In July 1999, Jackie Collins's book, Dangerous Kiss reached the
New York Times Bestsellers List, but Collins's novels making a
bestsellers list is not something new. Collins has written more
than twenty-two books, and more of half of them, including,
Sinners, Lady Boss, Chances, Hollywood Wives and Hollywood
Husbands, have appeared on best-selling lists. Collins seems to
know what attributes of a book make it a bestseller, and she
uses them to produce one bestseller after another. Collins's
book, Lucky, teaches us that an authors own fame, and the genre
of the bodice ripper romance can put a book on the bestsellers
list. In addition, Lucky shows us that people like to read and
buy escapist novels and books that are similar to tabloids.
Lucky is the second book in the Santangelo series.
Lucky tells a story of Lucky Santangelo, a beautiful and rich
mobster, who runs a Las Vegas Casino with her father, Gino.
Lucky meets several men and has sexual encounters with them.
However, she is madly in love with Lennie, a stand up comedian.
Nevertheless, Olympia Stranistopoulos, Lucky's former best
friend who is one of the richest women in the world, marries
Lennie. Although, Lucky's heart belongs to Lennie, Lucky marries
Olympia's father, Dimitri. Eventually, Olympia dies of an
overdose with a rock star she has been having an affair with,
and Lennie and Lucky are able to be together. There are
several simultaneous stories that go on throughout Lucky,
which include a lesbian love triangle, kidnapping, and an
airplane crash.
Lucky became a bestseller partially because of Jackie
Collins's fame, which resulted from the success of her novels.
However, Collins has always been in the limelight
because of her sister, Joan Collins, a famous actress. In
addition, Collins has become a household name because several of
her books have turned into movies, such as The Stud and The
Bitch. Her books Lucky and Chances have also been created
into mini-series. Collins has also had her own gossip show,and
has appeared on countless television shows, such as the Donny
and Marie Show, Roseanne, and Hollywood Squares. Once Collins
releases a book, it will probably be on the bestseller's list
just because of her name and reputation alone. She has
established a loyal audience, and they will buy her book,
making them a bestseller. Other authors can create continuous
bestseller's because of the their name and fame, such as Stephen
King, Michael Crichton, Danielle Steel, all of whom have also
had movies or mini-series based on their novels.
In addition, the genre of a bodice ripper novel helps
establish Lucky as a bestseller. Sex appears rampantly
throughout Lucky. All the characters seem to sleep with one
another. Collins does not hold back when describing the sex
scenes, and she uses raunchy and graphic language to entice the
reader. In one scene, Olympia talks to her next boy toy, a
Spanish recording star, and Collins writes, "Ill fluuuck yew
beauuuutifully," he purred with a winning smile. Pure
Plastic. I hope you fluck better than you speak English, she
thought as she discreetly slid her hand down and felt for his
cock. An encouraging rub and they were away'(86). Collins
seems to know that sex sells, and uses it to create a steamy
bodice ripper romance. In an article in People, Collins stated,
"I knew that sex sold at an early age." Danielle Steel, and
Judith Krantz, are also known for using sex through the form of
bodice ripper romances to create bestsellers.
Furthermore, Lucky is an escape/trash novel, which helps
it become a bestseller. Lucky is a light-entertaining beach
read that takes the audience away from reality. The readers
forget their day-to-day life, and are transported into a world
of glamour, beauty, wealth, and pleasure. Collins caters to
her readers and brings them their fantasies. For example in one
scene, some characters "flew by Concorde from New York to Paris,
and from there a private Lear Jet transported them to Nice
airport, where a chauffeured Rolls waited to take them to The
Greek, as Dimitri had modestly named his yacht" (268). Most
of Collins's readers cannot afford the luxuries that are
described as above, so they live out their fantasies through
Collins's characters. In another scene, Collins describes
Francesca Fern, a famous, actress preparing for an award
ceremony, and she states,
"Francesca Fern clicked talon-red nails. 'Emeralds,' she
commanded. Horace sprang toward her traveling Vuitton jewel
case and found the requested gems. Francesca clicked again,
'Jourdan Diamante shoes.' Horace raced for the closet and
located the size ten evening shoes. Lovingly he placed them
upon his wife's large feet. Francesco arose, clipped a huge
emerald to an outside earlobe and snapped, 'Perfume.' Horace
obliged with a liberal spray of Joy. 'Let us go,' sighed
Francesca. 'the peasants are waiting'"(85).
In an essence, when a reader reads this he is no longer the
lowly "peasant", but is in Francesca's rich and famous world.
The escape novel allows for the audience to let their
imaginations run wild, and contemplate what it would be like to
be in their world. The audience is able to have the emeralds
and the Jourdan Diamente shoes that they have always dreamed
about. When reading the novel, the audience also does not have
to think hard, and they can enjoy the novel for sheer
entertainment. The best-selling book Scruples, by Judith Krantz
also uses escapism and allows the reader to vision a world of
millionaires, socialites and directors. Hence, Lucky shows us
that the escape/trash form can create a bestseller because they
appeal to readers' fantasies.
Another trait that Collins uses to sell her books is that many
of her bestsellers are similar to tabloids. Several of her books
take place in Hollywood. Since Collins is a celebrity and
resides in Hollywood, she has an inside glimpse into the rich
and famous. She knows where the rich and famous hang out and
the secrets of the scandals that surround them. In an article
in People, Jackie describes real hotels that actors go to have
flings, and she states, " The Regent Beverly-Wilshire Hotel is
the best place for flings. If your caught in the lobby, you
could claim you were going to Buccellati jewelers, which has a
branch there. Then there's the Bel-Air Hotel. You walk over a
little bridge to enter, and it's very discreet. The Beverly
Hills Hotel is a little dangerous, unless you get a bungalow on
the side street. Then you just give the person you're meeting
the number, and they don't have to register." Hence, Jackie
knows the ins and the outs of Hollywood, and she brings the
truth to her fiction. She takes real life celebrity
personalities, and changes their name to use them in her book.
On a one line interview she discussed the correlation between
the characters in her book and the real life celebrities in
Hollywood and she stated:
"Well, when I wrote a book called, "The Stud" every guy in
Hollywood thought it was him. However, when I wrote "The
Hollywood Wives" a lot of women in Hollywood were incensed, I
think they were under the impression that I had exposed their
secret lives- actually I had. They were mad at me for a while
until the book was successful, then they were kind of nice to
me. But one woman did approach me and said: You've written
about my husband, my husband is Russ Conti in Hollywood Wives,
you bitch" And I said "No he is not," There are many fading
superstars in Hollywood and I was not writing about your
husband."
However, sometimes Collins does not try to hide the real identity
behind the fictitious character if she does not like a
particular celebrity and she comments:
"The only people I make really recognizable are people that I
want them to know who they are. For instance, there was a
producer who was a total pig- so I made him extremely
recognizable to all his so-called friends and enemies. I did
the same about a journalist who was driving me crazy with her
negative comments about me, when we'd never ever met."
This real life aspect of celebrity life versus fiction can be
seen in Lucky. In one particular scene, Collins describes an
outing between Olympia, a billionaire heiress, and Vitos,
a rock star,and Collins states:
"The paparazzi, observing the couple so dressed at noon, decided
they must be getting married, so they followed them in a variety of cars
and motor scooters all the way to Long Island, where the
wedding was to take place. 'How tiresome!' Olympia exclaimed,
as the photographers drew alongside the limousine at every
stoplight, clicking and snapping away. Vitos raised his chin
and smiled. 'Tirrrresome,' he repeated, wondering if this extra
blast of publicity would boost the U.S. sales of his new album,
which was not doing quite so well as everyone had
anticipated"(95-96).
This passage makes the audience wonder who Vitos's and Olympia's
true identity are. The audience has to figure out if Vitos
is a fictitious character, or perhaps, he is Sting, or some other
rock star. Collins comments on this reality versus fiction
confusion, and she writes, "I think when you read a book the
guessing game about who the characters REALLY are is a lot of
fun." This guessing game tactic Collins uses seem to keep a lot
of people interested in her books and buying them. Critic Eve
Babitz from the Los Angeles Magazine agrees that Collins is able
to woo her readers through the appeal of reality versus fiction
in her stories, and she states, "It's the clef--the sense that
her characters and even their most outrages erotic adventures
come from an insider's knowledge of real life in the jet-set
that makes her so seductive." America's obsession with
celebrities is also a reason for Collins appeal. Her audience
desires to know what scandalous things celebrities do in their
personal lives, and Collins gives them the celebrity gossip
they want to know. Hollywood Wives and Hollywood Husbands
are two other bestsellers created by Jackie that deal with
Hollywood celebrities and their behind the scenes private lives.
The bestseller Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Sussan is also
another bestseller that caters to America's thirst to hear about
celebrity gossip.
The book Lucky teaches up many things about what
ingredients can make a book a bestseller. Lucky shows us that
an author's fame can cause a book to become a bestseller. In
addition, it shows that sex sells books through the bodice
ripper romance genre. Lucky also teaches us that people desire
to escape from their ordinary lives, and read about the rich,
powerful, and glamorous. We see how a book that is similar
to a tabloid and addresses celebrity gossip will probably become
a bestseller. Collins upcoming book is Hollywood Wives, the
new Breed, which will address the changes that have taken place
in the wives of Hollywood, since the Hollywood wives of 1983.
If Collins sticks to her usual escapist formula of bodice
ripping romance with lots of juicy gossip about the rich and
famous, we will more than likely see Hollywood Wives, the New
Breed on future bestseller lists.
Sources:
http://chat.lycos.com/transcripts.jcollins_htm
People Weekly, Nov 12,1984.
People Weekly, Spring 1991
Collins,Jackie. Lucky. 1985.
www.sspfrance.com/library/bstsllrs799.htm
www.galenet.com
ENTC 312 Bestsellers Database