The Hype Handbook: 12 Indispensable Success Secrets From the World’s Greatest Propagandists, Self-Promoters, Cult Leaders, Mischief Makers, and Boundary Breakers

INTRODUCTION

HOW I BECAME A PROFESSIONAL HYPE ARTIST

(and Why You Should Too)

Only in folklore does the world beat a path to the inventor of a better mousetrap.

—RANDALL STROSS

When I was 34 years old, with a newborn baby at home, I decided I was going to ditch my cushy corporate career to make it on my own as a freelance writer.

Here’s what I was thinking: Ever since I had circulated my hit story “WrestleMania 2230” in the second grade, people had been telling me I had talent. And when I left college, I really had tried to do something with my writing or at least in the arts: I interned at a television production company, wrote short stories, and started a band that built a following. But despite selling out a popular club on a weeknight, ...