By now it’s well known that almost no one was interested in publishing J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter book. The author has saved those rejection letters, stashed away in her attic. Later, when Rowling was looking for a U.S. publisher, the only taker was Scholastic Press. Numerous publishers turned down William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, John le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and so on. But now a book claims to have figured out the formula for a bestselling novel. Incidentally, my next book is called Tuesdays With Jesus.

To be sure, there are already a heap of books out there on cracking the bestseller list, including Hit List: Cracking the Code of the Twentieth Century’s Biggest Bestsellers, Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel, and Breaking the Bestseller Code: Discover the 5 Hidden Secrets that Let You Become a #1 Best Selling Author to Gain Instant Credibility and Authority So You Can Earn More Money & Expand Your Business. (I’m guessing one of the “Hidden Secrets” isn’t short subtitles. Also, isn’t “Hidden Secrets” a bit redundant?) In any event, The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel, which comes out next week, claims to have figured out the algorithm leading to literary stardom.