Book - Free Prize Inside by Seth Godin

I find myself reading a lot of books, on many different topics, in the course of my writing, blogging and gardening travels. One of my basic criteria for a quality book is that it spurs your thinking in some way. Maybe you find a new plant you like in that book on garden design, or a new way of thinking about customer service from the latest business book.

Seth Godin's Free Prize Inside: The Next Big Marketing Idea is a book that certainly fulfills this basic criteria and more. As I was reading this small book, I found myself coming up with a couple of ways to use the ideas he lays out. In particular, his concept of "edgecraft" allowed me to generate a page of good methods to build both my consulting and writing work. HIs concept for this book is to provide methods to find the "Free Prize Inside" of any situation in an effort to help it rise above the norm. While "prizes" might include the usual cereal box toy, Godin challenges you to think beyond this. Perhaps the extra special service in a restaurant could be the free prize, or a wait made more enjoyable by pleasant surroundings.

The book comes shipped in an ersatz cereal box, playing on the theme. I understand that only the first printing of the book will be available in this fashion. It certainly helps to setup the metaphor of the book before you ever open it.

I have been reading Godin's books for a while, as well as his articles in Fast Company magazine and almost always find something concrete and helpful to use in my own work. I am starting my second read of the book now and will report back later on new thoughts it might trigger.

Other books by Seth Godin

Update - 4/15/04 826p -- I forgot to link to the Free Prize Inside Web Site. There is a short summary of the book there.

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