Interview with Dr. David Gruder, Author of The New IQ

David Gruder, PhD, DCEP, is perhaps the world´s only clinical-organizational psychologist specializing in integrity development. Known as "The Integritizer," he is the leader in transpartisan nondenominational strategies for solving the massive integrity deficits that have caused today's vast social, economic, and political challenges. Dr. Gruder founded the "Integritize America Campaign," an integrity stimulus plan for renewing personal, relationship and societal integrity so we can finally co-create sustainable solutions to today's most challenging issues. His latest book, The New IQ: How Integrity Intelligence Serves You, Your Relationships and our World, is the world's first step-by-step guide to attaining personal, relationship, and career fulfillment during difficult times without sacrificing ethics and integrity.

Thank you for this interview, David. Can you tell us briefly what your latest book, The New IQ: How Integrity Intelligence Serves You, Your Relationships and Our World is all about?

Sure. It is about how to undo the severe integrity deficits that have deeply damaged virtually all parts of society. The New IQ provides everyday people to world leaders with a blueprint for breaking free from our society´s destructive belief that life fulfillment, wealth accumulation and a lovely lifestyle require sacrificing integrity, people and social responsibility. This blueprint has won five unusually diverse book awards and endorsements from over fifty experts across a wide range of fields, because it appeals to people across political and faith spectrums.

Can you tell us who or what was the inspiration behind your book?

A number of inspirations came together to cause me to write The New IQ. The first goes back forty years to when I was fifteen and my parents naively sent me to Woodstock because the summer camp for the performing arts I attended had offered it as an optional field trip. It´s quite a story. The second was the profound impact that being in the New York area during and immediately following the 9/11 attacks had on me. The third was my own twin towers falling six months after that, when my first wife ended a marriage that I would have sworn on a stack of bibles was a marriage for life. I write in The New IQ about all of these stories and the lessons about integrity that they taught me.

Is this your first published book and if so, can you tell us your experiences in finding a publisher for it?

The New IQ is my second print book. My publisher approached me and offered me the arrangement I was looking for, which included an unusual amount of input about editing, title selection, cover design and interior layout. Needless to say, I was extremely blessed when it came to finding a publisher.

How has Elite Books/Energy Psychology Press been to work with?

They have been a pleasure. From the publisher to the staff to their production specialists, my experience with them has been 180 degrees opposite from all the horror stories so many authors I know have told me about.

Do you have an agent?

No. I´m not averse to retaining an agent under the right circumstances, but I seem to not have needed one so far.

Can you tell us how long it took you to write your book and also how long it took from the time Elite Books sent the contract and the time it was released?

The book took me about 1½ years to write. Because of how I set everything up, The New IQ was released only a half year after I signed my contract with Elite books. In other words, I did not sign my contract until after my completed manuscript was ready to undergo its first round of editing. This enabled Elite Books to know what they were getting into, and enabled me to gauge how much they were going to want to change, before we made our final commitment to one another.

Do you have any words of inspiration from other writers who would like to be wearing your shoes?

Yes. I got to wear my shoes because I custom-designed them. So, wanting to wear my shoes would be barking up the wrong tree. If you create your own shoes they will serve you far better than mine. What I want to inspire you to do is to customize your shoes around what your book needs AND what you can´t, or don´t want to, give yourself. For instance, with my first book, had I gone with a major publisher it would have been turned into a completely different book than the one I wanted to write book needed me to retain complete control over it. I also wanted an intimate understanding all aspects of the publishing process. So, the benefits of self-publishing far outweighed those of going with a major publisher, and the drawbacks of self-publishing were far less than those of going with a major publisher. In contrast, with The New IQ the drawbacks of self-publishing or going with a major publisher were significantly greater than the drawbacks of going with a smaller independent publisher. The more you know about the book business, and the more you know about marketing, the more you can customize your shoes to fit you and your book perfectly. The good news is that it´s all learnable, thanks to the amazingly outstanding resources about book writing, production and marketing that are available to authors today. To summarize, never agree to a publishing arrangement that imprisons you -- pursue the one that best serves your book and that does for you what you don´t want to do yourself.

I understand that you are touring with Pump Up Your Book Promotion in May via a virtual book tour. Can you tell us all why you chose a virtual book tour to promote your book online?

I´d be delighted. I give an awful lot of radio interviews as one of the legs of my marketing plan. Being able to do these interviews in my own home, in a bathrobe or sweats, is much easier than traveling, dressing up and missing out on my life at home. Once I figured that out, doing a virtual book tour was a no-brainer. I have absolutely loved touring with Pump Up Your Book Promotion because they have been a pleasure to collaborate with and I can´t imagine a way to make the process simpler than they have made it. I take off my hat to Dorothy Thompson and her staff!

What´s next for you?

Three things: 1) Building a community of people who are passionate about helping our society reconnect life fulfillment, wealth and business success with integrity and social responsibility; 2) Securing corporate sponsors and nonprofit partners to help promote a public service project called the Integrity Stimulus Plan; and 3) Co-hosting, with a radio veteran, a new call-in radio show called Integrity Talk Radio. You´ll find all the details at www.TheNewIQ.com.

Thank you for this interview, David. Can you tell us how we can find out more about you and your new book?

I kind of gave it away in my response to your last question :-) For more about The New IQ and its accompanying workbook, to read my IntegrityWatch Blog, to download the Integrity Stimulus Plan (my public service project), and to register for my free e-courses, go to www.TheNewIQ.com.