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Getting Your Book
to the Tipping Point
by Stephen Blake Mettee
I was at the
William Saroyan Writer's Conference recently
when another presenter—Jack Canfield of Chicken Soup for the Soul
fame—told me I needed to read Malcom Gladwell's The Tipping Point. People are always
telling me to read this book or that book, but I figured Jack probably
knew a thing or two I didn't so I ordered the book from Amazon.com and
read it on the plane coming and going to sales meetings in New York City.
I think it was probably good use of what might have been wasted time.
In The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference Gladwell shows that three factors, or
"rules" as he calls them, combine to raise an idea, a trend, or
a social behavior to a threshold that, when crossed, causes that specific
idea, trend, or behavior to spread like wildfire.
Gladwell calls these three rules the Law of the
Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. Gladwell's
rules may be applied when trying to understand why one book and not
another equally as good seems to reach the public's collective
consciousness and becomes a bestseller.
Let's skip first to Gladwell's second rule, the
Stickiness Factor. This rule suggests that something people hear or learn
about a book must be extra memorable, it must be "sticky." This
stickiness is often a minor part of the overall message in or about the
book.
For instance, a recent biography of John F. Kennedy breaks the story that
he had an affair with an intern while in office. While coverage of the
affair is only a small part of the biography, it may well be that the
parallel between JFK and a later president's affair with an intern will
provide the stickiness required to make this book a bestseller.
Gladwell's third rule, The Power of Context,
says the current social environment has to be ripe to embrace a specific
principle or concept.
As I write this, I have on my desk a book proposal by an airline pilot on
what one should do in the event one is a passenger on a hijacked
airplane. Undoubtedly the social environment today is more receptive to
this book's subject matter than it would have been prior to September 11,
2001.
Gladwell's first rule, The Law of the Few,
states that a few people–the right few people in each instance–have the
power to influence a great number of others. The few's
currency is word-of-mouth, and, as we all know, word-of-mouth publicity
is the best type of promotion a book can receive.
Gladwell breaks these few into three
categories, "connectors," those who know and are able to spread
the word to a large number of others; "mavens" who are looked
to by others for advice; and "salesmen," who are capable of
persuading others to take some action.
In publishing, the few often come in the guise of reviewers who write
about the books, booksellers who hand sell books they like, and, perhaps
not so surprisingly, the author of the book himself.
So, how can we who want our books to reach the tipping point use this
information? By keeping these three factors in mind when we are writing
and promoting our books.
As you write your book, see what kind of sticky material you can build
into it. If it is a novel you are writing, maybe you can make the lead
character so compelling that he or she becomes the stickiness factor.
Sherlock Holmes, the pipe-smoking, clue-deducing detective provided
stickiness for Arthur Conan Doyle's mysteries.
If you are still looking for a publisher or agent, mention this sticky
material in your query letter or book proposal. If your book's due to be
published, help your publisher's staff identify what detail or details
about your book are likely to be "sticky" and suggest that they
draw attention to these details in their catalog, back cover copy, news
releases, and other promotional material.
Take advantage of The Power of Context by selecting a topic for your book
that is currently high in the public's mind. The Big Seven–money, diet,
health and fitness, beauty, relationships, sex, and power–are always good
choices for nonfiction books, but, if you can find a popular but
lesser-mined topic, all the better.
If your book's already written and published, spin or slant your
promotional efforts to take advantage of the current social environment.
For a nonfiction book on family values, talk about how important mutual
family support is in these stressful times.
And finally, take your book to the all important "few." See to
it that appropriate opinion makers such as reviewers, industry leaders,
clergy members, university professors, and other authors who write in
your field or genre know about your book. Do this by sending them
complementary copies or, at the least, copies of reviews your book has
garnered. Get as many print and Web reviews as you can. Get interviewed
on radio and TV shows.
Augment all this by speaking at every bookstore and to every group that
will have you. There is bound to be a connector, a maven, or a salesman
in every audience who will become a word-of-mouth warrior on your book's
behalf.
Reaching the tipping point isn't necessarily easy, but whose book
deserves it more than yours?
************
Stephen
Blake Mettee, publisher, Quill Driver Books/Word Dancer Press, Inc. is
the editor of The Portable
Writers’ Conference, a Writer’s Digest Book Club Selection, and
the author of The Fast-Track Course on How to Write a Nonfiction
Book
Copyright © 2008 Linden Publishing, Inc.
559-233-6633 • 800-345-4447 • info@quilldriverbooks.com
Proposal.
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