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On Good Authority: Publishing the Book that Will Build Your Business

There are people who launch books and end up just having a nice thing to put on their shelves. Then there are people who launch books that transform their careers—and lives. As a former member of the first group, Legacy Launch Pad publisher and New York Times bestselling author Anna David strongly urges you to be part of the second. In this show, she talks to entrepreneurs and authors about how to intentionally launch the book that will serve as the best business card and marketing tool you’ve ever had—and then how to use that to build your business even more. Named one of the best publishing podcasts by LA Weekly, Feedspot, Podchaser and Kindlepreneur, On Good Authority features solo episodes as well as interviews with best-selling authors, entrepreneurs and publishing insiders. It has had over a million downloads, regularly appears on the top 100 career podcast list and manages to make discussions about publishing funny. Popular episodes include interviews with Chris Voss, Robert Greene and Lori Gottlieb.
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On Good Authority: Publishing the Book that Will Build Your Business
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Now displaying: Page 1
Feb 1, 2023

You're not a delusional person.

At least not usually.

But you may be one when it comes to publishing.

And that's why I made this episode.

It's based on the book I'm currently writing and it's about the delusions I see first-time authors suffer from. Seriously, publishing seems to inspire more delusions than Hugh Grant movies!

So here's your wake-up call. Don't hit snooze! 

And if you want exclusive stories, resources and info about this book as I write it, you can sign up for that on annadbook.com.

Jan 25, 2023

Amber Vilhauer is a leading digital strategist but she's so much more.

The founder of NGNG (No Guts No Glory) has come up with a system more ingenious than any I've ever seen when it comes to helping authors corral their network to support their book launches. Longtime listeners know that I'm a pretty jaded person who's tough to impress so you know how much it means when I say that when Amber shared her system and copy and videos with me, I was as blown away as I've been by any strategy I've seen during my decades in publishing.

In this episode, she breaks that strategy down by explaining how authors should approach the people they know, what to say when they do and how to make sure that getting support for a book launch is just as much about giving as it is receiving.

WANT TO BUILD YOUR AUTHORITY? GO TO www.ogauthoritypod.com

Jan 18, 2023

Jennie Nash is the book coach whisperer.

Or at least that's what I've named her after talking to her. The founder and CEO of Author Accelerator, a company that trains, certifies and supports book coaches so they can help writers do their best work, Nash has helped clients land top agents, six-figure book deals and make both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.

Also the author of 11 books in three different genres, Nash has certified over 130 coaches. If you've ever thought, "Hey, I might like to be a book coach," get this: the cost for certification is only $2400. If you're instead interested in hiring a coach, listen in on this episode to find out more. You can also find out more about both becoming a coach and hiring one here.

WANT TO BUILD YOUR AUTHORITY? GO TO OGAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Jan 11, 2023

Kay Allison is a former Senior Vice President at a global ad agency who increased her income by six, met and married a man she’s still crazy about 21 years later, helped Fortune 200 companies generate two billion in new revenue, adopted a child and invented four successful businesses since going alcohol free over two decades ago.

In short, she's learned how to live a JUICY AF life. And now she's written a book it.

While we talk a bit in this episode about being AF and her program for women who want to go AF, mostly we focused on how she went from behind-the-scenes power woman to forward-facing voice of freedom from alcohol.

And Allison did it all by giving first. This means that when she locates a podcast she wants to be on, she listens to episodes in the car while sending herself voice notes about how she thinks she could provide something as a guest. She also sends bookers handwritten notes, makes personal videos and, in short, thinks of how she can be of service. As you can imagine, her success rate for getting booked is quite high.

In this episode, she breaks down the giving-first mentality, including a not-to-be-missed method for getting people to actually open your book and not just let it sit on the shelf.

Enjoy this delightful strategy...and delightful woman.

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Jan 11, 2023

Kay Allison is a former Senior Vice President at a global ad agency who increased her income by six, met and married a man she’s still crazy about 21 years later, helped Fortune 200 companies generate two billion in new revenue, adopted a child and invented four successful businesses since going alcohol free over two decades ago.

In short, she's learned how to live a JUICY AF life. And now she's written a book it.

While we talk a bit in this episode about being AF and her program for women who want to go AF, mostly we focused on how she went from behind-the-scenes power woman to forward-facing voice of freedom from alcohol.

And Allison did it all by giving first. This means that when she locates a podcast she wants to be on, she listens to episodes in the car while sending herself voice notes about how she thinks she could provide something as a guest. She also sends bookers handwritten notes, makes personal videos and, in short, thinks of how she can be of service. As you can imagine, her success rate for getting booked is quite high.

In this episode, she breaks down the giving-first mentality, including a not-to-be-missed method for getting people to actually open your book and not just let it sit on the shelf.

Enjoy this delightful strategy...and delightful woman.

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Jan 4, 2023

The new podcast name debuts with a first-of-its-kind (at least for me) episode: a compilation of thoughts from the different publishing experts who have been on the show.

 

I was able to get both recorded and written thoughts from a bunch of my favorites, including Dave Chesson, Roseanne Cheng, Amber Vilhauer, Shelby Leigh, Derek Murphy and more. And they talked about everything from social media to AI to taking success into your own hands to so much more.

 

Give it a listen and get ahead of everything that 2023 has in store for us.

 

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Dec 28, 2022

This solo episode is all about how you can make writing (or finishing) your book your New Year's Resolution.

 

The main points are:

 

  • Give yourself a month in 2023 your first draft will be done
  • Give yourself a daily (or weekly) page count
  • Have accountability
  • Build your audience
  • Don't set yourself up for failure
  • Get clear on your "why"
  • Set up small goals along the way

Listen to get all the deets!

 

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Dec 21, 2022

Roseanne Cheng is the author of six books, including The Evergreen Author: Master the Art of Book Marketing and Portable Magic: How to Write and Publish a Great Book. The co-founder of Evergreen Authors—an online school that helps authors figure out the business of being a writer—she is also a Pinterest Queen. Or so I have named her.

 

In this episode, she broke down why Pinterest is the mostly-undiscovered platform for book promotion, how to create boards that attract the readers you want, whether you should have a page for yourself as an author or each of your books and so much more.

 

Plus she and her co-founder offer a FREE course on Pinterest that you can get here.

 

How helpful is this? Well, it's about to make me break my Pinterest cherry (will let you know how that works out).

 

It's all in this episode! Enjoy.

 

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Dec 14, 2022

If you hear words (but are they words really?) like "TikTok" and "BookTok" and go, "Ugh" or "I'm too late" or "I'm too old" or anything of the sort, this episode is for you.

 

Shelby Leigh got into the TikTok game relatively late and, in under two years, has sold 40,000 books as a result of her videos (one video in particular sold roughly 7000 copies!) This success has led the poet and mental health advocate not only to traditional publishing deals but also to a career as a book marketer.

 

And she makes the whole thing sound so DO-able! In this episode, she breaks down ways to hook TikTok scrollers, what TikTok "likes," how to grow your account to sell books and why BookTok truly can work for any book genre out there (yes, even yours).

 

Oh, and she sells products (including a $23 TikTok for Authors course) and consults with authors about growing their TikTok accounts. Go to her site to get in on all of it (and check out her TikTok here). Also! Enjoy our conversation, which provides a whole bunch of highly implementable tips and techniques.

 

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Dec 8, 2022

Whitney Gossett is a woman after my own heart.

 

A former literary agent who has sold numerous books to Big 5 publishers (including 26 New York Times bestsellers), she saw that traditional publishing was broken. Rather than lamenting that face, she turned around and created an audio company called Content Capital.

 

In other words, if anyone has her finger on the pulse of how publishing is changing, it's her. That's why I paid attention when she told me her firm belief is that authors should launch podcasts—ideally before they even launch their books.

 

Listen in to find out more about how to record episodes about your book in progress to encourage book pre-orders, why the podcast industry isn't as saturated as you may believe and so much more.

 

If you're looking to launch a podcast—or revamp your existing one—I highly recommend checking out Content Capital's services.

 

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Dec 7, 2022

Whitney Gossett is a woman after my own heart.

 

A former literary agent who has sold numerous books to Big 5 publishers (including 26 New York Times bestsellers), she saw that traditional publishing was broken. Rather than lamenting that face, she turned around and created an audio company called Content Capital.

 

In other words, if anyone has her finger on the pulse of how publishing is changing, it's her. That's why I paid attention when she told me her firm belief is that authors should launch podcasts—ideally before they even launch their books.

 

Listen in to find out more about how to record episodes about your book in progress to encourage book pre-orders, why the podcast industry isn't as saturated as you may believe and so much more.

 

If you're looking to launch a podcast—or revamp your existing one—I highly recommend checking out Content Capital's services.

 

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Nov 30, 2022

Christina Nicholson has seen all the bad publicity pitches.

 

A former TV anchor who hit "delete" faster than publicists could send her terrible pitches, Nicholson is the CEO of Media Maven, a PR agency that offers an online course and group program to help people get media coverage without having to hire a publicist.

 

Nicholson is also a TEDx speaker and the founder of Podcast Clout, a database for pitching podcasts. And she's offered you—yes you, lucky listener—a 50% off coupon for the service. 

 

To get Christina's list of 16 outlets to pitch, click here. To get the exact pitch that got a newbie on TV in San Diego, click here. To check out her three-day bootcamp to nail a pitch, click here. To find out about her Media Mentoring Program, click here. And to get access to Podcast Clout for 50% off, click here and use the code LEGACY.

 

That's a lot to do but I'm not done yet! Listen in on our conversation about the easiest ways to get PR, how to make a podcast want you, what do after your media appearance and so much more.

 

I also may have talked her out of doing the book she thought she was going to do and talked her into doing a different one.

 

It's all in this episode! Enjoy.

 

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Nov 23, 2022

Tony Lyons, the CEO of Skyhorse Publishing, is not one to shy away from controversy.

 

He's known, in fact, for picking up books from other publishers when the authors are "cancelled."

 

I'll be honest...I was scared to record this conversation because the times we live in—where anything you say if you don't subscribe to a certain way of thinking can be an opportunity for others to take you down. But the fact is, I believe that everyone should have a right to say what they believe, even if it's not what I believe, and that a mob mentality approach to scandals doesn't help anyone.

 

And so we got into all of it—how Skyhorse picked up Woody Allen's memoir after Hachette cancelled it, the ways some of his books have lost "likes" when they've been squashed, the money Vanity Fair must have spent punishing him for the Allen book and more. We also talked about which media opportunities can really move the needle in terms of book sales, why newsletter lists matter, how editorially influenced the New York Times bestseller list is and just how few sales you can have to make it on the list...among many other topics.

 

Brace yourself for this one.

 

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Nov 16, 2022

Brian Sachetta is the author and owner of “Get Out of Your Head,” a brand and book series that seeks to help folks overcome anxiety and depression.

 

As a software developer, he combines his experiences in the tech world with previous mental health battles to draw parallels between computer systems and the human mind in order to give readers practical strategies for evading their own psychological demons.

 

His two books—Get Out of Your Head: A Toolkit for Living with and Overcoming Anxiety and Get Out of Your Head Vol. 2: Navigating the Abyss of Depression—are designed to help those struggling with anxiety and depression.

 

In this episode, we had every intention of discussing Amazon glitches and working the back end of the site when publishing trouble arises but we got so into our discussion about trademark troubles, beta readers and how important it is not to trash other writers that I simply didn't allow him to discuss our planned topic. 

 

Juicy stuff here! I think you'll love it. For more about Brian and his books, go to Get Out of Your Head.

 


 

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Nov 9, 2022

Of all the interviews I've done, the one I'm asked about perhaps the most often is with the iconic Robert Greene.

 

This, of course, is not surprising. Greene is an icon in the writing world—as adored by rappers as he is by intellectual entrepreneurs for his meticulously researched tomes on power, seduction, narcissism and more.

 

What is surprising is what he revealed in this interview—namely, that traditional publishers don't do anything to support authors, why podcast promotion is so important and how listening to "the muse" while you write is one of the worst things you can do.

 

Please soak in this re-release as much as you can. It contains GOLD. 

 

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Nov 2, 2022

Chris Voss is someone who seems to have popped up out of nowhere before beginning to appear everywhere.

 

A former hostage negotiator, Voss watched his New York Times bestselling book, Never Split the Difference, become an instant classic in the business world as entrepreneurs soaked up his tactics. 

 

But how, exactly, did his book skyrocket to the top of bestseller lists and become so highly quotable? Turns out Voss took a very deliberate approach to his book promotion and it paid off handsomely. Spoiler alert: podcast interviews changed the game while book tours did not.

 

Listen to this can't-miss episode re-release to find out more.

 

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Oct 26, 2022

Misty McAfee is an author, marketer, real estate agent and delightful human. She's also someone who has some writing out there that could be relaunched—in particular a book on codependence she released in 2015 and a play she released in 2021.

 

In this episode, we went through both and discussed how she could change her title, cover, description, publishing company and more.

 

We also discussed what made her launch the way she did, how to relaunch a book while keeping your existing Amazon reviews and what happens when you dedicate a book to a now ex-husband.

 

Everything we discuss can be applied to your own books so take some notes for either your upcoming launch or a relaunch of any existing book!

 

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Oct 19, 2022

Dan Nicholson graduated summa cum laude from Seattle University with degrees in accounting and information systems before completing a fellowship at the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. He went on to work at Deloitte and various Fortune 500 companies and has been named to CPA Practice Advisor’s 40 Under 40 list of global accountants four times.

 

But, as he might say, blah blah blah.

 

His passion—and what he wrote his book Rigging the Game about—is what he had to unlearn after doing all those impressive things. He poured it all into Certainty U, a program that helps purpose-based entrepreneurs "get lucky."

 

On this episode, we discussed how he was able to sell thousands of copies of a book he hadn't yet written—in short, how he was able to rig the book publishing game. (And how you can, too.)

 

For more about Dan and his book, go to www.riggingamazon.com.

 

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Oct 12, 2022

Did you launch a book and have it not go according to plan?

 

That's what happened to John Checki, which is why he's the ideal person to feature on my new type of episode, "How to Fix a Broken Book."

 

He released his book, Spend Time and Save Money, in 2020 and while it's served as a business card for his son JJ (they wrote it together), it hasn't moved the needle nearly as much as it could have.

 

And so we discussed how his title, cover, description, byline, publisher name and reviews, among many other things, could be improved.

 

I'm terribly excited about this because even though listeners can't see the Amazon page in discussion (unless you go here), the episode contains so many actionable steps you can take if you're gearing up for a launch (or want to launch your book so successfully that you don't need to consider a re-launch).

 

John said he was going to implement these suggestions for a Thanksgiving relaunch and my plan is to reach out to listeners/subscribers whenever one of the books we've revamped in one of these episodes is relaunched and all support each other. (Except for me, who has been banned from doing Amazon reviews. We get into that in this episode.)

 

Enjoy and learn what not to do, or at least how to fix it. After all, it's never too late to fix a broken book.

 

ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Oct 5, 2022

Many authors are afraid of getting sued.

 

Many authors are confused about copyright. (It's legit confusing.)

 

Many authors don't know that they should establish an LLC.

 

That's why author and attorney Maria Riegger's advice and suggestions were so useful. 

 

In this episode, we talked about how to copyright your book, the risks of writing about someone you know and the importance of setting up an LLC, among many other things.

 

She's also written a book, Legal Issues Authors Must Consider, that's entirely focused on these topics.

 

So dig into this episode. And protect yourself!

 

IF YOU'RE A NON-FICTION AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Sep 28, 2022

Oh, wait a treat this one is!

 

Here you're getting four for the (free!) price of one: a round table interview with four of my clients at ONCE: Barbara Legere, Tamar Hermes, Chris Joseph and Lauren Schwarzfeld on the anxieties and excitement of their first book launch.

 

Only listen if you want to hear the disparate experiences authors have on their first book launch!

 

IF YOU'RE WRITING A NON-FICTION BOOK, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Sep 21, 2022

Jeremy Enns is the founder of Podcast Marketing Academy, the only growth-focused podcast education platform for experienced creators, brands and marketers looking to build long-term, sustainable audience growth systems.

 

We met five years ago at the World Domination Summit in Portland and I've followed his work religiously ever since. I've had other guests on before to talk about how authors can get booked on podcasts but I wanted to bring him on to talk about how authors can turn their books into podcasts (think Tim Ferriss' Tools of Titans).

 

In this episode, we talked about why you don't just want to make your podcast a rehash of your book but more a jumping off point, a way you could release a podcast while writing your book, thereby making your listeners into beta readers of sorts and how the way to be successful in a book-to-podcast transition is to have a strong thru-line.

 

IF YOU'RE A NON-FICTION AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Sep 14, 2022

Boy, does Craig Stanland have a story to tell.

 

It starts with the FBI knocking on his door, followed by two years in prison.

 

But that's not really what we delve into here. Instead we talk about the book he wrote on his experience—and the one major mistake he made.

 

Now that he's at work on book number two (title TBD—we get into that in the conversation), he's approaching everything differently.

 

Find out about that, as well as how he's planning to use videos to launch his next book, in this episode.

 

 

IF YOU'RE A NON-FICTION AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Sep 7, 2022

Holly Darling is the owner of Holly Darling HQ, a business that focuses on helping authors create and implement their email marketing strategies to sell more books and build their brand loyalty. 

 

In other words, she was the perfect person for me to interview about why you need to start your author newsletter list now—and the most effective ways to do that.

 

In this episode, we talked about so many things, including but not limited to: which newsletter provider is the best one to start with (hint: it's not Mailchimp), average open rates (and why open rates have been inflated lately), why to be vulnerable in your emails, how and why to split test, whether or not you should re-send emails to subscribers who don't open, where you should put your newsletter sign up in your book and finally why it's great to not have many subscribers.

 

In other words, actionable AF.

 

So dig in. And take action!

 

IF YOU'RE A NON-FICTION AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

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