Further discussion from Ryan about this topic in a recent EconTalk podcast:

http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2018/04/ryan_holiday_on_1.h...

The part about interviews vs. auditions is around the 49 minute mark. The entire podcast was fascinating. The topic of the podcast is his recent book about Gawker and Peter Thiel and a broader discussion about "conspiracies".

edit: separate HN thread for this https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17048391