Seth Godin Gives Up On Traditional Publishing

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• I think it's a case of people are sheep. LOL.

  I don't know of a nicer way to put that.

  It's like people don't have a concept of something not being true or false based on who says it but based on whether or not it's true or false. Many indie authors have been saying all of these things for a few years now. But nobody cares until someone well-known says it. As if these weren't all logical arguments to begin with.

  When someone who has just been observing makes these arguments then the counterpoint is: "You've never been traditionally published. You don't know what you're talking about."

  Of course then Seth Godin comes out and makes these same points. And he actually *is* someone who understands publishing... and business actually... and I do find that aspect of it interesting.

  It's almost like there is a sort of publishing fundamentalism where the "true believers" will fight and claw to reframe their discussion and change their terminology so they can still be right and indie authors can still be "bitter morons."

  I think Seth Godin is awesome. This is more a dig on human beings who can't make a step or do something until it becomes "popular enough" because some "authority figure"... in this case someone somewhat famous... makes some kind of stand on the issue.

  I do think it will take more than Seth Godin though. People are going to be rah rah indie for a little bit, then that news will die down especially in light of the realization that "most people aren't Seth Godin". (It'll probably take a few hours for that counterpoint to form.)

  It will take several big names defecting, as well as several indies who started indie rising up and doing well, before the game totally shifts, IMO.

• Wow, and sorry that comment was a novel. This stuff just gets me all riled up. LOL

  • Zoe, your opinion is certainly one part of the spectrum! We are all on there somewhere :)
    You're right, it will take more than Seth Godin but perhaps he will start the avalanche. Big name authors have to see other big names succeed, so this is definitely good news for indies and any author who wants to get their book out there!

    • OMG Joanna, I wish I could be more like you. You're so diplomatic. I go on a ranting tear and you say: "your opinion is certainly one part of the spectrum!" LMAO Thank you so much for not getting mad at me for spazzing like that. It was 5:30 in the morning my time and I hadn't yet gone to sleep yet. Probably not the best time to make a reply. :)

      You rock with your positive attitude! I wish I was more like that!

• I think this is an exciting announcement and certainly a validation for the idea that a) there are other alternatives to traditional publishers -- which allow for more people to author works, promote them, add to the conversation around various issues, etc. and b) that publishers need to recognize and adapt better to changing times. However, the 'not everyone is Seth Godin' piece is very important to this discussion. I have been fortunate -- I published a book with Wiley & Sons and will publish another next year. I could have written the book and published it independently, digitally or otherwise, but I chose to pursue the traditional route because of the support, and credibility, that they provide. Perhaps when I am a best-selling, world-changing author I will be able to carve a more independent path. Perhaps when I am a more seasoned author or have developed a voice like Seth Godin I will be able to create without as much involvement from a seasoned book editor. Not yet. And there are lots of other authors who I think would benefit from that support offered by publishers as well. I applaud Seth Godin, and am a little jealous at the same time... but that doesn't mean his announcement should be seen as more than an endorsement of the possibility that more independent, digital publishing offers and a call to action for the publishing industry. The rest still must be figured out.

  • Indeed Brian. We all have to figure this out for ourselves. I didn't get a deal with Wiley so I self-published and went down the route of marketing direct to customers (with this blog, twitter, podcast, videos etc) and although I'm clearly nowhere near Seth Godin in influence or numbers following, it definitely makes more of a difference going direct to consumers.
    I am still interested in a traditional publishing deal for fiction - the sub title of this blog is now "Adventures in writing, publishing and book marketing". I'm a fan of all types of publishing, and as per comment with Zoe above, there is room for all on the spectrum!

    Thanks, Joanna

• Totally agree, there is -- and should be -- a wide spectrum. I think its very easy (particularly when blogs posts, and discussions in the comments, and panel discussions at upcoming conferences, etc. are the venues of opportunity for having this discussion) for the conversation to focus on the wrong things here. The fact that Seth Godin opted for an alternative route to publishing his books in the future is a data point, not a big deal. Your experience and success marketing, and the work you have done, lessons you have learned, insights you continue to share, etc. is ultimately more important to this conversation and everyone's learning going forward. The success that you have created and the methods you have used to make that happen tell us more about what is possible, what we all need to know as authors, what the publishers should be learning from, etc. If/when people focus on the bigger names, the success stories that others will find challenging to learn from because the context is different, the whole conversation will get skewed.

  Personally, I would have framed the conversation differently. Instead of saying "woo hoo! Seth Godin has gone independent and digital' I would have said something like "Here is what Seth Godin should know about how to promote his books without the help of a big publisher -- something I (Joanna Penn) have learned." Its going to be challenging for Seth Godin to adapt his whole process to the post-big publisher world and he should be learning from you, asking you for help, elevating what you have learned. You should lead and he should ride your coat tails to make this argument for everyone else, not the other way around.

  Thanks for what you do though - its very helpful to me personally, and in terms of people I work with and talk to about this stuff.

  • That's very sweet Brian. Thank you! I do try to share everything I am learning on this blog, I do harp on about platform often enough!
    Seth did a fantastic job of promoting Linchpin without traditional media which I did learn a lot from and I love his books. Guess I am one of his raving fans :)

• This is a bold, big move for Seth. He's been known for being a mover and a shaker of sorts. Exciting for those of us as authors. I am writing a non-fiction book myself and there's no doubt, utilizing a blog or e-method will get the reader the info much faster. However, I must say, there is yet still something grand about a book, paper in my hands. Not sure that print is yet ready to go away, but I can surely see getting it first in e-form, then print later. This will surely challenge and cause pause for publishing companies.

  • Hi Chuck,
    I don't know if Seth is saying no to print, just using a middleman of publishers. I am using print on demand to sell on Amazon, and he could also do presales of a print run like Scott Sigler to the fans. There are many options
    http://www.thecreativepenn.com/publishing/
    I like paper as well, and love having the option of print books, but you can do that as an indie as well.

• Liking the video posts!

  I really need to write about this subject properly. I agree entirely that we writers need to think about building a platform, especially if you're thinking of self-publishing. My big concern is that the successful writers who aren't backed by a publisher will be the one's who are brilliant at marketing their work, not the ones that produce the best novels, stories etc.

  It's a myth that this new techno-dawn has levelled the playing field. The field is far from level for those writers whose IT skills aren't up to scratch. How can someone be expected to build a platform and push, push, push their work when they don't know what a PDF is, let alone how to create one.

  There are truly revolutionary things happening in the publishing industry at the moment. It's awesome. But collectively we need to acknowledge that, for some writers, and they could be truly brilliant writers, the revolution is creating an obstacle, not clearing a path.

  But heck, I guess that's where blogs like ours can step in and make a difference. Keep up the smashing work!

  Iain

  • Thanks Iain, I'm glad you like the videos. I'm trying to do more (as I know you are too!)
    Authors with no IT skills will still use third parties to do all that, and that may be small press publishers, like Michelle from ireadiwrite who I interviewed last week
    http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2010/08/21/podcast-ebook-publishing-ireadiwrite/
    She is coaching authors through that as a publisher.
    and yes, I hope this blog and others will help as well :)

    • I too am excited to hear this news. I have nothing against traditional if it works, but it is not always a viable option.
      As for people not knowing how to build up there on-line presence, another option is to get adventurous and learn. When I did the children's book I knew NOTHING about a design program, but I spent several months learning and was able to do the layout for our book, and judging by the feedback, I did well. My next task is to learn more about great blogging and marketing. I look forward to learning something new again. Good luck to all you indies out there and Joanna your contributions are spurring me on. Thanks again.

• Joanna -

  This is stunning news - and welcome news! My personal thought - this is just as good an idea for non-fiction writers as it is for fiction writers. I write in a specific non-fiction market, but I also want to branch out into two other areas - FlashFiction and cozy mysteries. I would love to do both of these things as an Indie!

  Sincerely,
  Bonnie

  • Hi Bonnie, yes, platform is great either way. I meant more that the time pressure to get a book out is there more for non-fiction as the world moves so fast whereas stories are more accessible over the long term. I know the books written on any tech are out of date as soon as they are printed these days!
    You can definitely do both as an indie!

• It's quite simple, actually.

  What happened in the music world a decade ago and and has happened in the news industry today (and is slowly happening in the film and television) was bound to happen in the publishing world.

  The middlemen are being cut out for several reasons:

  1) independent artists of all kinds can earn more money with fewer sales without a split with a "middleman" and
  2) the value of promotion, publicity and marketing (which was the primary value the middlemen brought to the table) is largely possible without them. In fact, studios, publishing houses and record companies may offer to "take you on" but they reserve their BIG marketing bucks for the few projects each year that they consider to be their "money makers", leaving even traditionally published authors (etc) with the mother-lode of the work of marketing anyway.

  The times, they are a-changin'

  • Thanks Madison, that's a key point you made as well. Indie artists can make more money with fewer sales, so books that could be rejected by publishers as being too small a market can do quite well on their own.

• Seth Godin is making a major error. He appears to believe that speed of delivery of knowledge is more important than the form in which that knowledge id delivered. We live in a three dimensional, physical world and we value and engage with physical things. Although ebooks are popular - indeed Kindle product sales are now outselling physical book sales in many areas - the physical book will not die or whither because we like and engage with physical things.

  Seth Godin needs to have traditional books for people to engage with them physically. The connection between the author and the reader is lessened without that physicality. True, he can go direct to his readers via blogs and ebooks, but without those physical books he will be weakening his connection. He needs those publishers much more than he seems to think.

  However, he is demonstrating that publishers are way, way behind where they need to be. They should be offering a combination of online/offline publishing services, producing books in download forms, blogs, etc etc. Most of them still only think of the physical book with internet as an afterthought.

  Perhaps Seth Godin's strike for freedom is more an indication of the state of the publishing industry than anything else. It is time publishers moved out of the 19th Century, where most of them appear stuck...!

  • Hi Graham,
    I don't think Seth was saying no to print. He's saying no to traditional publishing. When you publish it yourself, you can get a print book out very fast, so I imagine he will do print books, but will do them in a different way e.g. print on demand or self-publishing runs.
    Just my thought on the matter as I like print too, I just want it faster!

    • I'm glad Seth is still going to use print. I agree that we need it faster. But therein lies the 19th Century position of traditional publishing. It is perfectly possible for a newspaper publisher to produce 100,000 words in print in 24 hours. Why does it take a book publisher a year or more to produce less words in print? There is no technical or editorial reason why printed books cannot be produced within a week. The only issue is the business structures and attitudes of book publishers. Hopefully, then, Seth Godin's decision will be something of a challenge to them. Otherwise, they are doomed to certain extinction.

• Dear Joanna,

  This is truly exciting news! Thank you for your video about this move.

  I am very pleased about the fact that Publishing is changing and fully agree that the real opportunity lies in building a platform. Maybe this is the biggest challenge for us, to change from relying on traditional publishing to build a platform for us to building one ourselves. No more hiding in your office or secluded writing space out of your audience’s eyes, but to realize that you are now not only the writer but the marketer and stage personality of the knowledge you share.

  I believe that readers will change in the near future towards wanting to know more about the writer and being able to identify with them in person.

  Personally, I believe that a combination of electronic media and printed books through self publishing are a winning formula for the moment.

  Happy writing to all fellow Indies'

  • Thanks ,I'm so glad you agree! It is surprising to find that platform building is actually fun as well!