Tag: seth godin

You Are NOT Your Product

With the Romance Writing business,
I use pen names.
I use them for many reasons.
They are easier to sell.
They give me the illusion
of privacy.
They allow me to brand tighter.

And
they allow me to put
emotional distance
between myself and my stories.

Trolls don’t attack ME,
for example.
They attack (Pen Name).

This enables me
to deal
with constructive criticism,
with not-so-constructive criticism,
with brutal outright attacks,
and other feedback.

I am more detached
and that is extremely healthy
in this often harsh industry.

As Seth Godin
shares

“Being detached doesn’t mean
you don’t care.
It simply means
you’re focusing on the work
and those you serve,
not on your own narrative.”

You are NOT your product.

Figure out ways
to put distance
between yourself
and the products you craft.

Is It A Problem Or A Situation?

One of the pushbacks
to dealing with climate change
is the assertion
the climate is always changing.
Sure, there have been
two 100 year floods in the past 2 years
but 100 year floods HAVE happened
in the past.

These climate change deniers
argue the relentless and increasingly wild weather
is a situation,
nothing we can change.

That has been disproved
for over half a decade
but this IS a question we should ask ourselves
– are we dealing with a situation
or a problem?

Seth Godin
shares

“We can also have a conversation
about whether
it’s a problem
(problems have solutions)
or whether
it’s simply a situation,
something like gravity
that we have to live with.”

Is our current problem
solvable?

If it isn’t solvable,
then perhaps we are dealing with
a situation
and we have to live with it.

If it is solvable,
then we should move forward
and implement
the best solution
for our problem.

Note: Climate change WAS solvable
a decade ago.
It could be solvable now.
Eventually, unfortunately,
it will become a situation
and that will be disastrous for all of us.

The Argument For No Change

Whether we’re starting a new business
or slowing climate change
or updating a book cover,
there will be someone
opposing us,
wanting no change at all.

Seth Godin
shares
“Once we agree that
we have a problem,
the status quo will show up.
It will argue
with every tool
it has that
any variation from the current path
is
too risky,
too expensive
and too painful
to consider.
The status quo will stall.
It will argue for studies
and will amplify the pain
that will be caused to some
as we try to make things better
for everyone.

And the status quo usually wins.
That’s because
the makers of change
are now playing defense,
forced to justify every choice
and ameliorate every inconvenience.”

Know that someone
will fight for no change.

Prepare for the tactics
they will use
to stop us.

Realize they will NEVER
be supportive of that change.

And push forward.

Making The Future Urgent Today

I prefer readers pre-order
my new releases.

That creates a marketing challenge
for me
because I’m trying to convince people
to take action/spend money
NOW
for a payoff that might happen
months from now.

Most people aren’t interested
in delayed gratification.

So I promote pre-orders
by telling readers
if they pre-order
NOW,
they don’t have to worry
NOW
about seeing spoilers.

They can avoid the product pages
for my books
at booksellers.
They can ignore
social media posts
and reviews.

Some readers are convinced
merely by the
‘they don’t have to worry now’
part.

In a chaotic world,
if they pre-order my book now,
remembering to buy it later
will be one less thing
they need to worry about.

The key is to make
that future action
a NOW issue.

As
Seth Godin
shares

“All problems are
short-term problems
if we tell ourselves
the right story.
But we usually don’t,
because we discount
the future significantly.”

Make future actions
a NOW issue.

Your Established Customers Don’t Want Innovation

When I had very few established readers,
I wrote whatever the heck
I wanted to write.

There were no expectations
and not many people who would protest
if I wrote something completely new.

Today, I have a healthy readership
and those readers
don’t want completely new stories.
They want stories
that are similar to my past stories.

When I write something completely new,
they punish me with 1 star reviews
and they are less likely
to read my next story.

As Seth Godin
shares

“As you cross the chasm,
the bulk of your new customers
don’t want innovation at all.
They want promises kept,
a lack of surprises
and reasonable prices
and efficiency.”

Once your business
finds its customer base,
it is unlikely
that this customer base
wants extreme innovation.

If you haven’t yet
found that customer base,
enjoy the freedom
to innovate
now.

Pleasing The Niche Market

My target market
for my Romance Novels
is fairly small.

The readers in this niche
know what they want.
They have certain expectations
for the stories in it.

I HAVE to meet those expectations
if I want to sell to them.
I have to make them happy.
I have to craft books
they find great.

If I don’t,
I won’t sell very many books.

Because my books aren’t for everyone.
The random reader
won’t like them.
My books are designed for this niche.

Seth Godin
shares

“The strategy of
the smallest viable audience
doesn’t let you off the hook
–it does the opposite.

You don’t get to say,
“well, we’ll just wait
for the next random person
to find us.”

Instead, you have to choose
your customers
–who’s it for
and what’s it for.
And when you’ve identified them,
the opportunity/requirement
is to create
so much delight and connection
that they choose
to spread the word
to like-minded peers.”

Creating products/services
for a niche market
can be more challenging
than creating products/services
for everyone.

Know the niche market’s expectations
and deliver the products/services
they desire.

Some Customers WANT Imperfect Products

One of my buddies
buys first versions
of games.

She knows
the games will have bugs
in them.
They won’t be perfect.

But she is willing
to tolerate those faults
to have the games first.

I have a weakness
for products
with small imperfections
in them.
Every object
in my house
has something wrong with it.

We are often told
we should perfect
our new products/services
as much as possible
before releasing them.

But there’s a market
for imperfect products/services.

And,
as Seth Godin
shares,

“If you want to leap forward,
you’ll need to ship things
before they’re perfect,
mostly to people
who want to buy them
before they are.”

Our products/services
don’t have to be perfect
to be viable.

Last Minute Contributors

We all know people
like this,
like Seth Godin
describes

People who show “up toward the end,
when most of the work
has been done
and it’s almost time to ship…”

They make “a suggestion
that would require changing
a great deal
of what’s been done.
It might even be
a good suggestion
on its face,
but it’s hard to tell…”

F*ck those people.
Seriously.
F*ck them.

The timing is deliberate.
It doesn’t matter
what their excuse for their delay
is.
They delayed giving their input
for a reason.

They don’t truly want us
to take their suggestions.

That’s too much responsibility
and too much work for them.

They’re giving themselves
an ‘out’ if the project
goes wrong.
They can smugly tell you
“I told you so”
while not having to be involved
with implementing their changes,
while not doing any of that work,
because they KNOW
it is too f*ckin’ late
to make their changes.

Ignore last minute contributors
and their suggestions.

Please Share

When I send schwag to readers
and other influentials,
I usually send two sets.

Why?

Because it is often
the same cost to mail
and it increases the odds
they will share the schwag
with someone else.

I’m promoting to
two people
instead of just one.

Seth Godin
shares

“I’ve learned
in sharing galleys of
The Carbon Almanac
that sending two
is far more useful
and beneficial than
sending one.

Because when someone gets two,
they immediately decide
to share the other one.

Organizing around
‘please share’
is a choice.”

Consider sending
a set of promo
for the person to share.

The Helpers

I have a group of superfans
who always buy my books
and always help promote
my books.

They consist of
about 1% of my readers.
1%.
That’s it
yet that 1% makes
a HUGE difference in my sales.

As Seth Godin
shares

“If 2% of a population
takes coordinated action,
it makes a difference.
If 5% do,
it can change everything.

This simple math
also means that
most people rarely do anything.”

Expect most people
to do nothing.

Celebrate and pander to
the people
who help.

They are rare.
They are special.
Treat them well.