A laundry list for authors: Seth Godin’s 19 things to remember when writing your book

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Seth Godin’s site is an almost-daily read for me. I’d missed the last couple days but was happy to find this.

Truth be told, I didn’t find it… I’d turned on my boss to Godin and she told me about the post. I’m glad she did even though most of the stuff on the list I’d read elsewhere. Among them:

2. The best time to start promoting your book is three years before it comes out. Three years to build a reputation, build a permission asset, build a blog, build a following, build credibility and build the connections you'll need later.

6. Resist with all your might the temptation to hire a publicist to get you on Oprah. First, you won't get on Oprah (if you do, drop me a note and I'll mention you as the exception). Second, it's expensive. You're way better off spending the time and money to do #5 instead, going after the little micromarkets. There are some very talented publicists out there (thanks, Allison), but in general, see #1.

7. Think really hard before you spend a year trying to please one person in New York to get your book published by a 'real' publisher. You give up a lot of time. You give up a lot of the upside. You give up control over what your book reads like and feels like and how it's promoted. Of course, a contract from Knopf and a seat on Jon Stewart's couch are great things, but so is being the Queen of England. That doesn't mean it's going to happen to you. Far more likely is that you discover how to efficiently publish (either electronically or using POD or a small run press) a brilliant book that spreads like wildfire among a select group of people.

9. If you have a 'real' publisher (#7), it's worth investing in a few things to help them do a better job for you. Like pre-editing the book before you submit it. Like putting the right to work on the cover with them in the contract. And most of all, getting the ability to buy hundreds of books at cost that you can use as samples and promotional pieces.

14. Consider the free PDF alternative. Some have gotten millions of downloads. No hassles, no time wasted, no trying to make a living on it. All the joy, in other words, without debating whether you should quit your day job (you shouldn’t!).

17. Publishing a book is not the same as printing a book. Publishing is about marketing and sales and distribution and risk. If you don’t want to be in that business, don’t! Printing a book is trivially easy. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not. You’ll find plenty of printers who can match the look and feel of the bestselling book of your choice for just a few dollars a copy. That’s not the hard part.

The one that gobsmacked me was this:

5. Don't try to sell your book to everyone. First, consider this: “58 percent of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.” …

What?! Fifty-eight percent?! It’s a sad life—a life without reading books.

I guess it’s not much of a surprise… there’s lots of distractions in the world these days, from television to the number of activities the average kid is involved in (to hear my friends who have kids tell the story, it’s about six per child). But that doesn’t really answer the question of “Why haven’t they read even ONE book since leaving high school?”

I’d love to hear your thoughts.