Most creatives I know hate marketing. They want to write, speak, or entertain. But they hate the thought of promoting themselves or selling their art.

If this describes you, I have good news. Marketing is dead.

Several weeks ago, I had the privilege of hosting the Chick-fil-A Leadercast Backstage program. I interviewed several notable authors as they came off the stage, including John Maxwell, Sir Ken Robinson, Dan Cathy, Suzy Welch, Frans Johansson, and several others. I thought I would share these with you over the next several weeks.

This one is with Seth Godin. He talked about several topics, including:

Admittedly, I am a conference junkie. Thankfully, attending conferences, discovering new speakers, and raising the visibility of my company is part of my job as CEO of a book publishing and live events business.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not selective. I pass on nine conferences for every one I attend. I can’t attend all of them, but I want to make sure I attend the best, most stimulating ones. That’s why The Chick-fil-A Leadercast is on my short list of can’t-miss events.

A little while back I wrote about finding my tribe. In the ensuing months after my tribal journey, I’ve seen some curious and very cool things happen.

The goal of this post, then, is to highlight the benefits of finding your tribe, no matter what business you’re in. A few months out, here are my findings:

Seth Godin is one of my heroes. I have read nearly all his books. I subscribe to his blog. I am a fan. I also consider him a visionary and a friend.

Yesterday, he wrote a very provocative post on why he is “Moving On” from the traditional world of book publishing in order to connect directly with his readers. This has created a stir on the Internet.

For example, Mike Shatzkin said, “There’s only one Seth Godin, but there are other authors who might emulate him.” Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Work Week, also commented, as did the Wall Street Journal. Several of my readers have asked for my thoughts about Seth’s decision, so I thought I would respond here.

If you have never been to a Catalyst Conference, you need to go. I can’t be more direct than that. You will thank me later.

The quest started over dinner with my agent. “You need to stop,” she told me. “You’re doing too many things. Stop spreading yourself so thin.”

Sometimes when I speak with marketing executives about social media, they seem to get it. But they don’t. Not really. They falsely believe that Twitter and Facebook are like every other broadcast channel. They see it as an opportunity to blast their message out to thousands of followers—for free!—and sell them stuff.

Recently, I had the opportunity to read an “advance readers copy” (ARC) of Seth Godin’s new book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? Admittedly, I am a fan. I have read most of Seth’s books. However, this is my favorite so far. In fact, I would go so far as to say this is the most important book I have read in the last year. In a minute, I will tell you how to get a free copy.

Every year at about this time, Time magazine and a few other periodicals run special issues on what to expect in the coming year. They typically invite various experts and pundits to share their views of the future.

Last Friday, I spoke at the Music City Media Mixer, a luncheon sponsored by George Uribe and Ebie McFarland. I spoke on the topic of “The Importance of Building an Author Platform.” While my talk focused primarily on authors, the principles I shared apply to anyone trying to sell anything in today’s environment.

Building an author platform has never been more important. This is because of three realities author’s face today:

The most critical step in the hiring process is reference checking. This is important not only in hiring employees but especially in hiring consultants. Not everyone has the expertise they claim.

For example, I am increasingly being pitched by so-called “social media” experts. A very few are bona fide experts. Some are traditional media people, who are repacking the same old advice using the new buzz words. More than a few are unemployed marketing people who discovered Twitter last month.

Social networking is radically changing the traditional marketing landscape. This weekend, two of my business associates asked me how they could get up-to-speed quickly. After I found myself repeating the same information twice, I thought, Hmm. Maybe I should capture this in a blog post.

To become fluent in social networking, I recommend you do the following:

As you may know, the Amazon Kindle 2 has the ability to read books out loud. The text is read by the computer, so it doesn’t come close to a true audio book read by the author or an actor. However, I have found it to be surprisingly useful.

Rather than reviewing one book this week, I thought I would share my favorite business books. I get asked this question regularly, most recently when I was lecturing at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Business School earlier this week.

I have blogged on this topic previously. However, it has been almost two years. Since that time, my list has changed. Only four of the previous ones are on the new list. However, all twenty (the previous list and this one) are excellent.

On Saturday, I posted Four Surprising Conclusions About Author Websites. Yesterday, I posted on Why Every Author Needs a Powerful Online Presence. Today I want to address the how of building your author brand online.

A while back, I posted “4 Surprising Conclusions About Author Websites”. In case you missed it, I concluded that, for authors, building a powerful online presence doesn’t appear to have much to do with having (1) slick graphics or state-of-the-art technology, (2) a large media platform, (3) a large organization behind you, or (4) a young, hip image.

Joe Sheehan commented on the post, saying,

Seth Godin is one of my very favorite business authors. His first book, Permission Marketing (1999), helped me understand the importance of crafting messages that are anticipated, personal, and relevant. It shaped the way I think about the Internet as a communications medium.

Since that time, Seth has written many bestselling books on marketing, including The Purple Cow, Word of Mouth Marketing, and, his newest, Tribes. Each time he has challenged the status quo and turned conventional thinking on its head.