Interview
How Blogs Helped The Four Hour Work Week Become a Best Seller – The Timothy Ferriss Interview
on Oct 21, 2008 - 4:00 PM PSTThe full program
This is an audio program. Listen and/or download it here:
A few lessons from this program
I’m sick of the usual interviews with Tim Ferriss, which waste time arguing over whether it’s possible to work four hours a week. What I want to know is how Tim got so many people to talk about him and his book, The Four Hour Work Week, and how he made his book into a New York Times Best Seller.
So I called him up and did my own interview. Here’s what I learned.
Blogs and radio
Before he published his book, Tim called successful authors to find out how they promoted their books. He discovered that the two most effective tools were blogs and radio–and radio was losing its influence. So he pursued bloggers
Least crowded channel
All the methods of connecting with bloggers were loud and crowded. Email is the most crowded. (Maybe because most people haven’t listened to my interview with Mark Hurst.) In-person, he says, is the least crowded channel. So he went to events that let him connect with bloggers face-to-face.
The messenger, not the message
Tim realized that building connections was about getting people to care about him, not his message. So he didn’t promote himself. He just got to know people by asking questions.
Robert has a mob around him
Blogging celebrities like Robert Scoble have mobs of people around them at events. (Here’s why.) Tim didn’t push his way in. Instead, he got to know the people around the celebrities–like Robert’s wife.
Being “trendy”
Alana Semuels, tech writer at the LA Times, taught this at the Mixergy PR Forum. She said that reporters don’t care about your company nearly as much as they care about trends. So when you want publicity, pitch a trend that includes your company. When Tim tapped into his blogging connections to promote his book, he didn’t pitch the book directly. Instead, he pitched a trend–people are outsourcing more and working less–and said that his book explains it.
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October 21st, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Great synopsis and solid answers to the other important question that surrounds Tim and the book. I get so much great info from these interviews and the forums. I feel like I need a cheat sheet of ideas that I can continually implement and build on. I guess that’s my job. You harvest the ‘pearls of wisdom’–I need to implement.
November 6th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Tim is an internet artist, I’ve followed his evolution on the internet and I really appreciate what he has done.
November 11th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Ah, okay, smart guy. I’ve just read through the key points, and working out how best to approach people based on finding the least crowded channel is one of those very obvious but somehow very cunning moves.
November 11th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Rob: Thanks for the comment.
Going for the least crowded channel, in person, seems obvious, but isn’t it overlooked? Also, even if others do discover it, I think they’ll be too lazy pursue it. It’s too much work.
November 11th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
@Andrew — no problem, thanks for the reply.
That’s what I meant really; it’s one of those really simple but brilliant ideas that everyone thinks they can have, but very few people actually do.
I’ve still not watched the actual interview, but from the key points, what impressed me more than the idea itself was the way Tim approached the problem of getting his work out there. It seems as if he just completely ignored the status quo, cut away all the rubbish and just applied the simplest, most logical solution to each problem (with a good bit of lateral thinking thrown in I guess). That’s what’s really rare, and really smart. Or am I reading too much into it?
November 11th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
@Rob – Tim is probably the biggest systematizer I ever interviewed. Everything he does seems to have a clear blueprint in his head.
Actually, Mark Hurst is like that too. If you listen to my interview with him, you’ll see he has systems for speeding the most basic tasks.
November 11th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
@Andrew, thanks for pointing that out, I’ll have a look.
Systemising is really important, but I think that really clear thinking and ignoring accepted ways of doing things is more son.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Wow.
Great advice! Thank you!
November 18th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
[...] – You build connections with people by finding commonality, not by pushing a business agenda. (Tim Ferriss said the same thing in this interview.) So even at business events, Sloane talks about her personal [...]
November 25th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
[...] Timothy Ferriss came on Mixergy, he said meeting bloggers in person at conferences helped make his book a New York Times Best [...]
December 26th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
[...] (Learn from Tim Ferriss in this interview.) [...]
February 13th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
“In person is the least crowded channel.” It is also the most effective. In person builds a connection. A brief person to person meeting can be much more powerful than a million ads or impersonal blog posts. It is a question of quality verses quantity. Small firms often cannot afford quantity, the costs for a mass media add may be more than the annual budget. They usually cannot afford to pass on quality, well ran person to person connections that take time and effort within budget.
February 27th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
[...] you read Tim Ferriss’s book and wonder if you could really travel the world and [...]
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:30 am
I love that about Tim, his outlook is that you can deconstruct or model anything, but you have to give the process the respect it deserves.
Most people wildly copy what they see on the surface, instead of asking – what are the most important pieces that make this process a success.
April 24th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
I don't think anyone else I interviewed was as good as Tim at breaking down
what they did into a series of steps.
I love that about him.
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:58 am
Loved the interview Andrew –
You got some excellent info out of Tim –
A lot of which should be common sense social etiquette – but unfortunately we all forget how it's done sometimes –
Hearing Tim breakdown the way he socially created the outlets for his book to get exposure just reinforced the present but sometime dormant little control center I have for networking in my own head –
So thanks for exposing me to this info -
May 25th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
I'm glad it'll help you Kaiser. Please stay in touch so I can hear how
you're progressing.
May 29th, 2009 at 5:42 am
Idea: Might sound cliche but you should have some theme music to go along with your brand.. Nothing too goofy and not to serious but something that makes it seem like an event im about to witness or something
May 31st, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Excellent interview, great advice.
May 31st, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Thanks Chris. I know it'll add a lot to have music, but I'm so uncreative
that way. I spent several days going through the audio sites looking for a
sound that felt like me, but couldn't find one.
It's frustrating because I know that a little thing like that could have a
huge impact on the perception of the programs. Just as Pallian Creatvie's
makeover of my site's design changed its perception.
May 31st, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Thanks!
May 31st, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Yeah i like to think im creative in that artistic (music or design) way too but i end up spending too much time on it so it ends up not how i intended it, then i end up getting a friend to help me with it.. Thats probably the right thing to do, just like how you outsourced the website upgrade.. Have you viewed the grasshopper.com entrepreneur video? Carly Comando was the composer of the background music, which pretty much makes the video what it is. Maybe if you reach out to people like her or maybe even Jun Loayza, who i think does his own intro music for all his stuff, then you will have some luck
June 11th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
[...] Timothy Ferriss, Jeanne D’Arc and Lea Wood told us how they traveled the world as digital nomads. And now all 3 are making money by teaching others how to travel the world and still get work done. [...]
July 29th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
I love the etiquette that he talks about. I myself will dismiss emails pitching me something. I learned also if you work for free for someone it's easier for them to do things for you.
July 29th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I love the etiquette that he talks about. I myself will dismiss emails pitching me something. I learned also if you work for free for someone it's easier for them to do things for you.
September 9th, 2009 at 9:25 am
I still say Tim Ferriss is a shady snake-oil dealer
September 10th, 2009 at 5:33 am
I like this interview the best.
as other said, the conversation was broken down in small chunk, step by step; very clear
can take away a lot to implement
.. I also have written a book (physical book, but not taken off)
September 24th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Hi Andrew
I'd love to get this in iTunes. Is it in the iTunes store? I've given my email address a few times and it feels unneccessary to give it yeet again because I really want to download this mp3. Is it possible to login, if so, I can't see my status and can't find where the login form is.
Love your work. I appreciate your enthusiasm and dedication. Keep these amazing interviews coming!
Warm Regards, Dale
October 1st, 2009 at 11:31 am
Hi Andrew,
I cam across your site today and I find it very useful. Thanks!!!
Wanted to ask what techniques you use to line up interviews with such famous/busy/.. people especially the ones that you do not know. Anything that was not mentioned by Tim?
October 3rd, 2009 at 7:52 am
[...] did to promote his book The Four Hour Work Week. He called successful authors and asked them how they promoted their books. They gave him two answers: radios and bloggers. Since radio was losing its influence he decided to [...]
October 6th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Very interesting! Thank you for the tips!
November 4th, 2009 at 3:13 am
Oi Tim Ferriss you ginger nut, get out you sket
November 4th, 2009 at 3:14 am
Oi Tim you gingernut, get out you sket
November 4th, 2009 at 4:43 am
Oi Tim you ginger nut, get out you sket
November 29th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
[...] author Tim Ferris gives a great interview on Mixergy.com that provides illuminating insight the new world of book publishing and promotion. Every author [...]
December 17th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
[...] biggest names in the business including Leo Laporte (twit.tv), Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library TV), Tim Ferriss (Author of The 4-Hour Workweek), Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia), Matt Mullenweg (WordPress), James Hong [...]
December 21st, 2009 at 2:34 am
Thanks for the back end reasons for 4 hr work week
December 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
I want to listen to this on my iphone, but I can't seem to find it in the itunes store. What is it called in Itunes? (I just downloaded 5 of your other podcasts from itunes just fine).
December 30th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Thanks for sharing this, it is useful info!
December 30th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Good info! thanks for sharing.
January 1st, 2010 at 10:28 am
Great interview, Andrew. Tim's book is a great inspiration to many of us. I believe that the 4HWW is only REALLY just beginning to create the lifestyle changes to people worldwide – amazing, considering that it's been 'out there' for 3 years almost! Thanks for the continued good work here on Mixergy!
January 7th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
[...] is putting a spot on it in his Mixergy interviews. He already had fairly interesting talks with Tim Ferriss the author of the The 4-Hour Workweek Kareem Mayan amongst other Co-Founder of eduFire (twice [...]
February 12th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Thanks for making such a clear and concise review of the reasons behind Tim's success, I have only recently read this book and whilst the four hour work week is still a little way off for me actually learning how to promote a product or service is much more useful in the short term.
February 16th, 2010 at 4:08 am
great guy!
Changed my way of working
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:31 am
[...] did to promote his book The Four Hour Work Week. He called successful authors and asked them how they promoted their books. They gave him two answers: radios and bloggers. Since radio was losing its influence he decided to [...]
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June 10th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Any idea who wrote the “Confidential” book Tim mentions?
June 11th, 2010 at 2:39 am
Any idea who wrote the “Confidential” book Tim mentions?
November 23rd, 2010 at 7:43 am
[...] who visit his site each month for start-up advice and inspiration from A-list entrepreneurs such as Tim Ferriss of 4-Hour Workweek fame; Gary Vaynerchuk, the author of Crush It!; and Jimmy Wales, the founder of [...]
November 24th, 2010 at 8:37 am
[...] did to promote his book The Four Hour Work Week. He called successful authors and asked them how they promoted their books. They gave him two answers: radios and bloggers. Since radio was losing its influence he decided to [...]
February 3rd, 2011 at 8:59 am
[...] interviews (mostly audio) that Andrew has conducted with experienced entrepreneurs, such as Timothy Ferris, Gary Vaynerchuk, Neil Patel, and many more. The interviews are great because you can learn [...]
February 14th, 2011 at 1:24 pm
[...] How To Promote Yourself Through Blogs: Tim Ferriss, author of the Four Hour Work Week, was an unknown just four short years ago. In this interview, he discusses his strategy to get featured on some of the most highly trafficked blogs in the world. [...]
April 10th, 2012 at 7:54 am
[...] an unknown author named Tim Ferriss decided to promote his book he focused his efforts. He called successful authors and asked them how they promoted their books. They gave him two answers: radios [...]
April 11th, 2012 at 2:26 pm
[...] an unknown author named Tim Ferriss decided to promote his book he focused his efforts. He called successful authors and asked them how they promoted their books. They gave him two answers: radios [...]