Great expectations : popular fiction and the bestseller culture with a focus on Meg Cabot's Airhead

Abstract

The bestseller culture has generated countless trends, spin-offs, sequels and film adaptations. Publishers claim to have no way of predicting or knowing how to produce a bestseller, however, publishers are not as naïve as they let on. This study aims to reveal the reasoning and motivation behind the reader's expectations, how literature influences the reader and how the reader in turn influences new waves of literature. As to illustrate these attributes fully, particular consideration will be given to reader-response theory and the study of narratology. This dissertation applies several elements to a case study on Meg Cabot's bestselling young adult series Airhead. While there are few ways in which one can predict a bestseller, an understanding of the writing and publishing process points to how the reader's expectations are formed, and more importantly, how they are met.