Book Is the Hook

Riley Sager didn’t break out by writing more books. He broke out by writing differently. After three novels that barely sold, Riley changed his approach to story, structure, and momentum. Final Girls became the inflection point, and it started with one decision most writers avoid, designing the ending first. In this conversation, we go deep on the craft and the business of writing thrillers: outli...

Charlie Hoehn graduated into the worst job market in a generation and discovered something most writers never learn. Waiting doesn’t work. Instead of applying for jobs, Charlie started creating value for people he admired, without asking for permission or payment. That approach led to collaborations with Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, Ramit Sethi, and the foundation for multiple bestselling books. This...

Vishen Lakhiani didn’t “find his purpose” in a clean, inspirational way. He got wrecked first. After the dot-com crash, he was broke, depressed, and getting told to “fuck off” on cold calls all day. Then he took a meditation class that taught him to access an altered state, and it changed everything. It doubled his sales, rewired his decision-making, and became the seed of what turned into Mindval...

Most writers think they need more confidence. Terri Trespicio says that’s the wrong goal. In this episode, Terri explains why the inner critic isn’t the enemy, why criticism feels so destabilizing, and how attachment to being “good” or “liked” quietly sabotages creative progress. We talk about writing as identity, not output, why passion alone doesn’t carry you through hard drafts, and how to keep...

Jason Feifer doesn’t believe in “launches.” He believes in relationship capital. As Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur, Jason has watched thousands of books fight for attention. The ones that win don’t market harder, they’ve already done the work years earlier. In this conversation, Jason breaks down how he quietly builds goodwill, tracks favors, and earns trust long before he ever asks for blurbs, c...

Rejection isn’t a failure signal. It’s part of the job. Jason Starr is a New York Times bestselling crime novelist and graphic novelist whose work spans novels, comics, and iconic characters like Batman, Wolverine, and The Punisher. But before any of that, he learned rejection the hard way, working telemarketing jobs where a “good day” meant hearing no a hundred times and still dialing. In this co...

How do you write something original when it feels like everything’s already been done? Austin Kleon (bestselling author of Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work, and Keep Going) explains why originality isn’t invention, it’s selection. You take influence, you filter it through your taste, and you ship. We cover: The right way to “steal” ideas, structure, and style Why titles can wreck your creativi...

Daniel Handler, best known as Lemony Snicket, has sold over 70 million books worldwide, yet his writing process is built on bad pages, cheap notebooks, and long stretches of loneliness. In this episode, Daniel explains why loneliness isn’t something writers should escape, but something they should use. He shares how he moves from fragments and notes to full chapters, why inspiration is overrated,...

David Meltzer believes books work best when you stop trying to sell them. In this episode, David shares why giving your book away for free can unlock more opportunity, more influence, and more meaningful work over time. He explains how value compounds, why generosity creates leverage, and how creators can build communities instead of chasing short-term wins. David is the co-founder of Sports 1 Mar...

Most writers aren’t stuck because they’re lazy or unmotivated. They’re stuck because they don’t have a clear internal compass. Mario Armstrong built a career in media, publishing, and entrepreneurship by creating clarity before credentials, momentum before permission. In this episode, we explore what it actually means to find direction as a writer, especially when the traditional path doesn’t fit....

Debbie Millman explains why confidence is overrated and why courage is the real starting point for creative work. In this episode, Debbie shares how confidence is built through repetition, why writer’s block often signals resistance rather than incapacity, and why the only creative failure that doesn’t heal is regret. They explore procrastination, rejection, creative identity, and what it really m...

Arianna Huffington has lived the high-achievement treadmill, and she crashed hard. Now she’s built Thrive Global to help people stop treating burnout like a status symbol. We talk about what that looks like for writers, especially when writing has to happen alongside a job, school, family, and nonstop news cycles. Arianna shares: Why she doesn’t believe in “balance,” and what she believes in inste...

Jim Kwik didn’t grow up “gifted.” He grew up labeled. After multiple childhood brain injuries, he struggled to read, got bullied, and was literally called “the boy with the broken brain.” Comic books became his escape, and eventually his training ground. That path turned into a 30-year career teaching memory, focus, and accelerated learning to high performers. In this episode, Jim frames writers a...

It's easy to put your ideas out there -- we're one click away from posting a tweet, sharing a video or publishing a blog post.  But in a world where it's so easy to create content, how do you create the depth to make your voice count. On this episode we go inside Ross Baird's journey to make 'Arguments with Integrity.'  As he shared, good ideas don't always win; but shared ideas will.  Hear how he...

"There are three steps to mastering your internal triggers and becoming an indistractable author. We have to reimagine the task, reimagine the trigger, and reimagine our temperament." Nir Eyal  writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of  psychology , technology, and business. The M.I.T. Technology Review dubbed Nir, “The Prophet of  Habit-Forming Technology .” Nir founded two tech com...

"It's painful to watch yourself on camera or listen to yourself interview someone on a podcast... but it's the single best way to get better." Jason Nellis  had dreams of stardom on the big screen as a theatre major in college... but it took a little while (and many twists along the way) to land him on the screen as the host of Unboxed TV and head of marketing at  Packagd .  His career in tech beg...

"I realized I learn differently." Dale Stephens has already had an incredible journey in his 20s, dropping out of elementary school (it's a great story), dropping out of college, becoming a Thiel Fellowship winner, launching a company, raising millions in venture capital and writing a book along the way.  You may look at that and think: "He's unique" or "That's not something I could do." But the i...

In my today's podcast you have the chance to hear story of Alana Muller - a networking coach, consultant, workshop facilitator, keynoter and lecturer. Like she would say - she loves to connect with people around the world and to share stories on topics such as networking, entrepreneurship and women in business. She has been a contributor to Forbes, The Huffington Post, CNBC and other publications...

"Do things with no right answer." Tina Seelig is an award winning Stanford University professor, serial author and speaker focused of creativity. And for her this "problem" was one that she didn't  truly discover until she was a doctoral student working in the field of Neuroscience. Like most of us, she'd been learning how to find the right answer - and excelled at each step of the way. But she qu...

What are you waiting on? Jeff Morris Jr. is one of the top voices on building products as the director of product revenue at Tinder and investing in them through his own VC fund. But less than five years ago he couldn't get high potential startup companies to give him a second look. So he decided he'd learn to code through a General Assembly program. Only issue was the program didn't start for a f...

I royally screwed up the start of my interview with Scott Gerber . Thankfully he's a friend and a nice enough guy that he used it as a teaching lesson. My gaffe?  I called him "the ultimate networker." He politely corrected me... "Does anyone *want* to be known as networker?" And he's right.  On our fascinating conversation we dive into the very question -- how you can build real connection and co...

Startup Weekend legitimately changed my life. Yes, a single weekend did that. (I *did* just happened to do many many of these weekend events because I loved the experience so much). The experience was powerful because of the people and community I met.  Startup Weekend let me truly collaborate with people who changed my entire trajectory - Scott Case , Shane Mac , T. A. McCann , Brad Feld , Bo Fis...

Tiffany Norwood is a global serial entrepreneur with a career spanning 30 years, seven start-ups, two IPOs and a patent. In her 20s, she raised $670 million to fund a global satellite radio start-up called WorldSpace, within a couple of years XM Radio was born and still exists today as part of Sirius XM. Tiffany is considered one of the pioneers of digital broadcasting. She personally did some of...

"I basically wrote a children's book so my kids could meet Elon Musk." Evan Loomis is the definition of an entrepreneur in everything he does. From founding multiple companies, investing in emerging startups and being a leading voice in Austin's startup scene, he's committed to the entrepreneurial life. When his kids began to get old enough to read bedtime stories, Evan realized that there weren't...

On today's show I talked with Katherine Waldock - she's an Assistant Professor of Finance at the McDonough School of Business and holds a courtesy joint appointment with the Georgetown Law Center. She and Luigi Zingales are co-hosts of Capitalisn't, a podcast about what's working (and what isn't working) in capitalist societies. She received a Ph. D. in Finance from the NYU Stern School of Busines...