5 Tim Ferriss-approved tactics to write (and market) a best seller
Before he launched a podcast that earns him approximately three million dollars a year and interviewed some of the highest performers in science, fitness, psychology and Hollywood, self-proclaimed ‘human guinea pig’ Tim Ferriss wrote The 4-Hour Workweek.
When people say that want to sell their belongings, move out of Kidderminster and sip coconuts on the beach while working from their laptop, they probably got the idea from this very book.
It can be easy to see why selling people ‘the dream’ can turn books like this into hits. But bestsellers have to follow through on their promises and deliver real value, while being marketed through the right channels.
Much like Tim does to other world-class performers, I’ve attempted to boil down the top-performing tactics he used to write, and market his first bestseller.
Cold-contact 1-minute mentors
To launch your bestseller, you need to go beyond reading articles about it on Medium. Instead, seek advice from people who have achieved it and can speak from experience.
Tim cold-contacted and interviewed several ‘best-writing’ authors about their writing processes, and contacted several ‘best-selling’ authors about how they went to market. The general composition of these emails, which can be utilized to cold-contact just about anybody, is as follows:
Dear So-and-So,
I know you're really busy and that you get a lot of emails, so this will only take sixty seconds to read.
[Here is where you say who you are: add one or two lines that establish your credibility.]
[Here is where you ask your very specific question.]
I totally understand if you're too busy to respond, but even a one- or two-line reply would really make my day.
All the best,
You.
In this case, Tim asked potential mentors “What were the 1-3 biggest wastes of time and money?” The answers formed his ‘not-to-do’ list, which included avoiding prideful and expensive book tours, and led towards tapping into blog networks, which to this day are credible routes to publication:
Go where bloggers go
Be there with a message and a story that will appeal to their interests, not yours
Maintain those relationships through your platforms.
Too long, didn’t read: Follow the footsteps of your influencers, and you’ll begin to build the blueprint to where you want to go.
Solve a deep-seated need
Don’t you want to be rich? Not with money, but the most precious resource we have: time?
This concept is at the root of Ferriss’ book—that in the end, no matter how rich we are, we always come back to a happiness baseline, sooner rather than later. Happiness largely comes from the freedom and the time to do what you want, when you want. Start your business. Focus on the 20% that drives 80% of the results. Outsource to a bunch of Sri Lankan’s on Upwork, and read email for a total of an hour a week. That leaves the rest of your time for jumping out of airplanes, tango dancing, and jet skiing.
This is The 4-Hour Workweek in a nutshell. It’s a concept that has come under scrutiny, with several claiming that Ferriss oversimplifies the work that goes into setting up your business to have all the globetrotting, Instagram-worthy moments in the first place.
For Ferriss to create an earthquake in the self-development scene the way it did, he needed to cover three bases:
1. Phenomenize:
Identify and name a legitimate societal shift or new phenomenon. To best spread a message or product, sell around it by discussing larger issues surrounding its creation, including the changing social landscape, and emerging trends.
2. Polarize:
Good stories will have both supporters and people calling fraud. This will drive online and offline debate, fanning the flames and fuelling word-of-mouth. Don’t aim to piss people off on purpose—polarize instead through a strong opinion. ‘Love me or hate me,’ Tim says, ‘I just want an unadulterated response.’
3. Communitize:
Tim’s community is now huge, but initially, he created reader-only communities on the forums of the official book site. Social media is now the ultimate way to build the discussion and reach your fan base with more content, especially after the book is published.
Too long, didn’t read: Solve a need and build a strong message around it. Use your communities to fuel the strong opinions of your story.
Sniper-shot the target audience
‘Who is my audience’ is at the very core of marketing, and writing, anything. Your bestseller can’t be something to everybody. In fact, it should only be important to about one thousand people.
To find those die-hard fans that will buy anything you produce, whether it’s courses, clothes or art, Tim recommends leaning on the advice of Kevin Kelly, Editor of Wired, that you only need to find 1000 true fans.
By Kelly’s calculations a single creator only needs 1000 fans, and if you produce $100 worth of goods a year, that equals $100,000—a wealthy living. He writes:
“One thousand is a feasible number. You could count to 1,000. If you added one fan a day, it would take only three years. True Fanship is doable. Pleasing a True Fan is pleasurable, and invigorating. It rewards the artist to remain true, to focus on the unique aspects of their work, the qualities that True Fans appreciate. ”
Too long, didn’t read: Don’t try and reach absolutely everybody. Resonate with a set of ‘true fans’.
Test your assumptions
What makes a great subject line in an email? Or good creative for an Instagram ad?
In order to reach your audience you need to test what works and what doesn’t, and Tim found a way to nail his book title based on some simple tools and a handful of cash. He and his publisher were searching for a title and subtitle, centred around the topics of productivity, outsourcing, and mini-retirements. They landed on some complete duds:
Lifestyle hustling
Broadband and White Sand
Millionaire Chameleon
But he only knew The 4-Hour Work Week was the winner after testing every title in a Google Ads campaign. The winning title wasn’t even his first choice. If you want to see how to put that together, take a look here.
Too long, didn’t read: Find ways to test your assets and the market before going all in.
Grit is the multiplier
The 4-Hour Workweek was turned down by 13 of 14 editors, and by 26 out of 27 publishers. The president of one large book wholesaler even sent Tim a PDF on historical stats to “reset his expectations”. He was told it could never be a bestseller.
Tim Ferriss teases out the tactics of top performers, and that included for writing and marketing his bestseller. But writing and marketing a book goes beyond following best practice. You need grit in order to get there, right from writing the first word to getting retail distribution.
You can only start by writing something true to you, and delivering the value only you are able to uniquely offer. In other words, ask yourself what Tim did: “If I were hit by a bus the day after I turned in the manuscript, would I be happy with this as my legacy?”
