Many times when a writer starts to write his or her first book, it is because the seed of an idea takes root in his or her head and the author feels that it must come out. This is the author's primary motivation to write.

That's not a bad way to write, but unfortunately in many cases the new author will pen something that feels terribly important and profound to him or her while the rest of the world might not respond at all. That's because so many new authors write as a type of therapy. We write about conflicts and situations that resonate with us personally instead of the world at large. (See my book, Drawing on the Power of Resonance in Writing.)

The new author, after two or three sales, will often find him or herself sliding back down on the sales charts, and only then will begin to wonder what it is that the rest of the world would like to see in a story. Hence, many authors fail in their careers after only a couple of books.

The answer to that question—what does the reader want?—of course changes from reader to reader. But if you're looking to sell big, you need to begin doing some research.

My research process requires me to look not just at book sales, but also at popular movies and television shows, even video games and comics—to try to get a snapshot of our culture as a whole.

The reason for this is quite simple. If I write a book, there are a limited number of readers for it. For example, it has been estimated that in my own field, fantasy, there are only about two or three million regular readers out there. I can catch some of those people as they wander past my books, but if I want to go really big—say Harry Potter big—I need to do better than that. I need to create a sensation. I need to get enough publicity on morning television and radio shows so that it drives readers into the bookstore—the way that Rowling, Paolini, and Meyer recently have done.

In order to appeal to that wider audience, I look at several mediums and try to take some clues from them.

For many years, in the United States a hit movie has been defined as one that grosses $100 million in the domestic box office. In order for a movie to gross $100 million at the box office, it has to draw a viewership of about 16 million people—which is much larger than the number of hardcover sales made by almost any novel.

So, what can you learn by studying viewer's movie tastes? A few years ago I read a book on screenwriting. In it, the instructor listed the top 50 bestselling movies of all time and asked that you look for similarities. When I reached the end of the list, the author announced that there were no similarities. But I had found three things that they all had in common. The list has changed in the past ten years, but my points will still hold true. In fact, I've even found a few more similarities.

Here is the list of top box office movies (as of 2012):

Top Grossing Movies Worldwide (in thousands)

1— Avatar (2009)

$2,782.3

2—Titanic (1997)

$2,185.4

3—The Avengers (2012)

$1,511.8

4—Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011)

$1,328.1

5—Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

$1,123.7

6—The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)

$1,119.9

7—The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

$1,081.0

8—Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

$1,066.2

9—Toy Story 3 (2010)

$1,063.2

10—Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

$1,043.9

11—Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999)

$1,027.0

12—Alice in Wonderland (2010)

$1,024.3

13—Skyfall (2012)

$1,023.7

14—The Dark Knight (2008)

$1,004.6

15—Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

$974.8

16—Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)

$963.4

17—Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010)

$956.4

18—The Lion King (1994)

$951.6

19—Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

$939.9

20—Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

$934.4

21—The Lord of the Ring: The Two Towers (2002)

$926.0

22—Finding Nemo (2003)

$921.7

23—Shrek 2 (2004)

$919.8

24—Jurassic Park (1993)

$914.7

25—Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

$896.9

26—Spider-Man 3 (2007)

$890.9

27—Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)

$886.7

28—Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

$879.0

29—Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)

$875.2

30—The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

$871.5

31—Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (2005)

$848.8

32—Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

$836.3

33—The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

$829.5

34—Inception (2010)

$825.5

35—The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012)

$821.8

36—Spider-Man (2002)

$821.7

37—Independence Day (1996)

$817.4

38—Shrek the Third (2007)

$799.0

39—Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

$796.7

40—E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982)

$792.9

41—Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

$786.6

42—Spider-Man 2 (2004)

$783.8

43—Star Wars (1977)

$775.4

44—2012 (2009)

$769.7

45—The Da Vinci Code (2006)

$758.2

46—Shrek Forever After (2010)

$752.6

47—The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

$752.2

48—The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005)

$745.0

49—The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

$742.1

50—Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012)

$742.1

The list above has not been corrected for inflation, so the sales are skewed a little more toward recent movies than they should be, but they're accurate enough. Also, the rankings will shift as new big movies come out. So what do these films have in common?

Here are a few things:

Movies Set in Another Time and/or Another Place: 94%.

This tells us that movies that take us away from the real world and transport us into an alternate reality are far more popular than those set within a contemporary setting.

Movies with Wide Audience Potential (Male/female): 98%.

Most of these movies have strong protagonists of both sexes and of various ages. Thus they draw in a much wider audience than, say, a teen chick flick that only attracts young women. However, the main story focus is almost always on a relatively young male—anywhere from a child to a man in his early twenties. I hate that statistic (because it suggests that only young men can draw huge audiences, and logically I know that that is a fallacy), but I can't ignore it.

Movies with High Emotional Richter-Scale Values: 100%.

A movie that scores high on the "emotional Richter scale" is often among the best of its kind. If it's supposed to be scary, it's terrifying. If it's supposed to funny, you laugh so hard that you can't breathe. If it's an adventure, it's heart-pounding. This is important. If you want to really please an audience, you need to know how your work stacks up in the marketplace.

The movies here tend to tug on the heart strings. Very often they achieve this by placing an entire "world" in jeopardy. But sometimes, as in Home Alone or Forrest Gump, the movie focuses on one very likable protagonist—then puts him or her through hell.

Movies with a Heroic Main Plot: 98%.

Almost every movie on the list focuses on someone who is trying to save others.

Fantasy or Science Fiction: 90%.

Since I write fantasy I'd like to point out that fantasy movies have been topping the bestseller lists for decades. It's time that the studios take notice!

Alternate World: 80%.

Most of these movies that have done well have been set in an alternate world, not in our world.

So, as a writer, what can you learn from these points? Well, if you're trying to write a bestseller, this information might be something of a treasure map, pointing you in some likely directions.