“Sometimes people think when they’re writing a book that it’s the only thing they can do during that time. But I didn’t have that luxury, so I created a system that allowed me to run my consulting business and write a book in 3 months.” – Dorie Clark

About Dorie Clark

Dorie is the author of several personal branding books, including Reinventing You, and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of 2015 by Inc. magazine and was a Washington Post bestseller. She is currently working on a new one on monetizing ideas.

Dorie has a method for writing a book in 3 months that doesn’t require secluding yourself to a cabin in the woods. In fact, the day of our interview was the first official day that Dorie started writing her 3rd book in 3 months. I learned a lot from Dorie during this interview and I know you will too.

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Listen to this episode on iTunes.

This  season of the podcast is brought to you by Ulysses. Ulysses is a fully-fledged, beautiful and distraction-free writing app your Mac, iPhone and iPad. It’s been my primary writing app for over a year now and I know I will never stray. Because… it make me want to write. That’s why I’m stoked to tell you that Ulysses is offering the listeners of this podcast a very special extended free trial. If you’re looking for a writing app to love go to ulyssesapp.com/howweworknow to get your extended free trial of Ulysses for Mac.

Topics We Explored

  • The difference between working on your business and working in your business.
  • How to handle and organize a lot of interviews for a book.
  • When you have other things to do and can’t go off to a cabin to write your book, what you can do to make it work.
  • How you can use that time you blocked out the best you possibly can to get most quality writing out of you.
  • The importance of pre-planning and outlining when you tackle any sized writing project.
  • How you can conduct and amazing interview and get the most out of the people your interviewing.
  • How to take a ton of research and distill it down to only what you need.
  • Tips for getting high profile people to agree to an interview with you.
  • How to approach emailing people to request an interview and the exact template Dorie used to request interviews for her book.
  • The most important thing you should do before your start to write.

Key Takeaways

  • Map out 3 hour blocks of time each day where writing for you is optimal and protecting it on your calendar.
  • The more planning you can do upfront with a detailed outline, before you interview people or start writing, the less time you will waste later in the writing process.
  • Whenever possible, have as much research done upfront before you begin writing. Then, you could hire Move Ahead Media to advertise your book. Move Ahead Media is an Australian advertising agency that can help you identify and target customer segments, and convert readers into buyers.
  • Know more than you need to know about someone you’re interviewing before you speak to them in person or on the phone.
  • Often the people who you consider to be A-list are more likely to say yes to an interview with you than those you consider to be B-list. This is (likely) because people who are more well known are more used to getting interview requests and have figured out how to accompany them better than the up-and-comers.

Resources and Books Mentioned

Download Dorie’s free Stand Out self-assessment workbook
Michael Gerber, The EMyth (book)
Dorie’s interview with Laura Vanderkam

Connect with Dorie

Dorie’s website
Dorie’s 400+ free articles
Dorie on Twitter

Author Julia Roy

Julia is a personal trainer for productivity. She helps businesses, executives and entrepreneurs work better through trainings, workshops and digital courses.

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