Behind the Book Cover

Rather than interviewing a guest or breaking down an expert author's way of launching a book, this week I'm answering the question: How do I become a better writer?   The short answer is: write. The longer answer is: write and read. The still longer answer is in this episode.   And if you want me to answer your writing question on this show, DM on Instagram at @annabdavid.   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR? DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Rather than interviewing a guest or breaking down an expert author's way of launching a book, this week I'm answering the question: How long should a book be. The short answer is: it depends. The longer answer is that books are getting shorter. Confused yet? Listen to the episode and you won't be.   And if you want me to answer your writing question on this show, DM on Instagram at @annabdavid.   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR? DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

There's no one like James Altucher. Now I get that there's no one like any of us but there's REALLY no one like James Altucher. The hedge fund manager, podcaster and author of over 20 books has one of the most unique writing voices around—a major reason why his book, Choose Yourself, sold 40,000 copies in its first week of release. But there are a number of other reasons he sold so many copies and I break those reasons down in this episode. I get into how he hones his writer's voice, controls his destiny, gathers opinions, comes up with unique propositions and then gets media attention for them, spends what he can afford to and—most importantly—never stops writing. You may not be someone The New York Times writes about when you decide to embrace minimalism but that doesn't mean you can't learn from what he does and apply all the same concepts and techniques to your own book release. In fact, in this episode, I break down exactly how. WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR? DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Do you really need me to tell you who Jeff Garlin is? Well, the simple way to handle that is to tell you that he stars on arguably the most adored show of all time (Curb Your Enthusiasm) as well as one of the most mainstream shows of all time (The Goldbergs).   But he does so much more than just come to you via your SmartTV. He's also a standup (um, obv), photographer and author. In this episode, he explains what happens when you sell a book to a big publisher but then it doesn't sell the number of copies anyone had hoped (and also has an odd name change somewhere between the hardcover and paperback).   This episode also has LOTS of digressions into random topics both because Jeff Garlin could be renamed DIgression Garlin and also because we're pals who digress a lot. Listen and digress with us...   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR? DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Today I'm doing one of those breakdowns of how the experts launch their books (check out my previous one on Tim Ferriss here). And this episode analyzes the moves made by the icon to middle-aged women across the globe: Rachel Hollis.    Rachel has had extraordinary success, by any standards. Her book, Girl Wash Your Face, sold three million copies JUST on Amazon. She hosts a huge conference, has a Netflix documentary and has millions of followers on social media.   But this sprightly little thing didn't just waltz into stupendous success. In this episode, I meticulously break down what I believe are the four main reasons she's had such an impact: 1) She knows her audience 2) She makes it about them 3) She's consistent 4) She listens to that audience   To understand how she's done that and hear more of my analysis of her many bright moves, check out the episode.   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR? DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Tim Ferriss needs no introduction. He not only hosts one of the world's most successful podcasts and maintains one of the world's most successful blogs but he was also an early investor in companies like Uber and Shopify and is the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers, including The 4-Hour Workweek and Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers.    Since there's no one alive who's better at launching books, I decided to do something new for this episode: break down exactly what he does and how he does it. His tactics include reading 50 different books on his book's topic before he even starts writing, offering spectacular launch bonuses for those who buy his books in bulk, attending conferences in order to chat with bloggers and influencers and way too many others to list in this post—so many that you'll soon learn why this required its own episode.   If you like this sort of episode, I'd be excited to do more on other people who are brilliant at launching books but would be hard to land on the show. It's fun to research and talk about how someone like Ferriss manages to do what he does (spoiler alert: it doesn't involve just getting lucky). Please let me know in the form of an Itunes review if you want me to do more of these. In the meantime, enjoy this breakdown!   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR? DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Cameron Herold is the Founder of the COO Alliance & Second In Command Podcast as well as the author of five books and an international public speaker. By the age of 35, he’d help build his first TWO $100 MILLION DOLLAR companies and by 42, he engineered 1-800-GOT-JUNK?’s spectacular growth from $2 million to $106 million in revenue.   So you get it. The guy's a machine. And he's a machine well worth talking to about what a book (let alone five) can do for a career, seeing as his have added millions of dollars to his bottom line. He also knows how to engineer a fantastic book launch, since he's an expert on generating PR (exhibit A: his 2019 book, Free PR). Exhibit B: his tactics have landed him everywhere from The New York Times to Oprah.   In this episode, we talked about how to get the media to care about you (hint: it involves picking up the phone), why to put an 800 number on your book cover and how paying for 1000 copies of your own book to give away may be the smartest business decision you can make.   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR? DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET BY GOING TO WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

In the last 33 years, Chris Joseph has started and managed three environmental consulting businesses, launched two fan-funded music record companies and founded a non-profit charitable foundation. He has also dabbled in philanthropy, songwriting and magazine writing, and he is currently studying for his real estate license. Chris is an LA native who lives in Santa Monica with his two teenage sons and his longtime girlfriend Susie.    He is also the author of Life is a Ride: My Unconventional Journey to Cancer Recovery which I am very proud to say Launch Pad has just published. The book is about how, after being diagnosed with third-stage pancreatic cancer and discouraged by traditional medical treatment, he embarked on his own path to healing. It's a beautiful, poignant journey that will inspire many and I'm looking forward to seeing what it does for him.   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR? DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET BY GOING TO WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Cindy Chupack is a TV writer/producer whose credits include Sex and the City, Better Things, Divorce, Modern Family, Everybody Loves Raymond and I’m Dying Up Here.  She recently directed her first feature, Otherhood, now available on Netflix.  She has written two comic memoirs: the NYT bestseller The Between Boyfriends Book: A Collection of Cautiously Hopeful Essays and The Longest Date: Life as a Wife. Now divorced, her latest “chapter” was published recently in Katie Couric’s newsletter, a piece called Love in the Time of Covid-19.    She's also one of the kindest, most modest people alive. Proof: that bio above, which she gave me, doesn't even mention the fact that she has won Emmys and Golden Globes. As in: multiple. We met when we both contributed essays to the anthology Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys and in the years since, I've watched her straddle the line of author, TV writer, director and storyteller, among several other pursuits.   In this episode, we talked about how important it is to figure out ahead of time what you want your book to do for you, how likely it is to have your book adapted into a TV show or movie and the difference between writing a memoir and a book of essays, among many other topics.   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR? DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET BY GOING TO WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Rebekah “Bex” Borucki, founder of BEXLIFE® and the BLISSED IN® wellness movement, is a mother of five, meditation guide, birth doula, mentor for creative healers and author of books for big and little readers. She has taught meditation and is a mentor to creative healers who have gone on to receive publishing contracts with major houses like Simon & Schuster and Hay House. Rebekah is published by Hay House, the Quarto Publishing Group, and her own imprint, Wheat Penny Press, which she founded in 2019.   In this episode, we talked about how we met (sitting next to each other on a bus in Israel—for reals), how she went from single mom on welfare to powerhouse author, mentor and a million other things and how and why writing a book changed her entire career.   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR? DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET BY GOING TO WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM