Success Done Simply: An Interview with Leo Babauta

For Leo Babauta, the success of his blog, Zen Habits, has now expanded big time—into a book. The 35-year-old Guam resident opens up to us about growing ideas organically and, of course, the art of living simply.

Most people are fans of your blog, ZenHabits.net. How did that grow to be such a mecca?

L.B: I started by just trying to share some of the things I’d been learning about living simply, changing habits, and achieving goals; and it turned out that a lot of people were interested in the same things I was learning about. It soon became clear to me that I was tapping into a strong desire by many people to do things more simply and yet more effectively. It still surprises me to this day that I have more than 80,000 readers, but I’m also very grateful to have the opportunity to talk to so many about the things that really matter to me.

Now you’ve released a book, The Power of Less. How did you come up with the idea for the book? Is it more of an extended version of topics on the blog? Tell us about the book.

L.B: The book evolved as Zen Habits evolved, and a philosophy of simplicity began to emerge from my writings. I realized that this philosophy was spread throughout the blog but couldn’t be learned by reading just a few or even a dozen articles—you’d have to read them all. So I envisioned a condensed version, a simpler tome where people could learn the philosophy of Zen Habits and the effective methods that have worked for me (and many others) in as little space as possible. That’s what this book is: everything you need to know in a small amount of space.

Tell us about the publishing process. Did you get an agent? How did you get in touch with reputable authors to review it?

L.B: I was actually contacted by a few agents and publishers about doing a book as my blog became more popular and I contemplated doing a book myself. I was excited by the idea, so I wrote up a book proposal and found an agent who loved it, and she shopped the proposal around until we found the right publisher.

As for reputable authors, I was lucky enough to have Timothy Ferriss of The Four Hour Workweek read the book and give me a positive blurb for the front cover of the book. He was very generous, both in reading the book and giving me some insights into the book publishing process.

Do you think the success of your blog served as a strong foundation for your new career as an author?

L.B: The success of Zen Habits has absolutely prepared me for being a published author— I don’t think I would have any idea of what I was doing unless I’d written hundreds of articles on these topics before.

Now I feel confident that people will find use in the material in the book, because the same principles have been successfully used by thousands of people, including myself. I’m excited to reach a larger audience through the book, though!

What are your plans for press and book promotion? Any book tour planned?

L.B: Instead of a real-world book tour, where I might reach a few dozen or (at most) a couple hundred people at each book signing, I decided to focus my efforts on blogs and other media—online media, print and radio. Each interview, guest post and appearance on different blogs and media will reach thousands of people. This way I’m making the most of my efforts in the least amount of time—exactly what I talk about on Zen Habits. I wouldn’t mind doing some book signings to meet people in real life if the book starts to do well, but the initial thrust of my promotion will be through blogs and other media. I can meet more people that way.

How do you keep content fresh on your blog? You cover a lot of similar topics but always seem to do so with a new flair!

L.B: I write about things that excite me…that I’m passionate about. If I wrote about the same topics over and over, and got tired of them, it would show in my writing. But if I’m continually going through these
things in my life—learning to be more productive, finding simplicity and happiness, getting healthy and fit, spending time with my family, learning to be in the moment—then that means I’m continually finding new and exciting things in each of these topics.

When you live these topics and find excitement in doing them, it will spill out in your writing. I’m always experimenting with and reflecting on my life, and I’m always having so much fun! And I find it incredibly fun to write about all of this. If I don’t love what I’m doing, then it’s time for me to find a new line of work.

Many other people only dream of the type of traffic and interaction you have on your blog. How did you get there and how long did it take? Is your blog fairly profitable?

L.B: I will admit to being extremely lucky to have such a large and encouraging and positive readership—they are amazing and they make my job incredibly fun and rewarding. I think the positive topics I write about attract positive people, or at least seem to bring out the best in people.

I grew my readership in several ways:

1. Focused on providing useful and really valuable content in plain, concise writing.
2. Tried to write engaging titles/headlines and provide the information in easily scannable form.
3. Wrote about things I was actually going through, keeping my writing as genuine and honest as possible.
4. Spread my message by writing useful and valuable guest posts on other blogs as often as possible.

It didn’t hurt that many of my articles have become popular on social media such as Digg, StumbleUpon and Delicious, but that only happened after I gained a large readership—it certainly didn’t happen much when I only had a few hundred readers.

My blog is profitable because: 1) I have multiple income streams such as several ad networks, affiliate links, and a couple of e-books that sell very well; and 2) I don’t have many expenses besides paying myself: I pay $70 for a server, and that’s about it. I just feel grateful that the blog can support me, and I can spend my time doing something I love.

Many freelancers are seeking ideas on balance, and you deliver just that through your writing. You seem to have gathered plenty of wisdom in your life. But what is one area you want to focus more on improving?

L.B: I’m pretty happy with myself right now, so I’m not really focused on improving myself. I don’t think I’m perfect, but I’ve learned to accept myself for who I am and not worry about so-called flaws.
Instead I just try to do the best I can on whatever I’m doing, right now.

But what I am focusing on is learning to be more in the moment—what Buddhists call “mindfulness.” As I say on Zen Habits, I’m not a Buddhist, but I do find incredible value in learning to be more present…to live in the present instead of thinking about the past and future. It’s been an amazing discovery and journey, and it’s something I’ve been practicing more and more as of late. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Leo’s book The Power of Less comes out on December 30th 2008. You can pre-order the book at Amazon.

Kristen Fischer is a copywriter and author living at the Jersey Shore.