BRIAN FORD

Articles Posted: 277 Links Seeded: 441

Member Since: 11/2005 Last Seen: 5/20/2012

Seth Godin, Apple, Rejection, and Permission Marketing

Thu Mar 1, 2012 1:08 AM EST

technology, amazon, apple, ebook, ibooks, seth-godin, ipad, kindle, permission-marketing, ibookstore

By Brian Ford

Advertise | AdChoices

Seth Godin's book, Stop Stealing Dreams, was recently rejected by Apple for sale in the iBookstore:

I just found out that Apple is rejecting my new manifesto Stop Stealing Dreams and won’t carry it in their store because inside the manifesto are links to buy the books I mention in the bibliography.

Quoting here from their note to me, rejecting the book: “Multiple links to Amazon store. IE page 35, David Weinberger link.”

A bibliography at the end of Godin's book links directly to several books on Amazon. Amazon, in turn, competes with Apple in the ebook market. Apple takes a look at Godin's links and says no dice.

It's worth noting, I think, that Godin partners (or at least used to partner) with Amazon on The Domino Project, a publishing platform.

John Gruber suggests that Godin's iBooks version could simply link to Apple's iBookstore, instead of linking away to Amazon.

I'd second that suggestion, not as a way to appease Apple (assuming, of course, that it would), but because it seems like the common sense, consumer-friendly option. I've already made the decision to buy an iBook -- don't be cute and link me away to Amazon for follow-up purchases.

Out of curiosity, I checked the price and availability of the books Godin links to, both on Amazon and on the iBookstore:

Thinking, Fast and Slow | Amazon: $15.00 | Apple: $12.99
Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling | Amazon: $11.41 | Apple: $11.99
Free Range Learning: How Homeschooling Changes Everything | Amazon: $16.30 | Apple: $8.99
Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track | Amazon: $25.54 | Apple: $23.99
Unschooling Rules: 55 Ways to Unlearn What We Know About Schools and Rediscover Education | Amazon: $9.95 | Apple: $2.99
Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges | Amazon: $10.88 | Apple: $12.99
Horace Mann's Troubling Legacy: The Education of Democratic Citizens | Amazon: $28.59 | Apple: NOT AVAILABLE
The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It | Amazon: $14.94 | Apple: $12.99
Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength | Amazon: $16.06 | Apple: $14.99
DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education | Amazon: $9.90 | Apple: NOT AVAILABLE
Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google? | Amazon: $11.85 | Apple: $9.99
Civilization: The West and the Rest | Amazon: $21.50 | Apple: $16.99
Too Big to Know: Rethinking Knowledge Now That the Facts Aren't the Facts, Experts Are Everywhere, and the Smartest Person in the Room Is the Room | Amazon: $17.15 | Apple: $12.99
Born to Rise: A Story of Children and Teachers Reaching Their Highest Potential (Preorder) | Amazon: $16.97 | Apple: $12.99

The Amazon links I've used come from a freely-available HTML version of Godin's book. I don't know if the version Godin submitted to Apple contains different links or different versions of the same links, though I think the answer to that may be an important consideration.

Out of fourteen books, all but two can be purchased through Apple's iBookstore. Of those twelve, ten are cheaper (in some cases, a lot cheaper) to buy from the iBookstore than they would be by following Godin's existing Amazon links.

Clearly, a hypothetical customer who purchases Stop Stealing Dreams from the iBookstore 1) prefers (or at least enjoys) ebooks and 2) has chosen Apple's offering over utilizing the freely available Kindle app. Common sense, then, says you cater to that customer's established preference, right?

My first thought was to investigate whether or not Godin was using Amazon affiliate links, which would at least provide a monetary explanation for his desire to carry over those links. (Apple would definitely frown on that, though.)

As it turns out, he's not (or at least he doesn't appear to be) but that doesn't mean he's using standard Amazon links:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0865716692/permissionmarket/ref=nosim/

According to the internet, permission marketing is a term that was coined by Godin in the late 90s. Fast Company published a lengthy article on the subject in 1998:

Seth Godin's company, Yoyodyne Entertainment, is all about fun and games. But its mission is serious business. Godin and his colleagues are working to persuade some of the most powerful companies in the world to reinvent how they relate to their customers. His argument is as stark as it is radical: Advertising just doesn't work as well as it used to - in part because there's so much of it, in part because people have learned to ignore it, in part because the rise of the Net means that companies can go beyond it. "We are entering an era," Godin declares, "that's going to change the way almost everything is marketed to almost everybody."

The new model, he argues, is built around permission. The challenge for marketers is to persuade consumers to volunteer attention - to "raise their hands" (one of Godin's favorite phrases) - to agree to learn more about a company and its products. "Permission marketing turns strangers into friends and friends into loyal customers," he says. "It's not just about entertainment - it's about education."

Curious.

I honestly don't know what it means, if it means anything at all, that "permissionmarket" appears in Godin's Amazon links and, as I mention above, I don't know if it appears in the links that were included with the version of Stop Stealing Dreams that Apple ultimately rejected.

I do know that Apple, citing privacy concerns, is notoriously picky about letting 3rd parties use its platforms as a vehicle for collecting customer data. As an example, Apple doesn't allow magazine publishers access to valuable customer data without explicit consent from the customer.

For what it's worth, the above link -- without the permissionmarket bit -- seems to work just fine:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0865716692

Published to:

Brian Ford's Column, All of Newsvine
Groups: none
Regions: none

Public Discussion (14)

Brian Ford

For what it's worth, my wife -- a librarian -- doesn't think a bibliography should lead to any purchase page, ever.

4 votes

#1 - Thu Mar 1, 2012 1:14 AM EST

MatthewM

From a customer service standpoint, it just doesn't make much sense to link me away to Amazon when I've already opted to patronize Apple's iBookstore

Too true.

I think your wife's right also, people can amazon or ibook search or whatever for books no problem.

2 votes

#2 - Thu Mar 1, 2012 5:10 AM EST

Brian Ford

It's sort of the same point I make, though I think she takes it a step farther. I think the idea is that someone shouldn't assume to know what I'll want, or what the best option is for me.

My thought is that if you're going to assume, you should at least assume based on the information you have, and tailor your assumption to that information.

3 votes

#2.1 - Thu Mar 1, 2012 10:15 AM EST

Brian Ford

I don't really touch on this, but there's certainly the argument to be made that -- even assuming it's best practice to give someone the most relevant link, as I argue -- as a bookstore, Apple shouldn't be making that decision for authors.

In other words, in a perfect world, a link that sends an iBookstore customer to Amazon should stand, simply because censorship is wrong.

I'm not sure that I fully agree with that, but I could certainly argue it without trying too hard or feeling too put out. I think there are valid points on both sides of the debate.

3 votes

#3 - Thu Mar 1, 2012 11:05 AM EST

MatthewM

maybe Apple could redirect to iBook store at the system level ...

1 vote

#3.1 - Thu Mar 1, 2012 2:31 PM EST

sranzha

bull@!$%#! Gruber also bull@!$%#!

Apple not thinking of consumers, its your fanboy wish. They thinking of the money!!!

Complete and utter bull@!$%#!

#4 - Thu Mar 1, 2012 6:08 PM EST

Brian Ford

Apple not thinking of consumers, its your fanboy wish.

I don't recall saying that, but thanks for playing.

4 votes

#4.1 - Thu Mar 1, 2012 6:29 PM EST

sranzha

consumer-friendly option

#4.2 - Fri Mar 2, 2012 1:22 AM EST

sranzhaDeleted

-minimalist-

I find it hard to see this as an issue of censorship. A business model complication maybe. But censorship? No. Unless you are the type of person who just throws that term around with wild abandon. Is it censorship when Harper Collins edits your book in order to publish it? Is it censorship when Wal-mart refuses to sell records with explicit lyrics? These are just business negotiations and wholesalers can take the terms or leave them. If we don't like them we can choose not to shop with that company.

The fact that Godin linked to significantly more expensive versions of his books and then waves the censorship flag makes me suspicious of his motives. It all leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I agree with your wife, bibliographies should never be a kickback opportunity. List the books and leave it up to use to decide where we want to get them.

3 votes

#6 - Thu Mar 1, 2012 6:48 PM EST

Brian Ford

Well, it's definitely censorship: "You either remove something we don't like, or we don't let people see your work in our store."

I'm not necessarily arguing that Apple should have made that declaration, though I think they have the right to do so.

1 vote

#6.1 - Thu Mar 1, 2012 10:54 PM EST

Kirk Lennon

Well, it's definitely censorship

Respectfully, Brian, I must disagree. Censorship is when the government or someone else forcefully silences someone. Anyone is allowed to put anything they want in a book, but they do not have a right to force Apple to sell it. Apple, like any other non-public outlet, has the right to choose what it will distribute. It would only be censorship if Apple were somehow able to do something to prevent Godin from distributing his book through non-Apple channels (such as, hypothetically, a denial of service attack on a server hosting the book).

2 votes

#6.2 - Fri Mar 2, 2012 9:02 AM EST

Brian Ford

Censorship is when the government or someone else forcefullysilences someone.

That's a type of censorship, yes. But:

Censorship is the suppression of speech or other public communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the general body of people as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body.

Corporate censorship is the process by which editors in corporate media outlets intervene to disrupt the publishing of information that portrays their business or business partners in a negative light,^[3]^[4] or intervene to prevent alternate offers from reaching public exposure.^[5]

Apple owns and operates a bookstore. I feel like your argument works better if Apple doesn't do that, and a company wants to demand that Apple sell their book.

Again: You can have the *right* to censor something, but that doesn't mean it's not a form of censorship. I have the right to delete comments on my column, and if I do so, I'm censoring a point of view. I'd even argue that I should have that right and that sometimes censorship is justified.