Are you one of those nerdy academics with an insatiable curiosity and the hope of one day publishing a book?
Well, rejoice. There’s hope.
If a book about economics can reach number two in the non-fiction section of the New York Times Bestseller List and sell over a million copies, then it proves that your dream really is possible.
Steven Levitt, author of Freakonomics, tells about how he turned a private fascination with how things work into a best-seller. He doesn’t take credit, mind you, but in my opinion, he gives some of the most articulate insights we’ve published on this site to date.
Thank you, Steve.
Here’s the interview:
You said that, initially, you didn’t think of yourself as a writer. Now that you’re a best-selling author, have you changed your mind?
No, not at all. Freakonomics wouldn’t have sold 100 copies if Stephen Dubner wasn’t my co-author. He is a first-class writer. I am good at doing economic research, but there is no way I could have written a best-seller myself. Compare our book to other books written for a general audience without someone like Dubner on board and I think you will understand what I mean.
What was it like, co-authoring a book? Enjoyable? Maddening?
Co-authoring with Dubner could hardly have been better. We spent about a week mapping out what the book would look like. Then the way we generally worked was talking two or three or sometimes 20 times a day. He would produce a first draft, and I would revise what he wrote the next day. What made our partnership work was that we found a common voice we could both write in, and we were both very accepting of the other’s opinion.
Was Freakonomics a natural extension of your curiosity for how the world works, or was it a calculated attempt to create a bestseller?
We only wrote Freakonomics because the publisher gave us a big advance. Neither of us really had a burning desire to write it. But that actually freed us up…we decided to just write a book we would like, not worrying much whether anyone would want to read it. For instance, we decided that it was okay to write a book that did not have an overriding theme, but rather just wandered around from story to story.
If you had to guess the economics of writing a bestseller, what do you think they would be?
The publishing industry is set up so that the rich get richer. Once you make a best-seller’s list, the bookstores and media give you all sorts of free promotion so success feeds on itself. That is true even across books. If your last book sold, the next book benefits because there are loyal readers and the publisher will promote it.
The sad fact, though, is that there are hundreds of thousands of books published each year. If you set out to write a best seller, there is every reason to think you will be sorely disappointed.
What are some of the things you did to promote Freakonomics?
Initially, we set up a web page and sent promotional copies to any blogger who had ever mentioned my research. The book was reviewed in many prominent places. I went on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and after that the media floodgates opened: Today Show, Good Morning America, 20/20, O’Reilly Factor, Tavis Smiley, etc. I did a fair amount of radio early on as well. We didn’t do a traditional book tour – maybe 3 book readings total.
You seem genuinely passionate about what you’re doing. How important do you think passion is for creating a bestseller?
I think loving what you do is essential to success in general. Probably this is even more true in writing because producing a book is such a long and laborious process with very little positive feedback.
In the introduction to Freakonomics, you said that New York publishers asked you to write a book, but you didn’t want to at first. What caused you to change your mind?
I changed my mind when we figured out that Dubner and I could co-author. Also, I read “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell, and that gave me a vision of how academic material could be translated into a popular book that works.
So many authors are hunting for a publisher, but for you, it was the opposite. What can authors do to become someone publishers are competing over?
For me, the answer was getting a profile of me in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Easier said than done, though! I do not think there is an easy answer here. There are so many people who want to right, and so few commercial successes, especially by unknowns.
How do you transform a boring subject like economics into something that can capture the curiosity of the world?
I’ve just always asked questions that I found interesting…I was just lucky that other people found those questions interesting too.
If you could pass on one piece of advice to aspiring authors, what would it be?
I don’t want to be unduly discouraging, but realistically the odds are hugely against anyone trying to write a bestseller. My advice: only write a book for its own rewards: the joy of creation, being able to say you wrote a book, giving free copies to your friends, etc. If those rewards aren’t enough, don’t write the book.
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