Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Author of “Your Next Big Idea: Improve Your Creativity and Problem-Solving” (2021)
So, what makes me someone to learn about the creation of ideas from?
Throughout my career, I have seen how the idea process works in all different sized companies.
I have started multiple startups both as part of a team and by myself. One of the companies I was a co-founder of was Wundershirt, which at its peak sold athletic training clothing to Olympic athletes prepping for the 2016 Olympics. During the startup growth process, I have been part of multiple incubators and have watched and observed how many startups came to be.
I also have worked for a company that was part of the INC 5000 fastest growing companies. Here I was selected to be a part of the R&D team to help work towards developing new products. Working at a fast-growing company you can see how the ideas come to be and problems are handled by members of a successful small business team.
Finally, I have worked on business development for a company part of Fortune’s Future 50 list and Fortune’s Fortune 500 list.
In my career, I have been watching and creating ideas for all levels of business from the startup phase, to the high-growth phase, and even for large companies.
This has allowed me to have a unique perspective on the idea process and allowed me to look at the whole idea of creativity, problem-solving, ideation and innovativeness from an angle that most people have not seen.
While most of the time I am at work when I am not working though you probably can find me at an amusement park, playing board games or drinking coffee from a local coffee shop.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Your Next Big Idea: Improve Your Creativity and Problem-Solving
Your Next Big Idea tackles the question, “How do entrepreneurs, inventors, and creatives come up with “big ideas?””
When we teach about entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity, we look at the successes. We talk about the “startup unicorns” or companies like Amazon, Apple, or Google. This does us a disservice because we don’t talk about the garage where the business was formed, the backyard where the idea came to be, or how the innovation process works. We don’t bridge the connection to help people understand how those businesses and inventions were created; we don’t teach them how to find their own “big ideas.”
After realizing this I began to write Your Next Big Idea to bridge that education gap.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
As an author, I wanted to create a work that resonated with the most amount of people. When crafting Your Next Big Idea, there were two specific challenges I was trying to overcome.
1) Everyone learns in different ways. How do I craft a book that can hit as many learning styles as possible to allow readers to learn in a way that is suitable for them?
2) How do I write something so people with all different levels of experience can come in, read the book, and feel like they gained new skills or refined their skills while leaving as many people as possible satisfied?
When I was brainstorming and outlining the book, I came to the realization that I needed to change my communication entirely. I decided to include 54 “exercises.” These exercises are meant to reinforce what you are reading in the text. For some people, the stories or information may be enough, but for others, having the option to learn by doing will help them understand and reinforce the information at an even higher level. Becoming more creative, a better problem-solver, better at ideation and more innovative are such critical skills. I did not want to shortchange the reader to leave them unfulfilled. That is why I concluded that it was essential I provide unique and innovative ways to learn within the book itself, so those with different learning styles can get the most out of it.
The second challenge required me to look at both how I structured the book and the examples I provided. In the book, I offered an area after the first section, where you can stop. Depending on how confident you felt in the information, I suggested two different chapters to read next. After putting myself in the mind of the reader, I decided this was necessary. Section 2 is significantly more challenging to grasp, and depending on your grasp of Section 1, it might make sense to move to a different chapter next to reinforce some of the information.
Later, in Section 4, the book is split into two sections. Each section caters to two different types of readers. The first is for the heavy business reader looking at how to come up with a business idea, and the second is catered to the casual reader who is just looking to come up with new ideas for their everyday life. This isn’t necessarily a one or the other situation. Both sections may apply to the same reader, but mixing the two sets of information would be confusing, so it was necessary to separate them. Also, in the book’s text, I tell people to skip a section if they don’t think it applies to them. My goal is to give the reader the best user experience, and I write with them in mind. I know many writers are attached to everything they create, but what is more important to me is that the reader gets the most out of the book that they can.
Additionally, I was meticulous about what kind of examples I provided. For each example I provided, I asked myself, “how would the different types of readers interpret this?” It was imperative that I provided a balance of examples that would cater to different people. Sometimes that meant twisting examples together, like using business exercises with a non-business twist or taking more free-flowing creativity exercises and giving them a business twist. The balance of examples was really important. When I was using each example, I wanted to make sure that it both built on the information provided, and that it would provide the most value to the most amount of people.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I take inspiration from business authors like Seth Godin, Adam Grant, and Eric Reiss as well as creativity authors like Austin Kleon and Keri Smith! I basically combine those two styles in creating Your Next Big Idea.
What are you working on now?
To be completely honest, marketing. As a self-published author, you are both a writer and a marketer, so anytime I have a new release I need to spend time getting it out there and spreading the word as best as I can.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
When it comes to promoting books the strategy I have found the most successful is to build credibility through reviews. Especially for new authors. If you don’t have a following the media will look at what other people say about your book. Reviews can be professional companies like Kirkus, BlueInk, or IndieReader, or can be from other better-known authors and celebrities (or specialists in what you write about). Then on top of that, it also is important to get reader reviews as well. Many people (and also the algorithms), will look for reader reviews to decide whether to purchase a book. Therefore driving reviews of both professionals and readers will help you build the credibility you need to move books and get featured in the media.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
It really depends on how far in the process you are. If you are in the marketing phase see above, if you are in the writing phase I would say give yourself a little time to write each week. It can be a couple of hours on weekends or 30 minutes on weekdays, just make sure you keep pushing your work forward. Finishing the first draft, even if it is not perfect is one of the hardest parts of publishing a book. Once you are in the editing process I would say to remember that nothing is perfect, there are bound to be one or two small errors in every book, and that is ok. Don’t let it paralyze you.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I really love this quote from civil rights activist, poet, memoirist, Maya Angelou, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
What are you reading now?
I’m reading a bit of nonfiction on book marketing currently for work-related aspects. However, for fun, I am reading some books on board game design (I am a big board game fan), and on lucid dreaming. Both topics I find interesting.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I think it is to really further develop my marketing skills, as a self-published writer you could write a fantastic book, but if you don’t have great marketing skills it will be hard for people to see it.
Then once, I feel I have done that I probably will go back to writing.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Wreck this Journal – Keri Smith
The Happiness Hypothesis – Jonathan Haidt
Game of Thrones – George R. R. Martin
Author Websites and Profiles
Samuel Sanders Website
Samuel Sanders Amazon Profile
Samuel Sanders’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
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