“Writing is the new rock’n’roll” say Richard and Judy as they hunt for a best seller

"Whoever wins this will land in the equivalent of a literary limo,” Richard Madeley enthuses, as we discuss he and wife Judy Finnigan’s search for the next JK Rowling.

“We’re going for a best seller, we’re not ashamed of that,” he adds.  “We want a big book – it will be a best seller. It’s win-win for everyone.”

The pair are on the hunt for a new author and have invited the public to send in 10,000 to 12,000 words of a novel to their Search for a Best Seller competition, which runs alongside their other bookish venture, Richard and Judy’s 4th Autumn Book Club, which is on the go now.

In one of the broadest writing competitions ever, Richard and Judy are on the hunt for a story and storyteller that have the magic to create a best-seller, and as long as you tick that box, the rest is up to you. Genre, style, audience is totally your decision.

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“Human beings on the whole usually know if it's a good story they’re being told,” Richard explains. “If you’re at the pub and someone launches into a tale, you can tell within the first 15 seconds or so if it’s going to be great. 

“Everyone listens politely but if it’s a good story, within a few sentences the teller’s got you and everyone shuts up.

“And that’s the key to popular fiction - books that appeal to the mass market."

Judy adds: “These books are written by people who can write, who can speak, who have a good story and know how to tell it. It really is that simple.

“We’re hard wired to tell stories and to listen to stories – it’s how we communicate. So we don’t have a long list of requirements a writer has to fulfill, it just has to grab us – we have to feel desperate to know what’s going to happen.”

Every has a book in them (or do they?)

“I think we can take some credit for the way people now express their love of books," Richard claims. "The Book Club is very interactive and it gives people a reason and a forum to discuss books in a way they might not otherwise – so the book doesn’t die when you stop reading.
 
“The more people talk about books, the more people decide they’re going to write. I would hazard a guess there are more individuals trying to write novels now than 10 or 20 years go. It’s the new rock and roll.”

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Wouldn’t say no to the next Twilight series

A conversation about books can’t help but touch on some of the modern success stories of recent years – Twilight, the Hunger Games and Fifty Shades.“When it comes to these big series – well – I read the Hunger Games, at the insistence of our daughter [Chloe Madeley] and really enjoyed it," says Judy. I" was quite reluctant about reading it but I really, really enjoyed the first book.

“There’s this snobbery around popular fiction, but it’s what everyone wants. It’s how Dickens started off!”

How to write

Richard admits he has a book due by Christmas that he’s yet to begin and sympathises with the would-be writers up and down the country wracked with writer's block or just unsure where to start.“My top tip really is just to actually get down to write it,” he says.

“Hit the keyboard, get going. It’s like saying ‘I want to be a marathon runner’. Well you need to open the door, get your trainers on and get running.

“If you force yourself to do it, the first paragraphs and sentences probably aren’t going to be very good, and you’ll know they aren’t good but you can go back and edit it.

“And then you’re actually writing. But you can only do that if you’ve got words to play with.”

Judy is more sympathetic to the plight of writer’s block and indecision: “My tip would be to get a copy of Stephen King’s book On Writing. It was enormously helpful to me and gave me the confidence to keep going, even when I was thinking ‘this is crap’.

“He’s a wonderful writer and the book is really comforting, encouraging and chatty. I’d advise any aspiring writer to read that.”

Need more inspiration? Judy picks Jane Eyre as her perfect book, while Richard waxes lyrical about Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, his ‘desert island book’.

If you’ve got what it takes to be the next Hilary Mantel or Stephanie Myer, head to Richard and Judy’s Book Club’s Search for a Best Seller to find out how to submit your novel.

Then, as Richard says, just get tapping those keys. It won’t write itself.

The winning novelist will be published by Quercus and launched as part of one of the 2014 Book Club Lists in WHSmith. Also, there’s a 50k advance. Which may leave you feeling that little bit more inspired…