My First Bestseller

It was 3:00 in the morning when the phone rang.  “Who is this,” I said trying to clear the cobwebs from my head.  There was a slight pause and then, “You know who this is.”  I did.  His name was Victor Navitsky and he was the most dangerous man I had ever met. 

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     “Victor, it’s the middle of the night,” I said trying not to sound annoyed.  Again, there was a pause, this time longer.  “I know what time it is.  What I don’t know is why you are trying to bust my balls.  Have I done something to offend you?” 

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     “Of course, you haven’t done anything to offend me,” I said, choosing my words carefully.  “But I don’t understand.  We were supposed to meet on Friday.  Has something come up?”

     “The book.”

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     “What about the book?”

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     “I looked this evening on Amazon.  Again, nothing.  It’s still not on the bestseller list.”

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     “Victor, we’ve discussed this.  Our arrangement was for me to help you write the book.  You never said it was my responsibility to make it a bestseller.”

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     “So now I’m telling you.”

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     “Victor please, there are other people who …”

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     “No, not other people.  You.  By this time next week.”

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     I was about to say that what he was asking for was impossible but he’d already hung up.

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     When I put down the phone, my hand was shaking. Next week?  How was I going to make his book a bestseller in one week?  I was a writer, not a marketing guru.  Not that it mattered.  When a man like Victor Navitsky said he wanted something done, it got done.  No questions asked.

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     Four months earlier, my friend Arthur who is a tax attorney called and said he had a client who wanted to publish a book. Was I interested in taking on a new project?  When I asked what his client did for a living, Arthur replied that the man was in the import/export business and that he had some great stories to tell.  It sounded promising and I agreed to a meeting.

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     Two days later, I was introduced to Victor Navitsky.  He was a large man with a thin mustache that gave him the appearance of an attack dog about to strike.  In his right hand he held up a manuscript as thick as an encyclopedia.  “I was in business for twenty years. I am retired now, but as you will see, I have led an interesting life.  Arthur says you are the man who can turn it into a book.” We talked a bit more and I agreed to take a look at what he had written and get back to him in a day or two about the possibility of working together. 

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     Victor was right.  He had led an interesting life.  But not the one I’d envisioned.  When Arthur told me that his client was in the import/export business, the first images that came to mind were porcelain vases and antique rugs.  As I continued to read those images quickly drifted away, replaced by a large white cloud. 

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     Cocaine.  Victor Navitsky was a drug smuggler.  A very powerful drug smuggler who had supplied the street traffic in approximately fifty major cities across the United States.

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     I immediately called Arthur and said that there was no way I was getting involved with a drug smuggler.  After noting my objections, Arthur assured me that Victor was retired.  He also emphasized that we weren’t condoning the drug business.  We were simply presenting the unvarnished facts of one man’s life. Didn’t the public have a right to hear his story?   

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     Victor’s story fell somewhere between autobiography and true crime.   It was also an exciting tale, filled with drama and intrigue.  Arthur convinced me it would be a hit.

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     After that, Victor and I spoke every day.  Once a week, I would visit him at his home and we would discuss my latest edits and additions to his text. Victor was always a gentleman and at no time did I ever feel that I was in danger.  I should have. Yes, Victor’s life was filled with drama and intrigue but also revenge and retribution.  People died, or disappeared or were murdered.  At no time in the book did Victor ever implicate himself or admit to any specific crime or wrongdoing.  But the threat of personal violence was always there.

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     Now the threat was hanging over my head.  I had exactly one week to make his book a bestseller.  Otherwise … what? 

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     One possibility was the Witness Protection Program. Unfortunately, I wasn’t about to give evidence in a criminal case, so that wouldn’t work.  Another option was to leave the country.  And go where?  No matter where I ended up, a man with Victor Navitsky’s resources would easily find me. The only way out was to make his book a bestseller.  But how?

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     I’d spent the better part of my career as a successful screenwriter.  I knew what it took to make a film into a blockbuster but I had absolutely no experience with promoting books.  And then it hit me.  Hollywood was not that different from the publishing industry.  In both, you deal with a story that had to be written, shaped, produced and promoted to the public.  Why not take everything I knew about making a successful movie and apply it to Victor’s book? 

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     For the next few days, I worked without stop.  At the end of each day, I checked on the book’s Amazon ranking.  Nothing yet, so I kept trying.  By the sixth day I was desperate.  I looked again, this time more from habit that anything else.  To my complete surprise, there it was at number 22! I kept refreshing the page over the next six hours until the book eventually peaked at number 18.

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     I can’t really describe my excitement except to say that I immediately called Victor and shouted into the phone: “Congratulations, you are now a bestselling author!”

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     Rather than excited, Victor answered flatly, “So, you did it?”

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     “Yes, Yes! I answered, unable to contain my enthusiasm.  “You asked me to do it and I did. Go onto Amazon, type in your name, and you’ll see.”   

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     “Give me a minute,” said Victor as he booted up his computer and typed in his name.  “You’re right, number 18.  A good start. When do you think it’ll reach #1?”

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     Maybe it was the adrenalin, maybe my total exasperation, but I’d finally had it with Victor and I told him so.  “No, we never said anything about #1.  You said you wanted to be on the bestseller list.  And now you are, which means that I’ve filled my end of our bargain.” 

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     To both my surprise and relief, Victor reluctantly agreed, and I’ve been praising the gods ever since. Not simply for my healthy kneecaps but for the discovery I had made.  I now had the formula for transforming a book into an Amazon bestseller -- not in months but weeks.  It’s a formula I’ve have been using ever since -- with entrepreneurs, consultants, and business professionals who not only want to publish a book but also need it to be a bestseller.

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     It’s a formula I’m now ready to share to help you become a bestselling author too.