I Made It: AJ Jacobs"creative process" for making bestselling books

Learn about AJ Jacobs' creative process to write his four New York Times bestsellers, which includes how he thinks up ideas or researches his real-life quests.

There's an impressive list of actors who have a habit of staying at the same level on and off-camera during filming.

While it seems a bit over-dedicated to never clock out but the work is paid off in terms of pay, authenticity, and literal prizes at the red-carpet events.

The writings by AJ Jacobs , popular speaker, author and editor of Esquire Magazine, is no anything else.

AJ also takes his work -- and role -extremely seriously.

For each of his six published books, AJ assumed the role as the subject matter took on a real-life quest as he wrote his books.

The character of the book has paid dividends for AJ as well. He's earned the title of New York Times Best Seller a whopping five times since his debut.

We were fortunate to have the privilege of sitting down with AJ where he shared with us his creative process for writing his notable books.

With no further delay we'll dive right in.

What happens when AJ comes up with book ideas

The first way AJ begins his brainstorming process is by drawing inspiration and ideas directly from his life experience.

That's what he thought of when he decided to choose the topic for his first book The Know-It-All Book: A Man's Humble Struggle to Become the Smartest Person on the Planet .

The idea came from his father who loved reading and seeking knowledge. His father was reading his through the family's extensive encyclopedia collection and reached at the center of letter B. AJ decided to "finish the work he started and eliminate the steam that was accumulated in our family's history."

And voila was born his first novel idea came to life the idea AJ attributes to his dad.

"I consider that to be an example of connecting with your family and what's in your life as an inspiration" the author says. "I wouldn't have ever considered that concept by myself . . . This was something that my father did."

Another method AJ brainstorms novel ideas (pun intended) is to come up with the most ideas possible and utilizing the process of elimination.

For instance, when he drummed up the concept of his book's sequel, the author sat down and brainstormed ideas, but they were eventually dropped.

"I had a lot of books ideas and I don't even remember them, but none of them did the trick," he divulges. "Either I rejected them, or my publisher did, or even my wife snubbed it because it would be an unimaginable nightmare."

Even after he landed on the notion of his next book The Year of Living Biblically: A Man's Humble Struggle for a Year to Follow the Bible As Literally as is Possible , which was to lead a lifestyle that was literally a literal follower of the Bible for a year, it was a struggle in committing to the idea.

Given the uproarious nature of the issue, AJ had a difficult to decide whether to proceed with the project.

"It's extremely unpopular," he explains. "That was extremely stressful and I didn't know whether to go ahead to do it or not."

AJ considered to himself "Do I really need to do this? There is a chance that I will be criticized from both sides. Nobody will be thrilled trying to mix religion with humor."

Although it wasn't a simple decision, at the end the topic AJ chose proved to be a hit with his viewers.

However, he knew that already, because AJ is doing something every artist should do -- and very often do.

He confirms the book's concept prior to committing fully. In the case of AJ, he does so through speaking with the most people he can about his latest book idea.

"One way I approach it is tell everyone I can about this idea," he explains. "I examine the eyes of my audience and observe if they light up . . . It is my observation that they may ask follow-up questions because there are times when they do not."

If their eyes don't "light up," AJ takes it as an opportunity not to not to pursue the book idea.

In order to preserve his unique creativity, AJ changes the subject topic from book to and lets him repeat the similar creative process across books.

"If you're able to tackle projects that you can think of as completely other than the topic, that allows you a little more freedom to have the same process." AJ coaches.

In light of his repeatable method We'll take a closer look at the next step AJ is taking of doing study.

What is the method by which AJ is able to conduct his book research

AJ conducts his book research by literally immersing himself in the topic. He turns each book-writing period into a fresh personal journey and adjusts his life to concentrate on research and writing about his experiences in his book.

In the case of "The Year to Live Biblically AJ kept his title's promise and committed to an entire year of living by the Bible in every way possible.

In order to record his experiences throughout his quest, AJ keeps two journals that he uses for his private daily life, and another for his project research -- a process that is still in use today.

"I still keep notes of the events within my own life as well as things that are happening in my study," he shares.

Although it might seem a bit overwhelming to fully assume his roles during his book research, AJ does it for a good motive. The term he uses is "steelmanning," a way to give a viewpoint -- the one you disagree with -- better than the other side could.

"I am a fan of steelmanning as I believe that it will make the world a better place," he muses. "That's how we advance."

And "move forward" he does by making multiple bestselling works. Let's dive into AJ's full creative method.

The creative process of AJ

AJ enjoys the first two elements of his creative method the most. we've already covered such as brainstorming and study.

"Coming to the idea, that's one of my favorite things," he pronounces. "Brainstorming . . . 100 books in which 99 of those ideas are going to suck, but one of them hopefully will be good."

"I enjoy researching topics," AJ continues as he reminisces on researching his most recent work, Thanks for a Thousand: A Journey of Gratitude . "Interviewing the designer of a coffee lid and going for a visit to Colombia, South America to meet farmers. That was awesome."

The third part of this creative process -- actual writing process -- is his least favorite due to its isolation and with a delayed audience reaction. "A large portion of it is simply . . . Being alone, and not receiving feedback immediately," AJ reflects.

"When I speak in public, I simply am in love . . . seeing people's eyes, or in their laughter in their faces that they're engaged," he adds. "And in the case of a book that you're working on that's not going to come out for a year, it's to be very disappointing."

In addition to the frustration In some cases, the process of writing a book is slowed down due to the nature of the subject like it was with his book, The Relatives: Adventures up and Down the World's Family Tree .

"Partly, that book was so lengthy because the book was about this movement to create a world family tree, which would link everyone on Earth in one big family tree," AJ explains. "So, you, me, Barack Obama, Nicolas Cage, everyone."

In terms of shaping his book, AJ starts writing with an idea of where he's headed However generally, his writing is largely made up.

"When I write, I have an outline that sort of tells me what I'm planning to write with," he shares. "But the majority of what I write is improv. When I'm writing, my eyes take a few roads, but I always try to find out where I end up."

Prior to presenting his final product, there's one major process left to cover -- editing.

While it's a big project to undertake, AJ's editing process is easy. In editing, he asks his friends for feedback and uses the median of their replies as a signal on where to make edits.

"I'll send it to 10 people, and I'll ask them, "What parts do you find fascinating, and what parts do you find to be boring?" AJ divulges. "I'll draw the mean of this, and then take out the boring parts, and make sure to keep the parts that you find interesting."

It seems simple enough, similar to his perspective about luck and hard work.

What is the way AJ regards hard work as well as luck

In the case of success, AJ says that "hard perseverance and hard work are required."

"You won't achieve success without these," he warns. "But they are not sufficient."

AJ thinks you'll also need luck in order in addition to your hard work This is what AJ (luckily) experienced in his latest book published.

"You must also have luck and I'm sure that . . . in the same week my debut bestseller was released, there were probably fifty other books out, which were just as good and maybe even better than mine." the author acknowledges.

"But I did get breaks" AJ gives credit. "I was able to contact the person in charge of the publicity at the publishing house. I was familiar with the person who runs "Good Morning America and I joined that. I think you need both."

And that's not all the advice AJ has for the people of today. He has some more advice to spread.

The advice of AJ's fellow creators

AJ gives us pearls of wisdom, which have a theme nestled in these two words: Be creative.

Why? There are a few motives. One reason is that you get from a rut in your mind.

"The more adventurous you get and the more you experiment, the better" AJ advises. "I believe we all have a tendency to do it the same, and we carve the . . . neural ruts, neural pathways which make us think similar ways."

That will allow you to have greater variety in your life and eventually bring you more joy.

"The more that you are able to experiment -even if it's only an insignificant thing that you do within your daily routine, like testing a new toothpaste, or working in a new way, the more beneficial it will be in terms of creativity and happiness," AJ urges.

If AJ had not heeded his own advice, he might not have contributed such great work of art -- or the quests -- writing.

In my opinion, we can all agree, would've been a shame.