If you throw a stone into a lake, the ripples it produces last far beyond the reach of your stone’s toss. Something similar happens when one person recommends a book to another: the word keeps spreading from reader to reader, gathering momentum as time goes on, until the message has reached farther than ever thought possible. All it takes is one—just one person to pass the book on to a friend—and John Perkins’ Confessions of an Economic Hit Man has had thousands.
Now, just five months after its publication, Confessions has become a true grassroots phenomenon—that is, the book’s popularity is not because of mainstream media coverage, but because thousands of individuals have read the book, found it valuable and inspiring, and passed it on to friends, family, and colleagues.
From the hundreds of people who have written in, we’ve gathered a sense of why this “ripple effect” has taken hold. One reader said, “Having just read your book, I am most definitely compelled to take action. Your book seemed to tie together all the circumstances and events of the last fifty years into a seamless tapestry of clear vision and awareness. I hope my meager efforts will make a difference. I know if enough of us do a few simple things, we can change the world.” Another reader got to the heart of the matter when she said, “when people know the truth they begin to understand. When they begin to understand, everything can change.” This book is about making the truth available to all.
Berrett-Koehler believes in this word-of-mouth movement so much that we’ve taken action to keep it spreading. We recently partnered with BookCrossing.com—a website that tracks books as they travel from reader to reader across the world. We registered 50 copies of Confessions on the site and sent one to friends in every state across America, encouraging them to read the book and then pass it on. Check out www.BookCrossing.com to see if Confessions has been released near you!
At www.EconomicHitMan.com we offer dozens of ways to make it as easy as possible for readers to let others know about the book: send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper using ours as an example; start a discussion group with our guidelines and suggestions; use our sample email letter as a basis for one you can send to everyone you think ought to know about this important book. We’ve even provided a suggested email that you can send to Jon Stewart at The Daily Show requesting John Perkins as a guest.
So what’s next?
You tell us.
Email us with your stories and thoughts. We want to hear from you.
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