Seth Godin’s interview with GapingVoid’s Hugh MacLeod drives traffic becasue it’s presented in a different format - (with cartoons) which, I think, is Seth’s point.  In the interview Seth said some interesting things:

"It’s important not to underestimate the totem value of a book. The same way a white lab coat makes a placebo more likely to be effective (or a witch doctor’s hat for that matter), a book delivers an impact that a blog can’t."    (this will help an artist friend of mine- no doubt).

"It’s also hard to read a blog at the beach."

Hugh askes Seth Godin a very interesting question about why more Artist types are not more visible in the Blogosphere - most of the top bloggers are technologists - as Hugh puts it   ….. "find myself quite surprised that very few of the more prominent bloggers out there are in the "Arts". It seems we have lots of business thinkers, technologists, entrepreneurs, consultants etc, but why do we have so surprisingly few filmmakers, playwrites, novelists, musicians, painters etc at the top of the pyramid?"

 "They’re coming, for sure. Postsecret is one of the three most popular blogs in the world. I think mainstream artists are rarely the first to embrace a new medium (silkscreening, for example, took a long time to get its Andy Warhol), but they’re coming. It’s going to be a new generation of artists that embrace the nature of the medium, and they’re just getting started.  (Artist friends of mine are going to love this answer - and that’s partly what ArtNewYorkCity.com is trying to capture - the place where Art and Technology meets).

"…What your readers already realize is that blogs aren’t just a way to waste time at work. It’s a big shift, a change for a generation."

And for Seth Godin, it’s not about the money - because he’s got enough of it - if that’s all he cared about.  Many of the people who I know who are really hardworking are also rich.

"It’s not a workload! Look, there are 8 million millionaires in the USA. Why do these people go to work every day? Why not downsize appropriately and just sit on the beach? Because they’re too smart. They realize that the purpose of living isn’t to bake in the sun until you die. I write and speak and experiment because that’s what I do. I’m thrilled to have the chance to do it every day. Any day I’m not thrilled, I’ll stop."

"…….. unless you work for Goldman Sachs or are selling drugs on a street corner in Topeka, you’re almost certainly not in this, whatever this is, for the money."

Now, this is rare - Seth opens up on the bloggers who inspire him (too bad I’m not on the list - one can always wish):

"Joi Ito got me started. You challenge me regularly to rethink the limits. Tom Peters reminds me that I don’t work hard enough.

I also read dozens of blogs a day, including: acleareye.com, Joel on Software, Brand Autopsy, Boingboing, Springwise, Buzzmachine, Presentation Zen, Guy Kawasaki, Kathy Sierra, Fred Wilson, Rick Segal, etc.

Most of my inspiration, though, comes from walking down the street, or working with the gang at Squidoo or reading my email every day. It’s so easy for a blogger to try to be like other bloggers, merely because there’s so much input available. Resist!"

But like the idea that Artists will be among the leading bloggers in the next wave, some ideas take a while to filter down to those who really need them the most:

"I’m astonished at how long it takes an idea to filter from the early adopters to the masses. What sort of person just read the Da Vinci Code or just discovered the iPod? I was standing in a nice store in a nice suburb and heard one 25 year old explain to a 30 year old what gmail was… it’s so easy to assume that everyone already gets it."

And here’s the one liner that should interest one artist I know:

"Five years from now, there are going to be at least 2,000 (maybe 20,000) freelancers who have turned blogging into a technique to leverage a successful media business. First in have a head start."  (be one of those)

And finally, blog vs book - both audiences are needed:

" A year ago, I told you that blogs had killed my interest in writing books, because they relieved the pressure of ideas building up. My blog got me quick, good feedback and made it easy to spread ideas without resorting to a dying industry.

Since then I’ve learned that books reach a different population in a different way. I really need to do both. Live and learn!

The answer is to do both.