Read:
I opened up my email this morning to see that Seth Godin is launching a new book, sans traditional publisher.
And I really want a copy. Here’s why:
Seth is the ultimate new-wave marketing guru. I’m taking his marketing class on Skillshare, and it’s fascinating. But what got me really excited about the announcement of his new book is the approach he’s taking to marketing it. Instead of working within the traditional top-down framework of getting a book from author to publisher to retailer to reader, he’s selling direct to the readership he’s built through his blog.
And he’s doing a very smart thing—incentivizing people to buy a 3-pack of the book at a discount, so that they can share it with others. He’s calling this horizontal distribution (which is similar to word-of-mouth) and hoping that person-to-person sharing will be enough to make his ideas, and his book, go viral.