Light Hustler: Making Your Mess Into Your Message

Jeanne Darst's story is what happens when everything goes right—and then you realize "right" is more complicated than you thought. After years of doing plays for 200 people in Vermont, she hit the publishing lottery: a bidding war sparked by a “This American Life” appearance that had publishers hunting her down by the next morning. Riverhead Books won with serious money, the New York Times loved it, Vogue excerpted it, HBO optioned it and she wrote the pilot. It was the full fantasy—except the show didn't get picked up (Girls was coming out), and she spent the next decade in the Hollywood machine. Her TV writing career was a success—she got a series of TV staff writing jobs—but her second book, Dad's Trying to Kill Me, couldn't find a publisher (despite glowing rejections). Now she's back to putting on shows while continuing to write, because sometimes the dream coming true teaches you what you actually want.Episode Highlights:How Jeanne's This American Life story triggered a massive publishing bidding war ov

Hannah Sward’s publishing journey reads like a masterclass in persistence meets divine intervention.After years of writing short stories for underground literary journals, she stumbled into a free writer’s group at a library—complete with homeless people sleeping on the sidelines.That’s where she met Jill Sherry Robinson, an 80-year-old bestselling author who essentially kidnapped her and mentored her until she finished her book.Through a comedy of errors involving three different agents (one retired three months after signing her), Sward eventually sold her book for a whopping $500 advance.But here's the kicker: by the time her book Strip came out in 2022, Sward had built such authentic relationships in the recovery community that the book found its audience organically. No Instagram strategy needed—just good old-fashioned showing up. Now she's chronicling her sexual adventures after 50 on Substack, where she’s learned that—guess what?—vulnerability pays off when book deals may not.Episode Highlights:How Han

if you’re a subscriber, hi! It’s been a minute. And by a minute I mean it’s been almost a year.That’s because one of the main reasons I do a podcast is so that I can educate myself and after hundreds of interviews, I felt like I’d learned everything I could about how to build authority with a book. I even used many of those interviews in the book I published in 2023, also called On Good Authority.I was surprised to discover that despite not posting any new episodes, this podcast has been kicking along—remaining in the top 1% of podcasts just because new people are finding the show, or some of you authority junkies are listening to episodes over and over?Anyway, lately, I’ve been feeling that podcast itch again: that craving for the mic. And I also started a Substack that I’ve loved writing. One day recently it occurred to me that the Substack could have an accompanying podcast and then it occurred to me, hey I already have a podcast – it’s just been lying dormant. And so I’ve renamed the show Behind the Book

Hilary Lifton is not one to boast, and I write that with more understatement than you can imagine.I was introduced to her recently at a party by someone who said she was a big ghostwriter. When I asked her about her career, she mentioned working on a self-help book.It was only when I Googled her later that I learned she has written 16 New York Times bestsellers and is one of the most sought-after ghostwriters alive. (While she chooses not to name her bold-faced clients, you can find out who some of them are by going to her site.)I've never had such an interesting conversation about ghostwriting and I challenge you that you've probably not heard one. I know that's setting expectations quite high but I'm ready to meet them!

Arlina Allen is a force in the recovery movement. Sober for over 30 years, she's been releasing episodes of her top 1% podcast, ODAAT Chat, for over eight.She's also been working on a book for almost that long—and now it's finally here! The 12-Step Guide for Skeptics: Clearing Up Common Misconceptions of A path to Sobriety is out now and for it, she showed her book-in-progress to people who not only didn't agree with what she was writing but who actually disagreed.In this episode, we talked about her process, how she realized that her original idea for the book was more an article than a book and the way her podcast set her up for book sucess. 

Dr. Douglas Brackmann isn't like anyone else you meet. He's far more intense and brilliant—the kind of person you find yourself telling your deepest and darkest secrets to when you had just planned to ask him about the weather.The author of Driven: Understanding and Harnessing the Genetic Gifts Shared by Entrepreneurs, Navy SEALs, Pro Athletes, and Maybe YOU, Brackmann is revered among top entrepreneurs. And while he admits that he already had "disciples" before publishing Driven, the book still radically transformed his practice, career and life.\Although the tips he provides about building authority with a book are priceless, I was even more intrigued. by how much credibility he says the book has given him (even though he already has two PhDs!) Listen and get inspired. And if you relate to what he says about being a driven person...A) I feel your pain and B) there are many ways to work with Brackmann on that. Find out what they are by going here.(BTW: I was on his podcast a few months ago. You can hear that

Erika Ayers Badan calls herself a “token CEO”, the rare female employee in the highest rank of a bro-roar sports and new media culture—specifically, at Barstool Sports, which she took from a rough-and-tumble sports and betting brand and turned it into a $550 million juggernaut with more than 5 billion monthly video views and 225 million followers. In her book, Nobody Cares About Your Career: Why Failure Is Good, The Great Ones Play Hurt, and Other Hard Truths, she talks about all that and more. And in this podcast episode, she discusses why she decided to do a book at this point in her career, how it serves as a “receipt” for what she’s done and how she truly doesn’t give an f what other people think.

It’s truly a crime that there’s no TV series about Jill Ishkanian.The lone female tabloid reporter in a sea of men, Ishkanian has been raided by the FBI, exonerated Meghan Markle and been late to a lunch date with me because she thought she saw Kevin Costner driving. And those are just three of dozens of fascinating facts!Yet, despite the fact that she’s been technically employed as a writer for decades and knows she has a hell of a story to tell, she’s been stalled on writing her book. Why is that? And how can we—yes, the collective we—help her? It’s all in this episode.

While Mark Gottlieb has agenting in his blood—he’s a second generation lit agent—he’s not your typical agent. He doesn’t specialize in any particular genre but bounces between fiction and nonfiction, with some children's books and graphic novels in between. And though he works with the Big Five publishers, he’s open-minded when it comes to self-publishing and the new wave of publishing. In this episode we talked about how being a writer requires audacity, how tough it is to make a living as an author without a side profession and how most people don’t even know what a lit agent is, among many other topics. 

Here's a special release for you: the keynote I recently gave at a mastermind that encompasses so much of what I know to be true about coming up with your book idea. It's short but sweet. Enjoy!FOR MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM.

You know that kindergarten teacher we all wish we'd had?That's Erin Lee. But part of what makes us all wish she'd been our teacher is the fact that in addition to being a teacher, she's an award-winning children's book author.Still, as we discuss quite a bit around here, being an amazing author doesn't always guarantee book sales.But Erin HAS sold thousands of books. So how has she done it? Well, she started dressing up as her five-year-old students to create engaging Instagram reels. These relatable and humorous videos have since fostered a thriving online community where Erin shares educational content, entertainment and promotes her books.I was actually interviewing Erin for my other podcast when I realized the information she was sharing was such book publishing GOLD that I had to switch gears and release it on this long-neglected feed.In this episode, she breaks her IG strategy down piece by piece. So good, so tactical. She actually makes Instagram sound fun AND useful. When have you last heard it descri

Kevin Anderson never meant to get into the publishing business after growing up in a small town in Canada before getting his PhD and graduating summa cum laude from Harvard and starting a tutoring company.Nevertheless, that tutoring company transitioned into what is now a massive publishing company that employs 30 writers and editors that have collectively worked on over 200 New York Times bestselling books and sold over 100 million copies of books by people like Brene Brown, Simon Sinek and Jen Sincero.How juicy was our conversation about the state of publishing today? Well, in case you hadn't noticed, I stopped releasing new episodes of this podcast! But when I stumbled into this chat with Kevin, I realized it was too good to keep to myself. So please enjoy!FOR MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM.

Annabelle Gurwitch is an actress, activist, and the author of the New York Times bestseller and Thurber Prize finalist I See You Made an Effort. Her other books include: Wherever You Go, There They Are, and You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up (coauthored with Jeff Kahn). She was the co-host of Dinner & a Movie on TBS and has appeared on NPR, The Today Show, CBS Early Show, Real Time with Bill Maher, PBS, and numerous CNN and MSNBC programs. Her essays and satire have been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, AARP, Real Simple, Prevention, The Los Angeles Book Review, The Daily Beast, Time.com, Next Tribe, Lenny Letter, Hadassah and The Hollywood Reporter, among other media outlets.She's also an extremely methodical (she might say obsessive compulsive?) person—one who starts planning her launch as she comes up with the book concept. And she works it—making lists, checking them way more than twice, reaching out to people she knows and doesn't know and ult

Dave Chesson is the creator of Kindlepreneur.com, a website devoted to teaching advanced book marketing which even Amazon KDP acknowledges as one of the best by telling users to “Gain insight from Kindlepreneur on how you can optimize marketing for your books.” Having worked with such authors as Orson Scott Card, Ted Dekker and more, his tactics help both fiction and nonfiction authors of all levels get their books discovered by the right readers. But that's the official bio stuff. The stuff that really matters, at least to me, is that he is the wisest person out there today when it comes to successful indie publishing. Basically, he does the work so that the rest of us can utilize his techniques and systems.You can read the full transcript of our conversation below but the main takeaways are this: if you want to successfully launch a book, start your launch work the day you start writing; to cut down on haters, show readers you're human; and the right keywords and categories on Amazon can make the difference

Ashlea Hearn is not only a 1st Lieutenant in the Army Reserves but also the author of Genesis Mortalis, Book 1 of the Take It Trilogy.We met when she reached out to me about the upcoming release of that book. But here's what's relevant: by that point, I had noticed this lovely person named Ashlea Hearn reviewing me wherever she could—different books, this podcast, on Google...everywhere.But here's what I really noticed: she wasn't just slapping a review up there in order to "do the right thing" but crafting thoughtful, in-depth analysis that showed she really had taken in and appreciated the work. (Her review of Party Girl still comes up as "Most Relevant," which is Amazon speak for "the most thoughtful one.")Because of all this, not only was I delighted to speak to her about her book but when she declared me her "mentor," I happily took on the role. And it's been nothing but rewarding as I've watched her jump into life and authorhood with enthusiasm and gumption. Then, like the amazing mentee she is, she fle

Scott Duffy is an entrepreneur and business strategist who's listed as a “Top 10 Speaker” by Entrepreneur and has been named one of the “Top Influential People To Follow” by Yahoo! Finance.'But that's not why I brought him on the pod. I brought him on because he's also the author of three different business books on three different topics, from three different publishers and launched in three entirely different ways. When I was at his mastermind a few weeks ago, he articulated why entrepreneurs should launch books in a way that was clearer than I'd ever heard. That's why I wanted him on the show but what I actually got out of our talk was so much more.In this episode, we got into the importance of subtitles, why authors should be featured on their book covers and how his most recent book launch was a disaster.FOR MORE ABOUT THE POD AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Greg Behrendt is the #1 New York Times best-selling co-author of He’s Just Not That Into You and It’s Called A Breakup Because It’s Broken. He's appeared on every TV show known to man, including Oprah, The Tonight Show and The Today Show, is a life long standup comedian and co-hosts the relationship podcast Don't Take Bullshit From Fuckers.He's also a life and writing coach, who can walk you through exactly how to write a book like his—as well as how to survive any adversity that comes your way (he's in recovery from addiction and has beaten cancer twice).In this episode, we talk about what happens when the publishing dream that wasn't even your publishing dream comes true, how to handle being categorized as "that guy" after runaway success and how becoming Oprah's obsession for a brief time doesn't mean you're set for life.FOR MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM.

Katie DePaola is an author, speaker, entrepreneur and the founder of Inner Glow Circle, a company dedicated to helping women entrepreneurs find their glow and live purpose-driven lives.But most relevantly for our show, she is the author of At Least You Look Good: How to Glow Through What You Go Through, the latest release from Launch Pad Publishing. The book is part memoir, part self-help and all love; it's Katie's story about surviving Lyme disease and her brother's death by overdose while building her multi-million dollar business. WANT MORE INFO ON THE POD AND OTHER STUFF? GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Alex Sanfilippo is the host of the top-rated podcast Podcasting Made Simple, the founder of PodPros.com, a software company focused specifically on the podcasting industry and the co-creator of PodMatch, a service that matches podcast guests and hosts together for interviews. That's not all! He also co-founded PodcastSOP, a project management tool that helps podcasters keep up with their episode releases.You get it: the guy is POD OBSESSED.So who better to come on the show to talk about how authors can book podcast tours? Everything he shared was fascinating but what I found especially fascinating is what he had to say about why authors should pass on opportunities to go on certain shows and why appearing on smaller podcasts can be way more beneficial than going on the big ones.Good one! Don't miss it!FOR MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Boy, does Craig Stanland have a story to tell.It starts with the FBI knocking on his door, followed by two years in prison.But that's not really what we delve into here. Instead we talk about the book he wrote on his experience—and the one major mistake he made.Now that he's at work on book number two (title TBD—we get into that in the conversation), he's approaching everything differently.Find out about that, as well as how he's planning to use videos to launch his next book, in this episode.FOR MORE INFO ABOUT THE POD AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM