Alex Hormozi: How I Wrote A #1 Bestseller with $0 and No Publisher

The video is about Alex Hormozi's process for writing a successful book, including how to come up with a big idea, narrow down the focus of the book, and use storytelling to influence and educate readers.

This video by Alex Hormozi was published on Sep 25, 2022.
Video length: 15:16.

In this video, Alex Hormozi talks about how he wrote a #1 bestseller with no publisher and no advertising campaign.

He shares his writing process and emphasizes the importance of storytelling in influencing people. He breaks down the elements of storytelling, how to edit a story to make it better, and how to increase the stakes to make it interesting to readers. He also talks about the importance of solving a specific problem and providing a complete solution in a book. Hormozi gives tips on how to come up with a big idea and how to narrow down the focus of the book.

He also discusses the importance of showing rather than telling and using all five senses to describe a situation.

• Storytelling is a powerful tool to influence and educate people.
• Writing a book requires a narrowly defined problem and a complete solution.
• Elements of storytelling include setting, character, desire, struggle, Eureka moment, victory, and resolution.
• The purpose of writing a book is to add to the body of knowledge and solve a problem for the audience.
• Stakes and struggle make a story interesting, and newsworthiness components can be used to make it more interesting.
• Using storytelling in a book brings experience and context to the lesson.
• Creating a big idea for a book requires passion, experience, and audience consideration.
• Writing a book with no publisher and no budget is possible using free resources and social media.
• The book should have a clear structure, be easy to understand, and be pruned and edited.

How I Wrote A #1 Bestseller with $0 and No Publisher - YouTube

The Power of Storytelling

• The ability to tell stories is the most powerful way to influence and educate people.
• Stories can both entertain and educate people, and can change their brain waves.
• Storytelling can be used to sell, educate, teach, reshape beliefs, change character, and give skills.
• Writing a book requires creating a grand slam effect where people share it on their own.
• Most authors spend only 4-5 hours a day writing, but Alex Hormozi spends 20-25 hours a week on his book.

The Big Idea and Narrowing Down the Focus

• The first step in writing a book is to define the problem that the book will solve.
• A good book is a complete solution to a narrowly defined problem.
• The author needs to think about the experiences that shaped their beliefs about the problem.
• The author needs to identify three to six big buckets that will solve the problem.
• The author needs to solve the problem completely and not just name hundreds of problems.

The Elements of Storytelling

• Storytelling requires a setting, character, desire, struggle, Eureka moment, victory, and resolution.
• External and internal journeys should be woven together in the story.
• All five senses should be used in the story.
• Show, don't tell, should be used in the story.
• Details should be included to demonstrate the situation to the reader.

How I Wrote A #1 Bestseller with $0 and No Publisher - YouTube

The Purpose of Writing a Book

• The purpose of writing a book should be to add to the body of knowledge and solve a problem for the audience.
• Most books are not worth reading because they are not written to serve the audience.
• Great writing comes from a place of wanting to add to the body of knowledge.
• Writing and publishing a book became easier in the 1960s, and now 1.6 million books are written per year.
• A book can compress five years of knowledge into three or four hours for the reader.

What Makes a Story Interesting

• Stakes and struggle are the main things that make a story interesting.
• Recency, impact, prominence, proximity, conflict, unusualness, and the amount of times you can update are the seven components of newsworthiness.
• The more of these components that you can tie into a story, the more interesting it is.
• Stakes are what make game shows inherently interesting.
• Proximity makes a story more interesting, especially if you're marketing to a local market.

Using Storytelling in a Book

• Stories heavily ingrained in a book bring the experience that taught the lesson with it.
• Context to why the framework introduced in a chapter is useful is given by the experience brought by the story.
• When the book starts to get heavy, zoom out and create a story that creates more context.
• Fill in the blanks for the book with stories about how the author learned each of the things to solve the problem.
• The framework for each chapter is important.

Creating a Big Idea for a Book

• Creating a big idea for a book is important.
• It should be something that the author is passionate about and has experience in.
• The idea should be something that people are willing to pay for.
• The author should narrow down the focus of the book to make it more specific.
• The author should think about the audience and what they want to learn.

Writing a Book with No Publisher and No Budget

• Writing a book with no publisher and no budget is possible.
• The author should use free resources like Google Docs and Grammarly.
• The author should use social media to promote the book.
• The author should use Amazon's self-publishing platform to publish the book.
• The author should use a launch team to help promote the book.

Writing Process

• Alex Hormozi writes until he finds a logical inconsistency or an inconsistency with his own experiences that would prove his theory or model wrong.
• He goes back to the beginning, adjusts his assumptions, and restarts the book.
• Models have to be useful and valid.
• Frameworks are mental checklists that people go through to make a decision.
• Frameworks have to be tested in different situations to see if they are still valid.

Editing Process

• Alex Hormozi spends a lot of time ideating all the pieces that are going to be in the book.
• He goes through heavy editing, going from 12th grade language to third grade language with more pictures.
• He uses the Hemingway app to eliminate complicated language and adverbs.
• He sends the book to four to eight of his ideal readers for feedback.
• He creates his third and final draft based on the feedback.

Book Structure

• The book should have a big idea and a narrow focus.
• The book should use storytelling to influence and educate readers.
• The book should have a clear structure with sections that align with the main point.
• The book should be simple and easy to understand for the average American reader.
• The book should be pruned and edited to eliminate unnecessary sections.

Writing Goals

• Alex Hormozi aims to write a book a year.
• He focuses on creating content that aligns with his business goals.
• He uses a step-by-step content strategy to gain followers and sell products.
• He spends a thousand hours on a book to ensure its quality.
• He believes that writing is hard work that requires endurance and pruning.

Watch the video on YouTube:
How I Wrote A #1 Bestseller with $0 and No Publisher - YouTube