*Special Friday Post
I subscribe to many thought leader blogs (as I hope all of you are doing). Everyday I scan them… sort, take notes and file… and some days I am stopped in my tracks! I have to admit that it is often Seth Godin who does that to me. This week he hit me up side the head!
He talks about "the wrapper" that your content comes in… for years I have talked about presentation, presentation, presentation… but not like this! Seth points out how impactful we can be if we look at our content from many vantage points. Here’s some food for thought…
When you have a big idea, the question is, how to spread it?
You can go through a traditional publisher and have it printed in the tried and true way, like Clay Shirky. I had a chance to read Clay’s new book a few months ago. No surprise: it’s pure gold, unalloyed insight about the state of media and the world.
If you’re looking for big ideas and are prepared to lose a little sleep, there’s no better book to buy right now.
You can have someone take a short speech based on your book and have them turn it into a animated video. Dan Pink’s video has been seen about 20 times as often as his book has been purchased. Video spreads.
You can turn your idea (like a focus on entrepreneurs) into cool trading cards, like Evan did.
You can skip the printing altogether and start your own video university, like Khan Academy.
Don’t forget podcasts or mp3s, which can be very funny or motivational.
Intriguing isn’t it? Sure we think of taking our book content into speeches…speeches into blog posts…blog posts into articles… but trading cards? That makes me smile… now I’m thinking about a whole line of products. What could your content become? This summer let’s all think beyond the obvious! Thank you Seth Godin.