Irony of ironies, Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point almost did not make the tip from failure to success.
The Tipping Point is a book about how “ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do” (Gladwell, page 7). It discusses how specific changes, such as the person spreading the message or the format of the message itself, can effect how, or even if, the ideas, products, messages, and behaviors spread across a population. Gladwell cites numerous examples, including Paul Revere’s fateful trip warning that the British were coming, hush puppies as a fashion trend, and the downward spiral of crime in New York.
According to Robert McCrum, the former literary editor of The Observer (via Kottke.org), it was Gladwell’s US-wide lecture that truly tipped The Tipping Point from failure into success.
The Tipping Point was almost a flop. It was published to mixed reviews in the US, did no serious business in the UK and was saved by — yes — word of mouth. After a dismal launch, and as a desperate last resort, Gladwell persuaded his American publisher to sponsor a US-wide lecture tour. Only then did the book ‘tip’. Eventually, it would become a literary success of its time, turn its author into a pop cultural guru and spend seven years on the New York Times bestseller list. This was one of those pivotal moments that illustrates the story of this decade.
