The Shangri-La Diet was published because a paper I wrote was amplified by blogs. Here (from 2002) is something similar: one person’s opinion amplified by a listserv. A librarian persuaded HarperCollins to publish a book by Michael Moore (Stupid White Men) that they had decided not to publish.
“They [HarperCollins] said it would be ‘intellectually dishonest’ not to admit that Bush has done a good job, and that the other things in the book wouldn’t be believable if I didn’t at least give Bush that much,” says Moore. The author was certain that HarperCollins would cancel and destroy the book if he didn’t accede to its demands.