I’m putting this book on the main blog, rather than Need To Read, because I have a few things to say besides, “you should read this book”. But I won’t totally disappoint my regular readers. Here I go… I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!! Okay, now, back to business.

I thought Gladwell’s book, THE OUTLIERS, was fascinating, but this book might actually change my life. From Gladwell’s website:

The word “Tipping Point”, for example, comes from the world of epidemiology. It’s the name given to that moment in an epidemic when a virus reaches critical mass. It’s the boiling point. It’s the moment on the graph when the line starts to shoot straight upwards.

If you’re a writer, then the tipping point is when your book starts selling not thousands  more copies, but millions of copies. Not just best sellers, but sales of epidemic proportions (think THE DA VINCI CODE, BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, HARRY POTTER).

While I don’t have any illusions about my book becoming the next Harry Potter, I do think that a person can take ideas from THE TIPPING POINT and apply them to new and inspired ways of marketing and really make a difference in his/her sales. At least, this is an experiment I am willing to try.

For the first time in 15 years I am without a writing project (aside from editing RH for Putnam). I don’t have any novels sitting around I’d like to revise and I don’t have any ideas for new novels. I have two novels in the can, so I’m actually happy about this instead of worried about where my next book will come from. I think if my mind can stop working on other books for a while, it will leave me wide open for the next novel. However, I was wondering what I was going to do while I wait for inspiration. Now I know.

I am going to develop a marketing plan for RESTORING HARMONY. Through the next year and a half as I come up with things and develop this plan, I will post about some of it here. I plan to develop my school visits (based on music and some of my acting stuff), create promotional materials (as cheaply as possible) once we have a definite cover, and build up a specific network of potential readers (I have ideas for this I’m not sharing quite yet). I’d love to hear anything any of you are doing too, if you want to share.

And if you’re looking for a good audio experience, you might try THE TIPPING POINT on audio because the author adds an afterword that includes changes to his original ideas in the book.