Comments on: “Who’s There?” Free e-book from Seth Godin

By: Martin (HomeOfficeVoice)

Martin (HomeOfficeVoice) — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 15:14:30 +0000

Oh yeah, it’s a great business model … no doubt about that. What about the eBook that has no affiliate links or other pitches but is a full-on eBook. It’ll be a hard sell to get someone to pay for it when they expect it for free.

I guess it’s a education thing: make people understand that the free eBook is a snippet (one with affilate links and other promos) and the real fully-fledged eBook will cost you.

I’m hoping that Seth follows this up with a full eBook that folks must buy.

By: John (SYNTAGMA)

John (SYNTAGMA) — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 14:35:14 +0000

Martin, most free ebooks contain affiliate links and pitches for more substantial books from the author. Seth’s point is that when you give stuff away, you’ll also sell material you wouldn’t have sold without the freebie. Seth is both a Secondary and Tertiary blogger. In Tertiary mode he’s seeking influence, so can give stuff away. The Secondary mode sits behind that and scrapes up the income as it grows. Pretty good business model I would have thought.

By: Martin (HomeOfficeVoice)

Martin (HomeOfficeVoice) — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 12:30:55 +0000

I too am a fan of Seth Godin. His writing and ideas have such a clarity that I have never seen before.

I can’t believe he’s giving it away for free! It’s good for us (who doesn’t love free stuff!), but for the many of us trying to make a living selling information products (eg: eBooks) it drills into people’s mind that everything on the Net should be available for free … which, off topic, is happening to podcasts – it’s a new and exciting medium and 99% of them are free will anybody be able to sell a podcast when the time comes to start monetising it??? People get too used to free stuff that’s it’s hard to change such behavour – I’d rather Seth sold his eBook for say 4,5 even 9 dollars.

And have you checked his previous free eBook “Knock Knock” – that one really hit home with me.

By: Quotable Seth Godin - From ‘Who’s There?’: Blog Tips - ProBlogger

Wed, 07 Sep 2005 11:27:41 +0000

[...] Here are a few take home quotes from Seth Godin’s “Who’s There?” Free e-book which I read this afternoon (and ask usual with Seth’s writing – enjoyed): ‘People have a choice (4.5 million choices, in fact) and nobody is going to read your blog, link to your blog or quote your blog unless there’s something in it for them.’ [...]

By: John (SYNTAGMA)

John (SYNTAGMA) — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 10:54:14 +0000

This is the best freebie for a long time : 46 pages of Seth Godin and a wry take-off of the classifications of the blogosphere that Duncan and I have been indulging in lately. His threesome : Cat Blogs, Boss Blogs, and Viral Blogs. Quite close to my Primary (chatters), Secondary (moneymakers), and Tertiary (influence-seekers). A rich offering from Seth. Not to be missed.

By: Lynette Chandler

Lynette Chandler — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 07:20:15 +0000

Thanks Darren I went through the whole thing last night and it simply amazes me how Seth manages to make (somewhat complex) ideas seem so simple – as always. Will be sharing it.

By: John

John — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 06:11:13 +0000

Fantastaic ebook. Loved his style of writing, it was captivating. Good ideas also. Especially podcasting.

By: Yzabel

Yzabel — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 05:37:23 +0000

I downloaded it earlier on this morning. Although I’ve only browsed through it so far, what I’ve read was indeed interesting.

By: ~Dawn

~Dawn — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 04:51:28 +0000

Dominic~
The PDF for the bootstrapper’s bible is no longer free. But he did say that if a friend has it to email them. I pulled it off of my p2p program. Thanks for the head’s up though
Frugal for Life

By: Dominic Foster

Dominic Foster — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 01:43:10 +0000

Thanks for the link Darren. I too am a Seth Godin fan.
A while ago, he wrote a really good eBook called ‘The Bootstrappers Bible’ which you can download for free from http://www.changethis.com – it’s definitely worth checking out.

cheers
Dominic.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 00:20:19 +0000

The E-book makes a lot of sense.

I like the prediction about podcasting being the end for radio.Certainly seems reasobnable that you would listen to something other that the standard garbage thats dished up on commercial radio in Australia at the moment.

Seems all so logical, will be interesting to see if blogging and podcasting is really the destroyer of conventional media outlets he predicts it will be.