I can hear this fine using a headset. Volume isn't even high.
I have on a headset, and it's still barely audible, except with the output volume put at DANGEROUS levels.
Great.
I think a good idea for a book is about a woman who is being framed over her own artwork, this woman started painting when her husband became disabled, and she started painting over ten years ago but some crooked politicians and his mobsters friends came up with ways to frame her.
The recording of this video, the sound is too low. I've nearly blared my speakers and I can barely hear him at times.
Perhaps. But ultimately what makes a best seller (in the long-term sense of the word) is something original. Like the Polity of Beasts. People either hate it or love it, but they all admit there's nothing else like it.
Really had to work hard to listen to this, but definitely worth it. Succinct, brilliant advice for authors
Playing Russian Roulette with my ears. Either way, this was worth the ringing in my ears once the next video popped up.
Vmv
I had not heard anyone make the point about 'the bridge' so far. Good advice for aspiring writers.
Useful presentation: and the low sound concentrates the mind that bit more.
I see that in a lot of ways.
turned off and went to another video, thanks for blowing my speakers up.
priceless
something's wrong with the audio
Hard to hear so I had to listen carefully. I'm glad I did.
Pretty good insider info on the publishing industry - which is I suspect more about common sense than anything else. Use headphones to hear it.
Interesting talk, crank the volume up to the top to listen to it.
How I can connect with you sir
I have several novels in me to write...or finish.
wow! 7:02 is just powerful. I paused to read.
So the first thing would be: To find that one sentence.
God, it's too easy for me to create that one sentence! The rest is the problem xD
I think this make a good book. the title is called Secrets it about a woman who being frame over her painting that she painted,. The story is people lying to help mobster make money off her painting, because they don't like her, so they frame her. By deleted videos footage of her buying art supplies and crooked people be coming into her home taken pictures of her painting.
sorry!couldn't pick the sound
Turn up the volume, please!
I am newbie working on my writing skills. Please could someone suggest for me a good writer's forum I could join. Thanks in advance
Well, I know there are subreddits about writing related stuff on Reddit. So maybe you can try it there? X3
The audio is too soft. You have to strain to listen.
Why is the audio so low…
Why are these talks are muffed down? Isnt there an editor checking these?
Winnie-the-Pooh + Fifty Shades of Grey? We already have Lolita.
Mr. Geller looks and sounds like a kinder, gentler Phil Silvers.
or money. money can make a best seller just like in the "musc" industry. when there's a lot of money thrown at any project's advertising in order to ram it down the publics throats, it will always sell
why the hell is the volume so low !
That laugh tho
Hold up your laptop and put it close to your ear. Hold it up for the next 16 minutes.
Nice talk. Those five word sentences are classic American workshop Strunk and White "elements of style" writing--thank god someone is there to give a concise and clear illustration of how that is absolutely not mandatory, as many so-called editors in the US would like you to believe. I like all the Shakespeare and the bloopery book covers (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) are fantastic.
It's one of those days, when I only get inaudible videos!
TedX has really diluted the importance of TED.
terrible sound quality. really want to listen but too too low.
Volume is too low
Ted's trying to keep what makes a Best Seller a Secret. the best seller is the subtitles for this video lol
I have to stop chewing until the video is over
Pardon?
Please fix the volume 💖 even if you have to upload it again.
Ted needs to work on this low sound problem.
Why is volume recorded so low! ):
Anyone found a better video of bestsellers? This one has sound problem
can't hear ... bad recording ... will thumb down this and try to find another copy of this
Einstein Wallah
enable captions. that might help =)
still can't hear it, duh!
it's not my job to workaround their #Fail
I am not sure how you hear captions maybe you could try reading them...
The sound was so low I had to hold my phone to my ear to hear it. Anyway, good advice for anyone who wants to write a best seller.
What's with the sound? Fire the audio person.
So what makes best seller?
Answer: write something people relate to
And story should be able to be reduced to a sentence.
I wonder what I'm missing. Sound is to low
Good stuff, poor audio
No sound except low low blips of what I assume to be words. The mike is at the lips ....I can't believe it is a malfunctioning mkre because the audience would be saying....we can't hear. Plz turn on your mike! Therefore it must be in the posting I the general public???? Not good public relations. Was looking forward to hearing what he had to say.
this is way too quiet. I have my sound volume maxed, and the volume on my speakers maxed, and he's whispering. Please fix.
wow, the sound is way too low on this! Bummer!
i can't hear this, don't currently have headphones. :(