John Scalzi has written several books that have made their way onto the NYT Bestseller List, as well as a handful of others that are respected among the science fiction community.

His most well known, by my calculations, is Old Man’s War, which was also his first foray into the world of fiction, and since then he’s been knocking off a new novel nearly every year.

I wish I possessed a fraction of his discipline, although I am not guaranteed a paycheck for my fiction. That tends to drive the cogs a bit.

Scalzi has posted talking points concerning advice to achieve a bestseller on his site.

Many of the reasons for success are linked to Scalzi’s previous success, but there are also bits of information that are definitely worth the read in order to see what an established author believes is the key to writing and achieving a bestseller.