Seth Godin trailblazes down a familiar path

Just so we're clear: Seth Godin is a smart Internet marketing guy, one who's less full of hot air than many others. Even when I disagree with him, there's usually something there to disagree with -- which is more than can be said for most.

And rather than slipping slyly from some guru manufacturing HQ, Godin actually has a relevant history; his Internet marketing company was bought by Yahoo in 1998. And before that, he actually worked in publishing, so what he says about books in the Internet age carries, for me, a bit of extra weight. So today when he announced that he was leaving traditional publishing behind, I thought, well, that's something!

Something familiar, apparently. The New York Observer reports:

Last week, Seth Godin (self-described "bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change") announced in a Mediabistro interview that he would not "publish any more books in the traditional way." Bold words! They kind of remind us of that other time when Seth Godin quit traditional publishing, ten years ago.

In 2000, disenchanted with the dysfunctional aspects of publishing, Godin self-published ''Unleashing the Idea Virus'' after turning down an advance; he gave ebook copies away for free on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble's website. The New York Times explained how the project might work, financially (it did).

But Godin soon returned to the traditional publishing fold. "Unleashing the Idea Virus" was published in paperback by Hyperion. Recent books -- "Tribes" and the new "Linchpin" -- are out on Portfolio.

Way, way back, Godin, with a fresh Stanford MBA, had a book packaging company. When he left it behind, he started a new Internet marketing company that he called Yoyodyne, named after the spookily large military contractor that appears in Thomas Pynchon's novels. The man has bookish, geekish cred. Maybe he's leaving traditional publishing behind for good this time; maybe he'll come back again.

One thing is clear: a lot more people have devices on which they read ebooks today than did in 2000, the first time he went down this path.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Seth Godin speaking in January 2010. Credit: Simone Brunozzi via Flickr.

Comments

[Andrew Davis]

Seth Godin is looking for new and innovative ways to cut out the middle man in the publishing model. This kind of new approach to building and audience and defining a market is the future of publishing, unless publisher's start changing their approach to printing, promoting and selling their wares.

Let's look to other models like Google's IPO using lessons learned from the Dutch flower market to prove a publishing model of the future.

I'm excited about the evolution! Thanks, Seth!

[Stephanie Chandler]

I'm also a traditionally published author and earlier this year I informed my agent that my future books will be self-published. It was truly liberating and I have more writing projects cooking than ever before.

Though I don't agree with Godin's decision to go completely digital, there's no denying that there is a lot of opportunity with ebooks. Another author, novelist J.A. Konrath, made a similar announcement last week. He's going self-published, digital only. With B&N up for sale and Amazon claiming to own 80% of the ebook market, the world is shifting fast.

I've also heard a lot of grumbles from people citing the need to "feel a book in their hands." I agree and worship the countless books that line my shelves, though I'm also enjoying reading on my Kindle and iPad. They make it easy to travel light, plus there's instant gratification when downloading a book in a matter of seconds.

Godin also side-stepped the other complaints that most authors have: lack of control, giving up too much of the revenue pie, and the delayed time to market. He's going to make a lot more money doing it all himself, and he won't have to battle with the publisher over changes to the manuscript, title, editing, etc.

This is an exciting time for authors everywhere and I respect Seth Godin's take on the whole state of the union.

Oh, and by the way, I loved your take on the "guru manufacturing HQ"--hilarious!

[Betty Ziegler]

I agree:
"Even when I disagree with him, there's usually something there to disagree with -- which is more than can be said for most."

Seth Godin is a remarkable marketer, I re-visit his books in my home library constantly, always learning something new that I must have glossed over the last time through.

I look forward to his new e-line venture!
Betty Z