First, Happy Fourth of July to anyone in the States!

So, I posted to Facebook this morning that I stayed up until 2:30 am reading a book last night, which I haven’t done in forever.  By the time I got home from my hike today three of my FB friends had asked what the name of the book was.

And that, my friends, is how word of mouth works.  You have no control over it.  Someone likes a book, they mention it to someone else who reads it and also likes it and so on and so on.

It’s as easy and as amazingly difficult as that.

I should mention that there’s a credibility issue here, too.  These are people who know me, so they respect my opinion on things and think that if I like something then maybe they will too.

Trying to short-circuit that process by paying someone to promote you or by endlessly beating people over the head with the same message will not necessarily get you where you need to go.  (And may in fact backfire.)