From the Book of Genesis and the plays of Shakespeare, to Oprah's Book Club, enduring--and wildly popular--books and stories feature certain elements that MAKE them wildly popular.

In this book (newly expanded and revised) a hard-bitten, hard-working editor reveals the untold elements without which, your book CANNOT hope to climb the best-seller lists.

Whether your work is fiction or non-fiction, you must include certain strategies (or "reader bait") before you start writing--or revising.

In this order:

1) The Paranoia Formula
2) Best Seats in the House
3) Gifted Underdogs
4) A Kind and Trusty Guide
5) Every Fact Tells a Story
6) The Slope of Curiosity
7) Progress, Wisdom, Evolution

Then finally (triumphantly!)you need "The Ultimate Strategy," which separates best-selling sheep from remainder-table, bargain-book goats.

That extra chapter is included in this e-book edition, available for the first time ever.