Breakthrough novels are rare, indeed. Especially when you think about how many books are published each year and that 98 % of them fail at being noticed. Did you ever wonder how or why some books make it and some don't? In other words, what creates a breakthrough novel?

What is a breakthrough anyway? It implies that something breaks through a major barrier, reaches some status or position above the main. It also implies that a difficult or rare feat has been achieved.

So how does one break through with their book? There are essentially two things that must be created. But before I say what they are, it's vitally important to realize that breakthrough novels are not happenstance. They are made, or caused, to make the bestsellers lists.

This may sound a little bit like tipping the scales and so forth, but that would be like saying if you worked hard for the Olympics, you'd be cheating to win. That of course would also have to include the absurd perspective that "things should only happen by chance, fate or luck" - nonsense!

First of all, that would be a life of total effect: what ever happens, happens because it was supposed to happen, bah, blah, blah, excuse, blame, it's alright that I'm not flourishing, blah, blah, blah. Come on! Give me and everyone else a break!!

If somebody throws a lit cigarette in a trash can and a fire starts, was it meant to be? The "effect" person might actually let the building burn down. The rest of us...we'd grab a cup of water and dowse it out, and that's that - cause. Someone caused the fire and we caused it to go out.

So how does one cause a breakthrough novel?

1) By having an exceptionally well-written book
2) By effective marketing.

You may have seen your fair share of poorly-written bestsellers in your day, but realize that they don't stand the test of time...they're short lived. They succeed for as long as time and lots of marketing dollars are poured into it.

The first question to ask yourself is, "Do I want to spend a lot of time and energy promoting a half baked novel or do I want to spend my energy on the best book it could possibly be?"

Of course you want to spend your beans on a book that will sell for years to come, maybe even outlive yourself and many generations.

Okay, so the very important step #1 for creating a breakthrough novel is: GET A VERY WELL-WRITTEN BOOK. This means either you, being a great book writer, write a masterpiece. Or, if you're not one, then you hire a great book writer to write your masterpiece.

Once step #1 is accomplished, even better would be WHILE it's being written, step #2 in creating a breakthrough novel - marketing your book - is worked on. But how, you say? Well, this is but an article. Effective book marketing involves a number of actions and a great deal of know-how.

That said, I will put you in the right direction as we move forward. For now, for today, create that breakthrough novel by getting a great book started. One thing is for certain: you can't do any marketing until you have a product to sell.