How do I found out if a book or author is really a best-seller?

[digs]

@Infovore

When I hear from readers, what I most often hear is that they love how they can immerse themselves in the story and the world.

Congratulations on finding the Holy Grail of writing!

I’ve taught literacy to learning-disabled, and we were warned that our students would “never get to the point where they can get lost in a book”… I said “THAT is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.”

[MrAtoz]

@Thudlow_Boink

I don’t think anybody in this thread has been saying that it’s easy to write clear, transparent prose, or that bad writing is easier to read than good writing

Of course not. Sorry if I seemed to imply that anyone had. I’m just expressing surprise at how many authors I’ve been running across lately that seem to be succeeding (for certain values of “success”) despite not composing very readable prose.