Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction

The main question discussed in this book is: what are the patterns of successful books, songs, applications etc.? The "scientific" way to research such a question is to analyze a representative sample of successful and unsuccessful cases, in order to find the features that exist in the successful cases and does not exist in the unsuccessful ones. This book however analyzes successful cases only. It points at some features that are found in many hits, but ignores the possibility that these features characterize many flops as well.

I bought this book because it was already popular, a behavior predicted early in the book itself. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s well written, witty, very energetic, and thoroughly researched. I’d share it on my Twitter feed if I had more than eight followers. (The good news from Thompson is that I’m not alone.)The question of what drives hitdom can be esoteric to the point of incomprehension when the psycho-sociologists wrestle with it, or dry as burnt toast when the statisticians do. Thompson, however, addresses the question anecdotally, using facts and figures to fill in the blanks. The result makes for very relatable reading.As a sexagenarian who lived in China for much of the last decade I have to admit that some of his cultural references were totally lost on me, but that’s certainly not the author’s fault. We learn at many levels concurrently and this book taught me a lot.I particularly liked the section devoted to the debunking of the myth that anything really goes viral on the Internet. It makes sense. Far better to be friends with Kim Kardashian, if you want to be famous, than it is to think you’re going to come up with the world’s cleverest meme.And someone finally gave us the full story on the historic success of Fifty Shades of Grey, although he kept to the marketing issues and wisely didn’t try to explore the deeper issue of why that content was so enthusiastically received. And, yes, I did read it. As a devout reader I felt I had to, given its incredible success. That, too, was predicted by Thompson.If you are trying to market yourself as an artist or author Hit Makers is a must read plus. It’s filled with money quotes. Here’s one: “Publicly, people often talk about issues. Privately, they talk about schedules. Publicly, they deploy strategic emotions. Privately, they tend to share small troubles. Publicly, they want to be interesting. Privately, they want to be understood.”Following the laws of Pareto, authors typically spend most of their time on the first and last paragraphs of a book. Between those bookends, some books start strong and lose steam. Others pick up momentum as they go. This one follows the latter trajectory and is well worth the reader’s investment and patience.

The first 3 chapters of this book were good and got me hooked (particularly about industrial design with Raymond Loewy and speech-writing with Jon Favreau). However, the first 3 chapters pretty much said it all. I particularly enjoyed chapter 2 on Raymond Loewy, his story was really fascinating, and I do wish that the author had devoted even more pages to this famous industrial designer (likely this chapter appealed to me because of the engineering aspect--yes, that "familiarity" or “aha” moment). The rest of the chapters were pretty much a rehash and overemphasis on concepts already introduced in the first 3 chapters.Around chapter 3 though, the book started to be less interesting (except for the part on speechwriting).The other reviewers who mentioned that the book seemed to heavily emphasize on the music industry were right. The book had a mix of too much detail/minutiae devoted to people in the music industry and certain songs (certain paragraphs would be listing song after song after song). And then the book would sometimes have stories that just didn't have enough detail (see paragraphs below). I would’ve actually liked to hear more about Savan Kotecha! And I’m not a music person, but it sounded like that his story had an interesting beginning, and we just didn’t get to read the complete story. It almost appeared that the book was made up of a collection of the author's notes taken on interviews that he had with a person.However, most of the topics—save for the first two chapters—are severely lacking in critical analysis. That I would have been fine with—since some authors prefer not to influence the readers—but then at least present the full details of each story that is being told so that the readers may decide for themselves how to analyze the situation. But this story appeared to be trying to do too many things at once, instead of focusing on being good at a couple of industries.Like the ESPN example the author gave in his book, he should focus on trying to be very good at a couple things than trying to hit a bunch of different industries. My suggestion for the author would be to refocus his attention on the two areas that he emphasized heavily on—namely, screenwriting, songwriting, and news media (my personal preference would have been an emphasis on engineering and science, but the author’s coverage of the entertainment and news media industries makes it seem like he’s more comfortable with those areas).I was very interested in the chapter concerning why certain books are a hit—like Fifty Shades of Grey—and I loved the part dedicated to John Snow on epidemiology with regards to analogizing “viral” outbreaks with popularity/broadcasting. But again, the examples seemed to be lacking in sufficient detail to tie it cleanly in with what might’ve caused that “viral” popularity. We can only rely on the author’s assessment of the situation to provide any sort of guidance on that; but readers are not provided with enough data to determine whether his assessment appears to be fairly accurate or not.Another example: why mention that Microsoft hires the most anthropologists behind the government, and then not even mention about how those anthropologists are used in Microsoft’s research? Again, an unfinished storyline.And as a side note, I really did not like the interludes. They were just not that interesting at all, and added almost nothing of value to the book (though the interlude on how teenagers’ brains are really hardwired differently, which explains why their judgment is bad, was an interesting note).Overall, the book seemed to be a collection of unfinished thoughts and storylines, or some stories that just dragged on too long, or just didn’t provide enough research data for the reader to be able to make some type of independent analysis from it. It’s a shame, because the author appeared to have spent a lot of time interviewing people and doing a fair amount of research, but just couldn’t quite figure out how to put all the pieces together into a cohesive analysis or writing. A good effort, and the first 3 chapters were worth reading, but the rest of the chapters were a little too drawn out to explain simple concepts.

Grabbed me right from the beginning. Was enthralled by the author's scope from artists, to composers, and anyone else that produces "hits" and what makes them thrive. Hint: distribution.But...there is way too much "backstory" where the author is trying to demonstrate how well read he is. Though it would be good info in an unrelated book, it becomes distracting to his theme. So I find myself speed reading over it, which is kind of exhausting.VERY talented writer who just needs either stricter editing or more focus.

Interesting read and it certainly had some insights. Worth the effort for anyone marketing/selling products that need to stand out in a world of competitive and similar items, i.e., books, music, movies, etc. Could have benefited from tighter editing; the book tends to ramble a bit, never seems to present a definitive approach to maximizing one's chances of having a hit. Granted, it's a soft and squishy target but the author would have done well to bring his discoveries together into a "best practices approach" to maximizing the chances of success.

It helps you understand why things catch on. Simple language and easy to read.

I loved reading this book - the whole time I was reading it, I kept telling everyone around me how great it was. There are a lot of established principles and studies in this book, but he describes them with such storytelling that it's fun to read and hard to put down!

The book claims to be about the science of popularity but the author quickly loses credibility because he seems to suffer from some form of self-hatred (he keeps referring very negatively to ”white men” and appears to have problems with being a man and being a white man). You would believe that the author could write about the subject matter objectively but as he muddles the content with an unnecessary politically biased personal narrative and radical left ideology it becomes hard to distinguish fact from fiction. And there goes the science - together with the book. Big disappointment!

I enjoyed all the chapters... it does not provide a secret formula for succes , but It really challenges the reader to thing different

Apenas lo estoy empezando, pero ha valido la pena.