Are a good novel and a successful novel necessarily the same thing?

Are a good novel and a successful novel necessarily the same thing?

Russell Celyn Jones (Published writer. Professor of Creative Writing and Director of the MA Programme at Birkbeck College (University of London).) gives expert video advice on: Do I need to research my novel, and what kind of research should I do?; Can I over research my novel?; Should I write about what I know? and more...

A good novel and a successful novel are not the same thing, necessarily. A successful novel is often based on an idea, a high concept such as "The Da Vinci Code." But such books are not known for their quality of their prose or for their quality of characterization. I think ultimately all successful books have something, but some of the greatest novels of our time have been a slow burn. "Moby Dick" would be a good example of a book that took sixty years to come in to the public's attention.