Seth Godin to Stop Publishing Books

I’ve been saying for the last 2 years that for speakers, coaches, consultants and others who write non-fiction that the “book deal” is a dead dog. With some of the most creative minds in the world publishing online (much of it free) you have to start seeing that if you are going to print a physical book – it’s primary function is as a premium marketing piece.

Here’ is what Seth Godin – veteran of 12 NY Times Bestselling books, has to say:

“I’ve decided not to publish any more books in the traditional way. 12 for 12 and I’m done. I like the people, but I can’t abide the long wait, the filters, the big push at launch, the nudging to get people to go to a store they don’t usually visit to buy something they don’t usually buy, to get them to pay for an idea in a form that’s hard to spread … I really don’t think the process is worth the effort that it now takes to make it work. I can reach 10 or 50 times as many people electronically.

No, it’s not ‘better’, but it’s different. So while I’m not sure what format my writing will take, I’m not planning on it being the 1907 version of hardcover publishing any longer.”

BAM! Look inside what he says here for the truth about the publishing paradigm:

The Long Wait – it is not uncommon for a book to take more than a year to come to market. How much is obsolete by the time a book written a year ago makes it to the store. Reminds me of the evil practice of AT&T making you sign a 2 year contract on a cell phone that will be obsolete in a few months.

Filters – There are a lot of voices and politically correct people in the “business prevention department” who will try to get you to homogenize the flavor out of your book. This is the crap that caused Dave Chapelle – one of the most creative comics of our time – to walk out on a multi-million dollar contract and the #1 show on Comedy Central – and just go to South Africa to calm down.

“As we celebrate mediocrity all the boys upstairs want to see
How much you’ll pay for what you used to get for free”
Tom Petty – The Last DJ

Well, Tom Petty pretty much hits it on the head as he satirizes the record industry – who stubbornly clings to “albums” and spending millions on DRM (digital rights management) while a 12 year old with free software can rip that song and upload it to a peer to peer filesharing website in Belize where there is no copyright laws.

I have loaned out my umpteenth copy of The Four Hour Work Week and I can tell you for sure – the physical book is a very hard medium to get an idea to spread by.

What could Godin mean? What other forms are there?

Chris Anderson, editor of “Wired” magazine and author of the groundbreaking “The Long Tail” published his recent book “FREE” for – well – free – on Scribd.com for a month, yep, just gave the whole thing away for free.

Even before he removed the free version it sold a bunch of books. Now the introduction and the first chapter is online free.

“Perhaps the printed book will become a premium product, ordered online, or in smaller boutique stores (think niche). For speakers, coaches, and consultants it has long been a good idea to consider your print book a premium marketing – or lead generation piece – or even a loss leader – to generate qualified leads and to demonstrate credibility.”

In my course The Speaker Machine – we cover what I call The Buzzy Book in Week 3. The Buzzy Book is a functional creation that is strategically developed to get you booked as a speaker – and secondarily as a profit item. Selling books when you speak has always been a nice extra money source for speakers – but more and more I’m thinking we should be using whatever means we can to capture email optins from our live presentations.

But, hey, don’t you think that if Seth put on a few pounds – he’d look nearly as handsome as me?