Write With Impact with Glenn Leibowitz

Today I’m very pleased to welcome Jeff Goins on the show. Jeff is the author of four books, including the national best-seller, "The Art of Work". He’s also a full-time blogger, speaker, and entrepreneur. Jeff’s award-winning blog, GoinsWriter.com, has been visited by over four million people from around the world, and his work has been featured in the Washington Post, USA Today, Entrepreneur, Forbes, and Psychology Today.  In this episode, Jeff dives deep into a number of topics, such as how he found his calling as a writer, and how his new book is motivating people around the world to discover — and pursue — their calling in life. Jeff also offers some practical advice for writers trying to hone their craft and build their platform.  He also breaks down the innovative strategy he used to successfully launch his new book, "The Art of Work", which hit several best-seller lists and sold over 20,000 copies in just the first month after publication.  He covers so much more in this conversation, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. And, if you listen all the way to the end of this episode, you’ll get to hear Jeff talk about the time when he became an unexpected rock star in Taiwan. It’s pretty funny, I have to admit. You can find all of the show notes and links to Jeff’s books, and the books he mentioned in this episode, over at writewithimpact.com/episode14.

Leah Bell is the author of the brand new book, The Angry Grad. It’s a book for students and recent college graduates who might be facing a mountain of debt and uncertain job prospects. In her book, she shares some hard-nosed facts and advice about college and the working world, and then offers practical ideas and asks questions that can help the reader think through his or her options after graduation. In my conversation with Leah, she talks about why she wrote this book, who it’s aimed at, and what they can expect to get out of it. She also talks about how she wrote it, and what she plans to do to market it. If you haven’t already noticed from my previous episodes, I’m a champion for the self-publishers out there, and I have invited several authors who have self-published their work on Amazon and have done quite well at it. This is Leah’s first book, and I thought her story would provide inspiration to all of you who are working on your first book, or thinking about writing one. I think you’ll enjoy this conversation as much as I did. If you want to check out her book and buy a copy on Amazon, just click here.  Contact Leah atThe Angry Grad website   Subscribe to Write With Impact on iTunes at writewithimpact.com/itunes and on Stitcher at writewithimpact.com/stitcher   Sign-up to become a Write With Impact Scribe and receive the latest episodes, blog posts, and free ebooks at writewithimpact.com

Charlotte Eriksson, known as The Glass Child by her fans, is a 24-year-old singer-songwriter and author who has single-handedly built her own music and book publishing business on the back of her tremendous talent and her ability to create a global following of fans who love her, and love her music and writing.   I invited her on the show because she writes in so many different genres - from music to books to social media posts -  and publishes her work on so many different platforms. I also wanted to find out how she uses social media to build relationships with her fans, and how she manages to make a living from her self-publishing efforts.   Hers is an inspiring story for anyone trying to build their own platform and publish their first or second book or album.   And if you listen all the way to the end, you’ll get to hear one of her latest songs.   So get comfortable, make yourself a cup of coffee or tea, and enjoy…   You can find the show notes to this episode with links to Charlotte’s websites, Amazon author page, and iTunes channel, at writewithimpact.com/episode12 Like Write With Impact on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Today I’m going to talk about how to break through what I call “blogger’s block.” Yeah, you know what I mean. When you run into that wall and just can’t seem to find something to write about. You might have too much to choose from and suffer from the “curse of choice." Or perhaps you feel you have nothing to share at all. Or maybe you’re just having a hard time getting started on that idea you’ve been chewing on for a while. When I first started blogging on LinkedIn and on my personal blog, I struggled with what I should write about. I think this is a common problem that all new bloggers face. In fact, it’s probably one of the main reasons why many people still haven’t even begun to blog. They think — mistakenly — they either have nothing to write about, or that what they do want to write about won’t find an audience. By committing to posting on a weekly basis, I was able to slowly build a repertoire of posts — a body of work — that proved to myself, at least, that I did have something to write about. And judging by the views, likes, comments and social shares my posts generated on LinkedIn and my boo, people were interested in what I had to say. As I look over my posts, I can spot a number of “post types” that each post could be categorized under. I’ll go through several of these now on this podcast. I hope they give you ideas for when you find yourself struggling to find something to write about. They might help you break through your own form of “blogger’s block.” Read the full text of this episode over at writewithimpact.com/episode11

Monica is a novelist who writes across several different genres, including romance, young adult, and science fiction.    In this episode of Write With Impact, Monica shares the process she developed that enables her to write more than 3,500 words per hour. She covers the exact framework that she explains in her new book, "Write Better, Faster: How To Triple Your Writing Speed and Write More Every Day."   It’s a fascinating conversation, and I’m sure you’ll get a ton of valuable strategies and tips on how to substantially boost your own writing speed.     You can find links to her blog, where she shares a ton of free insights into her writing process, as well as links to her books on Amazon over at writewithimpact.com/episode10   To get the latest episode of Write With Impact, subscribe on iTunes at www.writewithimpact.com/itunes or on Stitcher at writewithimpact.com/stitcher  

It’s impossible to put a single label on Robin Rice. She does so many things.   She’s a storyteller and author whose writing has been translated into several languages.   Robin is also a social change artist who has launched several creative, high impact social media campaigns that have transformed the lives of women and men around the world.    And, Robin is a spiritual teacher and mentor to world leaders from the political, NGO, entrepreneurial and arts communities.   We discussed how she uses writing in all aspects of her work, whether it be writing books, blog posts, creating apps, filming videos, or launching viral social media campaigns that change lives.   And she offers practical advice for people trying discover their calling in life, and how writing can be a powerful tool that can help people through their personal journeys.     You can find more information about Robin including links to her websites and books over at writewithimpact.com/episode9   

Yesterday, I awoke to the sad news that William Zinsser, the writer, teacher, and author of "On Writing Well" and many other books about writing, had passed away. I wrote about Zinsser in a blog post earlier this year, but in the past 24 hours, I’ve had time to reflect again on what I’ve learned from him. I thought I’d share a few of these thoughts here as my brief tribute to the man who has had a profound impact on my writing. Read the full text of this episode here: www.writewithimpact.com/william-zinsser

More than 50,000 blog posts are published on LinkedIn every week. How do you get your post noticed? What are LinkedIn readers looking for? How long should posts be, and what are the best topics to write about?   To answer these questions, I invited LinkedIn Senior Editor Isabelle Roughol to join me on Write With Impact.  She offers several tips to writers seeking to attract more views, likes and social shares of their posts.   Download a free 14-point checklist that you can refer to when writing your next (or first) post on LinkedIn, at www.writewithimpact.com/episode7

Today I’m going to mix it up a bit and do what I call a “coffeecast.” It’s just going to be me and the microphone.    I thought I’d talk about a topic that is not exactly about writing, but is definitely relevant to writing.   Reading!   Yes, reading. Reading is so important to becoming a good writer.   I was reminded of this yesterday when I read an interview in the latest issue of TIME magazine with Harold Bloom, a Yale professor and literary scholar recognized as one of the foremost experts on Shakespeare.    Something he said about the importance of reading struck me as being so important and so true.  Here’s what he said:   “Writers are, in the first place, readers. I tell every writer I’ve ever known, either they are deep readers or they cannot become real writers. Read only the best and most challenging and traditional. And reread it.”   One of the questions I like to ask all of my guests on this podcast is what book  - or author - influenced them the most. The answers are always illuminating, because what they are doing is sharing a very pivotal moment in their careers as a writer.    That one book, or one author, who made them pause and think, “Hey, this is really fantastic. I want to do this. I want to be a writer too. How can I do what they do? How can I become what they are?”   So, reading is important to becoming a writer. Which leads me to the topic of today’s podcast.    Reading.   And since it’s Mother’s Day this Sunday, May 10, I thought I’d take this opportunity to reflect on how mothers are so instrumental in teaching their children how to read, and how they inspire children to become lifelong readers.   So I wrote a blog post about this which I’m going to read right now.   You can read the text of this post on my website at writewithimpact.com/read      

Steve Scott has built a highly successful business by self-publishing Kindle books on Amazon. Starting from literally zero just a few years ago, today he’s earning anywhere from $20,000 to upwards of $60,000 a month publishing books on a range of highly practical topics, with a focus most recently on personal productivity and developing good habits.   In this episode of Write With Impact, Steve goes into detail on the marketing strategies he uses to promote his books, his writing process, and some of his near-term plans for expanding his book-based business. He also offers advice for first-time authors hoping to self-publish their books on Amazon.    For the complete show notes to this episode, click here: www.writewithimpact.com/episode5