Today I chat with AJ Jacobs, editor-at-large at Esquire and the author of The Know-it-All, who graciously contacted me after I poked fun, lovingly, at his upcoming book on my other website.

What's the most difficult part of putting out a book? The idea? Execution? The promotion?
The promotion is pretty easy, as long as you embrace shamelessness. For The Know-it-all, I talked to every single media outlet that would have me. Let me put it this way: There's a radio show called the Joey Reynolds Jewish Hour that tapes between 1 and 2 a.m. on Friday nights at the WOR studios in New York. I was a guest. Twice.

The idea part is difficult. It took me a year (and about three rejected book ideas) to come up with my new book, The Year of Living Biblically. With so many books out there - not to mention magazines, newspapers, blogs - it's damn hard to come up with anything even moderately original.

The execution is only slightly easier than the idea. You have to really love your topic, or you're going to have a miserable year. Especially if it involves reading the encyclopedia or growing a beard.

How did you come to your position at Esquire?
I worked at ntertainment Weekly for five years interviewing B-list celebrities and pissing off the likes of Steven Seagal (he threatened to throw me out a window, I'm happy to say). The art director of EW - a man named John Korpics - went to work at Esquire, and he was nice enough to recommend me to Esquire's editor-in-chief David Granger. Granger and I met a couple of times, and I didn't make any huge blunders, so he hired me. I've been there ever since.

Should authors read their reviews or is that just asking for an
ego-beating?
Director Barry Sonnenfeld - who is attached to direct the film version of The Know-it-all - told me never to read reviews, because if you believe the good ones, then you have to believe the bad ones too. But when it came down to it, I couldn't resist reading them. It's just too tempting. Fortunately, the vast majority of reviews of the Know-it-all were delightfully flattering. On the other hand, one rival humorist suffered what can only be described as a psychotic breakdown and launched a bizarre ad hominem attack against me in the New York Times Book Review. I responded with a rebuttal essay in the same publication, resulting in a semi-famous literary feud - at least among the people who pay attention to that stuff. Most authors, however, will never have the pleasure of being called a jackass in a major publication. So go ahead and read 'em.

Between "The Know-it-All" and your upcoming book about living by the Bible, you're setting up a pattern where you give yourself a challenge, then write about it. (An editor of mine calls this "stunt journalism.") Do you think you'll continue working in this vein or do you see working on other types of book projects in the future?
Thanks to the encyclopedia, I can tell you that 'stunt journalism' has a long and storied history. One of the first stunt journalists was the great 19th century reporter Nellie Bly. Perhaps her most famous stunt was to circle the earth in imitation of Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. (She made it in 72 days). She also went undercover as a patient in a mental hospital for 10 days.

Anyway, enough history. I do love this genre, whatever you call it. First of all, it's fun for the writer. I get to engage in these grand adventures and get paid for it. And I think, or at least I hope, the genre results in interesting books. I consider them memoirs with added value. I often get bored while reading memoirs by average schmos (and I consider myself an average schmo). So with these memoirs, I try to give the reader something more -- with The Know-It-All, it was the best and most fascinating facts from the encyclopedia. With The Year of Living Biblically, it will be a tour of religious history.

That said, I don't want to confine myself to this type of book. I actually have another book idea that I like, and it has nothing to do altering my lifestyle in extreme ways. By the way, Claire Zulkey wrote a brilliant satire of my books. And I'm not just sucking up to her because she's conducting this interview. Well, maybe a little.

For lack of a better phrase, what do you think separates a successful 'stunt' (like reading the encyclopedia, or eating only McDonald's for a month) versus one that won't fly with editors/audiences?
I think the key is to have a genuine and passionate connection to your feat. Otherwise, it really is just a stunt, no more. With the encyclopedia, I had a family connection - my dad started to read the encyclopedia when I was a kid, but only made it up to the middle of the letter B, around Borneo. So I was trying to finish what he started and restore the family name to honor. And with the Bible book, religion has become my primary fascination, and this seemed a really interesting way to explore it. I also have a personal connection to the idea involving my uncle, a rubber band and a wad of money. I'll explain that in the book.