• Small is the New Big

    Posted on August 29th, 2006 by and currently 2 commenting.

    smallbig.jpgWell, Seth Godin is at it again. I came to his latest book through my BzzAgent status. Yup. I’m a BzzAgent on the Small is the New Big campaign. So there’s my full disclosure.

    At any rate, as part of the campaign, we’ve been receiving excerpts of Seth’s rants to read, share, love, etc. So I’ve been dutifully reading and forwarding articles like “Verbs (Gerunds, Actually)” and “Brand My Car.” Now, as a reward for a particularly thoughtful BzzReport (according to the letter I received, anyway), a select group of us were chosen to receive a full copy in the mail. And this isn’t just any book. No. It’s autographed! Woohoo!
    Okay… here’s what I have to say about this book. I haven’t read it all yet… since I just got it Friday. But I like that the pieces that I have read are self-contained, so I’m not full of self-loathing for not managing to plow through all of the 194 rants yet. (I am filled with self-loathing about not finishing Brand Hijack though. I’m almost there!) I’ll admit that I scoffed a bit at the big reward of an autographed copy… but it was a nice gesture (if a little egocentric), so I’ll let that slide. I’ll also skip the discussion of the “best of me” blog-to-book phenomenon (cuz I still think it’s a little weird to expect me to pay for what I can read online for free). Instead, I’ll go straight to the heart of the matter. The book is classic Godin – he manages to state the obvious in a well-written and engaging way, so you spend pages and pages alternating between “duh!” and “why the hell didn’t I think of that?” with the occasional “I never thought of it that way!” peppered in for good measure.

    Overall, so far it appears to be a pretty successful collection of potent quotables (that was a somewhat sly Jeopardy reference there… anyone with me?), if not altogether earth-shattering. Seth is always good for a pithy catch phrase to back up your thinking… and even sometimes to turn your thinking on its ear. I think it’s worth a read (and hey, if you want a peek at a couple of the sample chapters, let me know), and I do look forward to getting through the whole thing in its pleasant, bite-size chunks.

    Even though the babies on the cover are unassailably creepy.

  • http://www.brainsonfire.com Mr. Steve

    Funny you should use the phrase “potent quotables”…when I talked to Rene about this book, I used the phrase “Chicken Soup for the Marketer’s Soul”…

    Anyway, I was a BzzAgent on this one, and I didn’t get a book…of course, I didn’t write anything either.

    But hey, you have to admit, for as obvious as his stuff is, he’s proving almost prophetical…his very simple product is making him VERY rich…and all through his campaigns.

  • http://www.mpdailyfix.com Ann Handley

    Sometimes when I read Seth, I think the guy is brilliant. And sometimes when I read him, I think opaque is the new lucid.

    In other words, Seth’s words make the most sense when you infuse them with a large dose of your own meaning and experience — which I think is his point. Better for you to interpret than for him to instruct — better “sparks” that way, in Seth-speak.