I grew up in a time in publishing where getting Billy Graham’s endorsement on a book was not exactly a guarantee of respectable sales but it was key.  While his was probably not the first example of the importance of endorsement (Arthur Godfrey and Art Linkletter had already blazed the trail there) it was certainly one of the first in the evangelical world.  As everyone knows after that the power of imprimatur moved from Billy Graham to Chuck Colson Bill Hybels Rick Warren and now Tim Keller. In fact many books published today have several pages of endorsements from a wide variety of influential pastors thought leaders consultants artists celebrities and conference speakers.  Come to think of it ” the only endorsements I do not see for new books are musicians –but maybe that’s another issue.   Do these endorsements from influencers still impact sales?  I wonder.

An article in Forbes magazine this month would make you think it is either not what it used to be or” maybe ” it never was.  The publishing model on the internet has changed things. 

            “The old model” wherein a small number of gatekeepers controlled which cultural objects made it on to the shelves ” was frustrating for those who were unable to access or impress those gatekeepers and it didn’t guarantee quality. But the gatekeepers did at least simplify the model for creators in that it narrowed down the number of people that you had to impress…Authors can publish themselves and take full advantage of the disintermediation provided by technology.”

While it is true that authors have more access to readers there remains the assumption that it is still important to find key influencers and endorsers.  The Forbes article challenges even that and says” in effect ” there is more access but the whole game of influence has changed.  Instead of a few gatekeepers the newest research is showing that content and ideas online spread through large numbers of people sharing with small groups. 

“As counter-intuitive as it may be” it’s not the influencers that you need to persuade it’s every single individual person you talk to about it. It’s your friends your colleagues ” the strangers who follow you on Twitter. Each one of them is an important part of the network and success relies on creating something that every one of them will want to talk to their friends about. This is slightly disconcerting for anyone who has bought into the influencer model because it means that you should no longer focus your attention on wooing a handful of powerful individuals but instead need to start wooing thousands.  Stories go viral when lots of people engage with their normal-sized circles to share content.”

The key then is not finding a few influencers/gatekeepers but hundreds of normal-sized circles where normal people” not spokespeople and celebrities ” share with each other.

For more information about the research quoted in the Forbes article.