Although I would hardly suggest that any author engage in “formula” writing or that we write to “trends”–there is something to be said for understanding the things that work and don’t work in publishing. Fortunately there are plenty of really smart people doing the math for us. My infographic “The Perfect Book” provides an overview of some of the statistics on the best-selling books. Credit for the numbers goes to Mark Coker’s hard work over there at Smashwords and to Joel Friedlander at The Book Designer, who provides great insights on formatting and design.
