book marketing: wisdom from seth godin
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Book Marketing: Wisdom FromSeth GodinBy Michael Stelzner
Published February 6, 2015
Wondering how a master marketer thinks about booksand the launch process?
To explore book marketing, blogging and podcasts, Iinterview Seth Godin.
More About This ShowThe Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demandtalk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It’sdesigned to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with socialmedia marketing.
In this episode I’ll interview Seth Godin, author of 17 books, including Purple Cow,
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Permission Marketing and Tribes. He blogs every day on topics related to marketing,leadership and more. He also has an excellent podcast mini-series called Seth Godin’sStartup School.
Seth and I explore his latest book along with his thoughts on publishing and marketingbooks.
You’ll discover Seth’s philosophy on writing, the importance he puts on blogging andmore.
Listen as Seth Godin share w isdom for book marketing.
Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episodebelow.
Listen Nowhttp://traffic.libsyn.com/socialmediamarketing/SocialMediaMarketing-131-15-02-06.mp3Listen now: Play in new window | Download | Embed
You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, Stitcher, SoundCloud or Blackberry. How tosubscribe/review on iPhone.
Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show:
Book Marketing
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Seth Godin’s latest book.
Seth’s new book
Seth’s latest book is called, What to Do When It’s YourTurn (and It’s Always Your Turn). He explains that heusually comes up with the title early in the process, andthen writes the book to go with it. However, in this case,the title came second to last.
The book exists because when his son was heading offto college, he asked Seth to write down his advice.A letter to his son turned into a book for everyone. It’sa heavily illustrated book about fear, bravery and doingwork that matters.
Seth’s background is in publishing and he was a bookpackager for 12 years, during which time he and histeam wrote 120 books. These included almanacs,books on gardening, business and everything in between.
In 1999, he started writing books as a solo author. One person with a point of view.That’s when things shifted for him, he says. “I didn’t say, ‘What book do I need to writenext, because I need to pay the bills?’ I said, ‘What do I care enough about saying toput myself through all the pain and suffering it takes to bring a book into the world?’
Seth’s first “real book” was Permission Marketing which has his picture on the cover.
Listen to the show to discover why Seth believes all of his books are marketing books.
How Seth decides what to write when it comes to his books
Seth doesn’t think he has much say in what he chooses to write about. While heis very strategic in most elements of his life, his best writing is not strategic at all. “Istart with an itch and the writing is my scratching of the itch,” Seth reveals.
He starts a new book every few days, and some of them only last a paragraph or two,which is why it’s great to have a blog. If a book won’t go away, then he has to write it.
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Seth starts a new book every few days. Most turn into blogs. But if a book w on’t go aw ay, he has
to w rite it.
Seth believes most people shouldn’t look at the book business as a way to make aliving. The book business is an organized hobby, and a fabulous way to bring ideasinto the world and a great thing to leave behind.
For those who want to write a book to become a paid, professional author, Seth says,don’t. Instead, think about using books as a generous way to spread ideas and earntrust.
Listen to the show to learn why Seth doesn’t discuss upcoming projects with his peers.
Why Seth decided to publish and distribute this book on his own
Since most people don’t finish the books on their Kindle, Seth wanted What to DoWhen It’s Your Turn to be only available on paper. He also didn’t want people tobuy just one copy of the book.
“If you buy 1 copy, I send you 2. If you buy 3 copies, I send you 5. If you buy 8 copies,I send you 12,” he explains. “If you get an extra copy of a book, you have to give it
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away.”
Since ideas are now spreading person to person and not top down, Seth wanted thisbook to be his experiment with horizontal publishing. He knew he could reach acertain number of people directly through his blog. By shipping extra books to thepeople who already understand his message, he has turned them into his distributors.By sharing his words, his audience is helping make the world a better place.
Listen to the show to discover how building a following, 10 people at a time, is the keyto success.
The importance of blogging
Seth started his Typepad blog about 10 years ago, and says that even if no one readhis blog, he would still write it every day. The act of writing has done more for him thanany other habit. Blogging pushes you to notice things, it gives you aschedule and puts you on the hook to publish something daily.
Everything starts as a blog post, Seth shares. “Sometimes I don’t publish it, becauseby the time I finish writing it I decide that it should be an ebook. Then, by the time Ifinish the ebook, I decide it should be a book.”
The free ebook that is one of Seth’s proudest achievements is Stop Stealing Dreams.He also did a TEDx talk, based on the book.
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Seth’s other ebooks include one on the placebo effect, called Placebos, and a serieson Flipping the Funnel.
Listen to the show to discover why Seth publishes so many free ebooks.
Seth’s unique book launches
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The first edition of Purple Cow came in a
milk carton.
For the release of his latest book, Seth didn’t doany fancy promotion or SEO. He relied on hisfollowing and fans. Basically, he put up a blogpost and released the book.
Seth explains how his book is about tension, andhow he used tension to get people to buy it.
He always does something unique that relates tothe book for all of his book launches. ForPermission Marketing, he created a way for hisaudience to get 1/3 of the book for free. ForUnleashing the Ideavirus, a book about how ideasspread, he made the book free to share as anebook. The first edition of Purple Cow came in a
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milk carton.
Listen to the show to find out why Seth believes he had a successful book launch.
The role of podcasts in book marketing
Seth believes podcasts don’t sell books because the number of people listening aren’tgoing to immediately buy them. The New Yorker is a great way to sell books, AM radiois a bad way to sell books, and podcasting is somewhere in between. Over time, we willsee podcasts get better.
Seth doesn’t write books to sell them. He writes books because he wants his ideas tochange things. Getting his books to a new audience through a podcast, especially ifthat audience changes as a result of the conversation, is a win.
Listen to the show to learn what Seth considers a winning result of a podcast.
Advice from Seth to his younger self
Seth says, “The thing that people who create for a living wrestle with is living with ‘thismight work’ and ‘this might not work’ at the same time.”
That is what keeps almost everyone who isn’t a creator from creating. People can’tutter a sentence unless they know something’s going to work. However, they don’tknow if it’ll work, since they never said it before.
Listen to the show to discover what successful creators understand.
Discovery of the WeekAre you an iPhone user? Do you put your phone on mute, but it still vibrates anddisturbs you each time you get an alert? Rather than put your phone in airplanemode, try out this cool feature, called Do Not Disturb.
Go into settings and turn on Do Not Disturb whenever you need it. You can alsoschedule it for different times for productivity. When it’s on, you will not get textmessages or any other alerts. However, you can allow calls from certain people, likeyour spouse.
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The iPhone Do Not Disturb setting
allow s you to block texts.
There’s also a way to shut off email when you’re on vacation or just need to focus.
Go into settings and scroll down to “Mail and Contacts.” Click on your email account.You will see a mail icon that you simply drag to ‘Off’. When you’re ready, go back inand turn your email on again.
Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how turning off your alerts and emailworks for you.
Other Show MentionsToday’s show is sponsored by Social Media MarketingWorld 2015.
We are super-excited about Social Media MarketingWorld 2015. It’s the world’s largest social mediamarketing conference. By attending, you’ll makeconnections with 100+ of the world’s top social media pros (plus 2,500 of your fellowmarketers) and you’ll discover amazing ideas that’ll transform your social mediamarketing.
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Hear testimonials from our 2014 conference speakers.
This is just a sample of industry experts talking about their experience at Social MediaMarketing World.
In the show, you’ll hear about the fabulous networking opportunities at thisconference. Even if you know everything there is to know about social media, theopportunity to be surrounded by your peers is a good reason to attend. To besurrounded by 2,500 marketers in every conceivable niche from more than 40countries can be very valuable. Develop mastermind groups, discover partnershipopportunities, meet people you’ve only seen online and more.
This is the largest conference of its type in the world. I would love for you to come andhave an incredible experience with us.
Take your social media marketing to the next level and join us in San Diego, Californiaon March 25, 26 and 27, 2015. Hundreds of people have already secured theirtickets. Click here to check out all of the speakers and the agenda, watch our videoand grab your ticket.
Listen to the show!
http://traffic.libsyn.com/socialmediamarketing/SocialMediaMarketing-131-15-02-06.mp3.
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Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:Connect with Seth on his website or blog.Get your copies of What to Do When It’s Your Turn (and It’s Always Your Turn).Listen to Seth’s Startup School podcast.Check out Seth’s books: Purple Cow, Permission Marketing,
Tribes and Unleashing the Ideavirus.Get the first part of Permission Marketing and an ecopy of Unleashing the
Ideavirus for free.Explore Seth’s free ebook: Stop Stealing Dreams (and watch the TEDx talk).Email [email protected] to connect.Check out the Do Not Disturb feature on the iPhone and learn how to turn off
email.Email [email protected] if you are interested in being a sponsor.Learn more about Social Media Marketing World 2015.
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.What do you think? What are your thoughts on book marketing, blogging andpodcasting? Please leave your comments below.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR, Michael Stelzner
Michael Stelzner is the f ounder and CEO of Soc ial Media Examiner ,
and hos t of the Soc ial Media Marketing podcas t. He also authored
of the books Launch and W ri ti ng W hi te Papers . Othe r pos ts by
Michael Stelzner »
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4 Comments Social Media Examiner
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• Reply •
Frank Mottl • a day ago
Interesting interview that encapsulates writing, marketing, and life. If we push our creativity into unknown realms, wewill gain insights that wouldn't have been apparent to us before. I think as writers we should go where we feeluncomfortable and see what we discover. For example, write in second person and see what happens. Go where noman has gone before, you may not be successful, but you will always be fresh.
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• Reply •
Michael A. Stelzner • a day agoStaff > Frank Mottl
Thanks Frank and glad you enjoyed it 1△ ▽
• Reply •
Pat Coakley • 15 hours ago
Single most valuable take-away for me: " If not one person read my blog I would still write it every day." away the choice of "should I post?", you simply have "what am I going to post?" The daily habit he says has helpedhim the most. Alrighteee, then....as a Nike interrogator might ask: A: Why don't you do it, Pat? A: Hey, I wrote it down.It's a start. Great interview.
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• Reply •
Michael A. Stelzner • 12 hours agoStaff > Pat Coakley
Glad you found it valuable Pat △ ▽
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