Write With Impact with Glenn Leibowitz

I was recently in Hong Kong for a tech conference where I met Matt Mullenweg. For those of you who don’t know who Matt is, Matt took a piece of open source blogging software 12 years ago and started modifying it and improving it, and eventually turned it into WordPress, the content management software which powers 24% of all websites on the internet today.   Matt is the CEO of Automattic, which is the company that manages wordpress.com and offers a range of products and services that are part of the WordPress ecosystem.  Automattic today is valued at over a billion dollars.    Matt runs a very different company, and that’s something I go into with him in this conversation. For the most part, nobody needs to go into an office. Their 400 employees work at home or in shared offices in dozens of countries around the world. Matt hopes to scale that up to 4,000 someday.     They also rarely use email and instead use an internal blogging platform they created called P2 which they use to communicate.   In the first half of the conversation we talk a lot about WordPress and Matt’s vision and plans for WordPress, and for his company, Automattic.   In the second half of our conversation we talk about writing. Matt talks about several things, like:   Why writing is one of the most important skills he looks for in the people that he hires He talks about the importance of writing to his work as the CEO of a company that is now valued at a billion dollars He goes through his own writing process and shares some of the books that have inspired him to become a better writer And he explains why he believes that “an ugly blog with incredible content will win over a beautiful blog with crappy content”   As always you can find the show notes to this episode, including a link to a new book that is being written about WordPress, which Matt invites you to download for free.    And you can pick up my free guide to writing well over at writewithimpact.com/episode24.   

Mark Vanhoenacker is a Senior First Officer for British Airways who flies cross-continental routes on 747s.  He writes about flying for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Slate, and other publications. He’s the author of the recent book, Skyfaring: A Journey With a Pilot, which was published by Knopf. The book has received glowing reviews from The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, Conde Nast Traveler, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and many more. I enjoyed the book for the beautiful, poetic descriptions of flying and aircraft, and for how the author takes very complex concepts from the world of aviation and translates them for lay readers like you and me. I fly quite a lot each year for my job as a communications professional, and I have to admit the experience of flying has lost a lot of its cache over the years. I don’t enjoy many aspects of flying, especially what I have to go through on the ground before and after I’m on the plane. But this book has renewed my fascination and appreciation for flying. And for me, it’s an example of beautifully crafted nonfiction writing that can inspire and educate at the same time. In this episode, I talk to Mark about the story of how he went from PhD student to management consultant to 747 pilot; how he started his side career as a writer by publishing in top-tier newspapers and online publications; what inspires his poetic writing style, and the process he went through to write and publish his new book. And at the end of our conversation Mark reads two passages from his book, which I hope you’ll stick around long enough to listen to. As always, you can find the show notes to this episode with links to Mark’s book and website at writewithimpact.com/episode23. There you can pick up a free ebook I put together with some of my writing tips and inspiring quotes from great authors.  Follow Write With Impact on Twitter @impactfulwriter Like Write With Impact on Facebook  Follow the Write With Impact collection on Medium  

Shane Snow is the bestselling author of Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success. He’s also the Chief Creative Officer of Contently, a technology company he co-founded in 2010 with the mission to create a better media world.   An alumnus of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Shane's writing has appeared in Wired Magazine, The New Yorker, Fast Company, Mashable, Gizmodo, The Washington Post, Business Insider, and The Huffington Post.   Shane has been named one of Forbes's "30 Under 30 Media Innovators," Inc.'s "30 Under 30 Entrepreneurs," and Business Insider's "100 Coolest People in Tech”.    I spoke to Shane about the elements that make a good story. He also talks bout how to apply storytelling techniques to shorter form content like social media posts, or blog posts on LinkedIn, where he’s one of the first Influencers on that platform.    He also had some interesting things to say about how artificial intelligence might be changing the way stories are being written in certain areas like sports reporting.   And he opened the door to his writing studio and gave us a peek at his writing process.   You can find the show notes to this episode with links to his book and websites, along with a link to a free 9-part video course on email marketing, over at writewithimpact.com/episode22.   Follow Write With Impact on Twitter @impactfulwriter   Like Write With Impact on Facebook at facebook.com/WriteWithImpact  

In 2008, Joanna Penn was a highly paid but unhappy management consultant who felt the pull from her creative side. So she started a blog, a podcast, and then published her first non-fiction book about changing careers. She quickly moved into writing fiction and published her first novel a year later. In 2011, she quit her day job to devote herself full-time to her new career as an author-entrepreneur. And she has never looked back. Today, Joanna is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her tenth novel, Deviance, was just published last week. And she recently released a new book on how to make a living as a writer. Joanna is also a prolific blogger, podcaster, speaker, instructor, social media maven, and self-professed travel junkie. I spoke to Joanna about how she made the transition from consultant to full-time author, how she loves to travel to conduct research for her novels, the rigorous scheduling system she uses to plan her work months or even years in advance, the process she uses to get into a state of flow and write more productively, how she uses Twitter to connect with readers and other writers, and much more. Another topic that Joanna covered briefly was the need for an email list. She says this is something that all writers need to build.  In fact, it’s something all of the writers I’ve spoken to put at the very top of their priorities. To help you get started with building your email list, or to help you take your email marketing efforts to the next level, I encourage you to take a free 9-part video course on email marketing, from the folks at Leadpages. Just click here and start watching the videos.  It’s free.

Kevin Kruse is a New York Times bestselling author who decided to leave his 9-to-5 job this past January so he could devote himself full-time to his passion: writing and publishing books.   He’s been blogging about the experience and sharing all of his strategies and even income reports on his blog. And just last week, he announced he hit his goal of earning $100,000 from his publishing and speaking engagements.    In our conversation, Kevin shares some of the strategies he uses to plan and write his books, his email marketing strategies, how he leverages his books into lucrative speaking engagements, and how he uses social media.   And, speaking of email marketing, I’d like to share an announcement: there’s a free email marketing course available from the folks at Leadpages!   They’ve put together a 9-part video course that walks you step-by-step through everything you need to know to grow your email list, and turn subscribers into customers. And best of all, it’s completely free!   Click here for your free 9-part email marketing video course --> http://www.writewithimpact.com/emailcourse   Find the show notes to this episode at writewithimpact.com/episode20   Follow Write With Impact on Twitter @impactfulwriter   Like Write With Impact on Facebook here.   Check out our Youtube channel here.  

I’ve read many books about the storytelling craft, almost all of which focus on writing fiction. And while I’m not a fiction author, I’ve found that these books provide the best sources of strategies and techniques for planning, writing, and editing nonfiction stories of the kind that I create.   One such book that I recently discovered offers the most systematic and comprehensive methodology for analyzing and improving stories that I’ve ever seen. It’s called, The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know, and it’s by Shawn Coyne, a 25-year veteran of the publishing industry who has worked with hundreds of authors as editor, co-author, publisher, or agent.    In The Story Grid, Coyne has codified everything he knows about writing and editing great stories. He’s used his methodology — which he developed over the course of his career — to take hundreds of raw manuscripts to A-level published fiction and nonfiction. Books that he has edited and published have generated more than $150 million in sales in North America alone.   In this episode, I’m very pleased to have Shawn take us through how The Story Grid works, and how you can apply it to your own fiction or narrative non-fiction stories.   He also speaks about his publishing venture, Black Irish Press, which he manages with his long-time business partner Steven Pressfield, the noted author of many books of fiction and non-fiction, including The War of Art, which Shawn edited.   This is a longer episode than usual but I’m confident you’ll get a lot of practical strategies for improving your stories from Shawn.     Be sure to check out the show notes to this episode where you can find the links to Shawn’s blog, his books, and his website for Black Irish Press over at writewithimpact.com/episode19.   Follow Write With Impact on Twitter @impactfulwriter   Like Write With Impact on Facebook at facebook.com/writewithimpact  

Oliver Burkeman is a journalist with The Guardian where he writes a popular column about self-help culture, productivity and the science of happiness.   He’s also the author of an excellent book that has taken the self-help industry by storm: The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking.    I spoke with Oliver about his column and how he planned, researched and wrote his book. We also talked about many aspects of his writing process, like:   The power of Morning Pages, a journaling technique that was developed and popularized by the creativity coach and writer Julia Cameron, and how he uses it to tackle difficult issues. How he battles what Steven Pressfield has called “The Resistance” by focusing on getting down to work each morning, regardless of how he feels at the moment, or whether he feels particularly inspired. How, through his writing, he enjoys having clearly conveyed very complex ideas to non-experts, whom he calls “intelligent generalists”.  You can find the show notes to this episode over at writewithimpact.com/episode18.   Follow Write With Impact on Twitter @impactfulwriter   Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/writewithimpact

Professor Daniel Oppenheimer holds joint positions in marketing and psychology at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Previously he was a Professor at Princeton University for 8 years, where he held a joint appointment in psychology and public affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He joined the faculty of Princeton after receiving his PhD from Stanford. Professor Oppenheimer has received several prestigious awards for his research, which focuses on human decision making. His work has also been featured in top-tier media. He’s the co-author of the book, Democracy Despite Itself: Why a System That Shouldn't Work at All Works So Well. And recently, he was named as one of the Best 40 Professors under 40 by Poets and Quants, a widely read blog about MBA programs. In this episode, Professor Oppenheimer talks about research he conducted with his graduate assistant Pam Mueller when he was at Princeton. They studied the impact of taking notes by hand versus laptop on the retention and understanding of information by students. Their study generated a tremendous amount of buzz in top tier media like the Wall Street Journal, which is where I first spotted it. Professor Oppenheimer explains why they decided to undertake this research, the methodology they used, and their surprising findings. We also talk about how his research is of relevance to writers like you and me. And he shares some of the techniques he uses to break through writer’s block and achieve flow. Find the shownotes to this episode at writewithimpact.com/episode17 Pick up a free ebook with writing tips here Like the Write With Impact Facebook page Follow Write With Impact on Twitter

Paul Jarvis is a successful digital entrepreneur who publishes best-selling books on writing, publishing, and digital marketing. He’s also a web designer who has helped some of the biggest names in the online space like Marie Forleo. And, he creates online courses where he shares everything he knows about building a successful business as a creative freelancer. I’ve been reading Paul’s weekly newsletter, the Sunday Dispatches, for the past year now, and I’m an avid listener of his podcast, Invisible Office Hours, which he co-hosts with Jason Zook. In this episode, Paul shares a ton of insights into how he creates so much high quality content across so many different platforms: He shares his technique for writing best-selling books. He talks about how focusing on a single project and shutting down all other distractions like social media helps him to maximize his productivity. He talks about the innovative way that he and Jason used to successfully monetize their podcast without sponsorship or advertising of any kind. And he talks about how consistently showing up and delivering exceptional value to your audience can eventually pay off in terms of building a loyal tribe of followers, and sales of your products or services. Get more information on this episode over at writewithimpact.com/episode16 and pick up a free ebook with my writing tips while you're there.  Follow Write With Impact on Twitter @impactfulwriter Like Write With Impact on Facebook

Today I’ve decided to take a break from talking about writing. Instead, we’re going to dive into a topic that is something I’ve been doing for several decades now through my work as a communications and branding professional, and something that I believe is incredibly relevant to all of you writers out there: branding!   That’s right. We’re going to put our pens down and close our Moleskin notebooks and Macbook Pros and listen to Aaron Pierson talk about how to create a brand strategy that will help you get noticed.   Aaron is an experienced brand strategist and designer who has worked with several leading digital marketers and major consumer and B2B companies.   At the end of our conversation he talks a little about his new Activator digital brand strategy course which you can find right here.     I worked with Aaron on the branding for this podcast and the Write With Impact website, so I know what it’s like firsthand to get his expert guidance on brand development.    I think you’re going to enjoy this conversation and will get a lot of practical tips for thinking about your own brand, whether you’re an ebook author or blogger or freelance writer or editor.   Be sure to pick up your free writing tips over at writewithimpact.com/gift   Subscribe to Write With Impact on iTunes at writewithimpact.com/itunes   Subscribe on Stitcher at writewithimpact.com/stitcher   Follow us on Twitter @impactfulwriter   And like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/writewithimpact