Does a successful book promotion campaign lead to a bestseller? Sometimes…but, more typically, a book becomes a bestseller by accident. So says a recent New York Times article, “The Greatest Mystery: Making a Best Seller.”

We all know that booksellers become bestsellers for a combination of reasons: great distribution, awesome writing, super cover, and terrific word-of-mouth. To this list, the New York Times adds another component: the stars’ alignment.

The frustration is that, you can do everything right, and still not earn enough money to pay your expenses/meet your advance — even with the best book promotion campaign in the world. The flip side of that is, if creating a bestseller is at least partly a matter of luck, then that stroke of luck can happen to anyone.