Today, I am launching my new book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World (Nashville: Thomas Nelson). To celebrate, I am giving away seven bonuses worth $375.98 to everyone who buys a copy this week and e-mails me the receipt. I’ll share the details in a moment.

I won’t spend time in this post telling you about the book. I have created an entire page for that purpose, complete with endorsements from 27 people who were kind enough to read it before publication, including Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, Dave Ramsey, John Maxwell, and many, many others.

As a keen reader of Michael’s blog, you’ll likely remember this interview he did with marketing blogger and provocateur Seth Godin about a year ago. About 3:40 in Seth hints at a project connected with his Domino Project publishing company, and then says he can’t say any more because “… he’ll get in trouble.”

But I can tell you about it. And as tomorrow is World Malaria Day, a time to remember and refocus on the battle against malaria, it’s the perfect time. Let me explain why.

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.