How his first book began

Tom Zoellner has no illusions about fame, sales or the myth of the “life-changing book.” A National Book Critics Circle Award winner and New York Times bestselling author, Zoellner has written nine acclaimed works of nonfiction including Island on Fire: The Revolt that Ended Slavery in the British Empire, which also became a finalist for the Bancroft Prize and the California Book Award. But despite the accolades, he’s learned to see writing not as a climb toward visibility but as a lifelong meditation on curiosity and craft.

In this episode, he and I had a lively debate about such things as whether technology is the death knell of creativity or an amazing opportunity, if one should be writing to build authority or to simply to experience the satisfaction of delving deeply into a topic and even how to pronounce BISAC (not to mention his last name).

We also talk about how I once said a sentence to him summarizing how I feel about book publishing that he quotes back to me all the time.

Tom may be my polar opposite in terms of using a book to strategically advance but I do admire the way he writes, as he says, to add one small spark to the larger fire of human knowledge. Listen in to find where you may lie on the spectrum of creativity and commercialism (and where the two meet).

Episode Highlights:

• Tom recounts his journey from local newspapers in Nebraska to national recognition as an award-winning author.
• The evolution of publishing from thoughtful gatekeeping to chaotic marketing—and why he prefers the old systems where “the rules were known.”
• The strange hazards of traditional publishing, from miscategorized books to tone-deaf cover designs and dismissive editors.
• How his first book, The Heartless Stone, grew out of a broken engagement and a trip to the Central African Republic to investigate the diamond trade.
• His growing frustration with publicity, branding and the myth that every author must be a marketer—and how rejecting that mindset changed his relationship to writing.
• His perspective on authorship as both isolation and immersion—solitary work that still requires a deep engagement with life.

Key Takeaways:

• The best part of writing happens at the keyboard, not on the bestseller list.
• Traditional publishing has lost its certainty but the writer’s task remains the same: contribute something meaningful.
• There’s power in humility, patience and persistence in a field obsessed with visibility.
• A book’s true success isn’t measured in sales or awards but in the moment it adds light to the collective bonfire of ideas.