BrandingBlog: I appreciate the link and mention on your Bull Market ebook. Could you explain the concept behind it and how you envision people will use it?

Seth Godin: WHAT: Bull Market is almost 500 pages of references to blogs and freelancers and consultants and agencies and people who can help you make a Purple Cow. It costs $21 (donation to charity) or you can get it for free from anyone that’s listed in it.

WHY: Because if a million people read it and use it, the world will get more interesting, people will have more fun, employees will reach their potential and the economy will start moving. That, and a million people will know about my new book (http://www.freeprizeinside.com) and I’ll have created a remarkable (worth talking about) way to spread the word about my new book, for free, which is what the new book is about… the idea is always to use the ideas in the book to spread the idea of the book itself.

Branding Blog: I love the story about Rita’s Candy Shoppe! I work with lots of very small retailers. Their fear of doing something different keeps them small and keeps them in the shadow of the Wal-Marts of the world. They don’t need an inside champion for their idea. They need the courage to step up and do something different. Do you have a magic word for them or a medal of courage?

Seth Godin: It’s a lot of work to run a store. A lot of risk. A lot of money for rent and staff and ads and signage. You need to be there a lot, and you need to worry about theft and shrinkage and competition and insurance and Walmart and and and…

So, after doing all that, WHY ON EARTH BE BORING? After taking all that insane risk and doing all that excessive work, why blow it all because you’re afraid to put up a ridiculous window display for a day or afraid to have your cashiers dress funny or afraid to give people a discount because they’re cute…

I think sometimes we mix up the battering we get from the daily grind with the battering we MIGHT get for being too remarkable. The retailers who have the most fun and who make the most money are the ones that do remarkable stuff.

The best part is that most of the time, the Free Prize is just that… Free.

It’s a thrill to welcome Seth Godin to another stop on the Business Book Blogging Tour. Many thanks to Todd for the warm invitation.

The raves for this book have been super and we’ll hear the echos of this tour reverberating through the blog world for months. In case you haven’t heard, the version of the book in the cereal box will NOT be available much longer. Order them while they last!

Just to offer a recap, you can find previous stops on the book tour at these fine blogs:

• May 3rd – A Penny For…
• May 4th – Brand Autopsy
• May 5th – Decent Marketing
• May 6th – 800-CEO-READ Blog
• May 7th – Brand Mantra
• May 10th – Ensight
• May 11th – WonderBranding
• May 12th – Business Evolutionist

And the tour continues:

• May 14th – Thinking by Peter
• May 17th – Bold Approach