There is an art to success, or rather a knack for it. The knack is that for producing something and having it not fail. For that to happen, one must first publish something and not mind that it will fail very badly, then distract everyone else from how much it will fail. Sometimes the very act will not be enough, mango trees have been producing mangoes very successfully for centuries yet they receive little recognition. The commercial success of mangoes has been equally unsuccessful in bringing the mighty tree into the limelight.
The moment of distraction can be quite easy for the general public, but seasoned critics have been notoriously good at deflecting the effects of the moment of distraction. This has led to “not” and “fail” being oxymorons if used together.
Douglas Adams avoided failing because of these three reasons:
The Three Reasons
- The story already had fans who were listening to it on the radio, which meant that there would be a lot of commotion and distraction over the publication.
- It was a funny satire, which left Uncyclopedia contributors confused. This is most likely the greatest distraction of all. You see, the Vogons were a futuristic representation of the human race if bureaucracy was the ruling form of government, and they were really stupid and brutish and… well you get the point.
- The book was published by Sirius, which meant cheap manufacturing of the product while still being high quality binding. Whether or not the public or Adams himself knew about Sirius doesn’t matter, it all worked out well in the end, except for Sirius which ended up first against the wall when the revolution came.
- It mentioned the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which had the words “Don’t Panic” inscribed in large, friendly letters on its cover.
- It was a five-part trilogy.
