Tren Griffin - How To Write, Publish & Sell A Book In The AI Era (Ep. 334)

Tren Griffin, author of Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor and the 25iq blog, joins Jim O'Shaughnessy on Infinite Loops to talk about why writing a book is rarely about money, how AI is reshaping writing and publishing, why every author is really starting a business, how to build a book in public, the Charlie Munger lesson that changed his life during the dot-com boom, whether serious reading is really dying, and how to find a passion worth following.
Show Notes
Tren Griffin & Jim O'Shaughnessy
• Tren Griffin: Investor, writer, and author of the 25iq blog. Read 25iq (25iq.com)

• Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor: Tren's book on how Munger approached investing and life. Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor

• Tren on X: Follow Tren on X

• Infinite Books: Jim's publishing company. Infinite Books (infinitebooks.com)

• Tren's earlier conversation: Welcome to the Tren-verse, Ep. 86. Watch

• Jim O'Shaughnessy: Host of Infinite Loops, founder and CEO of O'Shaughnessy Ventures, and author of the New York Times bestseller What Works on Wall Street. Follow Jim on X (x.com/jposhaughnessy)

• Full transcripts: Transcripts and highlights from every Infinite Loops conversation. OSV newsletter

Books & Ideas Mentioned
• The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel: Tren's example of how stories sell nonfiction. The Psychology of Money

• Runnin' Down a Dream by Bill Gurley: The book Tren recommends on turning passions into a career. Runnin' Down a Dream

• Kelly criterion: The bet-sizing formula Tren calls one of the hardest ideas to explain simply. Kelly criterion (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_criterion)

• Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned by Kenneth Stanley and Joel Lehman: Jim's case for taking unexpected opportunities seriously. Kenneth Stanley

• 1,000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly: The essay behind Tren's advice to build a community of super fans. 1,000 True Fans (kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans)

• Duncan Watts on social influence: Why bestsellers emerge from people copying what others buy. Duncan J. Watts (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_J._Watts)

• Mimetic desire: René Girard's idea that we want what others want. Mimetic theory

• Influence by Robert Cialdini: The reciprocity principle behind Jim's warning about manipulation. Influence

• Reflexivity: George Soros's idea from The Alchemy of Finance, which shaped Tren's thinking on feedback loops. Reflexivity

• Benoit Mandelbrot: Whose The (Mis)Behavior of Markets Jim credits with shaping the models he built to pick stocks. Benoit Mandelbrot

• Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter: Jim's example of a hard book that AI could open up to more readers. Gödel, Escher, Bach

• Clarke's third law: "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Clarke's three laws

• Cabo Wabo: Sammy Hagar's tequila, Tren's example of a founder bringing a ready-made community to a product. Cabo Wabo (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabo_Wabo)

• Menlo Ventures consumer AI survey (2025): About 3% of AI users pay, in line with Tren's point that most people use AI for free. Read the release