A Bend In Marketing : Select Marketing Insights From Seth Godin

By Rohan Bhardwaj

Seth Godin is a marketing legend. He is the creator of Akimbo workshops which moves education forward. Also, he writes book - about 20 of them which are successful. And his most famous feat - writing daily blog posts, almost 7000+. It's an astounding feat. Seth Godin preaches what he do in practical. Over the years, he has shared many insights. And often you as a newbie or someone in your creator journey, want a concise and a flow in taking his insights.

 

Seth's podcast is outstanding. You should check it out. In this book, 'A Bend In Marketing' you will find selected insights from Seth Godin. Originally, shared in his Akimbo podcast.

 

These are interpretations of me, Rohan Bhardwaj who is a physics graduate, writer and teacher - a big fan of Seth Godin. Among other things, I did, this is another of my dedication and tribute to the legend.

 

I hope you find value and the insights helps you move forward in your journey more meaningful, more impactful and thrilling. To your success...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rohan Bhardwaj
• Release date: Mar 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393374442

Book preview

Of Course, You Should Write A Book.

You can’t make a major motion picture. Or a popular sitcom. Also, you can’t make the top 40 record song on demand. There is too much variable involved.

On another hand, making a book is personal work. Everyone doesn’t read or talk about the book - unlike songs. Hence, everyone isn’t an audience.

Something To Share

If you have something to share whether it is an experience or the will instruct others or clarify your thoughts then you should write a book. And when people will read your book, your book did a generous act of insight sharing.

By writing a book, you gain credibility, trust, and long term connection.

So yes, you should write a book.

Seth’s Story

Seth published many books in more than 35 languages. And so he knows what he is talking about. The first thing to note: publishing is not equal to printing.

The world in which you live has changed.

In 1982, Seth was working in software. There were many games developed which was based on a science fiction novel. Out of them, one game didn’t have a novel relation.

So Seth thought why not make a novel for that game too for consistency. Here cameAlan who made a novel based on the game.

It became a hit. Book publisher had a problem, they need new books all the time. So there was money to be made. Eventually, Seth did the gig and earned $5000. Over next year, by trying to do the same thing he got 800 rejection letter in a row.

Seth realized that you write a book for an editor and not for readers. So there was a chance that his books might be a hit among readers. But it didn’t matter as long as the editor didn’t like the idea.

Book Publisher Role

For a book publishing house, their customer is a book store. You as a  reader don’t matter to them. Try reaching for them and you will soon find it is a difficult task. On the flip side, a bookseller can reach publishing house easily.

But now you are in a shift.

Now for many books - Amazon sells more copies than Barnes and Nobles which sells more than any traditional bookseller.

Amazon doesn’t care - they publish your book in almost all the categories and titles and ideas. Amazon does the heavy lifting while you as an author earn more from their kindle and audible services.

Books Are Changing

Some percentage of readers will read a paperback. Most have shifted to Kindle for e-reading. With the magic of digital, you can publish at your fingertips. Also for a paperback. There is print on demand. So the risk is less for you.

Let’s see - Harry Potter become the best seller because it was hand-sold by the seller to kids and many sellers did it continuously to make it a bestseller.

That's what traditional publishing means. Which is harder now than ever before.

Past vs Present

Traditional publisher helped by editing and nurturing the author - now it doesn’t exist. No more promotion to help a new author.

58 percent of adult doesn’t read books. But it doesn't matter because 42 percent reads. Books mean something and are easy to share and consume. Immediately.

As long as you have something to say and If it will stand the test of time, then you can make a book. Right now publish your own book - because you can.

In a format you want.

Some Pointers To Remember

●  You aren’t going to publish with a big traditional publisher

●  Make a decision to sell a book for money or choosing to give it away

●  Go and make pdf and send to 100 people if you choose to give it away

●  Or go and write 250 blog post for 9 months - drip by drip

●  You can do this because traditional publishing cost money & Digital publishing takes money out of line

●  Bestseller list is not important

If You Want To Make Money

It’s nice to make a living

When someone buys, they treat it with respect

You need to start promoting your book before 3 years

So you can build up permission asset

So people are waiting to buy

People will Judge the cover

So spend some time on it

Edit ruthlessly - take help if required

Closing Notes

Books are not for everyone. Even the best selling ones don’t reach 2 percent of the total population. The internet is a micro medium. The smallest viable audience is what you need to look for your book.

Making a book is way easier now. Print on demand means it is easy to stock because it puts Pdf at one end and book comes at another end.

If you sell abusiness book then it helps because people buy in bulk so they can hand out. Do this if you are in this niche. If your book is something people can hand out then it can impact how many sales you will get.

If you show up and do work - being generous for years. People will read the book. If they didn’t like then write another book.

It is fun, generous and productive.

Question

Why you use female pronouns when describing a situation?

Seth does it in memory of his mom. And it is an attempt to make sure there is someone to look forward to.

Women have been underrepresented because of the culture before. By shifting the culture intentionally, there is a change which you can envision.

Further Reading

Michael Bungay Stanier's great post on self-publishing - By Growth Lab Team

Advice for authors #1 - From Seth's Blog

Advice for authors #2 - From Seth's Blog

The best book covers - Examples of Book Covers To Inspire

Resources To Help You In Book Process

The Editorial Freelancers Association - A directory of freelancers to help you out

Print on Demand - Now for you there isn't much upfront cost involved

Scribe Writing - A full blown service for authors at various stage

People Like Us Do Things Like This

Seth Godin explores the 'Culture and our Memetic DNA'. And how you can look at it and take the leap.

Do the hard work of showing up, creating a ruckus. Because someone is going to do that. Why not you?

Monkey experiment

5 monkeys in a cage and there is a ladder. As soon as one climbs up, there is a water spray. After some time, everyone pulls down anyone who tries to climb up.

A new monkey is replaced with an old one. The naive monkey tries to climb but the rest pulls them down. One by one new monkeys are added until only new monkeys are remaining. But none have experienced water spray. Still, they will pull down anyone who tries to climb the ladder.

But...

None of this is true. This was written in a book called ‘Competing for future’ in 1996. The authors made up this story based on another experiment.

The takeaway is your culture is how you do things. It is way stickier and subtle than you can imagine.

DNA is permanent. So giraffe’s height