Data vs. Dan Brown

Of the thousands of books published this year, how can we predict which will become bestsellers? Book lovers, Jodie Archer and Matt Jockers, set out to answer this million dollar question with an algorithm. In this episode of ‘Fixed That For You,’ we merge art and science by turning words into numbers. Discover the secret similarities between The Da Vinci Code and Fifty Shades of Grey, and learn how an open-source library can help you write a best-seller of your own.

Jodie Archer and Matt Jockers, authors of The Bestseller Code, founded their own book consultancy called Archer Jockers.

Here’s a list of Stephen Marche’s books. Check out “Literature Is Not Data”, Stephen’s essay, which was mentioned in this episode. Curious to learn more about Adam Hammond’s role as a digital humanist? Learn more on his website.

Numerous novelists such as John Grisham, Danielle Steel, Dan Brown, and Stieg Larsson were mentioned in this episode. Click on each of their links to discover books written by them.

Similar introductions for algorithmic judgment has been made in contemporary pop music.