Behind the Book Cover

Jaksot

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  The $10,000 TikTok Campaign That Sold Only Three Books with Amy Chan 15.09.2026 35min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. I've had guests who sold thousands of books with no marketing budget and guests who spent a fortune and watched it vanish. Amy Chan has lived both versions, with two different books, a few years apart.She's the author of Breakup Bootcamp: The Science of Rewiring Your Heart, a book that landed her in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and on Good Morning America. The Observer once called her "the scientific Carrie Bradshaw." Her follow-up, Unsingle: How to Date Smarter and Create Love That Lasts, should have been the easy part. She'd already done this once. She had the credibility, the press list and the audience.Instead, she hired a consulting agency for $10,000 that got her zero speaking gigs and a spreadsheet of "outreach" that turned out to be mass cold emails. She paid a TikTok agency another $10,000 to run an influencer campaign tied to TikTok Shop. It launched three weeks late and sold three books. She spent $24,000 on a publicist and calls it the only line item she doesn't regret. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, she wrote a Substack article about the whole thing. It resulted in more book sales than everything else she'd done that year in the first 48 hours, beating even her appearance on Tamron Hall.We get into all of it: what actually moved copies, what she'd never pay for again and why she still hasn't spoken to her publisher since the book came out.In this episode:The exact breakdown of where $44,000 in book marketing money went, and which parts she'd light on fire again without hesitationWhy a Substack post she almost didn't publish became one of her best sales days ever, beating a national television appearanceThe agency that quoted her $65,000 to get her on the USA Today bestseller list, and why she now doubts the list matters at allWhy she hasn't spoken to her publisher since her book launched, and what that says about the relationship between authors and the houses that sign themWhat it's like to have a book option sold three times, with a pilot script written and then scrapped, and why she pulled her own Substack post about itWant to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comWant to know if a book could help your business? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/book-score-cardInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them!
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  Why a Criminal Defense Attorney Chose Fiction Over a Legal Book with Ron Chapman 08.09.2026 34min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. Criminal defense attorneys aren't typically known for writing philosophical Holocaust novels. Then again, Ron Chapman isn’t your typical criminal defense attorney.Published under the pen name R. William Chapman, Empyrean is a true departure from Ron’s two nonfiction books.Fight the Feds and Truth and Persuasion may have Ron build his authority but Empyrean, which will be arriving this fall, helped build his soul.Ron spent two years on Empyrean, writing roughly 300,000 words to land on a final 78,000. He calls himself a "pantser," Stephen King's term for a writer who lets characters decide what happens rather than working from an outline. One of the main characters, he told me, has become part of how he thinks through his own days.As a criminal defense attorney, Ron has found that fiction gives him an outlet nonfiction and legal work never did, a way to work through the frustrations of his job and his time as a marine on paper instead of carrying them silently.We get into why he turned away from traditional publishing in order to keep creative control, why agents kept asking him to make the book "the next Hunger Games" and why he thinks authority today comes from letting people see your actual flaws rather than polishing a bio. He also explains that he’s using a different author name for Empyrean so that it can stand on its own, disconnected from his identity as a lawyer.In this episode:Why Ron chose the Holocaust as a subject, and how a childhood visit to a concentration camp shaped the projectThe reason he's publishing Empyrean under a pen name instead of his ownWhy he turned away from traditional publishing to retain full creative control over the bookHis case for why raw honesty, not polished marketing, is what actually builds trust with an audienceWhy he believes the short feedback loop of platforms like Substack is bad for serious writing, and why the slow grind of writing still mattersWant to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comWant to ask me how to build authority with your book to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/pocket-annaInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them!
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  Turning Millions of Followers Into Lasting Authority with Jake Claver 01.09.2026 37min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. When you have millions of people out there who already consider you an expert, it’s hard to imagine that you’d also want to do an authority-building book.Yet Jake Claver, who’s already co-written two books, just released his first solo one, Everyone Gets to Win—and it's a fable, not a business manual. He's spent the past five or six years building multiple companies and living by a philosophy of aligning incentives rather than playing zero-sum games, and instead of writing another how-to book, he wrote a parable his own son could eventually read.Jake and his business partner Max met on Twitter and built a mastermind group with about 17,000 members focused on financial education and pooled investments through special purpose vehicles. They co-authored two books together—Wealth in Numbers was the first—before Jake decided to write a fable. The genre wasn't incidental. Jake wanted something simple enough that a third-grader could understand it, and vague enough on names that the real people whose situations inspired it could keep their privacy.We get into why he thinks you don't need ten years of expertise to start building authority (20 to 50 hours of hands-on experience beats four years of school, in his view), why niche podcasts tend to sell more books than massive ones and how he thinks about his sprawling list of companies not as separate businesses but as pieces of one long-term goal—the same way he'd frame Elon Musk's companies as everything required to colonize Mars.In this episode:Why Jake chose a fable over a straightforward business book for Everyone Gets to WinHis case for why 20 to 50 hours of hands-on experience can outweigh years of formal studyHis case for why you don't need a decade of expertise to write an authority-building book—20 to 50 hours of hands-on experience beats four years of school, in his viewThe co-authoring process behind Wealth in Numbers, including how he and Max split the work—Max spent about a year on research and writing while Jake proofread for alignmentWhy he thinks a book still matters even with millions of followers already built, and the "billboard" perception he says only authorship can buyHis book launch playbook—getting listed in Barnes & Noble and Amazon, front-loading reviews and why building a social media following first makes a launch land harderThe Grant Cardone and Alex Hormozi examples he points to as proof that a short book can convert readers just as well as a record-setting launch weekend canWant to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comWant to ask me how to build authority with your book to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/pocket-annaInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them!
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  The Person You Become by Writing a Book with Sierra Melcher 25.08.2026 44min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. What do most people get wrong when it comes to publishing a book?That’s what I asked Sierra Melcher of Red Thread Books, a nonfiction publishing house where 59 of 77 titles have won awards—including two Nautilus Book Prizes.Sierra believes that the finished, printed book is a side quest. What she's actually in it for is the person who emerges on the other side of writing one—someone who spent years convinced they couldn't do this thing, who goes through the "dark night of the soul" of the writing and publishing process and who comes out the other end asking a completely different question: not "What can't I do" but "What else can I do?"Sierra came to this the hard way. She's dyslexic, tried to write for a decade and was certain she couldn't. Now she's watched dozens of authors—from a nurse paralyzed in a hospital parking lot to a supply chain expert with a wildly niche book that landed her a job saving a company millions—go through the same transformation. We talked about the moments clients try to quit right before publication, why she still cries with clients over manuscripts and her surprisingly relaxed, curiosity-first take on AI in the publishing world.In this episode:Why Sierra believes the physical book is a "side quest"—the real product is the transformed person who wrote it, not the object itselfThe recurring pattern of authors trying to quit right before publication, and why she treats holding their feet to the fire as part of the jobHer framework for evaluating every nonfiction book she publishes: "How could we do this differently?"—applied to grief, love, business, or personal changeWhy she believes AI is a revolution, not an apocalypse, and where she personally draws the line on what she'll let it do for her versus never let it touchThe exercise she runs with every author to fight impostor syndrome: visualize the exact person who needs your message, because the book was never about you in the first placeWant to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comWant to ask me how to build authority with your book to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/pocket-annaInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them!
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  Skipping the New York Times List on Purpose with David Homan 18.08.2026 43min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. David Homan has a background so sprawling that introducing him almost broke the show: composer with seven albums and now the person who quietly runs what may be the largest private network of "connectors" on the planet—2,800 of them and counting.His book, Orchestrating Connection, co-written with UC Irvine professor Noah Askin, landed at #2 on the USA Today bestseller list for business books the week it launched. But the real story isn't the list placement—it's the decade of networking philosophy that got him there.What I loved most about this conversation is how unflinching David is about the parts nobody tells you about publishing: the friends who promise to show up and don't, the launch-day silence from people you'd bet on, and the eight-year-old sending WhatsApp videos threatening a family friend into buying the book. We also got into his new startup, SOAR Connect, which is trying to solve relationship intelligence without doing what every other tech company does with your data.In this episode:David's five-principle system for "orchestrating connection"—curiosity, vulnerability and diversity as strategic tools, not soft skills, for building real relationship valueWhy he built a private, no-membership network of 2,800 connectors around one hard rule: you can only stay if you ask for what you needThe book as catalyst, not finish line—how it changed his credibility and fundraising even though everything he was doing was already true three years earlierThe hard truth about launches: for every 1,000 people who actually showed up, roughly 2,000 who promised to didn't—and why that's the real lesson for authorsWhat SOAR Connect is building—a relationship intelligence platform based on trust scores, designed so your data stays yours instead of being harvested like everywhere elseWant to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comWant to ask me how to build authority with your book to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/pocket-annaInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them!
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  Why I'd Rather Spend $1,000 Giving Books Away Than Make $1,000 Selling Them (Solo Episode) 11.08.2026 8min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. A listener asked me a two-part question: as she gets ready to publish her book and launch her speaking career, what's the simplest, most economical path to having a box of copies on hand, and what should she budget to get there? I love this question, because I'm currently doing the exact thing she's asking about with the relaunch of On Good Authority.I've been following what I call the Alex Strathdee method—seeding signed, gift-wrapped copies into communities run by people I know and treating the request as the favor it is rather than a favor I'm doing them. That approach has already turned into an October speaking opportunity, and it's why my answer to her question is simple: never sell books after you speak, because giving them away builds far more value than the $60 you might walk away with from selling a few copies.Printing runs about $3 a copy—with shipping as the real cost to budget for—and I'd rather spend $1,000 giving books away than make $1,000 selling them, because that investment tends to turn into far more down the road.In this episode:Why treating a book gift as a favor to someone's community, not a favor from you, changes how people respond.The specific packaging details—stickers, highlighters, custom cards, ribbon—that turn a free book into a memorable gift instead of a giveawayRobert Cialdini's concept of reciprocity and why gifting a book creates a different kind of obligation than selling oneHow collecting addresses at events, following Joe Polish's thank-you-card approach, led to an unsolicited podcast invitationP.S. — Want me to answer your book question on a future episode? DM me on Instagram (@annabdavid), message me on LinkedIn or email [email protected] to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comWant to ask me how to build authority with your book to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/pocket-annaInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them!
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  Why I'm Biased Toward Getting Your Rights Back (Solo Episode) 04.08.2026 6min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. Most traditionally published authors go through a moment (or 100 moments) when they realize that their publisher isn’t actually doing anything for them. Some just accept that while others ask themselves the age-old question: can I get my rights back?That’s what a listener asked me this week: when a publishing contract expires, is it better to renew or get the rights reverted? I'm not a lawyer, and I don't know the details of this person's contract, but I'm naturally biased toward reversion.I got the rights to my book Party Girl back from HarperCollins, and it changed everything. I republished the book under my own imprint with the cover I actually wanted, then rewrote it years later as a PG version that landed me coverage in the Wall Street Journal and a spot on Access Hollywood.That said, staying is worth it if your publisher is actually providing value: real marketing, real distribution, strong retail presence. I never had that kind of relationship with any of my publishers, and I'd say it was closer to antagonistic, probably partly my fault for being slow to understand how publishing actually works.This isn't all or nothing, though. You can go back to your publisher and ask what they'd actually commit to before deciding either way, and if reversion feels like a nightmare because you don't want to deal with relaunching on Amazon yourself, I get it (and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this is exactly the kind of thing Legacy Launch Pad does for people).In this episode:Why publishers have no incentive to help you use your book to build your own business, only theirsThe Amazon control most traditionally published authors don't realize they're giving up—no A+ content, no author excerpts, no ability to fix your own descriptionThe Party Girl category mishap—how a publisher listed the book as humorous science fiction and what that reveals about how much attention publishers really payWhy higher royalties, pricing control and cover control are the biggest practical arguments for getting your rights backThe negotiation questions to ask a publisher (sales benchmarks, marketing commitments and better royalty terms) before deciding whether to renew or walk awayP.S. — Want me to answer your book question on a future episode? DM me on Instagram (@annabdavid), message me on LinkedIn or email [email protected] to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comWant to ask me how to build authority with your book to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/pocket-annaInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them!
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  Why Followers Don't Equal Sales (Solo Episode) 28.07.2026 10min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. Two of you sent me questions that looked different on the surface but landed in the same place: how to market a book under a pen name, and why past launches haven't performed the way you wanted. My answer to both is the same.Lead magnets, newsletter lists and social media followers have done almost nothing for me, and the data backs it up. Justin Timberlake and Billie Eilish still had their books fail despite millions of followers, and Amy Chen sold just three books off a $10,000 TikTok campaign. What actually builds a career is relationships and by leading with generosity long before you need anything back.A Wall Street Journal story I read recently proves the point. A self-published book called Theo of Golden has sold more than 2.5 million copies and hit number one on the New York Times list, nearly three years after it came out, because the author's niece personally sent it to more than 70 book clubs and treated every reader who wrote back as an advocate.That's the whole lesson. If a reader feels completely seen, they become your publicist, and someone else recommending your book will always land harder than you recommending it yourself. Word of mouth isn't luck—it's built intentionally, one relationship at a time.In this episode:Why lead magnets and newsletter lists have produced almost nothing in the way of actual clients or salesThe Justin Timberlake, Billie Eilish, Jessica Ciencin Henriquez and Amy Chen examples that prove followers and views don't equal salesWhy relationships built in book clubs, Facebook groups and Threads outperform social media presenceThe Theo of Golden story—how one self-published book hit 2.5 million copies and the New York Times list nearly three years after launch, through 70 book clubs and one relentlessly personal outreach campaignWhy treating every reader like an advocate is the single highest-leverage thing an author can doP.S. — Want me to answer your book question on a future episode? DM me on Instagram (@annabdavid), message me on LinkedIn or email [email protected] to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comWant to ask me how to build authority with your book to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/pocket-annaInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them!
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  Why a Book Launch Should Never Be a One-Time Event (Solo Episode) 21.07.2026 10min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. A client of mine named Jimmie Applegate asked me a question I get from almost every author I work with, even though he was too polite to ask it quite this bluntly: he has a published book, Addicted to Failure, and a great Psychology Today feature to his name—and he still doesn't know what to do next.Instead of answering him privately, I answered him on the show, because I know that so many other authors wonder the same thing.Jimmy got the press hit. That part's done. But the Psychology Today feature is living in exactly one place—Psychology Today—instead of his website, his LinkedIn, his speaker page and every bio he's ever written. I walk through what we call “the $50,000 press hit” at Legacy Launch Pad: the document I give clients that shows them how to take one media win and multiply it into 50 different pieces of content, mentions and proof points.I also get into my own Good Morning America clip. The appearance sold maybe five or six books directly. But it's brought in a steady stream of new business because of how many times I've referenced it since—in videos, in Substacks, in podcast episodes, in my own bio and everywhere else (including here!)In this episode:The $50,000 press hit framework—how one media mention becomes dozens of touchpoints across a website, LinkedIn, speaker pages and biosWhy every bio you've ever written (Amazon, Facebook, network directories) needs a fresh audit and an update the moment you become a published authorThe six-month relaunch: revisiting Amazon categories, keywords and book descriptions instead of assuming a launch only happens onceWhy sending a book beats sending a brochure, a PDF or a deck—the case for replacing every prospect touchpoint with a physical copy insteadThe 100-person list exercise: writing down everyone who could change your business and checking, honestly, who has actually received a copy of your bookP.S. — Want me to answer your book question on a future episode? DM me on Instagram (@annabdavid), message me on LinkedIn or email [email protected] to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comWant to ask me how to build authority with your book to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/pocket-annaInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them!
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  Listener Question: Should I Write a New Book or Re-Launch the Old One? 14.07.2026 14min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. Paul Colligan has written 13 books, is in the Podcasting Hall of Fame and has helped Donald Miller, Brendan Burchard, JJ Virgin and Joe Polish turn podcasting into what he calls a “grown-up business strategy” instead of a hobby. He also sent me a question I love: when you already have a working book, how do you know if it’s time to write a new one or keep leveraging the one you’ve got?I have very strong feelings about this one, mostly because I got the answer wrong for six years and recently got right.And Paul’s specific situation is one a lot of multi-book authors may recognize. He has a workhorse title, How to Podcast, that has been the category-defining book in its lane for years. But the world has changed underneath it—AI, the death of “if you build it, they will come,” the shift from downloads to impact.So….does he update it? Write the new manifesto? Write nothing and double down on the consulting? I had a take on all of the above—and more.In this episode:The six-year mistake I made early in my career that the publishing industry rewards you for makingWhy cranking out a new book every 18 months might be hurting your authority instead of building itThe specific move I told Paul Colligan to make with How to PodcastThe Amazon trick that lets you treat an old book like a new one—and why almost nobody uses itThe exact month of the year I would release a relaunch (and the month I’d never release one in)The audiobook question every “updated edition” author has to answer—and the answer that surprised meWant to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comWant to ask me how to build authority with your book to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/bookInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them!
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  I'm Becoming Your Book Strategist (Brenda Asked First) 07.07.2026 18min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. I'm trying something entirely new on the podcast. I asked you to send me your book questions and I'd answer them like the brass tacks book strategist I am, and the first person who took me up on it was Brenda. Brenda has three different book ideas in her head, a 100-page version of each, an abandoned memoir and a new instinct to pivot into the longevity market. I'm going to tell her to scrap most of it and write one big book instead. Here's the case.Brenda is a personal development coach with sharp instincts—the kind of practitioner who saves clients years of therapy in a few sessions. Her ideal client is smart, entrepreneurial and allergic to anyone who can't keep up. She has a framework for personal development in the wings, multiple levels of teaching groups, a memoir she's already concluded isn't publishable, three short-book ideas across different topic areas and a fresh instinct to chase the biohacking-for-longevity market. Which is exactly the kind of fork where an outline appointment can save you a decade of writing in circles.But my answer really goes into the case against multiple short books, because Brenda is leaning that direction. I've published eight books and trust me—by the third one, even the people who love you stop caring. You don't get to compound enthusiasm by stacking projects—you compound diminishing returns. The people doing it well are doing the opposite. Yes, Dan Sullivan has a whole shelf of helpful little Strategic Coach books, but the big books he started doing with Ben Hardy for Hay House made a much bigger difference in his business. The little books are useful. The big books are what made him known.We also get into why I always ask what tax bracket your ideal clients are in, the case for niching down to "how to all pretend we're ants in a colony"-level specificity (every weird Facebook group has hundreds of thousands of members) and the sign-two-copies move that has turned more cold prospects into clients than any other recommendation I make.In this episode:Why Brenda should pick one big book over four short ones (and what Dan Sullivan's career proves)The tax-bracket question I ask before I help anyone build a book strategyWhy Amazon's "biohacking for women over 40" search reveals an opportunity hiding in plain sightThe 40,000-word memoir I abandoned—and why I tell people to stop writing the book that won't move their businessWhy no niche is too small (the Facebook-group test that proves it)Sign two copies, send them to your two most-wanted clients—and what happens nextP.S. — Want me to answer your book question on a future episode? DM me on Instagram (@annabdavid), message me on LinkedIn or email [email protected] to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comWant to ask me how to build authority with your book to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/bookInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 https://annadavid.com/Remember, if there's anyone in your life who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them!
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  The Five-Minute Audit That Tells You If Your Book Is Invisible to AI 30.06.2026 15min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. The Five-Minute Audit That Tells You If Your Book Is Invisible to AILast week I did something I probably should have done two years ago: I asked AI whether my novel Party Girl is one of the best funny novels about addiction and recovery. One AI said yes and listed me alongside Marian Keyes and Carrie Fisher, which was the closest thing to a dream I have ever had as an author. Another AI did not know I existed. (Rejection wasn’t new; rejection by a robot was.)This is a solo episode and one could call it my confession. For 20 years. the question was: does my book come up on Google? Then it was: does it come up on Amazon? Now the question is: when a prospect asks ChatGPT for the best books in your category, does your name come out of its mouth? Your buyers are asking right now. Most authors have never once checked what AI says about them.I spent the week figuring out why one AI knew my book and one didn’t, how these systems actually decide what to recommend and what I am doing this week, on the record, to fix the gap. Including one move on Amazon KDP I am pretty sure I am not supposed to be able to make.In this episode:The five-minute audit that tells you whether your book is invisible to AI (free, right now, from your phone)The “vocabulary trap” that makes most expert books unfindable—and what to put in your bio insteadWhy AI doesn’t actually recommend the best books and what it recommends insteadThe exact question to ask AI about your own book that, in my case, turned into a free publicity consultationThe change I made to my Amazon listing this week that I am pretty sure Amazon doesn’t want you to know is possible (and which may not be possible actually by the time you read/hear this)Why doing this work feels embarrassing—and the reason I would tell you to do it anywayWant to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comWant to ask me how to build authority with your book to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/bookInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them!
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  He Built a $10M Writing Empire. Here's Why He Says Traditional Publishing Is a 10x Worse Deal 23.06.2026 46min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. Nicolas Cole built his first ghostwriting business by answering questions on Quora in 2014, and somehow that has compounded into a $10M+ portfolio of writing companies that he runs with his partner Dickie Bush—anchored by Premium Ghostwriting Academy, the 16-week program that's trained roughly 2,000 ghostwriters to charge premium rates.Cole is a three-time guest on this show, which is a record nobody else holds, and there's a reason for it. We met at a party years ago and immediately started geeking out about books and publishing like two people who'd finally found each other at a conference for a very specific kind of weirdo. He's one of the few people I've watched scale, burn out, blow it up and rebuild without losing the part of him that actually loves writing.The part I really wanted to get into was the 10x argument, which is the cleanest case against traditional publishing I've ever heard anyone make.A traditional publisher pays you roughly 10% in royalties, meaning you keep 10% of the book and they keep 90%.Self-publish and you keep 100%.This means that to make the same money as a self-published author, your traditionally published book has to sell 10 times more copies. We also get into his Medium loophole that paid him hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties before they emailed him to make him stop, the Christmas Eve in 2019 he tried to duct-tape together a paid newsletter six months before Substack existed and how he emailed the Substack founder to invest the moment he saw their first round.Also discussed: his Write With AI newsletter that now does $400K a year in subscriptions and feeds a $1-2M business on top of that and his case for why the only book worth writing is one you’re willing to write about on social media day after day after day after day.In this episode:Why a traditionally published book has to sell 10 times more copies than a self-published one just to break evenThe Medium loophole that paid Cole hundreds of thousands of dollars before they emailed him to stopWhy Cole emailed the Substack founder the day they raised their first round and what happened when they said noThe $400K-a-year Substack newsletter Cole built by following the moneyWhy charging less than $3,000 a project means you have a faulty relationship with money, not a pricing problemWant to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comWant to ask me how to build authority with your book to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/bookInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them!
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  He Thinks Most Authors Don’t Need a Better Book. They Need a Better Funnel 16.06.2026 42min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. Gary White is a Scottish marketer who spent years building funnels for Russell Brunson at ClickFunnels before he got obsessed with one specific kind of client: people who cared so much about a subject they wrote a book on it. He turned that obsession into bookfunnels.io, a company that's helped hundreds of authors stop selling books on Amazon and start using their books to acquire actual paying clients.I have to admit something. I got on a call with Gary, hung up, decided to poke around his site to see what he was about — and within an hour I had entered my credit card and signed up for things I did not need or really understand. That is how good his system is. So I figured the only responsible thing to do was have him on the show to explain exactly how he did that to me, so all of you can do it to your readers.The framework is called the TINY Book Client System. The T is the perfect bait, meaning your book has to attract the exact person you actually want to work with, not just any reader who might buy a book on your topic. The I is the independent selling system, which is how you stop renting your readers from Amazon and start owning the relationship. The N is the never-ending traffic source, and Gary has a story about spending five days making a YouTube video that got 82 views, then taking a single iPhone photo of a box of his books and selling hundreds the same week with a 30-second Meta ad. The Y is the implementation offer, which is the thing your book is secretly selling the whole time.We also get into "cash cycling"—the mechanic where every dollar you spend on ads comes back on Day Zero so you literally cannot lose money, why he thinks LinkedIn ads are a waste for most authors even when you're targeting CEOs, his case for "tiny books" of around 120 pages (just thick enough to have a real spine and an ISBN) and the warehouse-in-California-while-he-lives-in-Scotland setup that lets him sell physical books he has literally never touched.In this episode:The TINY framework Gary built after running funnels for Russell Brunson at ClickFunnels for yearsThe 5-day YouTube video that got 82 views and the 30-second iPhone photo that sold hundreds of books the same week"Cash cycling"—why every dollar you spend on Meta ads comes back on Day Zero so you cannot lose moneyWhy Gary thinks LinkedIn ads are a waste even when you're targeting CEOs (and where to find those CEOs instead)The "tiny book"—roughly 120 pages, real spine, real ISBN, none of the months-of-staring-at-a-blank-pageThe audience-capture trap Gary warns every author about before they write a single chapterWant to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comWant to ask me how to build authority with your book to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/bookInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them!
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  Why I'm Re-Releasing My Book Three Years Later (and What I Got Wrong) 09.06.2026 11min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. In 2023 I opened my book On Good Authority by saying AI wasn't going to replace writers. Three years later, I still believe that. But so much that I thought about publishing in 2023 has shifted that I'm re-releasing the book—two new chapters, an updated audiobook and a free upgrade for anyone who bought the original. Because the gap between what was true then and what's true now is the whole story.There are three main things that made me feel like a new edition was necessary.First, AI went from a hallucinating curiosity to a tool I use all day every day—not to write books, but for design, for thinking partner work, for the personal-relationship triage I sometimes do when I'm about to send an email I shouldn't. I would argue that AI has made it so that mediocre writing has become more irrelevant, not less, since anyone can prompt their way to passable now.Also a 2026 study finally proved what I've been saying for years: entrepreneurs with books charge 37% more than competitors without one.But the point I want to land hardest in this version is one I couldn't fully prove in 2023 and now can: book sales matter less than they ever have. A New York Times bestselling author profiled in New York Magazine this March makes $49,000 a year, and that figure includes retreats and recording the audiobook.A writer I follow sold 150,000 copies of her book and made $87,000 over six years after subtracting for editor, publicist and agent fees. My own New York Times bestseller didn't cover the cab fare to the launch party.So it’s even more true now that the book isn’t the product but what makes everything else possible.This new version also gets into AI discoverability, why your website needs to speak to robots as much as humans, why Wikipedia and Reddit and GoodReads matter more than they did three years ago, the LLM test I run on my own company every month and the niche-audience playbook my clients are using to land $20,000 speaking gigs. Which makes the new edition of On Good Authority the field guide for the season I've been running on the future of publishing.P.S. — If you bought the 2023 edition, email [email protected] to get the 2026 version on Anna. Other links I promised:The Ask Me Anything page where you can indeed ask me anything about On Good Authority: www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/bookThe general book information page with links to where you can purchase: www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/good-authority-bookWant to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comCurious how entrepreneurs use books to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/7-figuresInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyWant to get my book that breaks down 30 years of experience and hundreds of interviews with publishing experts and authors—newly updated for 2026? (You can even ask the book questions. [Really!])  👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/good-authority-bookAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life whose wisdom you deeply admire, or who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them. 
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  Most Authors Want Sales. The Smart Ones Want This. 02.06.2026 31min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. Steve Sarner spent eight years at Amazon and was VP of sales at Goodreads, which means he understands something most authors don’t:Book sales are not the point.What Steve focuses on now is something I think more people should be talking about: not selling books, but seeding them—that is, getting them into the hands of the exact people who can turn them into something bigger.This, you could say, is my obsession.We get into:How many books you actually need “out in the wild” before anything starts workingWhy giving your book away can be more valuable than selling itHow books turn into $10,000+ clients (and the rough math behind that)The surprising places he’s putting books—from niche events to inside massive companiesWhy reviews matter…even though getting them is borderline impossibleThere’s also a story about someone finding their company through AI, requesting the book, reading it and becoming a client—which is basically the entire thesis in action.Find out more about the company where Steve works, ShelfLife, here.Sign up for ShelfLife’s 3-2-1 newsletter here.Want to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comCurious how entrepreneurs use books to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/7-figuresInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyWant to get my book that breaks down 30 years of experience and hundreds of interviews with publishing experts and authors—newly updated for 2026? (You can even ask the book questions. [Really!])  👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/good-authority-bookAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life whose wisdom you deeply admire, or who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them. 
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  The Real Way Smart People Are Using AI (It’s Not Writing Books) 26.05.2026 47min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. Rex Sorgatz is one of those people who has been early to everything—blogging, digital media, startups—and now AI storytelling.We go way back to Lower East Side readings, when I quickly discovered that he was surrounded by people building the future before I really understood what that meant.This conversation is about AI and publishing, but not in the way people usually talk about it. Not “AI will write your book” or “everything is over.” More like: what actually changes when technology shifts how we interact with ideas.We also get into:Why most “AI writing” isn’t writing at all How he actually uses AI (and why most people are using it wrong) Why talking to your computer might be inevitable, even if you hate the idea The product he built to remember everything he’s ever read—and why 100,000 people built the same thing a day laterAlso: a brief detour into an erotica reading I made him do years ago that I’m still not sure I should have been responsible for.Check out the AI company Rex co-founded here.Want to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comCurious how entrepreneurs use books to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/7-figuresInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyWant to get my book that breaks down 30 years of experience and hundreds of interviews with publishing experts and authors—newly updated for 2026? (You can even ask the book questions. [Really!])  👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/good-authority-bookAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life whose wisdom you deeply admire, or who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them. 
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  Publishing Promised Everything and Delivered Almost Nothing. So He Built His Own Version. 19.05.2026 44min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. Charlie Hoehn worked for Tim Ferriss for years and got the job in a way Tim has actually written about (worth the click). Then he spent a decade watching publishing promise everything and deliver almost nothing, until he built Author Inc to fix it.Most people in my line of work make me want to lie down in a dark room. Charlie is the opposite. I would venture to say that he knows more about the topic of book publishing and where it’s going than anyone else out there. So this episode is less an interview and more a look at how someone I respect is actually building the thing.There are so many parts of this conversation that I love but none more than when he shared about the Bullseye reader test. See, I always struggled with those “avatar” exercises marketers were throwing at us a decade or so ago, where you’d have to answer a bunch of questions like, “What does my avatar drive and read and drink?” I always either felt like I was either answering the questions myself or simply making things up.That's why Charlie makes every author he works with name a single specific person they could text. Not a composite, not a Pixar character built out of demographic data, not "ambitious female founders, 35 to 50." A real person with a real phone number you know. In Charlie’s world, if you can't name them, you don't have a book yet. We also covered the four planning exercises his company does before a single word of the book gets written, his company’s two-day recorded-conversation process in a downtown Austin hotel suite that produces a 50,000-word first draft about an hour after the sessions wrap, his American Idol critique of traditional publishing, the book ROI calculator he built because he got tired of explaining how lucrative a book done right can be and why everyone should be able to name a non-fiction book that changed their life.Want to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comCurious how entrepreneurs use books to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/7-figuresInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life whose wisdom you deeply admire, or who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them.
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  He's Doubling Down on AI and IP While Everyone Else Is Panicking 12.05.2026 40min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. I was a snob about AI in publishing. I'll just say it. When companies started popping up in late 2022 promising to use AI to write books, I had the same reaction I once had to self publishing when I was still in the traditional world: I want nothing to do with these people. Dan Curran has made me reconsider—some of it, anyway. Not because he convinced me AI can match what a skilled ghost writer or developmental editor does (I don't think it can, at least not yet) but what he’s building at Chapters may be as interesting as the manuscript.Dan spent a decade running a company that interviewed scientists and PhDs for technical writing. When ChatGPT launched, he didn't use AI to replace writers. He used it to organize, deduplicate and structure the words that were already coming out of real people's mouths—recorded in conversations, timestamped and attributed, so every sentence traces back to the person who said it. The result is a manuscript in 90 days. Chapters has started over 100 of them in 16 months with a team of 14 people, and they charge $25,000—or as low as $18,000 on a payment plan—to do what a ghost writer charges $60,000 to $150,000 for.But what I really wanted to talk about is what Dan's actually building, which is not a book company. He calls it a "living library"—a vault of authenticated IP that can generate Substacks, LinkedIn posts, speeches, white papers and documentary frameworks from the same corpus. And he's timestamping and chaining custody of every piece of it, so that when the large language models come scraping for new knowledge, authors can prove what they said, when they said it and demand to be paid for it. Can a 90-day AI-organized manuscript compete with a book that's been through months of human developmental editing? I have my doubts. But that's arguing about the wrong part.We also get into why about half of Chapters' clients come from publishers who offer them as an alternative to a $150,000 ghost writer, why Dan thinks 90% of digital content will be synthetic by next year and his case for why the publishing industry needs to "widen the aperture." Plus where Dan sees authorship itself going when AI can authenticate content faster than any human can, which is one of the strangest questions driving this whole season.In this episode:Why I was a snob about AI publishing and why I'm now willing to listen—even if I'm not fully convertedHow Chapters turns 12 weeks of recorded conversations into a 50,000-to-80,000-word manuscript without AI writing a single sentenceThe "chain of custody" system that timestamps every idea—and why Dan thinks authors will eventually get paid when LLMs scrape their IPWhy about half of Chapters' clients come from publishers who offer them as an alternative to a $60,000-to-$150,000 ghost writerDan's case for why publishing needs to "widen the aperture"—and where I think he's right and where I'm still skepticalWhat he means by a "living library"—and why it might matter more than the bookWant to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comCurious how entrepreneurs use books to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/7-figuresInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life whose wisdom you deeply admire, or who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them. 
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  She Got Her Sixth Book Deal Because of Her Podcast, Not Her Books 05.05.2026 42min

  If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. Stefanie Wilder-Taylor sold over 120,000 copies of her first book. Her most recent royalty check was for $95. That's not because people stopped reading—she's published five more books, launched four podcasts and now teaches memoir writing. It's because selling 120,000 copies doesn't actually pay the rent. Which is the fact almost nobody in publishing admits out loud.When Stefanie wrote Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay in 2005, she was a new mom, a former game-show writer and completely unknown as an author. Her publisher told her she'd been declined everywhere for publicity. Her husband cold-called some old talk-show contacts and got her on the Today show; by April of 2006, she was a bestseller with a $30,000 advance she thought made her rich. Every subsequent book—and there have been five—has failed to earn out.But what I really wanted to talk about is how she finally cracked her sixth book deal after years of being told she wasn't "sought after" anymore. Stefanie pitched Drunk-ish using her podcast stats—who her audience is, how loyal they are, exactly what kind of woman listens and exactly what kind of book that woman buys—and the publisher bought it. Which, for anyone under the delusion that publishers still do the selling, is the whole story.We also get into the COVID storytelling podcast she recorded episode by episode and then abandoned, her theory about why new moms buy parenting books and school moms don't, the agent who told her "never compare yourself to the exception" after she brought up Sex and the City and the weird fact that Down with Love with Renée Zellweger ruined her idea of what the writing life actually is. Plus: where Stefanie thinks traditional publishing is actually heading, which is the question driving this whole season.In this episode:Why selling 120,000 copies of a book still isn't a living wageThe $30,000 advance she thought made her rich (and what happened to the royalty checks)How she used her podcast stats to pitch her sixth book deal after years of rejectionWhy people accused her of getting sober just for the publicity (and the real reason she got sober)The COVID storytelling podcast she recorded and never releasedThe agent advice that should be tattooed on every aspiring author's wristWant to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.comCurious how entrepreneurs use books to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/7-figuresInterested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/applyAnd if you just want to know more about me,  👉 www.annadavid.comRemember, if there's anyone in your life whose wisdom you deeply admire, or who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them.