I can't give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.
The secret of a successful newspaper is to take one story each day and bang the hell out of it. Give the public what it wants to have and part of what it ought to have whether it wants it or not.
Don't forget that the only two things people read in a story are the first and last sentences. Give them blood in the eye on the first one.
I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure - which is: Try to please everybody.