Behind the Book Cover

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. 

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. 

Daniel DiPiazza, entrepreneur and founder of New Wave Press who built Rich 20-Something from newsletter roots, tells the story of his long grind from early blogging to a surprise book deal. He talks platform power, the limits of traditional publishing, creative control, using books to build authority rather than sales, and where publishing is headed with AI and indie DTC opportunities.

Chris Joseph, a pancreatic cancer survivor, memoirist and co-founder of Terrain Navigators, turned his recovery story into a new career. He explains how writing Life Is a Ride unexpectedly opened doors, how repeated “tell me what you did” conversations became a coaching practice, and how creative touring and networking turned a memoir into credibility and opportunity.

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. Kelsey Chittick wrote a book about her husband dying at a trampoline park while she was on a spiritual retreat in Jamaica, and somehow it's one of the funniest books I've ever read. But what I really wanted to talk to her about is what happened after.Because the book, Second Half, became the thing people hand to someone when the worst has happened. It led to Zibby Owens inviting Kelsey to co-host a podcast about sex that lasted five years. It led to a grief group in her basement that ran every two weeks for three and a half years and is now being pitched as a scripted TV show. It turned her into a speaker, a life coach and someone whose phone rings every time somebody in the South Bay loses the person they love most.Kelsey didn't write this book to build a career. She wrote it so her kids would know the truth about their dad. They still haven't read it (too embarrassing, apparently). But the book did what books do when they're real: it opened every door she didn't know existed.In this episode:How a death-and-mourning memoir became the go-to gift when someone dies (and led to a five-year sex podcast)Why the grief group in her basement is being pitched as a scripted TV showThe moment Kelsey knew she was done being "the dead-husband woman" — and what comes nextThe cover design that looked like a vagina (her mother-in-law loved it)What it means to write something so true to your voice that you can hand someone the book instead of reliving the storyWant to learn more about Legacy Launch Pad Publishing—my high-end hybrid book publishing company that helps entrepreneurs turn their expertise into authority-building books? 👉 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. 

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. Alex Mandossian sold 87 copies of his book and made $2.5 million from it, which is either the best argument for publishing a book or the best argument against caring about sales numbers (or both).I've known Alex for years, and what makes him fun to talk to is that he'll just say the thing most authors won't admit: the book was never the product. It was the thing that got him in the room. He gave signed copies away on stages across six continents and every single one of his high-ticket consulting clients mentioned the book before they hired him. Not because it was a bestseller (600 copies sold, total, across two books) but because having it made him the guy who literally wrote the book on his thing.Alex calls a book a "credentializer," which is not a word, but it should be. He also has a collection of one-liners he calls Alexisms that are annoyingly quotable. We get into all of it — how he turned one book into years of content, why he thinks most authors completely misunderstand what a book is actually for and what happens when you stop chasing sales and start using your book as the best business card that's ever existed.In this episode:How 87 copies sold turned into $2.5 million in revenue (and why the math makes more sense than you think)Why every single high-ticket client referenced the book before saying yesWhat happens when you give signed copies away on stages instead of trying to sell themThe Alexisms — and why deceptively simple one-liners are a branding strategyWhy most authors are obsessed with the wrong metricWant to learn more about Legacy Launch Pad Publishing—my high-end hybrid book publishing company that helps entrepreneurs turn their expertise into authority-building books? 👉 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. 

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. Brian Kurtz spent decades helping build Boardroom into a billion-dollar business through direct response marketing, which means he knows more about what actually makes people buy things than almost anyone I've ever talked to.So when he finally wrote his book Overdeliver, he didn't do what most authors do (cross his fingers, pray for a bestseller list, then move on). He treated the book like a business asset that would keep working for years, and that's exactly what it's done.What I wanted to get into with Brian is his idea of the "perpetual launch"—that a book is never done launching, which sounds exhausting until you hear how he actually does it. He used bonuses, podcasts and decades of relationship capital to turn one book into a long-term client engine, and he'll tell you straight up that capturing a reader's email matters more than any Amazon ranking ever will.He also wrote for nearly a decade before publishing, which gave him something most authors skip straight past: an actual voice.And then there's the part of this conversation that puts everything else in perspective. The day before his book launch, Brian had a near-fatal stroke. We talk about what that did to how he thinks about legacy and why, after something like that, the long game stops being a strategy and starts being the only thing that makes sense.In this episode:What the "perpetual launch" means in practice (and why most authors quit too early)Why Brian says capturing an email is worth more than an Amazon rankingHow decades of relationship capital turned one book into a multi-million-dollar assetThe near-fatal stroke that happened the day before his launch — and how it changed everythingWhy writing for years before publishing is the real shortcutWant to learn more about Legacy Launch Pad Publishing—my high-end hybrid book publishing company that helps entrepreneurs turn their expertise into authority-building books? 👉 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. 

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. Richard Lawson has spent 50+ years in Hollywood acting, teaching and mentoring people like George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer, so writing a book could have been a victory lap—a way to package the lessons and put a bow on everything.That's not what happened. Writing The Artist's Roadmap: Navigating Your Career in SHOW Business didn't just organize what Richard already knew. It woke something up. It led to a Substack, a memoir in progress, a series of children's books and an entirely new creative chapter that he wasn't expecting at this stage of his life.What I wanted to get into with Richard is how that happened—how the process of writing the book became the thing that renewed him, not just the product of a long career. He tells me about a moment during a college musical in 1969 that set everything in motion (and why he still feels guided by that same force today). He talks about surviving an actual plane crash and what that did to his relationship with intuition. And he explains the dialogue between his two inner voices—his spiritual guide "Richard" and his creative alter ego "Tricky Dick"—which is not the kind of thing you expect from a guy who's spent five decades in the business, and that's exactly why it's interesting.In this episode:The 1969 revelation during a college musical that he says still drives him todayHow surviving a plane crash reshaped how he trusts his own instincts"Richard" vs. "Tricky Dick"—the two inner voices and what they taught him about creativityHis three-part formula for show business success: politics, personality and craftWhy the book led to a Substack, a memoir, children's books and an entire second creative wave he didn't planWhat he means by "dream whisperer" (and how he helps people find their way back to their purpose)Want to learn more about Legacy Launch Pad Publishing—my high-end hybrid book publishing company that helps entrepreneurs turn their expertise into authority-building books? 👉 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. 

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. Justin Breen used to charge $500 for his PR services. After writing his first book, he started charging $30,000.That's not a typo, and it's not because the book sold a million copies—it's because the book made him the person clients wanted to hire at that price.Justin's path to authorship started when his journalism salary got cut in half and he cold-contacted 5,000 people to find his first five clients. He documented that whole ride in Epic Life, and it led to The Epic F.I.T. Network, speaking engagements and media opportunities that didn't exist before the book.But what I really wanted to talk about is what happened with his second book, Epic Journey, because it got weird in the best way. Justin describes the writing process as channeling divine inspiration while literally staring at the sun on his daily runs, which I know sounds like something you'd scroll past—but the manuscript had such an impact on early readers that one of them got a tattoo inspired by it. The book led to what he calls a "complete ego death," an amicable divorce, a total life overhaul and a new AI music company called Corvia.AI. He's currently not sure where he's going to live next, which is either terrifying or the most honest thing an entrepreneur has ever admitted on a podcast.We also get into why he thinks not everyone should write their own book (which is a bold thing to say on this particular podcast) and his potential collaboration with Melissa Bernstein of Melissa & Doug Toys.In this episode:How writing a book took him from $500 to $30,000 per clientThe 5,000 cold contacts that launched his entire businessWhy Epic Journey led to an ego death, a divorce and a company he didn't planThe early reader who got a tattoo inspired by the manuscriptWhy he says not everyone should write their own book (and what to do instead)The potential Melissa Bernstein (Melissa & Doug) collaborationWant to learn more about Legacy Launch Pad Publishing—my high-end hybrid book publishing company that helps entrepreneurs turn their expertise into authority-building books? 👉 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. 

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. Christos Garkinos went from being a lonely gay Greek kid in Detroit to running marketing for Virgin Megastores, launching fashion lines on HSN and becoming Bravo's "Robin Hood of Fashion"—and then lost nearly all of it to addiction, financial collapse and grief.So he wrote a memoir called Covet the Comeback and launched it like a rock tour.What I wanted to talk to Christos about is the launch, because it's one of the most ambitious rollouts I've seen from any author, and he did it entirely on his own terms. Celebrity-filled dinners, sold-out events across the country and a billboard in LA that ran for five months—positioned directly above an ATM he used during his darkest days. That's not a marketing stunt. That's a man staring down his own story from a billboard.But the launch isn't actually the most interesting part of this conversation. Christos gets into what it felt like when people he hadn't spoken to in years started reaching out after reading the book—people who had written him off, people who barely knew him, people who suddenly understood something about him they never had before. He talks about sobriety, ego and surrender with a kind of honesty that you don't usually hear from someone whose instinct is to produce a show. And he gets into how the book didn't just change his public image. It changed his business, his relationships and the way he thinks about what he's actually building.In this episode:The five-month LA billboard placed directly above an ATM from his worst daysWhy he refused a traditional book launch and built a rollout that looked more like a concert tourWhat it felt like when people who'd written him off started reaching out after reading the bookHow sobriety reshaped his instincts, leadership and creativityThe moment his community turned his story into their ownWant to learn more about Legacy Launch Pad Publishing—my high-end hybrid book publishing company that helps entrepreneurs turn their expertise into authority-building books? 👉 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.