Hi, I’m Leo Babauta of Zen Habits and mnmlist.com, author of The Power of Less.

This is the beta, online version of my second book, tentatively titled: focus – a simplicity manifesto in the age of distraction.

I’ll be drafting this book online in various stages (or versions), using the Gmail software model.

This is a radical new model for writing books. I’m not sure if it’s been done this way yet. It’s a form of Radical Transparency.

The New Model

First, let’s look at the traditional model of writing books: you write the entire book for what usually takes months, then revise a couple of times, then send to your editor, who will edit and ask you to make revisions, and so on … until the manuscript is ready. Then it’s designed into a book, with a pretty cover and all that, then it’s printed and distributed, all done. Takes months, if not a year or more. And by then, the product is done, and reader input doesn’t matter much.

Now here’s my model:

• Write just the core content, in short chapters.
• Publish this on the web in “beta” form. Share it with a small group of readers, for free.
• Ask them to comment and even make contributions. I’ll decide what goes in, of course.
• I’ll revise and expand on the book, based on input from early readers. Will publish new versions as they’re done.
• More readers will be invited, and more feedback welcomed. More revisions will come out.
• Finally, the book will be done, freely available on the web to read. Credits included for contributions from readers.
• Will turn into an ebook, also freely downloadable, encourage people to spread it widely.
• Will get a publisher to publish and distribute the print version, or failing that, self publish. Will sell this for a fee.
• There might be some additional info in the different versions, to encourage people to check out all versions if they like.

Publish early, get input, revise, and repeat often until it’s ready for the final launch.

What You’ll See Here

This book will evolve on this site as I write it and as I get input from readers.

I’ve already put up the core content — a few short chapters — which I call beta version 0.1. The next beta version should be out fairly soon.

As the book’s content evolves, there will be new versions. The front page of this site will show the latest version, and I hope to archive previous versions.

Eventually, the book will be ready for launch and publishing, and this online version will contain the final version of the book, freely available. I will also make the ebook available on this site, for free. The print version won’t be free, and might contain a couple of little extras just as incentive to buy it. I need to make a living!

Let’s see where this journey takes us, my friends. At the very least, it should be interesting and fun.