The Tipping Point of Your Writing/Speaking Career

Every author wants to know, What is the secret to making my book a best seller? Pouring our souls into manuscripts, we work hard hoping to touch hearts rather than  make money.  We sweat, cry, agonize, and scrutinize every word and paragraph. While not planning to get rich quick, we dream and hope that our books will be read by more than a few.

Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Tipping Point — Little Things Can Make a Big Difference says, "The Tipping Point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire."

Authors can have that "magic moment" when someone of influence (like Oprah) reads your book, loves it, and tells friends who tell friends who tell friends.

Oprah may not be reading your book, but be prepared. The tipping point could happen to you like it did to me in a quiet cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia..

Speaking in a quaint coffee shop to a small crowd, I was approached afterwards by a woman working with Trans World Radio saying, "Can we translate We All Married Idiots into Russian and  can you come to my office Monday morning for an interview about your book?"

The interview lasted 90 minutes. Trans World Radio divided it into three 30 minute segments and broadcast them throughout Russia one after the other over an entire weekend. Wow! Book sales didn't tip, but my heart skipped as God's Word for marriages and We All Married Idiots — Three Things You Will Never Change About Your Marriage and Ten Things You Can covered the Russian air. Like a wild fire We All Married Idiots spread from a coffee shop to a continent. My magic moment for sure!

Please pray that Russians who heard this broadcast will change their attitudes and tip couples toward marriage.

I encourage my author/speaker friends to never turn down a speaking engagement because of the size of the audience. Always speak with clarity and enthusiasm and promote the book God gave to you with passion and professionalism. You never know who may be sitting in your audience who will tell their friends, who tell their friends. Or, perhaps you'll have opportunity to tell an entire country.


 Remember this:  In the long run book sales don't matter. People do.


Splashes of Serenity to all my writer friends!

The Marriage Tipping Point

Little did I know when asked to speak at a Russian coffee shop on my book We All Married Idiot: Three Things You Will Never Change About Your Marriage and Ten Things You Can, that a woman serving with TransWorld Radio was in the audience. Introducing herself afterwards, she asked if I would come to TransWorld Radio in St. Petersburg for an interview that would be broadcast all over Russia.

The third segment of that interview will be broadcast on www.twrradio.ru this Saturday, March 22, 2014 at 2:45, 6:45, 10:45, 14:45, 18:45, and 22:45 Moscow time.

Authors and speakers dream of someone influential in their audience who will take hold of their book and run with it until its popularity spreads to millions of households. Writers hope and pray for this breakthrough because we are passionate about our book's subject. Otherwise, we would not have the discipline to write.

 In Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, he explains The Tipping Point like this:

"The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas."

I wrote We All Married Idiots hoping that people would change the way they think about marriage. Your spouse is not an idiot to tolerate. Your beloved is a gift to treasure. Now that's a point I pray tips the scales in favor of marriage for generations to come. 

Praying my talks in Russia make a big difference in Russian marriages. Will you pray for marriages please? Currently a book study of We All Married Idiots is happening in St. Petersburg and a translator is translating Idiots into Russian. 

Pray We All Married Idiots is the little book that makes a big difference. Thank you.

 Splashes of Serenity on your marriage that splash and splash and splash for years to come,