Just like with Calacanis, I wouldn't want to be in such a tribe. The future is open and transparent. Godin is wrong. - Meryn Stol

A signal that his new book sucks no doubt? - Brian Sullivan

Transparency has never been very high on human behavior. - Mário Pires

Mario: True, but reputational effects will win out. Non-transparent people will be left behind. They'll slowly become invisible. As such, they will be unobservable in practice, and not part of the visible future. I see you because you post in public! - Meryn Stol

Come to think of it, they'll indeed be like tribes. Like "primitive" tribes. Those exist. They'll might survive. But they won't have influence. - Meryn Stol

"You have to be committed enough to pre-order my book, sight unseen ... months in advance." Wow. That's some pathetic marketing right there. - Nathaniel Payne

I hope it's a secret test of Godin for how many readers of him "don't get it". :) - Meryn Stol

Meryn, you have a point about the reputation. If one gets trust on opinions or actions, then people will listen. - Mário Pires

I wonder if there's a pattern of "falling stars" (let's say those are Calacanis and Godin) to flee with some followers into there own little worlds, where they still can feel a star. - Meryn Stol

Interesting bunch of thoughts. I'm interested, and I'm going to take a look-see all the way around to understand beyond his blog post where he's going. - Chris Brogan

@Nathaniel I expected more from Seth -- doesn't this, in away, "cheapen" the book? - Shey

I soured on Godin when I invited him to be on Inside the Net. He responded "I'm working really hard not to do podcasts that have fewer than 25,000 subscribers." I asked him how he knew we had fewer than 25,000 listeners (we had 70,000+) and he responded that he figured I would tell him if we didn't. I didn't bother to correct him. For a "marketing expert" he didn't seem very clued in about new media. - Leo Laporte

Seriously? - Jennifer Van Grove

Sounds like him and Scoble have jumped the shark - Fred Grott

@Leo - nicely done. :) This whole concept just reeks of elitism to me, and I don't care for it. - Nathaniel Payne

"You have to be committed enough to pre-order my book, sight unseen" -- really? Update: Sorry Nathaniel - didn't see you said the same thing !! Yeah - Um - really? - LPH™ and his dog P™

Yeah...this is the new trend, it seems. The problem is, only 1% are biting, and that 1% are even dwindling quickly. - Bradley McSpinn

I *will* be in the Godin tribe. Pre-sale book hype always works on me... ;-) - Barbara K. Baker

"A tribe for marketers" - I can already see that this isn't a tribe I'd care to join. - David Worrell

Hey, guys. I'm starting a new club. It will only be open to people I deem worthy, you have to buy my book in advance without even knowing anything about it (besides the fact that it's written by me, and really, isn't that enough?), oh, and a generous charitable contribution to my investment portfolio couldn't hurt, either. ;) - Nathaniel Payne

Ok, I see your point, but thing is I'll probably buy the book anyways so I may as well get in on the action. I can always choose to ignore later! What gets me is this conversation should be taking place on his blog! - Bill Deys

Looks like smart book marketing to me, that's all. Don't over analyze it. Go with it, or don't. - Jim Kukral

Godin is dead to me. Squidoo was the first sign of senility. This book thing is the next. @Leo's anecdote is the third strike, for me. It's not the size of the audience that hears you, it's who's in that audience. I do podcasts with *any* size audience, because those people, however few they may be folks who have never heard of me or my works... and want to. I'll take any free horse, and I don't care what it's teeth look like, y'know? - Matthew Wayne Selznick from twhirl

I'm in. Just pre-ordered the book. Maybe some peeps have have charge on the word "tribe," but Seth's on to something here - this is a terrific concept. I appreciate those who get out there and make stuff happen, and those who aren't afraid to stick their neck out. I don't always agree with Seth's strategies (like turning off blog commenting :() but I like his work. - Mari Smith

@Bill Oh, I'll probably get the book, too, but it will be on MY terms, not to get into his elite club. I'll get it after people have already raved about the usefulness of its content. What really gets me is that this idea seems to run completely counter to how Seth normally operates. - Nathaniel Payne

Seth needs to reread his book Meatball Sunday! Is he pushing a pyramid skim? "Buy my book to join my tribe!" John Chow! - Igor The Troll

Almost everything wrong in the world can be traced back to tribal instincts and thinking. To encourage it is discouraging. - Todd Hoff

I like Seth's early works but ... he seems to be mailing it in lately. Agree with Matthew on Squidoo. I'm rejecting the 'cool kids' high-school click club. You want me to buy your book (new) - write something provocative that I can't help but want to pick up. What happened to gradual engagement? - AJ Kohn

I also hate him using the "tribe" meme! I am a Hebrew and that is a tribe! Who the Fuck is Seth? Meatball Sunday? LMAO A micro community like we have on Friend Feed, yes! A tribe no! - Igor The Troll

Have we learned nothing from Clay Shirky? /smirk - Eric Rice

What's so great about an exclusive elite tribe where the only requirement to get in is to buy a book? Heck, you could even pre-order the book, get in, and cancel the pre-order. If this is representative of the awesome marketing skills you're supposed to learn by being in the tribe, you might want to look elsewhere. "Even with just a few people in the pre-beta tribe we've built, I can already see how powerful it can be to have a safe, well-lit place on line where like-minded people can connect. I hope you can join us." What a targeted demographic: 'everyone with a credit card!' - Mark Trapp

He's merely being explicit about what all these social media sites are about anyway, especially in beta: tribalism. - Prokofy Neva

I don't understand this elite, access only stuff in the context of social media. The idea of social media is that you build your knowledge by leveraging different perspectives and views that you would not have had otherwise. This access only tribe has the whiff of inbreeding and group think that quickly turns out stale ideas. I'm not looking for 'yes man media' - AJ Kohn

It's the misguided reaction from the big names who billed social media as the next great thing, but now realize they don't want to deal with the unwashed masses who bought into it as well. It's funny how ineffective these attempts to make it elite access are, though: Calacanis's private one-on-one 2775 member email list, now Godin's elite tribe that only requires you to pre-order a book that's less than $20. Let them "privatize" themselves into irrelevance. - Mark Trapp

Me think Seth was one of the "out" kids growing up, now he wants to be the "in" kid! lmao Poor Seth must have got picked on in Junior High School. - Igor The Troll

I'm going to sign up. Why would I crap on something ahead of time? - Chris Brogan

I read the description on Amazon and it seemed the blog post is in sync what the book is about. - Jonathan Kong

+1 todd. the last time anyone pulled crap like this it was Tom Sawyer. "Nahhh, only members of the Exclusive Club can whitewash this fence, sorry. If you fork over $14 in advance, I might see if I can get you one of the few remaining slots left." Chris, it's not crapping on something ahead of time, so much as refusing to pay in advance for something of unknown value. - Karim

BTW I'd like to announce my new Sucker of the Month Club. There are only a few remaining memberships available, and they're going fast. The sooner you sign up, the better -- lower membership numbers get bragging rights and dibs on whatever crap I decide to throw to members. Act now, quantities are limited! - Karim

The times they are a-changing' and I'm changing with them... - Ricardo Rabago