Jake Knapp on designing nonfiction worth reading
Lessons & insights from a master product designer
In this Useful Books Community Q&A, we’re joined by Jake Knapp, designer extraordinaire (Google Ventures and more) and author of Sprint and Make Time.
Timestamps & topics
- 0:00 Well here we are
- 0:26 Why Jake is great
- 1:14 Where the books came from?
- 4:11 On starting to write (& NaNoWriMo)
- 6:00 Business & reputation
- 7:58 Self-doubt, de-risking, and blogging as book v1
- 9:49 Education vs. entertainment
- 12:02 Structure, organization, & clarity
- 14:44 The one-week prototype & ToC
- 15:40 Learning from experts & friends
- 18:13 Audience & marketing
- 19:51 Word of mouth and what publishers can’t do
- 23:35 Why not selfpub?
- 24:46 Perils of cover design
- 27:48 On writing something that works
- 30:23 Devin being handsome & Jake laughing
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