World of Writing - Interview

Author Interview 

 https://www.timeoffbook.com

Today we have the pleasure of learning from the writing experiences of Max Frenzel, co-author of Time Off. It is always interesting to hear about the behind the scenes activities, challenges, organizing and strategies that go behind producing a book, but today we learn how Max and his co-author John Fitch balanced the work load and shared skills in a very effective way. Max is an AI researcher with software startup experience and holds a PhD in Quantum Physics, while John's specialties range from software and entrepreneurship to coaching.   

* Shout out to Rebekah Epstein of PrByTheBook.com for connecting us with Max ;)   

Q: What have you learned about working with a co-writer?

Initially I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from writing a book together with a co-author, but in retrospect it was one of the best decisions I ever made. John and I really believe in the same vision, but we have in some ways quite different and complimentary approaches and backgrounds. John has more of a storytelling background, while I have a more academic background. Even the experience of how we found the value of time off was very different for the two of us, even though it eventually led to the same realization. Working on a book with someone else also has many other benefits: You immediately get a second set of eyes to look at all of your work, question and challenge it, and improve it. It’s not a replacement for a professional editor, but I think it got the manuscript in a much better shape before it went to our editor. And even small things like the difference in time zones, with John based in Austin, Texas, and me in Tokyo was quite nice. While one person was taking time off and sleeping, the other one was making progress. Every morning felt a bit like Christmas, checking what John had been up to in our shared Google doc.


Q: What were some of the challenges you faced in writing this book together?

Surprisingly I’d say we faced very few challenges in the co-writing process. I guess being in quite different timezones meant that we couldn’t always immediately get a response from each other, but I’d say overall that was actually a positive, it made us think through things better ourselves. We’re both big fans of asynchronous communication, and it definitely helped us be more effective with our communication. Maybe the most challenging, or rather humbling experience of the writing process was when we got the first detailed reply after handing our draft to our editor. At that point we thought most of the work was done, but she challenged us to completely review and rework most of the manuscript. But ultimately it definitely helped us make a much better book, and also become better writers in general.


Q: Are you satisfied with your (career, publisher, agent, publicist, co-writer)?

Honestly, I couldn’t be happier with how it all turned out. Two years ago I wasn’t even thinking about writing this book, and now we’ve built a great team and together made and self-published an amazing book that looks and reads better than many things I’ve seen from big traditional publishers. It was a lot of hard work, but fully in the spirit of time off we approached it in a calm way, and it never really felt stressful. If anything, the work on such a meaningful project constantly energized and motivated us. And now finally seeing the results of it and getting it out into the world is an incredibly rewarding experience.


Q: What are some of your favorite writers’ resources?

Reedsy is a wonderful place for finding freelancers to work with you on the book. We found our designer, copyeditor, and proofreader on Reedsy, and all three of them did an amazing job and hugely contributed to the final result. Other than that, I’d say a thesaurus is pretty handy while writing and editing. And Google Docs allowed us to seamlessly collaborate on the manuscript, and leave comments and edit suggestions for each other. The entire book was written and edited there. And for the initial note taking and research, I’m a big fan of Evernote.

Q: Tell us about your journey to publication… (How long have you been writing? Why did you decide to pursue writing this book together?)

I think the way we wrote this book is quite unique. The truth is, John and I have to this day actually never met in person, the entire collaboration was online. About three years ago I realized that I was quite unsatisfied in my job at the time as an AI researcher in a startup. To process my own thoughts I started writing about productivity, creativity, work place culture, and the importance of time off. John, who had been doing a podcast on the importance of time off (also called Time Off), found some of my articles and invited me on as a guest. We became friends after that, and one day in early 2019 I found an email in my inbox asking me if I’d be up for writing a book together. I agreed, and that’s how it all started.
Both John and I have experience in software startups, and we essentially approached the book like launching a product. We wrote a very simple early prototype and got that in the hands of some test readers, and then used their feedback to iterate and improve. That’s definitely had a huge impact on improving the book and getting it into its final shape.
We also decided quite early on that we want the book to be visually beautiful, and through a very lucky chain of coincidences got introduced to our illustrator Mariya Suzuki. Her style fits the book perfectly, and she also personally experienced the importance of time off, so we decided to get her onboard as a core member of the team, not just someone we hired to do the illustrations for us, and her influence and ideas definitely also shaped the final book.


Q: Who are your favorite authors?

That’s a pretty difficult question, there are just too many. In terms of non-fiction, some recent names that come to mind are James Clear, David Epstein, Micheal Pollan, Tim Ferriss, Cal Newport, and Austin Kleon. For fiction I’d definitely include Neal Stephenson, Haruki Murakami, Ayn Rand, Hermann Hesse, and Gabriel García Márquez.


Q: Do you provide public appearances & services: How do you organize the classroom, lessons, presentation, workshop? etc.

Both John and I are already active public speakers at events and conferences, and John also has been working as a business coach. Now with the book released, we are definitely planning to expand on this, and we already have some interest from several companies to organize Time Off workshops and seminars for their employees and leadership teams. We are also thinking of offering additional digital services or workshop around Time Off to a wider audience online, but this is currently still in the planning phase.


Q: How did you arrive at setting your goals?

I guess we just tried to be realistic, while at the same time aiming high. Looking at other similar titles or other authors and entrepreneurs with similar background and trying to emulate (or exceed) what they have achieved. Also working as a team, you kind of have an element of accountability baked into the process, which definitely helped as well.


Q: What advice would you give for aspiring authors?

Build a great team around yourself. Even if you decide to write the book as a solo author, there are many additional people that make a great book but don’t have their names on the cover in the end. Especially the importance of a good editor can’t be overestimated. Our editor Ann Maynard had a huge influence on the final book and really helped us to sharpen and refine our narrative and explanations, and reexamine everything from the perspective of the reader. Also our illustrator Mariya and designer Nikki were crucial in shaping the final book and turning it into the beautiful work of art it is. Besides these core people, we also had over twenty test readers give us feedback along the way.


Q: What criticism about your writing gave you pause, made you re-think your writing style?

I guess as an author you feel really precious about your ideas and your writing. But having an editor remind you that your book is not for you, but for your reader, and that you should assess everything you write through a lens of “how will the reader benefit from this”, definitely really helps you sharpen your writing and get rid of a lot of stuff that doesn’t serve the reader and just dilutes your message.

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