If I'm Being Honest: Straight Talk About Book Publishing & Promotion

“Distribution” might be the single most misunderstood word in book publishing, and that confusion costs authors real money. We sit down with Brooke Warner, publisher of She Writes Press and host of the Memoir Nation podcast, to explain what legitimate hybrid publishing looks like and why it emerged as a needed alternative to both traditional publishing and DIY self-publishing. We start with Brooke...

Most authors spend a lot of time thinking about what they want to write. Far fewer spend time thinking about why they're writing it in the first place. Yet that single question influences almost every publishing decision you'll make—from the path you choose to publish, to how you market your book, to how you define success once it's out in the world. In this episode of If I'm B...

What happens when a successful podcast becomes a bestselling book? In this episode, I sit down with Jared Maher, lead producer at The Lever and co-author of The Master Plan , to unpack the journey from investigative podcast to independently published book. We explore how years of reporting, research, and storytelling were transformed into a long-form product that could reach readers in a completel...

The hardest part of writing a book is rarely “coming up with ideas.” It’s the thousand tiny moments that break your focus: hunting for a detail you wrote weeks ago, second-guessing whether you already told that story, losing track of character threads, or getting pulled into email while you search across messy folders. That’s where my conversation with Jay Rosencrantz, founder of Plotdrive, gets i...

You can hire help for book promotion, but you cannot outsource the one thing that actually sells books: an author who shows up, believes in the work, and leads the marketing. We see the same trap over and over, across self-publishing and traditional publishing. Writers assume a publisher, a PR firm, or a marketing company will take it from here, and then they feel stuck when nothing moves. We brea...

You don’t need a robot to write your book. You need clear feedback, a smarter revision process, and a way to see what your draft is really doing on the page. We’re joined by Becca Brinkmeier, partnerships and project manager at AutoCrit, plus a full-time author and ghostwriter with dozens of books behind her, to talk about how AI-assisted editing can support real writers without generating content...

Your inbox says someone “discovered” your book and wants to make you a bestseller. The flattery feels good, the promise feels big, and the risk is real. We sit down with publishing consultant and community builder Alexa Bigwarfe, founder of Write|Publish|Sell and the Women in Publishing Summit, to talk straight about what authors actually face right now in self-publishing, hybrid publishing, and b...

Your best marketing idea can still fail for one boring reason: readers can’t easily get the book onto their device. That’s where BookFunnel shines, and that’s why I sat down with Jack Shilkaitis, BookFunnel’s lead author support specialist and a prolific sci-fi author, to talk straight about what actually works when you’re trying to grow as a writer. We break down the core BookFunnel tools authors...

Print-on-demand made self-publishing feel instant, but “instant” is not the same as “best.” We sit down with Dave Sheets, a 30-year book industry pro and the founder of Indie Author Book Services, to get honest about what actually changes when an author moves from print on demand to short-run or offset printing. We dig into the real-world differences that matter: unit cost, profit margin, and the...

If you’ve been told your book must explode on day one or Amazon will bury it forever, we’re here to take that weight off your shoulders. Joel Pitney and Sayde Walker dig into the launch myths we hear constantly from first-time authors and why they create so much anxiety: the belief that you only get one shot, that perfect keywords and categories will “hack” the Amazon algorithm, and that Amazon wi...

Most authors think the book is the goal. In reality, it’s the starting point. In this episode, healthcare executive and clinician Laurinda Calongne shares how she turned her book Still Standing: Leading Well-Being in Crisis into a platform for real influence—opening doors to speaking, consulting, and leadership conversations. Grounded in her experience leading through Hurricane Katrina, a decade o...

A great launch can’t rescue a weak book. In this week's episode we go straight at the hard truth: lasting sales come from a book that’s either a joy to read or a precise solution to a real problem—and often both. With guest Martin Leitner of Cavalesso, we map a clear path from concept to momentum, showing how to validate your idea, write with purpose, and seed word of mouth so the book sells...

Honest stories move readers—and they also build careers. We sit down with author and clinical counselor Heather Hendrie to explore how her debut novel Awfully Hilarious grew from a late‑night idea into an award‑winning series that leapt from self‑publishing to trade distribution. Heather opens up about the moment a bad date sparked a bigger mission, how a trauma‑informed editorial lens turned raw...

If you’ve ever typed “Should I run a preorder?” into an AI tool and felt ready to act five seconds later, this conversation is for you. We unpack the most common ways authors misuse AI—and how to turn the same tools into real advantages without losing your voice or wasting your launch. We start with the seduction of certainty. AI delivers answers with confidence, even when the question hinges on t...

What if the real win from Amazon ads isn’t profit on the first sale, but everything that happens after? We sit down with Steve Starner, Director of Author Success at Shelf Life and a former Amazon Books and Goodreads insider, to map the strategy behind ads that actually move an author’s career forward. Steve explains how Sponsored Products work, why intent-based targeting beats demographics for bo...