AuthorMBA: Conversations About Book Marketing, Publishing, Author Platforms, and Other Business Strategies for Authors

The parallels between creating books and building businesses are strong and made stronger thanks to Samir Rath. Samir isn’t only a seasoned startup founder and angel investor—he’s also the author of No Startup Hipsters: Build Scalable Technology Companies. I was blown away by Samir’s pinpoint business thinking and how it applies in equal measure to forging a thriving, meaningful business as well as crafting a memorable, important b...

Joining me today is none other than Niki Papadopoulos, senior editor at Penguin Random House. I’m so honored to have Niki on the show to talk about life inside one of the world’s largest publishers. We explore her work as a front-line member assessing and acquiring books for the Portfolio, Sentinel, and Current imprints. We chat about why traditional publishers remain relevant in the industry despite a lot of criticism. And we delv...

When a successful entrepreneur and startup advisor wants to distill his experience into a book to educate others, surely he is going to choose to write a non-fiction trade book, right? Not if your name is Eliot Peper. Instead of pursuing the conventional path toward yet another business book extolling advice, Eliot choose to contextualize his knowledge into a fiction story—Uncommon Stock. Eliot's book is defining a new category wit...

Startup expert and author Jeremiah Gardner returns to talk about the aftermath of his success crowdfunding campaign for The Lean Brand. With over $23,000 raised directly through the campaign and via private investments, Jeremiah's book is on a trajectory toward success. What did he learn through his experience writing and crowdfunding his book? How did he avoid near disaster when his campaign momentum plummeted four days in? What i...

Douglas Goldstein is the co-author of Rich as a King: How the Wisdom of Chess Can Make You a Grandmaster of Investing. Built around the application of strategic thinking and world-class decision-making, Doug’s book is a fantastic example of an interdisciplinary book positioned to create an impact on multiple levels. In our chat, Doug shares just why he and co-author Susan Polgar (a genuine chess grandmaster) had to write this book,...

If you’re an author entrepreneur or work in the business of books, then you’ve probably learned that there is no magic formula for success. A no-name author can become an breakout bestseller. And a best-selling author can publish a dud. Often times, we trick ourselves into thinking that there IS a formula for success, and that any failures we experience somehow went against the gain. Tim Fargo proves that myth dead wrong. Tim is th...

Jason Gilmore is an accomplished programmer who has been writing tech books for years. He's landed traditional book deals as well as published and sold books via self-publishing channels. And as a good programmer, he studies the data—all kinds of data. As Jason shares in this episode, there's a lot to know and calculate when it comes to the business value of books. From testing book concepts before you even start writing the book t...

Although the publishing industry is ripe for innovation, figuring out how to tear down the old norms and build a thriving publishing startup company is tricky business. Lots of entrepreneurs have tried and failed at progressive publishing companies. But not Dane McDonald, the founder and CEO of a profitable publishing startup called FG Press. FG Press is a modern publishing company that gives control to authors. They treat their au...

How do you handle the emotions when your dream of being traditionally published doesn't come true? And what do you do with the manuscript you've worked on tirelessly? Terry Starbucker is confronting those questions right now. A successful businessman and blogger, Terry invested many years and thousands of dollars writing and re-writing his book. Alas, no traditional houses are biting at his proposal. In this intimate chat, Terry te...

Chris Johnson and Jason Moore aren't authors, but they help some of the biggest authors launch their books with a BANG! From Seth Godin to Arianna Huffington to Ryan Holiday, Chris and Jason—and their company, Simpliflim—produce blockbuster media assets that are positioned to rocket book attention and sales into the stratosphere. In this lively episode, you'll learn all about the the state of book marketing at the highest levels as...

C.C. Chapman has been working in the realm of content for a while now. He first seized the opportunity of emerging web 2.0 platforms to catapult his writing career, which has admittedly grown fast and done well. He now has a thriving consulting career and exciting new business prospects. But the journey hasn't always been glamorous. And questions of 'what to do next' always remain. Chapman shares how he managed to grow his career t...

By today's standards, "build marketing into your book" has become common business advice for authors. There are, of course, a bajillion ways to go about doing that, some more effective than others. Jason Sadler, now Jason SurfrApp of IWearYourShirt.com fame, has embraced that logic in a mind-blowing way: he has a sponsor for every page in his book as well as the covers (front and back) and inside flaps. That may sound off-putting (...

More and more professionals these days are changing not only jobs but entire careers. That said, going from a pharmaceutical sales professional to a professor of and author on creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship is a big and difficult leap. That's precisely the career change that David Burkus successfully made. Burkus teaches at Oral Roberts University and is the author of 'The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Inno...

Brands don't only pertain to apparel companies like Nike, electronic manufacturers like Apple, tech companies like Twitter, or entertainment companies like Disney. For all the same marketplace positioning and economic advantage reasons, authors need to concentrate on developing magnetic and memorable brands too—both at their platform and book levels. Successful entrepreneur turned author Jeremiah Gardner is something of a Yoda abou...

Business can be stressful, especially as an entrepreneur, right? Of course it can, and often is. But for Richard Sheridan, his life as a software entrepreneur is amazingly joyful. In fact, joy is the secret to his company's tremendous success. In 'Joy, Inc.', Richard reveals how a workplace culture build upon joy enables the most positive, productive, and profitable work. Not surprisingly, perhaps, joy is also at the root of Richar...

When big league authors like Tim Ferriss of 'The 4-Hour Workweek' fame need help with their book projects, they call Ryan Holiday. Ryan is particularly gifted at marketing, or "growth hacking" as has become the rage. And Ryan's an accomplished writer in his own right. His latest book, 'The Obstacle is the Way: Turning Adversity into Advantage', is a powerful read about the stoic qualities needed to get unstuck in your career and li...

Benny Lewis is a first-time author, but you wouldn't know it from the resounding success of his first book, Fluent In 3 Months. The book became an international bestseller almost instantly thanks in part to his established and enthusiastic fan base, which happens to be a global audience. Benny joins the show to reveal some intimate details about his publishing process with HarperCollins—one of the big six traditional publishers—as ...

Shawn Murphy is devoted to the idea of infusing greater joy and responsibility into the modern workplace. He is turning to the world of books and publishing to expand the reach of his work. Along the way, he's learning a lot about what it's like to evolve from pure businessman to author entrepreneur. He's expe...

Joshua Fields Millburn quit his comfortable corporate job in his thirties to pursue what he truly loved—writing books. In the few years since Joshua excited the corporate business world to work for himself in the book business world, he's developed an impressive readership and author platform at TheMinimalists...