| Researcher | Author: Title | |
| Kathryn Duvall | Collins, Jackie: Hollywood Husbands | |
| Assignment 1: Bibliographic Description | ||
| 1. First Edition Publication Information | Jackie Collins. Hollywood Husbands.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986. Copyright: Jackie Collins. Parallel First Editions: In England: Hollywood Husbands. London: Heinemann, 1986. | |
| 2. First Edition in Cloth, Paper, or Both? | First American edition published in trade cloth binding.
| |
| 4. Pagination | 272 leaves, pp.[10]11-121[3]125-252[2]255-359[3]363-449[3]453-491[3]495-526[2]529-543[1].
| |
| 5. Edited and/or Introduced? | Front fly leaf includes publisher advertisement for other books by Jackie Collins
No editor or introduction. Dust jacket has short descriptions for each of the main characters and a biography of Jackie Collins | |
| 6. Illustrated? | There are no illustrations.
| |
| 8. General Appearance | Readability is excellent. Large margins, consistent spacing between lines, and larger, clear type make the book very easy to read. This book is an example of quality printing. There is little wear to the book itself or the dust jacket and its overall appearance is very good.
Chapters are numbered but without titles. 102R. Page Size: 234mm. by 157mm.; Size of Text: 180mm. by 115mm. | |
| 10. Description of Paper | The text is printed on ivory wove paper with a smooth texture. The paper has withstood the passage of time well with no staining or tearing. It is still in excellent condition overall. | |
| 11. Description of Binding | Trade cloth binding. Dust jacket included. Front and back covers: Red cloth. Author's signature embossed on front cover. Spine: Black cloth. Spine has title, author's name, and publisher stamped in gold.
Transcription of the spine: HOLLYWOOD HUSBANDS|JACKIE COLLINS|SIMON AND SCHUSTER | |
| 12. Title Page Transcription | Transcription of title page:
HOLLYWOOD HUSBANDS|BY|JACKIE COLLINS|SIMON AND SCHUSTER|NEW YORK Verso: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the|product of the authorís imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual|events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.| Copyright @ 1986 by Jackie Collins|All rights reserved|including the right of reproduction|in whole or in part in any form|Published by Simon and Schuster, Inc.|Simon and Schuster Building|Rockefeller Center|1230 Avenue of the Americas|New York, New York 10020|SIMON AND SCHUSTER and colophon are registered trademarks of|Simon and Schuster, Inc.|Designed by Eve Metz|Manufactured in the United States of America|10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1|Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data|Collins, Jackie|I. Title|Pr6053.0425H56 1986 823í.914 86-20313|ISBN: 0-671-52500-X| ìThe Girl from Ipanemaî (ìGarota De Ipanemaî). Music by Antonio Carlos Jobim. English words by Norman Gimbel. Original words by Vinicius De Moraes. Copyright @| 1963 by Antonio Carlos and Vinicius De Moraes, Brazil. Sole selling agent Duchess| Music Corporation(MCA), New York, N.Y., for all English-speaking countries. Used|by permission. All rights reserved.| ìThe Thrill Is Goneî by Lew Brown and Ray Henderson. Copyright „ 1931 by|DeSylva, Brown, and Henderson, Inc. Copyright renewed, all rights assigned to Chappell|Co., Inc. Internation copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission. | |
| 14. Manuscript Holdings | N/A | |
| 15. Other | The dedication reads: "To the wives who told me plentyÖ.And the husbands who told me more than I ever wanted to knowÖ.And special thanks to special friends who tried to tell me nothing at all, but did not succeed!"
| |
| Assignment 2: Publication History | ||
| 1. Other Editions: | Pocket Books, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc.
(the original publishing company), issued a paperback copy of Hollywood Husbands in 1986 with 536 pages. This paperback edtition is also significantly smaller than the first edition, measuring 172mm. by 107mm. In 1987 Pocket Books printed a paperback copy of this book that included a "A Special Interview with Jackie Collins" in the back. In 1986 Simon and Schuster also released Hollywood Husbands in a book club edition with 502 pages, a two volume large print edition, and a two volume large print book club edition with 970 pages. | |
| 4. First Edition printings or impressions? | There have been as many as four printings of
Hollywood Husbands. | |
| 5. Editions from other publishers? | Heinnemann publishers in London, England issued a hardcover
parallel first edition of Hollywood Husbands in 1986. This was followed by a paperback edition published by Pan in association with Heinnemann in 1987 and 1994. | |
| 6. Last date in print? | Current as of February 21, 2000 | |
| 8. Sales by year? | The 32nd edition of Bowker's Annual reports that in 1986 517,000
copies of Hollywood Husbands had been sold and was Jackie Collins' best selling hardcover novel at this time. The hardcover copy of the book was being sold for $18.95 in 1986. | |
| 9. Advertising copy: | "Millions have read Hollywood Wives. Millions more saw the
ABC miniseries- and they're all waiting for the other side of the story. Hollywood Husbands are hot, Hollywood Husbands are sexy, now Hollywood Husbands go all the way as Jackie Collins delivers a mesmerizing novel of three power players and the rival who will meet them only on her own terms. Another sure-fire besteseller from the empress of the novel of sizzling eroticism." -Publisher's Weekly 1986 Vol. 229 "With prose as purple as Liz Taylor's eyes and a plot as full of brand names as a Rodeo Drive boutique, Jackie Collins is at it again. This time, Collins rips the fig leaf off Hollywood Husbands." -USA Today (paperback edition) "Collins's greatest hallmark is that she is a virtual geyser of narrative energy...Jackie Collins is one of popular fiction's greatest natural resources." -New York Post (paperback edition) | |
| 12. Performances in other media? | No performances in any other media have been found in searches
of the Internet Movie Database, Magill's Survey of Cinema, Magill's Cinema Annual, and the American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures in the U.S. | |
| 13. Translations? | Hollywoodsti man*zele. Frydek-Mistek: Alpress: Gemini, 1996. 442p. [Czech]
I mariti di Hollywood. Milano: Bompian, 1991. 442p. [Italian] Hollywoodi ferjek. Budapest: JLK Kiado, 1996. 502p. [Hungarian] Les amants de Beverly Hills. Paris: Presses de la Cite, 1990. 579p. [French] Hao-lai-wu chang fu. T'ai-pai shih: Huang Kuan Publishing House, 1988. 466p. [Chinese] Maridos de Hollywood. Portugal: Publicacoes Europa America, 1988. 468p. [Portugese] Hao-lai-wu chang fu. T'ai-pei shih: Shih pao wen hua ch'u pan ch'i yeh yu hsien kung SSU, 1987. 372p. [Chinese] Maridos de Hollywood. Esplugues de Llobregat(Barcelona): Plaze & Janes, 1988. 505p. [Spanish] Maridos de Hollywood. Buenos Aires: Emece, 1987. 460p. [Spanish] I mariti di Hollywood. Milano: Sonzogno, 1987. 442p. [Italian] | |
| 14. Serialization? | N/A | |
| 15. Sequels or Prequels? | Although Jackie Collins also wrote two other books that dealt
with similar subject matter, Hollywood Wives and Hollywood Kids, they should not be considered prequels or sequels to this novel because the characters and plots of each are wholely unrelated. | |
| Assignment 3: Brief Biography | ||
| Jackie Collins was born Jacqueline Jill Collins on October 4, 1941 in London, England. Her
parents were Joseph William Collins and Elsa Collins. Will Collins was a theatrical agent who encouraged his children to become involved in the theatre. However, only one of his daughters, Joan, became an actress. Joan Collins is best know for her portrayal of Alexis on the nighttime soap opera “Dynasty” and has appeared in numerous other films and television shows. Although her older sister’s experiences have inspired many of her works, Jackie Collins found her own fame through her writing. Collins’ has always had an interest in writing and literature, reportedly beginning writing at the age of eight. She says during an interview with Los Angeles Magazine in September 1994 that, “Growing up, I read the whole time and lived in a fantasy world.... I wouldn’t hang out with other kids. I would go home and write and then sneak out the window and go to the movies.” Jackie’s deviant ways caught up with her and she was expelled from school when she was fifteen for smoking and truancy. That same year Jackie left England to live with Joan, a budding movie star, in Los Angeles. This trip gave Jackie her first taste of the Hollywood lifestyle which would not only serve as fodder for her novels but would also entice her into later living there. After this time in Hollywood, Jackie moved back to England. Upon her return to England Jackie married, Wallace Austin, in 1959. Collins describes her husband as a “very cute, very manic Jewish-prince drug addict” in the same Los Angeles Magazine interview. Their marriage was a very unhappy one but they did have a daughter together, Tracy. Jackie divorced Wallace just before he died of a drug overdose. This was a particularly tough time for Jackie because she also lost her mother. After the divorce Jackie enjoyed an exciting but brief acting career with roles in The Avengers and The Saint. Collins married Oscar Lerman, an American businessman, in 1966 . They were married for twenty-five years and had two daughters together, Tiffany and Rory. Her first work, “The World is Full of Married Men” was published and became a bestseller in 1968. In 1980 they moved to L.A. so that she could try to make it on the American front, which she did with her bestseller “Hollywood Wives” in 1983. Jackie’s career took off from there and she has written over fifteen novels that have sold over 180 million copies worldwide. A majority of her works are bestsellers. “The World is Full of Married Men”, was made into a feature length film. Several of Jackie’s novels have been featured on television, including “Hollywood Wives”, “Chances”, “Lucky”, and “Lady Boss”. Oscar died in 1993. Jackie got egaged again in 1995. In 1996 Jackie had a brief stint as a TV talk show host on Jackie Collins’ Hollywood. She currently lives in Burbank, California with her fiancee, Frank Calcagnini and continues to write. | ||
| Assignment 4 | ||
| Contemporary Reception: | ||
| Hollywood Husbands was very well accepted by the public when it was released. Jackie Collins
had already amassed a large group of fans with her previous eleven novels and they flocked to this one expecting the same degree of satisfaction making it a bestseller even before its official date of publication. Critics generally reviewed the book favorably but some did approach it with a somewhat sarcastic tone. Publisher’s Weekly, September 5, 1986. “Millions have read Hollywood Wives, millions more saw the ABC miniseries- they’re all waiting for the other side of the story. Hollywood Husbands are hot, Hollywood Husbands are sexy, now Hollywood Husbands go al the way as Jackie Collins delivers a mesmerizing novel of three power players and the rival who will meet them only on her own terms. Another sure-fire bestseller from the empress of the novel of sizzling eroticism. The New York Times, November 2, 1986, p.26, col.3. “Before rushing to sex therapists to find out what’s wrong with them, readers of Hollywood Husbands should bear in mind that it’s a work of fiction and few people in real life possess the insatiable copulative urge Jackie Collins’ characters display. Like her other novels (such as Hollywood Wives), this one relies on sex and scandals and is lavishly laden with designer-labeled perfumes....As in Hollywood Wives, Ms. Collins has concocted a mystery to contain the dinners at Chasen’s, cocaine snorts, film rehearsals, and endless rolls in the hay. One of the women had been abused as a child and young adult, and takes revenge by torching the homes of the people who’ve done her wrong. Who she is and whether she will strike again in the Hollywood Hills is the most compelling question in the book.” The Washington Post, November 24, 1986, p. C2. “The chance for a lengthy and informed look at how the Other Half lives is undoubtedly what pushed this novel on to the best-seller list before its official publication date. I’m not just talking sex and drugs (and in this case, even rock’n’roll). I’m not just talking escape, either. I’m talking course. The book teaches you the patois, the rhythms, the names of all the right places to live or be seen, the right stores to shop. It’s a how-to in glitz....My hat’s off to Jackie Collins for getting them all matched and mated and tangled and twined in the space of a 543 pages. And she makes it looks easy!....Collins’ sense of humor often yields wonderful results....Think of the book as a party with a lot of guests you might never otherwise meet, conversation you might never otherwise hear. You’ll have a marvelous time. Jackie Collins gives great party.” Los Angeles Times, January 4, 1987, Book Review Sec., p. 4. “...Collins, not without a certain hasty humor, propels these unattractive cutouts through a high-gloss world where mirrors “abound” and sheets “await” and women think such thoughts as: ‘He was rough and crude, but, God, he was exciting!’ Backward reels the mind.” | ||
| Subsequent Reception: | ||
| Contemporary Reviews are very hard to find for Hollywood Husbands because Jackie Collins’
popularity has diminished in the past five or so years. I was able to find some interesting reviews of her writing in general however. Barnes and Noble.com, From Publisher's Weekly - Publishers Weekly, Major ad/promo; paperback rights to Pocket Books; author tour. (October 15) “As in Hollywood Wives, Collins (Lucky colorfully depicts the brash hedonists of Tinseltown, most of whom are motivated by avarice, lust and conceit. The central trio in this lengthy saga consists of movie star Mannon Cable, studio executive Howard Soloman and TV talk-show host Jack Python.... While these escapades unfold, we must guess which female was a sexually abused arsonist in the 1970s. Collins's devotees will probably relish the snappy dialogue, whirlwind pacing, irreverent humor and opulent locales that are her trademarks. Others will find, however, that this book's cliched characters and repetitive plot soon grow tiresome.” Barnes and Noble.com, CUSTOMER REVIEWS - An Open Forum Leigh (lgc6486@garnet.acns.fsu.edu), July 15, 1999 “Great book!!! This book was incredible. I couldn't put it down!!” Also recommended: “Hollywood Husbands was just as good as Hollywood Wives, if not better.” Michela (msfg15@hotmail.com), a 17 year old from Florida., April 5, 1999 “This book is captivating. It's a bit slow in the beginning but once I read a little bit of each character I was completely hooked. The plot was fantastic and the characters are intriguing and fascinating. I had never heard of Jackie Collins before but once I read this book I was a fan. I've read Lucky and thought it was good, Hollywood Husbands is better.” Also recommended: Lucky St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 13, 1997, p. 24. “...With titles such as Hollywood Husbands and Lady Boss, the prolific author never makes the Pulitzer cut, but she does keep fans of steamy, back-stabbing, power-mongering lust quite happy. And her fans are plenty--Jackie Collins rivals Harper/Collins in terms of total book sales.....We wondered what the results would be if a few great books from the past received a Jackie rewrite. Herewith, the reading list for Collins Lit. 101: A Tale of Two Cities--It was the best of times for Sonny Sanderson-- box office receipts were higher than a coke-addled rock star-- and it was the worst of times-- salaries were skyrocketing and every Johnny-come-lately on the lot was pressing hard for a larger piece of the pie. It was if Hollywood, once a divided city of the “haves” and the “have-nots,” was losing its structure. But Sonny knew the score-- no two-bit Brad Pitt was gonna force his iron hand. As head of World United Pictures, he’d seen the contenders come and go. And when they went, the went beaten. And they went bloodied. (Article continues with satires of Of Mice and Men, Wuthering Heights, and Moby Dick.) | ||
| Assignment 5 | ||
| Critical Essay: | ||
| Those books that make it on to the bestseller lists tend to have similarities which allows
for patterns to generally be found among them. Many novels gain fame just because their authors have written bestsellers before and so people know their name and their work. This can be seen in the best-selling phenomenons of Stephen King, John Grisham, and Dean Koontz. Other novels are know as “sleepers” in the publishing world because they do not develop into bestsellers until some time after they are published. A “sleeper’s” popularity is generally the result of pure word of mouth. Still other novels become bestsellers through their inclusion on high schools’ or book clubs’ reading lists, like Oprah’s. Apparently there is no clear strategy for authors to follow to produce a bestseller. However, in “Hollywood Husbands” and other novels, Jackie Collins was able to find a formula that worked for her and she has her many best-selling works to show for it. Jackie Collins has attracted a very large number of fans who expect her to follow the same routine in her subsequent novels and she typically does. The celebrity status of the author, the subject matter of the novel, and the style of writing will be shown to be the reasons why Collins’s Hollywood Husbands and other novels like this are so successful. It is the combination of these elements into an easy escapism for readers that has propelled Jackie Collins and many other authors to the top of the charts. Hollywood Husbands would be categorized by many as a typical sleazy romance novel and that is a fairly accurate categorization. This novel tells the story of four men, not all husbands, living the high life in Hollywood and Beverly Hills. It focuses on these men’s sexual adventures and the numerous women they encounter. There are also several underlying plots dealing with things like family problems, drug dealing, and serial murder. In almost 550 pages Jackie Collins is able to touch on just about every slightly relevant social and personal problem there is, offers no solution, but entertains none the less. Jackie Collins is a celebrity author, not only due to of her success in writing but also because of her lifestyle in general. Collins’s books have earned her millions of dollars and she has set herself up among celebrities in California but she has always been rather comfortable in that environment. In fact her second husband, Oscar Lerman, owned a very successful Los Angeles nightclub where Collins played hostess and interacted with a multitude of celebrities, gathering ideas for her books while doing so. Jackie had been exposed to the Hollywood scene much earlier than this though, not only through her own short stint as an actress but also through her sister Joan Collins. Joan starred in the 1980s nighttime, soap opera Dynasty and many other television series and movies. Jackie herself admits to the benefits of having a celebrity sister, “ Having a sister who was a movie star was sensational...to have entree into meeting more or less anybody, because she knew everybody-”(Haller). The fact that Jackie Collins was already in the public eye and associated with famous people made the public take a special interest in her writing. Celebrity authors are often able to sell their books well for several reasons. The first reason being simple name recognition. A consumer is much more likely to buy a book written by a well known author like Mary Higgins Clark or Michael Crichton than an author they have never heard of because people do not like to take risks. People generally buy books for pleasure reading and when they do so they want to be assured that they will be getting that pleasure. Thus, they will choose a book by a prominent author because apparently others are reading and probably enjoying this author’s work or it would not have drawn so much attention. Another reason why celebrity authors do so well is the public’s curiosity. The public has an almost insatiable interest in the lives of celebrities and other people in the public eye as is evidenced by the high ratings of the TV show Entertainment Tonight, the wide circulation of People Weekly magazine, and the current success of books like The Rock Says by the pro-wrestler The Rock and Bodyguard's Story by Trevor Rees-Jones. This was especially true in the glamour focused 1980s when Jackie Collins was publishing most of her books, as she put it, “People like my books. I am writing about subjects they find fascinating..”(Reuters, pg. 38). Perhaps the people who read these books believe that a famous author’s writing, even if not an autobiography, will give them a special insight into that person’s life. Celebrity authors particularly have a leg up on other authors in another way, they often have a fairly large and very devoted group of followers who will buy their books no matter what. This prevents a celebrity author from having to build a fan base from the ground up and puts them ahead of the game. Jackie Collins’s celebrity status has helped her to become a best-selling writer in another, more specific way. The majority of Jackie’s books take place in the clubs, studios, and homes of Hollywood, places where Jackie herself has spent much of her time and is quite familiar with as shown above. This has lead many of “her fans [to] believe that she has a pipeline to the secret lives of Hollywood stars”(The Orange County Register). And Collins does not argue with this, “the reason my books are so successful is because people know that I know what I’m writing about. They know I’ve done that and been there”(The Orange County Register). Jackie Collins delivers on the public’s desire for details about the real lives of the rich and famous. Collins like other best-selling authors Richard Bach and Judith Krantz appeals to readers because she writes about what she knows. This makes readers feel like they are getting the real story rather than a made-up one. The line between fact and fiction is blurred in most of Collins’s books including Hollywood Husbands and this has been a contributing element in her success. Subject matter is also another important feature of all books, not only bestsellers, and can often be the determining factor in whether a person will buy a book. Jackie Collins’s topic choices are favorites among popular authors because they can almost assure that the author’s novel will do extremely well. It has already been shown that in writing about Tinseltown’s finest Collins made a wise decision because of the public’s intense interest in celebrities. However, Collins came up with a winning combination when she decided to include plots involving the romantic and sexual escapades of those celebrities. Romance novels by authors like Jackie Collins, Danielle Steel, and Judy Devereaux consistently top the bestseller lists and these novelists often have a number of their books become bestsellers. The books in this genre typically focus on the love lives of beautiful and intriguing people and also give explicitly detailed accounts of their numerous erotic adventures. Clearly these books are allowing “normal, every day” people to imagine themselves in the shoes of these characters and by doing so escape their routine, mundane lives, if even for just a few moments. Sex itself is a topic that sells books even when it is not combined with a romantic story line. Fiction and nonfiction books about sex have been popular and on the bestseller lists ever since it became appropriate for them to be published in the early sixties. A few examples, although many more can be found, of bestsellers solely focused on sex are: Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex but Were Afraid To Ask by David Reuben, M.D., The Joy of Sex and More Joy: A Lovemaking Companion to The Joy of Sex by Alex Comfort and Madonna’s Sex. The public’s interest in sex is also evidenced by the widespread circulation of magazines such as Cosmopolitan, whose headlines this month include “The Hottest Thing You Can Do With a Man When You Only Have Five Minutes” and “Beyond Kama Sutra...Tantric Sex”, Glamour, and Maxim. These examples of sexual literature satisfy those people with a more innocent and timid curiosity in sex. They are also much more socially acceptable than pornography so people will not have to suffer embarrassment and ostracization for trying to satisfy a very natural desire. These reasons explain why literature like Hollywood Husbands tends to sell very well. Jackie Collins also increased the chances of Hollywood Husbands becoming a bestseller by including an underlying murder mystery plot. This plot only surfaces about every hundred pages, written in italics, and seems to be completely unrelated to the rest of the story until it is revealed in the end that the murderess is one of the main characters. There is little to no evidence that this a common trend in best-selling novels except in other Jackie Collins bestsellers, like Hollywood Wives and Lucky. However, pure mystery or suspense novels by authors like Agatha Christie and Patricia Cornwell can always be found on the bestseller lists. This evidence in accord with the popularity of horror movies throughout the past century, like the Scream trilogy today and the timeless Hitchcock movies, proves that people either enjoy being scared or either like to play the part of detective. Jackie Collins cleverly combines several proven best-selling topics in Hollywood Husbands and gives the reading public what they want making it a surefire success. The inclusion of this murder mystery plot was also a very smart stylistic move on Collins’s part. She like many other authors and screenwriters knows that a person must be given a reason to keep reading or watching and not get bored and give up. They know that you can not give all the secrets away at the beginning of the story. Often in novels like Hollywood Husbands or movies you will find that the majority of the plot is taken up with rising action while the climax is reached very close to the end and very little time is granted for the denouement. William Peter Blatty’s best-selling novel The Exorcist is an excellent example of this style of writing. The book is 385 pages long, the climax is reached around page 370 and only about 15 pages are used to bring all the loose ends together and end the story. This suspenseful style of writing is the key to success for many best-selling authors. In order to keep their readers’ attention many best-selling authors also tend to have several different plot lines occurring simultaneously involving a number of characters that are usually associated in minor ways. This enables the writers to make dramatic cut aways into different plots at key moments (like when there is a commercial right when a person is about to be grabbed in a t.v. show) and keeps the reader from getting bored with just one story line. Jackie Collins accomplishes this in Hollywood Husbands by delving into the lives of four different Hollywood men and also the lives of all the people they interact with. Stephen King is famous for this type of writing and uses it in almost all of his books. For example in Needful Things, King offers the reader insights into the lives of almost a whole town of people and each of their personal encounters with a mysterious store owner. Other best-selling authors such as Anne Rivers Siddons and Arundhati Roy have also had success employing several different plots in their stories. Another important characteristic of a lot of bestsellers is that they are typically rather easy to read and understand. Many readers are looking for a way to relax and enjoy themselves when they buy a book not to be challenged by intricate language, high literary stylings, and a confusing plot. Jackie Collins steers clear of such tactics in her writing and sticks to the unambiguous and simple. She uses common everyday language, short sentences, and directly relays the action to the reader. A passage from Hollywood Husbands shows how simple Collins’s writing style is: “Mannon had endured more than enough of viewing his ex-wife across a crowded party. He wanted her so badly he could taste it, and he was in no mood to watch her with the likes of Chuck Nielson. He planned to call his lawyer first thing in he morning and hammer out a settlement to offer Melanie-Shana. He wanted to be fair about it; she was a sweet kid, but not for him. Things had to be done at once, even if it cost him. Then he would be free to concentrate on getting Whitney back.”(Collins 109). Collins, Steel, and other authors like them, who attempt to keep their writing uncomplicated, offer their readers a quick and enjoyable read which will win them over and keep them buying their books. It is clear that readers turn to novels such as Jackie Collins’s Hollywood Husbands because of the simple escape from everday life that these stories give them. By reading these novels they are able to step into the shoes of another person and live out their fantasies. The books that make it as bestsellers are those that do this very well and their success can depend on a number of different factors many of which have been explored above. Jackie Collins’s writing and in particular Hollywood Husbands show the importance of writing style, subject matter, and the author’s personal background to a novel’s potential on the market. Collins has proven that in order to become a bestseller a novel must combine these things in a way that will allow readers to easily access that desired escapism. Jackie Collins, herself, admits this in an interview with The Calgary Sun in 1999, “People like my books. I am writing about subjects they find fascinating and writing in away they understand. I am not a literary writer. I am a storyteller.” Sources: Bestsellers Database, http://www.engl.virginia.edu/courses/bestsellers/ “Bestsellers lists by decade”, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s. Collins, Jackie. "Hollywood Husbands." New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1986. Haller, Scott. “Scenes from a sisterhood: Joan and Jackie Collins turn sex and passion into a family plot.” People Weekly, November 12, 1984, v. 22. p.55(5). Koltnow, Barry. “She’s in love with that town BOOKS: Best-selling author Jackie Collins wears the Hollywood mystique that still informs works such as her latest, ‘Dangerous Kiss’.” The Orange County Register, morning, June 3, 1999. New York Times Bestseller Lists, http://aclibrary.org/current/b_seller.html. Accessed on April 28, 2000. Reuters. “Hollywood Chronicler Sure Tales Will Last.” The Calgary Sun, June 6, 1999. pg. 38. | ||
Bestsellers
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