Lessons from To Kill a Mockingbird

My favorite novel of all time is Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. I’m not alone in my adoration of her book. In fact a survey in 2008 in Britain ranked it above the Bible by respondents.

In the years since its publication in 1960 To Kill a Mockingbird has sold over 30 million copies, been translated into 40 languages and never has been out of print. Perennially it is on the New York Times top 100 books in terms of sales.

To put it mildly, To Kill a Mockingbird has been a phenomenal success.

From a marketing perspective what lessons can we learn from Harper Lee’s classic?

First, to provide a little context I’ve copied the following from its Wikipedia posting.

“Born in 1926, Harper Lee grew up in the Southern town of Monroeville, Alabama, where she became close friends with the soon-to-be famous writer Truman Capote. She attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery (1944–45), and then studied law at the University of Alabama (1945–49). While attending college, she wrote for campus literary magazines: Huntress at Huntingdon and the humor magazine Rammer Jammer at the University of Alabama. At both colleges, she wrote short stories and other works about racial injustice, a rarely mentioned topic on such campuses at the time.[3] In 1950, Lee moved to New York City, where she worked as a reservation clerk for British Overseas Airways Corporation; there, she began writing a collection of essays and short stories about people in Monroeville. Hoping to be published, Lee presented her writing in 1957 to a literary agent recommended by Capote. An editor at J. B. Lippincott advised her to quit the airline and concentrate on writing. Donations from friends allowed her to write uninterrupted for a year.[4]

Lee spent two and a half years writing To Kill a Mockingbird. A description of the book's creation by the National Endowment for the Arts relates an episode when Lee became so frustrated that she tossed the manuscript out the window into the snow. Her agent made her retrieve it.[5] The book was published on July 11, 1960. It was initially titled Atticus, but Lee renamed it to reflect a story that went beyond a character portrait.[6] The editorial team at Lippincott warned Lee that she would probably sell only several thousand copies.[7] In 1964, Lee recalled her hopes for the book when she said, "I never expected any sort of success with 'Mockingbird.' ... I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers but, at the same time, I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement. Public encouragement. I hoped for a little, as I said, but I got rather a whole lot, and in some ways this was just about as frightening as the quick, merciful death I'd expected."[8] Instead of a "quick and merciful death", Reader's Digest Condensed Books chose the book for reprinting in part, which gave it a wide readership immediately.[9] Since the original publication, the book has never been out of print.”

Discussion points:

• Note that Harper Lee took two and a half years to write her book proving the importance of dedication both in time and writing excellence manuscript. Marketing rule number one: there is no substitution for talent.

• Ms. Lee used her friendship with a well known friend, in this case Truman Copote, to gain access to a top literary agent. In return, her agent sold her work to a large New York publishing house. It is important to use whatever connections we have to reach our intended audience. Marketing rule number two: use your connections well.

• Her publisher was able to get her book into the hands of Reader’s Digest which, at that time, was the most influential publication in the book publishing world. From there the book went viral. Times have changed, today the blogosphere is the place to get the word out about a promising book. Marketing rule number three: going viral is key to sales success.

It would be presumptuous to think that the works written by most authors measure up to Harper Lee’s classic. But the takeaway points are instructive to everyone whether they are publishing a book or about to have a job interview.

In summary:

• Talent and determination are important
• Connections matter
• Getting the word out is vitally important