Write Useful Books: A modern approach to designing and refining recommendable nonfiction

by Rob Fitzpatrick

If you’re not a natural with public speaking and interviews, compensate with extra prep. Here’s Derek Sivers again (who appeared in Chapter 4 with his reader-friendly author bio), on how he excels — against his natural inclinations — as a podcast guest: I’m a disappointing person to try to debate or attack. I just have nothing to say in the moment, except maybe, “Good point.” Then a few days later, after thinking about it a lot, I have a response. … I’ll tell you a secret. When someone wants to interview me for their show, I ask them to send me some questions a week in advance. I spend hours writing down answers from different perspectives, before choosing the most interesting one. Then when we’re in a live conversation, I try to make my answers sound spontaneous. People say that your first reaction is the most honest, but I disagree. Your first reaction is usually outdated. Either it’s an answer you came up with long ago and now use instead of thinking, or it’s a knee-jerk emotional response to something in your past.[25]