What I learned spending an hour with Seth Godin

I spent an hour with Seth Godin, over Skype video, interviewing him for my podcast (episode yet to come).

Making my podcast is like getting coaching sessions with my heroes. Here's what I learned talking to Seth Godin.

• Seth struggled for years. He shared his struggles in publishing, saying he got over 800 rejection letters from publishers. "I felt like a failure," he said. He also published books like The Smiley Dictionary and Email Addresses of the Rich & Famous for years before his first hit (Permission Marketing)
• All best-sellers are accidents. I shared with him that I had a recent book proposal rejected (despite already being a best-selling author), trying to get an idea of whether self-publishing was a good route. Seth turned and pointed at the shelf full of books behind him "all of these are best-sellers. ALL of them were surprises." Publishers are smart, but if they were really smart, they would only give book deals to the best-sellers.
• Ship often. Seth said that if he was an author just starting out, he would be focusing on Kindle. He'd release a book a week, and use that experience to learn what works in publishing.

My conversation with Seth really got me thinking about how I have been holding back on some projects. I think because my first book was successful, that has made me scared to write a second book (in case it's not as successful).

So, it was with Seth's inspiration that I recently announced that I'm giving away my next book, as I write it. This has lit a fire in me, and the writing is coming along very well.

I hope that when you hear my conversation with Seth, it will light a fire in you, too.