A college professor handed out Play-Doh and popsicle sticks, gave everyone 10 minutes to build a prototype, then banned them from looking at it or explaining it. In this episode, Steve J Larsen uses that lesson to break down the three reasons books fail, and the difference between a process book that expires in six months and a framework book that outlives you.

In this episode:

• The professor who ran IDEO’s human-centered design process on a classroom using Play-Doh and construction paper
• IDEO invented the computer mouse for Steve Jobs and knew nothing about computers. The end user is the only source of data.
• Why a blank Google Doc is gambling, and what a 25 to 50 person room gives you that a packed one never will
• If you have to explain your own book, the book did not do its job
• The two apple trees that never fruited until Steve pruned 100 shoots off each, then overproduced so hard the branches cracked
• Ryan Holiday writes 500,000 words and deletes down to 50,000. Annie Grace: most authors write multiple points instead of one.
• Process vs. framework, settled by the five-day challenge: if moving the pitch from day five to day one breaks it, you built a process
• The buddy who spent $150 million on Facebook ads, and why his book could not be about Facebook ads
• The delete drill: 100,000 words spoken on stage in two days, and StageBook cut from 55,000 words to 38,000
• The number one reason authors rewrite a book they paid a ghostwriter $50,000 for

Timestamps:

00:00 The fastest book to write, and the strongest

00:53 The professor who ran marketing for Pizza Hut and Denny’s

01:19 Play-Doh, popsicle sticks, and 10 minutes

02:16 Hand it over. Do not look at it.

03:13 Rule two: you are not allowed to explain it

04:35 IDEO, the computer mouse, and your toothbrush

05:29 The end user is the only source of data

06:22 A book is a permanent way to be wrong

07:41 Visionaries live in the future. Readers live in the present.

09:02 The book I rewrote three times from scratch

09:54 Why we run small events on purpose

12:32 The book I proofread and thought, what was the point of this

13:24 The client I made livestream his speeches first

16:28 A good book has one point

17:20 Offer Launch went from 16 chapters to 8

17:48 Yard manager: contracts, invoices, and net 30 at 14 years old

21:45 Two apple trees and 100 shoots

22:40 The year the branches cracked

23:06 More is not better

24:30 Ryan Holiday deletes 90% of what he writes

25:30 Annie Grace on the one-point book

25:58 35,000 words that land beat 90,000 that read like a dictionary

27:24 You do not fill your own wallet

28:46 Reason three: the process book

29:43 $150 million in Facebook ads, and the book he could not write

31:09 What is the 20% that still works after 20 years

31:41 Sequence vs. principle

32:14 The five-day challenge test

34:20 Go one layer deeper and the book stays true

35:55 When a flash in the pan book is the right call

37:00 The moment the room does not react the way you expected

38:40 Confidence changes how loudly you market it

40:37 StageBook: 55,000 words cut to 38,000

41:06 Why ghostwritten books get rewritten

41:38 The delete drill

42:42 The David is already inside the marble

43:50 Beat My Funnel: two case study spots open

Links:

Beat My Funnel, two case study spots (start with an author interview): https://thestagebook.com

Get StageBook: https://stagebookbook.com

Record a question for the show: https://thewealthyauthor.com

Pursuit of Profit Publishing: https://pursuitofprofitpublishing.com