Number 20 on Seth Godin's "Advice to Authors" list

Seth Godin has an uncanny ability of delivering the right information at the right time on his blog, in his books, and live.

In the late 1990s as I was struggling to understand the impact of Web marketing, he published his classic Permission Marketing. I immediately applied those ideas in my role as VP marketing at a reasonably large NASDAQ traded technology company.

Soon after, as the Internet bubble was wearing thin and I was in a professional dip, Seth published a remarkable little essay on his blog about the benefits of quitting your job. That was exactly what I needed to hear at that moment and before long I was a scared entrepreneur starting up my own business.

Then in August of 2006, just as I was beginning to write The New Rules of Marketing & PR, Godin posted his Advice for Authors. This is an awesome list of 19 things that authors must do.

Since Godin never steered my wrong, I followed all of the advice - ALL of it! And what a difference it has made. Godin's list is a terrific asset to anyone writing a book. If you are even considering writing a book you need to study this list because number 2 on the list requires 3 years of work.

But if I may be so bold, I will offer Godin another item to his list—number 20.

#20. Thank everyone who helped you. Writing a book takes a lot of time and a great deal of work. Many people help you along the way. And you must thank them. The list that I created and added to my acknowledgements to thank the bloggers I read and others who helped me is long (163 names). But the people on this list were critical to my process. And I want to thank each of you again because item 12 on Godin’s list says: "Blog mentions matter a lot."

Thanks to the people on my list, sixty people (that’s 60!) blogged about my new book in only one week! Wow. Thanks again to all of you. What an amazing thing.

Which brings me back to Seth Godin. He has a new book called The Dip. In a smart and small package, Godin's The Dip: A little book that teaches you when to quit (and when to stick)
lays out everything you need to understand about dips: How to identify the times that it's best to quit and move on and the ways to recognize when, if you just stick it out, you can become the best in the world.

Powerful stuff. But Godin's work always is.

Read The Dip. Then wait a few days and read it again. You'll appreciate the words of wisdom even more the second time.

Comments

[Ian]

Seth Godin...what can you say. Ideamerchant, maybe that would work. He's awesome. I am amassing my Seth collection for constant reference. Like what I'm doing with your work as well. Thanks so much for all that you do David. You have inspired me greatly.

[David Meerman Scott]

Ian - I am a Seth fan too and I have all of his books. Thanks for using his name and me in the same comment. Flattering indeed.