I would thing everyone
except some (not all!) bestselling authors would agree with Joe, not Lee.
Jennifer Lynn Barnes has an interesting article (it's part of a discussion about how gender influences success, but it covers all kinds of factors):
http://jenniferlynnbarnes.tumblr.com...ublishing-some She also links to an article by John Green, who compares his earlier non-bestselling books with The Fault in Our Stars.