In an exclusive interview with Jeff Rivera of Media Bistro, Seth Godin swears off traditional publishing.
Here’s the exact quote:
“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.” (GalleyCat)
Huh. That’s interesting. Having read and been around Seth for a long, long time, I know him to be very specific with his language. Let’s look at it bit by bit.
“I’ve decided not to publish any more books in the traditional way. 12 for 12 and I’m done.”
Ok, this is a little bit of a misnomer. Seth Godin published his first book the old fashioned way – query, wait, agent, wait, wait, wait, you know the drill. After that, he’s chosen a variety different routes – self publishing, big house publishing, and everything in between. For each of the twelve books he’s written, he’s also published a myriad of free ebooks, paid for ebooks, and interesting articles on his blog. Seth Godin has tested every known way to get his material out there.
“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.”
Let’s face it. We all hate begging our friends and family to purchase books. In fact, there’s a whole group of people who say we should make our money on speaking and creating ‘experiences’ and give our books away. There’s no question that he’s right about this. Trying to get people to purchase books is a lot of effort that doesn’t advance your skills, story or capacity as an author.
“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.”
Seth Godin has tested this model over and over again. In fact, he’s the person who says if you really want to get people to read your material, give it away for free. He’s not saying here that he will give all of his material away. He’s only saying he’s going electronic.
To me, this last quote is the most fascinating part of the quote. I wondered what he’s going to do – give it away? sell ebooks? I also wondered why this is news. As I’ve said before, he’s always had free and not so free ebooks available for additional or complimentary information.
Seth Godin is a man with a mission. He has a hopeful message that he spreads via his blog, his books and his lectures. He’s worked hard, and I assume will continue working hard, to get his message out there.
Yet, I’m left with two questions:
1. If Seth Godin is dedicated to getting the message out there, does it really matter that he’s giving up traditional publishing? And,
2. How do we get so impassioned about our messages that we focus only on the distribution of the message instead of the status, money, and power of involved with traditional book publishing?
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