Wed, November 27, 2024

Remaining Behind-the-Scenes with 16-Time NYT Bestselling Author Hilary Lifton

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

Wed, November 20, 2024

Using Beta Readers Who Disagree with Your Premise with Arlina Allen

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

Wed, November 13, 2024

How a Book is the Gift That Keeps on Giving with Dr. Doug Brackmann

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

Wed, October 09, 2024

Why the Ex-CEO of a $550 Million Company Did a Book Now with Erika Badan Ayers

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

Tue, October 01, 2024

Why People Lose Steam on Their Books with Jill Ishkanian

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

Tue, September 24, 2024

How Book Publishing Is Evolving with Agent Mark Gottlieb

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

Fri, July 12, 2024

Boost Your Business by Sharing Your Story (Solo Episode)

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

Wed, July 03, 2024

How to Use Instagram Reels to Blow Up Your Book with Erin Lee

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

Wed, April 24, 2024

The State of Publishing Today with Kevin Anderson

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

Wed, January 10, 2024

How to Get Your Book Everywhere with Annabelle Gurwitch

Annabelle Gurwitch is an actress, activist, and the author of the New York Times bestseller and Thurber Prize finalist I See You Made an Effort . Her other books include: Wherever You Go, There They Are, and You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up (coauthored with Jeff Kahn).  She was the co-host of Dinner & a Movie on TBS and has appeared on NPR, The Today Show, CBS Early Show, Real Time with Bill Maher, PBS, and numerous CNN and MSNBC programs. Her essays and satire have been featured in The New Yorker , The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal , The Los Angeles Times, AARP, Real Simple, Prevention, The Los Angeles Book Review, The Daily Beast, Time, Next Tribe, Lenny Letter, Hadassah and The Hollywood Reporter , among other media outlets. She's also an extremely methodical (she might say obsessive compulsive?) person—one who starts planning her launch as she comes up with the book concept. And she works it—making lists, checking them way more than twice, reaching out to people she knows and doesn't know and ultimately making it so that her books have no option but to be successful. If you want practical steps on how to prepare both emotionally and literally for a release, this episode is packed with tips, tactics and other t-words! FOR MORE ABOUT WHAT MY COMPANY, LEGACY LAUNCH PAD, DOES, GO TO WWW.LEGACYLAUNCHPADPUB.COM

Wed, January 03, 2024

Make Sure You Write the Right Book with Dave Chesson

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

Wed, December 27, 2023

Get Your Book in Stores with Ashlea Hearn

Ashlea Hearn is not only a 1st Lieutenant in the Army Reserves but also the author of Genesis Mortalis, Book 1 of the Take It Trilogy . We met when she reached out to me about the upcoming release of that book. But here's what's relevant: by that point, I had noticed this lovely person named Ashlea Hearn reviewing me wherever she could—different books, this podcast, on Google...everywhere. But here's what I really noticed: she wasn't just slapping a review up there in order to "do the right thing" but crafting thoughtful, in-depth analysis that showed she really had taken in and appreciated the work. (Her review of Party Girl still comes up as "Most Relevant," which is Amazon speak for "the most thoughtful one.") Because of all this, not only was I delighted to speak to her about her book but when she declared me her "mentor," I happily took on the role. And it's been nothing but rewarding as I've watched her jump into life and authorhood with enthusiasm and gumption. Then, like the amazing mentee she is, she flew out for a book party I had for one of my clients and made so many friends that when I showed up for breakfast the next morning to meet some, she was there! So that's our back story. Here's her back story. She started writing as a little girl because it was a fascinating escape from what she considered to be a mundane life of a girl from the Midwest. At an early age, she fell in love with the suaveness of James Bond, the action of Mission: Impossible , the gore and badassery of Kill Bill: Volume 1 and the relatable female characters of Totally Spies!— all of which influenced the Take It book series. Listen in on this chat between a mentee and a thoroughly delighted mentor! FOR MORE INFO ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM !

Wed, December 20, 2023

Make Sure Your Readers Can Afford You with Scott Duffy

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

Wed, December 13, 2023

What It's Like to Be Chosen by Oprah with Greg Behrendt

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

Wed, December 06, 2023

Use Your Book to Build Your Brand with Katie DePaola

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

Wed, November 29, 2023

How to Set Up an Author Podcast Tour with Alex Sanfilippo

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

Wed, November 22, 2023

Raising Money for Your Book with Craig Stanland

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

Wed, November 15, 2023

Getting Press for Your Book with Peter Shankman

Peter Shankman is many things, among them a five-time best selling author, entrepreneur and corporate in-person and virtual keynote speaker who focuses on customer service. But in this episode I got him speaking about something so many of you ask me about: HARO , or Help a Reporter Out...the website he started (and sold to Cision many years ago) that helps so many authors get featured in mainstream media. In this conversation, which happened in rapid fire while he was in the throws of salmonella, Peter shared with me how he started HARO accidentally, the best way to get a journalist's attention and why someone stealing a Yoo Hoo truck ended up being the best PR Yoo Hoo could get, among many other topics. WANT MORE INFO ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER THINGS? GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Wed, November 08, 2023

How a Book Could Make You $5 Million with Rich Goldstein

Rich Goldstein is a patent attorney, speaker, host of the Innovations and Breakthroughs podcast and, most relevantly for this show, the author of the bestselling book The ABA Consumer Guide to Obtaining a Patent, which was published by the American Bar Association. He's someone who understands through and through what a book can do for someone's business and in this episode, we got into all that as well as how writing a book changed Rich's career, why he sends a copy of the book to anyone who requests it and how writing a book could, theoretically, make an entrepreneur a cool five million. FOR MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER THINGS, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Wed, November 01, 2023

How to Write a Book Everyone Recommends with Rob Fitzpatrick

This may be the most useful podcast I've ever released. That's because it's with a guy who's an expert on something EVERY author wants: getting people to recommend your book. His name is Rob Fitzpatrick and he's a former programmer who dropped out of grad school to go to YCombinator with his first startup. It's that background—along with his nearly decade and a half of experience as an entrepreneur—that helps make sense of the fact that he's the guy who's seemingly cracked the code on how to write a book that everyone will recommend. He breaks down his process in his latest book, Write Useful Books , and we also get into our decidedly unique story of how we met (in short, he quoted my interview with Chris Voss in Write Useful Books and I didn't see that he credited me and I fired off an email and anyway, listen to the episode and you'll hear what happened next). But that's far less interesting than the methods he describes in this conversation—including how to find beta readers, what to ask them and how to use them to craft a book that's DEEP (Desirable, Effective, Engaging and Polished). How sure is he that his process works? Well, the results speak for themselves. His monthly earnings from his three books are roughly $25k a month, with 1000 copies a week being sold, and, in his words, "growing pretty steadily." I am not being hyperbolic when I say I think this is the most useful interview yet. (Even more than the Chris Voss one Rob quoted!) If I were you, I would literally study the transcript below. (That's what I'm doing.) WANT MORE INFO ABOUT THE POD AND OTHER STUFF? GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Wed, October 25, 2023

Use Social Media to Sell Books with Zara Barrie and Dayna Troisi

I literally don't have the words to describe the experience of recording this episode but suffice it to say that it was the most fun interview I've ever done. Back story: Zara Barrie and I knew each other online (I find her incredibly glam and we're mutual fans of one another to the point that I recommended her book, Girl Stop Passing Out in Your Makeup , on KATU ). She told me that she and her podcast co-host slash work wife Dayna Troisi were going to be in LA (they're NYC ladies, natch). We decided to do a podcast swap, they rented a studio and the rest is history. If history involved me becoming obsessed with these two hilarious and brilliant lesbians who, in addition to co-hosting their podcast GirlZ Interrupted, also, between them, regularly write articles that go viral, are university professors (one of them, anyway), produce an audio series (the other of them) and do so many other things that it would be impossible to summarize. We recorded this right after they recorded their interview with me so were already BFFs by the time this particular recording started. This means that, in addition to covering our main topic—how to turn an online audience, once you've gone viral, into an audience that buys and reads your book—we had many delightful diversions (swag, whether or not your friends support your book, if you should be on your book cover and more). Listen and you'll become as obsessed with them as I am. FOR MORE INFO, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Wed, October 18, 2023

The Slow Climb to Selling 100,000 Books with Paul Angone

Paul Angone had an extremely unusual journey to success as an author. First, he tried to sell a book. For eight years. Nary a bite. Then a blog post he dashed off went viral. Very viral. From there, he was able to sell a book based on that blog post to a publisher. The problem was that he had to finish it in a month. Well that book and the next have sold over 100,000 copies and launched a massive speaking career. But that's not even why I wanted to have him on the podcast. I wanted him on the pod so I could Interview him about the process of turning his book into a course. Listen in on this mega inspiring conversation about how courses and books work symbiotically—and how your reality may end up being even bigger than your dreams...how you may even end up selling over 100,000 copies of your book. FOR MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM .

Wed, October 11, 2023

Build a Twitter Following Using Your Book Material with Jesse J. Anderson

Jesse J. Anderson's journey to bookdom is unlike any other guest I've had on the show.  For one, he's not launching a book to help build his business.  Also, that book— Refocus: A Practical Guide to Adult ADHD —hasn't launched yet. In fact, he hasn't even finished writing it.  Why, then, you may ask, would I have him on the show?  Well, Jesse has also built up an impressive Twitter following by releasing Twitter threads of book chapters—a topic we dive into in detail.  When he's not writing books in public, Jesse is a designer and developer who has made it his mission to help others better understand what ADHD really is. FOR MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM .

Wed, October 04, 2023

Turning Your Books Into Movies with Ben Mezrich

Ben Mezrich has sold over 10 million copies of his books. And, by the way, that’s not even the impressive part. The impressive part is that he sells EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HIS BOOKS as a movie or TV show; in fact, if Hollywood isn’t interested in the treatment, he doesn’t even write the book. Mezrich has gotten into this position because of a chance encounter with some MIT students, which led to his writing Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions , which led to Kevin Spacey snapping up the film rights before the book was even out, which led to the book spending over 60 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Then there was his book, The Accidental Billionaires , which David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin jumped on as Mezrich was writing the book and which, of course turned into the multi award-nominated movie The Social Network . (Mezrich is the only non-fiction author to have two adaptations open at #1 at the box office.) He’s written numerous other books, including Bitcoin Billionaires and The Antisocial Network and is also a consulting producer on Billions . Oh, and his most recent book, The Midnight Ride , has an NFT component that already has over 3500 owners. So how does this happen? How does a former struggling novelist become Hollywood’s go to guy pursued by designers who want to dress him for his book tours? And what is the secret to finding the sort of story that makes Hollywood salivate? It’s all in this episode. GET MORE INFO ON THE POD AND OTHER STUFF BY GOING TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Wed, September 27, 2023

How to Sell Ads in Your Book with Alex Strathdee

Alex Strathdee is no ordinary writer. That's because he's as much an entrepreneur as he is a writer. How do we know this? Because when he wrote his book, Experience Over Degrees , and it didn't transform the world—or even his life—he didn't just shelve the book and the experience like most people. Instead, he asked: how can I get more people to see this? What followed was a targeted campaign to colleges and then a targeted campaign to businesses to pay for that first campaign. It's an ingenious approach and he breaks it all down in this episode. Now he helps other authors make an impact with his company, Advanced Amazon Ads and he even has a free gift for YOU where he breaks down his strategies. Get that free gift here . IF YOU WANT MORE INFO ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM .

Wed, September 20, 2023

Turn Your Book Into a $7.5 Million Product with Mike Koenigs

Mike Koenigs is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, co-host of Capability Amplifier podcast with Strategic Coach founder Dan Sullivan and 13-time bestselling author, Mike is regular contributor to Entrepreneur and Forbes. He's interviewed, consulted and advised celebrity clients, billionaires and bestselling authors including Tony Robbins, Paula Abdul, Richard Dreyfuss, Dave Asprey, JJ Virgin, presidential candidate Tim Ryan, John Assaraf, Brian Tracy and XPrize founder Peter Diamandis, among many others. He's also ALL love. I met him a few years ago and he was so kind and welcoming and usually wearing red shoes. But that is NOT why I asked him to come on the podcast. I asked him to come on because he is a master at taking advantage of business opportunities and I knew he'd be able to talk about how he's done that with books. And BOY has he done it. Bet you didn't know you could generate millions from a book. In this episode, he explains how. FOR MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Wed, September 13, 2023

How to Prep for Your Book Launch with Sober Sexpert Tawny Lara

Tawny Lara is a self-proclaimed natural born promoter. She's also a delightful person known as The Sober Sexpert, co-host of the Recovery Rocks podcast and author of the book, Dry Humping: a Guide to Dating, Relating, and Hooking Up Without Booze . This was recorded months before the book's release because I wanted to get a sense of what she was doing at this stage of her launch...turns out, a lot. In this episode, we talk about the ways she's incentivizing pre-orders, why she got a shirt made of her Publishers Marketplace book announcement and how outsourcing can help with a book launch. Tips galore in here...as well as some good motivation to start the launch work early! FOR MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER COOL THINGS, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Wed, September 06, 2023

How to Get on Podcasts to Promote Your Book with John Corcoran

John Corcoran may be my new favorite human. A former White House speechwriter and attorney who worked in Hollywood, he now runs Rise25 , which helps businesses get more clients, referral partners and strategic partners through their done-for-you podcast service. In the brief time we've known each other, he's introduced me to countless people, advised me on my business and given me ideas that have sent my head spinning, in all the right ways. This man is a fount of wisdom! And Corcoran isn't just an expert in podcasts—he's an expert in getting podcasts to further your career. He's been in the podcasting game over a decade and his show, Smart Business Revolution , is a must for anyone building a business (and if you're an author, I do hope you're building a business that your book can support). In this episode, he explains how you can promote your book on podcasts, when you should be reaching out and why having your own podcast is the best promotional tool of all. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF BY GOING TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM !

Wed, August 30, 2023

An Entirely Amusing Episode with Joel Stein

Joel Stein wrote a weekly column for Time magazine for 20 years, was a columnist for Entertainment Weekly and the Los Angeles Times and is the author of the books Man Made: A Stupid Quest for Masculinity and In Defense of Elitism: Why I’m Better Than You and You’re Better Than Someone Who Didn’t Buy This Book .  He's also such a funny person that he manages to come across as incredibly likable both while penning a book defending elitism and while dis-inviting me to his book launch party (true story; listen to his defense in this episode and let me know if you think it means you think I should forgive him). In this episode, we talk about how to ask friends to recommend you to a show as a guest, why to never rely on a publicist and ways to make an audiobook much better, among many other topics. FOR MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM .

Wed, August 23, 2023

How to Get an Influencer to Promote You with Jess Lahey

Jess Lahey can talk about so many things so brilliantly that interviewing her felt a bit like walking through an outlet mall: so many choices and they all look so good! But really, here's what you need to know: She's a former New York Times  columnist and current Atlantic  contributor , podcaster and New York Times bestselling author of The Gift of Failure whose new book, The Addiction Inoculation , is the one that the world has been clamoring for. It addresses the question on pretty much every parent's mind at one time or another: how do I prevent my kid from becoming an addict? Lahey addresses this issue from her own perspective (as a sober woman from an alcoholic family who's taught high schoolers in recovery) but with a reporter's brilliance (coupled with scientific and medical knowledge, with some help, she acknowledges, from her in-house researcher, her husband Dr. Tim Lahey ). In short, she's the perfect person to have penned this book and she couldn't have penned it at a more perfect time. She's also, it turns out, the perfect person to talk to about building a business from a book—particularly if that business includes speaking, podcasting and newsletter writing. She's got tips aplenty for how to get speaking gigs, be booked on huge podcasts and have celebrities endorse your work. But—trigger warning—you'll never again think, "Oh, look how lucky that writer got, I bet it was easy for her." In other words, a sh*tload of work goes into these "lucky breaks," and Jess breaks down every single one. FOR MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Wed, August 16, 2023

The Secret to Becoming a NYT Bestselling Author with Jennifer K. Armstrong

Jennifer Keishin Armstrong is the New York Times bestselling author of Seinfeldia: How the Show About Nothing Changed Everything ; a history of The Mary Tyler Moore Show , Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted ; and Sex and the City and Us: How Four Single Women Changed the Way We Think, Live, and Love . She spent a decade on staff at Entertainment Weekly and has since written for many publications, including BBC Culture, The New York Times Book Review , Vice, New York magazine, and Billboard. She's also an old pal from my NYC days; in fact, we used to host Readings & Rubdowns events where people would listen to writers read from their latest books while getting massaged. In the ensuing years, Jennifer has become a huge author and in this episode she breaks down, step-by-step, what makes for a successful launch. FOR MORE INFO, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Wed, August 09, 2023

How to Get Readers to Hire You with Jay Abraham

Jay Abraham is the world's highest-paid marketing consultant, a proven business leader and top executive coach in the United States. As Founder and CEO of The Abraham Group, Inc., Jay has spent his entire career solving complex problems and fixing underperforming businesses. He has significantly increased the bottom lines of over 10,000 clients in more than 1,000 industries and over 7,200 sub-industries worldwide.  This is a man who is paid $30,000 for a day of business consulting. And I was lucky enough to not only get him to agree to come on this podcast to talk about applying lessons from other industries to a book launch but I was also able to get invaluable advice from him a few years ago that radically transformed my business (we talk about that at the very end of the episode; you definitely want to hear it). In this episode, he doles out some of his top gems—including what to write at the beginning of every business book, how to involve influencers in your writing process, why to read the Amazon reviews of every book on your topic that's come before and how to get readers to hire you. FOR MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM .

Wed, August 02, 2023

Why Authors Should Be On Social Media with Jane Friedman

Jane Friedman is an icon in the publishing space. With over two decades of experience in the business, she is truly considered the world's leading expert on traditional publishing, self publishing and where the twain shall meet. She's the curator of The Hot Sheet , a biweekly paid newsletter, oversees a wildly popular blog and is also the author of The Business of Being a Writer. In this episode, we discussed how important it is to know what you want your book to do for you, how to get bookstores interested in hosting you, the biggest changes in the publishing industry over the past year and so much more. FOR MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM .

Wed, July 26, 2023

The Reality of Traditional Publishing with Jeff Garlin

Do you really need me to tell you who Jeff Garlin is? Well, the simple way to handle that is to tell you that he stars on arguably the most adored show of all time ( Curb Your Enthusiasm ). But he does so much more than just come to you via your SmartTV. He's also a standup (um, obv), photographer and author. In this episode, he explains what happens when you sell a book to a big publisher but then it doesn't sell the number of copies anyone had hoped (and also has an odd name change somewhere between the hardcover and paperback). This episode also has LOTS of digressions into random topics both because Jeff Garlin could be renamed Digression Garlin and also because we're pals who digress a lot. Listen and digress with us... WANT MORE INFO ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF? GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM .

Wed, July 19, 2023

How to Get a Big Name to Blurb Your Book with Ed Kressy

Ed Kressy is not your average human. He's much sweeter than your average human and his sweetness emanates from him. He also has a much crazier story than your average addict with a crazy story...and this is coming from someone who's heard every crazy addiction story over the past two decades. The short version: he went into a meth-induced psychosis for 14 years that left him convinced he was involved in 9/11. The longer version is in his memoir, My Addiction & Recovery: Just Because You're Done With Drugs Doesn't Mean Drugs Are Done With You , which you can get here . He is one of the most exquisitely talented writers I've come across in a long time—something I found, and tell him in this episode, surprising. I've read almost every book out there about addiction and recovery and few are as brilliantly crafted as this. Please get this book . Not only will you be exposed to some of the best writing around but all proceeds are being donated to prisons. And that relationship with prisons, for those here for the marketing tidbits, is how Ed was able to get the great Seth Godin to blurb his book.  In this episode, we get into Ed's crazy story, how many drafts he wrote of this book (you don't want to know) and his mission to get the book into every prison he can (so far, it has been accepted by 108 facilities in nine states, serving an estimated 132,000 incarcerated people). Listen in to find out more about the guy whose recovery-related work has appeared in the Washington Post and who's delivered criminal justice-themed talks for groups at Amazon, Cisco, Google, LinkedIn and MIT.  FOR MORE ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM !

Wed, July 12, 2023

Blog Your Way to Book Success with Derek Murphy

Derek Murphy is a USA Today bestselling author with a PhD in Literature, who’s been featured in CNN, writes fantasy and sometimes lives in castles. When not trolling obscure bookshops, he prefers to be sipping espresso, surrounded by kittens and pursuing research on what it means to be a successful creative. Now the word unique is overused but this is one unique guy. Looking at the amazing array of material he puts out there is to enter into a tireless brain of myriad interests—including educating aspiring writers , designing covers , penning paranormal fiction and hosting writing retreats in castles . In this episode, we talked about creative ways to get Amazon to recommend your book (write a blog post that recommends other books like yours and then include a link to that blog in your email auto-responder), the importance of obeying Amazon's ever-changing rules and how to actually make money from book sales. WANT MORE INFO ABOUT THE POD AND OTHER STUFF? GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM .

Wed, July 05, 2023

Selling Your Book Traditionally After Self-Publishing with David Nihill

Originally from Dublin Ireland, David Nihill is the founder of FunnyBizz Conference, bestselling author of Do You Talk Funny? , winner of San Francisco International Comedy Competition, runner up in the Moth’s largest US Grandslam storytelling competition and the first-ever Irishman to have a special on Dry Bar Comedy. His work has been featured in Inc, The Huffington Post, Forbes, Fast Company, Lifehacker, The Irish Times, TED, The Irish Independent, Today FM, and on TV3. He and I met through friends a few years ago and I was immediately impressed not only with his barely indecipherable accent but also with how much knowledge he possessed about marketing, books and how to make them successful. This impression was only solidified when, a few days later, he sent me an email packed with all the strategies he'd used to make his book so successful that he was able to then sell it to a major publisher. In this episode, we go through all those ideas and more. If you listened to the episode, you know that I promised I would give you the email he sent out to his launch team, which you are welcome to copy and steal (he will never know, unless he's reading this, in which case I say hi David!) FOR THE SHOW NOTES [INCLUDING THE EMAIL MENTIONED] AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Wed, June 28, 2023

Getting Articles Published & Landing an Agent with Estelle Erasmus

Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, writing coach, teacher for Writer's Digest and adjunct instructor at New York University. The former editor-in-chief of five national consumer women's magazines, her work has appeared in dozens of media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, Huffington Post Personal, Marie Claire and more. Now she's written a book that can show you how to do the same! Writing That Gets Noticed: How to Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, and Get Published will show you all the techniques for getting editors to pay attention to you so that you can spread your writing beyond your book. In this episode, we dove into some of those techniques (including using your potential article name as the subject line of your pitch email and including your first paragraph of the article in your pitch) and also how to get an agent if you want to pursue the traditional publishing path. WANT MORE INFO ABOUT THE POD AND OTHER THINGS? GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Mon, June 26, 2023

The Scribe Publishing Scandal: What Happens When the Leader in Your Field Goes Down in Flames

This special episode is a solo chat about the implosion of Scribe Media. While it doesn't contain tips about how to launch a book that transforms your career, it's a deep dive into what NOT to do when building a business from your book. Everything in here is, like all episodes, just my opinion but I've been in a unique position where I've been receiving constant updates and information from people who have the inside scoop on the Scribe sh*tshow.

Wed, June 21, 2023

Find Out What People Really Think of Your Cover & Title with John Li

Regular listeners know that I'm obsessed with PickFu , a software that, in technical terms, provides actionable pre-launch feedback on creative options. (How obsessed? I never had ads on the podcast because I wanted to wait until there was something I loved so much that I could recommend it without reservations. And, well, PickFu is it!) That's why I was delighted to welcome PickFu's co-creator John Li onto the show. And it's also why I'm delighted to use PickFu to get feedback on my covers, titles, book descriptions and Amazon book pages, among many other things. Yes, you can go onto PickFu set up a poll and ask between 50 and 500 people—hand-selected based on interests, income and thousands of other options—for feedback. This isn't "Yeah, that's good" feedback either; it's feedback that people who want to participate in polling are being compensated to do—millions and millions of people, as it turns out. In this episode, John walks us through how PickFu started, the craziest things it's used for and why someone with no need for an income would want to participate in something like polls. Listen in and my God, if you know what's good for you, please give PickFu a try. If you use the code Pickfu.com/anna , you'll get 50% off your first poll!

Wed, June 14, 2023

Lessons Learned from my Most Recent Launch

It was a meta on top of a meta on top of a meta experience to record this episode, which is all about what worked and didn't work for the launch of my most recent book (which happened to be based on podcast interviews I've done on this show). This means that for the launch, I tried out a lot of the things experts have recommended on this very show...some were very effective, some not so much. While it's impossible to say what the end result of all my launch efforts will be because our books have long lives and what we do at launch could end up paying off 100-fold down the line, I give you here the bird's eye view from six weeks post-launch. WANT TO SEE THE BOOK I'M TALKING ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE? GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYBOOK.COM

Wed, June 07, 2023

Making Millions from Your Book with Cameron Herold

Cameron Herold is the Founder of the COO Alliance & Second In Command Podcast as well as the author of five books and an international public speaker. By the age of 35, he’d help build his first TWO $100 MILLION DOLLAR companies and by 42, he engineered 1-800-GOT-JUNK?’s spectacular growth from $2 million to $106 million in revenue. So you get it. The guy's a machine. And he's a machine well worth talking to about what a book (let alone five) can do for a career, seeing as his have added millions of dollars to his bottom line. He also knows how to engineer a fantastic book launch, since he's an expert on generating PR (exhibit A: his 2019 book, Free PR ). Exhibit B: his tactics have landed him everywhere from The New York Times to Oprah . In this episode, we talked about how to get the media to care about you (hint: it involves picking up the phone), why to put an 800 number on your book cover and how paying for 1000 copies of your own book to give away may be the smartest business decision you can make. FOR MORE INFO ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Wed, May 31, 2023

The Power of a Writing Group with Tim Gager

When someone says they're in a writing group, that can mean many things.  They may be doing a "write your book in a weekend" class or sitting down with fellow writers once a month. For Tim Gager, it means showing up five days a week, online, for the past three years. That's because Tim runs the writing group I started when the pandemic hit. In those three years, at least 10 of its members have launched books and numerous movie projects, in-person readings and lifelong friendships have come to be. Yet, in all that time, I've somehow never talked about the writing group on the podcast. Well, that all changed with this episode, where we dove into how a writing group transformed Tim's life and career. I should mention that when he joined the group, he was already a critically acclaimed author of 16 books! For more information about the writing group, click here . For more information about Tim Gager, click here .

Wed, May 24, 2023

Why You’re More Important Than Your Book with Nicolas Cole

Nicolas Cole is an author and the #1 personal development writer on the internet with more than 75,000,000 views on his work. Cole rose to internet stardom in 2015 when he became the #1 most-read writer on Quora, accumulating tens of millions of views on his viral articles, and his work being republished in Time, Forbes, Fortune, Business Insider, CNBC, The Chicago Tribune , and more. In 2016, Cole became one of Inc Magazine's Top 10 contributing writers, accumulating millions of views on his business & creativity column, and in 2017 he founded a ghostwriting and thought leadership agency called Digital Press, for Fortune 500 executives, Silicon Valley founders, venture capitalists, Grammy-winning musicians, Olympians, NYT best-selling authors, international public speakers, and more. Cole has written two books, Confessions of a Teenage Gamer , a memoir about his high school years as one of the highest-ranked World of Warcraft players in North America (while simultaneously undiagnosed with Celiac Disease), and Slow Down, Wake Up: 150 Short Meditations For A More Present Life. He is also someone who forever changed my business, with an offhand remark he made to me when we had coffee a year or so ago. I know of no one better at merging writing passion with entrepreneurial success and in this episode, we get into why caring about book sales is silly, what journalism professors get wrong and why having no launch strategy is the best strategy of all. FOR MORE INFO ABOUT THE PODCAST AND OTHER STUFF, GO TO WWW.ONGOODAUTHORITYPOD.COM !

Wed, May 17, 2023

Getting Local Love for Your Book with Carlyn Montes De Oca

Carlyn Montes De Oca is a passionate animal advocate, international speaker and multi-award winning author of Dog as My Doctor, Cat as my Nurse who has also been featured on ABC and CBS and in Woman's Day magazine. But it was what she did for her most recent book, Junkyard Girl: A Memoir of Ancestry, Family Secrets, and Second Chances, that we focused on. Rather than trying to tackle the whole wide world, she focused on her local area: Santa Fe, New Mexico. As a result, she got in with the local bookstores, pitched the local TV shows and set up local events. Now she's become a bit of a local celebrity. Steal her techniques and dominate your hometown! From there, take on the world. Want my authority-building secrets every week? Grab 'em at www.authoritysecrets.club .

Wed, May 10, 2023

Using Your Book to Build Your Business with Ian Altman

Ian Altman is one of the world's top expert on sales, with his Same Side Academy rated as one of the top 5 Sales Development programs globally. But instead of focusing on sales, we talked about how he has used the book he co-authored, Same Side Selling , to attract clients to his business. We also touched on having a podcast and everything else with the same name as the book, producing an accompanying book workbook, updating a book five years after its release and so much more. Only listen to this if you want to make money from your book! Want my authority-building secrets every week? Grab 'em at www.authoritysecrets.club .

Wed, May 03, 2023

22 Words That Will Get You Speaking Gigs (with Joel Weldon)

Joel Weldon is not just a Hall of Fame speaker who's been speaking for over four decades but he is also a true legend in the speaking industry—having been paid to speak at over 3,000 events and personally coached over 10,000 speakers.  In this episode, we talked about how to nail your pitch letter if you want to get into corporate speaking (he actually recites, off the top of his head, a letter that you'd be crazy not to type up and send). He also gave us the 22 words that will get you speaking gigs, why you need to replace every "I" in your speech with "you," how to make your audience want to read your book and so much more. This one is gem after gem after gem! I highly recommend getting out the pen and taking some notes. And if you already know you want to work with Joel, you can go ahead and book a free slot here .

Wed, April 26, 2023

The Secret to Launching Your Authority Building Book

This week, I usher a new baby into the world... My book, On Good Authority: 7 Steps to Prepare, Promote and Profit From a How-to Book That Makes You the Go-to Expert, is now out and this week's episode is an excerpt from the audiobook. It's the book's introduction, which is all about how we're in the Golden Age of authority building from a book and how you can take advantage of that. Only listen if you want to build authority with your book. GRAB THE BOOK BY GOING TO WWW.ONGOODAMAZON.COM !

Wed, April 19, 2023

Connect Your Way to a Successful Book Launch with Ryan Paugh

Do the words "networking for your book launch" make you want to curl up in a small ball and rock back and forth? This week's guest will assuage your anxieties...or at least get you to uncurl. Ryan Paugh isn't just a thought leader, but also a community-building, relationship-forging, entrepreneur-enabling force to be reckoned with. And he's a self-proclaimed introvert! The co-author of the book Superconnector: Stop Networking and Start Building Business Relationships That Matter , Ryan shares in this episode how any author, introvert or extrovert, can use basic skills for connection in order to have a successful book launch. Want my authority-building secrets every week? Grab 'em at www.authoritysecrets.club .

Wed, April 12, 2023

Why It's Better to Sell 100 Books Than 10,000

Traditional publishers lie. They tell you that you have to sell 10,000 copies of your book for it to be successful. Or 5000. Or 1000. They're wrong. I'd rather sell 100 copies of my book to the right reader than 10,000 copies to readers who won't really care. In this episode, I explain why. This is another of the episodes based on the book I'm writing. Speaking of, if you want exclusive stories, resources and info about this book as I write it, you can sign up for that on annadbook.com .

Wed, April 05, 2023

Why Podcasts are the Best Promo for Authors (and How to Get on Them)

Good news: going on podcasts is the best way to promote your book. Podcast listeners are eager to learn and read books. Even more good news: Podcast hosts love to book authors. So there has to be a catch, right? Well, here it is: most of us are pitched daily, in the worst ways. Listen to this episode to find out the absolute best way to pitch yourself to the podcasts you want to be on...and then how to slay once you're on there. This is another of the episodes based on the book I'm writing. Speaking of, if you want exclusive stories, resources and info about this book as I write it, you can sign up for that on annadbook.com .

Wed, March 29, 2023

Make Sure You're Writing the Right Book with Nicole Kalil

Nicole Kalil is someone who practices what she preaches. A fugitive of the C-suite at a Fortune 100 company, she has coached hundreds of women in business and speaks around the world. When she was gearing up to her launch her book, Validation is for Parking, she heavily invested in social media (to the tune of $9,000 a month!) She also set out to write a book debunking some of the advice doled out by male entrepreneurs. But she realized two things: one, social media didn't make her feel good. And two: she didn't want to write the book she had already started working on. In this conversation, she talked about how she switched courses for her book topic, why she left social media when she was "at the top," how she handles the "head trash" that creeps up when you're writing and launching a book and how her book has impacted her speaking career, among many other topics. WANT TO ENHANCE YOUR AUTHORITY? GO TO WWW.OGAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Wed, March 22, 2023

Using Affiliates to Launch a Book with Matt McWilliams

Matt McWilliams is the go-to affiliate guy, which means he's very good at helping people—including Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi, Shark Tank's Kevin Harrington and Lewis Howes—get their networks on board to help them sell their products. Now he's launched his first book, and he employed those same strategies to drive pre-sales. While his efforts didn't land him on any bestseller lists, they did help him add numerous people to his newsletter list and sell a bunch of other products. He has numerous tips for those who want to find the right people to help them launch books, including studying how marketing-savvy authors do book launches, using Amazon for all its worth and remembering that no response just means reach out again.

Wed, March 15, 2023

The Business Transforming Book with Tamar Hermes & Carla Moreno

Tamar Hermes is a real estate investor with more than 20 years' experience and the CEO of Wealth Building Concierge. Carla Moreno is a serial entrepreneur, realtor and real estate investor who has more than a decade of experience buying and selling family and luxury real estate. The two have something in common in addition to real estate: they were both published by Legacy Launch Pad. Also, Tamar is Carla's coach! In this episode, we talked about what Tamar's book has done for her business a year later (including how she signed the baker who created the launch day cake we sent her as a client) and how Carla is going to use her just-launched book as her platform for the rest of her career. Listen in for their best tips on making the most of a book and what they say are the must-do's for the launch.

Wed, March 08, 2023

Get Over Yourself and Pay for Media with Jay Jay

Jay Jay is tired of people thinking they just deserve media attention. A former magician who now helps personal brands become seen as the number one in their industry, he's also tired of publicists overpromising and underdelivering. And he has good reason to be tired of it: Jay is excellent at guaranteeing people media attention—in publications like Forbes, LA Weekly and Ocean Drive , and even Maxim, WWD and Us Weekly . In this episode, he broke down why media attention matters, how it should be used and how authors seeking PR need to stop focusing on the wrong things.

Wed, March 01, 2023

How to Manifest a Today Show Appearance with Rachel Luna

Rachel Luna kinda defies explanations and bios. But if you're going to make me put her into one of these boxes, FINE! Here goes: she's an international speaker, podcast host, former U.S. Marine and cancer thriver. In addition to all that, she's a coach who hosts retreats. As if that wasn't enough, she's now also a bestselling author: her new book, Permission to Offend, has not only been creating waves with its unapologetic, brazen and yet hilarious voice but has also landed Luna on the Today show. In this episode, she walks us through the exact steps she took to make that Today show appearance happen—as well as who's been sliding into her DMs since that appearance, how to make self-help material fresh, methods for speaking up around your book launch and so much more.

Wed, February 22, 2023

Without Readers, You've Written a Journal

Journals are awesome. Been using 'em since I was six. I've even published a few myself. But the difference between the journals I've published and the books I've written is that the journals are not meant to be read by anyone once I've filled them with words. The books are. But Field of Dreams was wrong! Just because you write it does not mean that they will come. You have to determine your audience, find them and write a book specifically for them. This episode breaks down how. It's based on the book I'm writing. Speaking of, if you want exclusive stories, resources and info about this book as I write it, you can sign up for that on annadbook.com .

Wed, February 15, 2023

Sanity in the Time of Social Media

Social media sucks. It's also wonderful. And it's my opinion that you need it if you're going to build your authority around a book. This episode breaks down why I think it's important and how you can do it without going crazy...in fact, how you can use material in your book for your posts, and build your entire online authority in just few hours a week. This is another episode based on the book I'm writing. Speaking of, if you want exclusive stories, resources and info about this book as I write it, you can sign up for that on annadbook.com .

Wed, February 08, 2023

Get Clear (And Not in a Scientology Sort of Way) Before You Write

If someone asks you why you're writing your book and your answer is "To help people," go volunteer. It's much easier, less time consuming and less costly than writing a book! Or you can just listen to this episode. It's another one based on the book I'm writing. Speaking of, if you want exclusive stories, resources and info about this book as I write it, you can sign up for that on annadbook.com . ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, February 01, 2023

Why Rose-Colored Publishing Glasses Will Bite You in the Ass

You're not a delusional person. At least not usually. But you may be one when it comes to publishing. And that's why I made this episode. It's based on the book I'm currently writing and it's about the delusions I see first-time authors suffer from. Seriously, publishing seems to inspire more delusions than Hugh Grant movies! So here's your wake-up call. Don't hit snooze!  And if you want exclusive stories, resources and info about this book as I write it, you can sign up for that on annadbook.com .

Wed, January 25, 2023

Getting Book Launch Support From Your Peeps with Amber Vilhauer

Amber Vilhauer is a leading digital strategist but she's so much more. The founder of NGNG (No Guts No Glory) has come up with a system more ingenious than any I've ever seen when it comes to helping authors corral their network to support their book launches. Longtime listeners know that I'm a pretty jaded person who's tough to impress so you know how much it means when I say that when Amber shared her system and copy and videos with me, I was as blown away as I've been by any strategy I've seen during my decades in publishing. In this episode, she breaks that strategy down by explaining how authors should approach the people they know, what to say when they do and how to make sure that getting support for a book launch is just as much about giving as it is receiving. WANT TO BUILD YOUR AUTHORITY? GO TO www.ogauthoritypod.com

Wed, January 18, 2023

What a Book Coach Does—and How to Become One—with Jennie Nash

Jennie Nash is the book coach whisperer. Or at least that's what I've named her after talking to her. The founder and CEO of Author Accelerator, a company that trains, certifies and supports book coaches so they can help writers do their best work, Nash has helped clients land top agents, six-figure book deals and make both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Also the author of 11 books in three different genres, Nash has certified over 130 coaches. If you've ever thought, "Hey, I might like to be a book coach," get this: the cost for certification is only $2400. If you're instead interested in hiring a coach, listen in on this episode to find out more. You can also find out more about both becoming a coach and hiring one here . WANT TO BUILD YOUR AUTHORITY? GO TO OGAUTHORITYPOD.COM

Wed, January 11, 2023

How to Launch a Book by Giving First with Kay Allison

Kay Allison is a former Senior Vice President at a global ad agency who increased her income by six, met and married a man she’s still crazy about 21 years later, helped Fortune 200 companies generate two billion in new revenue, adopted a child and invented four successful businesses since going alcohol free over two decades ago. In short, she's learned how to live a JUICY AF life. And now she's written a book it. While we talk a bit in this episode about being AF and her program for women who want to go AF, mostly we focused on how she went from behind-the-scenes power woman to forward-facing voice of freedom from alcohol. And Allison did it all by giving first. This means that when she locates a podcast she wants to be on, she listens to episodes in the car while sending herself voice notes about how she thinks she could provide something as a guest. She also sends bookers handwritten notes, makes personal videos and, in short, thinks of how she can be of service. As you can imagine, her success rate for getting booked is quite high. In this episode, she breaks down the giving-first mentality, including a not-to-be-missed method for getting people to actually open your book and not just let it sit on the shelf. Enjoy this delightful strategy...and delightful woman. ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Trailer · Tue, January 10, 2023

On Good Authority: Publishing the Book that Will Build Your Business Trailer

Wed, January 04, 2023

Where Experts Say Publishing is Heading in 2023

The new podcast name debuts with a first-of-its-kind (at least for me) episode: a compilation of thoughts from the different publishing experts who have been on the show.   I was able to get both recorded and written thoughts from a bunch of my favorites, including Dave Chesson, Roseanne Cheng, Amber Vilhauer, Shelby Leigh, Derek Murphy and more. And they talked about everything from social media to AI to taking success into your own hands to so much more.   Give it a listen and get ahead of everything that 2023 has in store for us.   ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, December 28, 2022

How to Make Writing (or Finishing) Your Book Your NY's Resolution

This solo episode is all about how you can make writing (or finishing) your book your New Year's Resolution.   The main points are:   Give yourself a month in 2023 your first draft will be done Give yourself a daily (or weekly) page count Have accountability Build your audience Don't set yourself up for failure Get clear on your "why" Set up small goals along the way Listen to get all the deets!   ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, December 21, 2022

Why Authors Should Be Using Pinterest with Roseanne Cheng

Roseanne Cheng is the author of six books, including The Evergreen Author: Master the Art of Book Marketing and Portable Magic: How to Write and Publish a Great Book . The co-founder of Evergreen Authors—an online school that helps authors figure out the business of being a writer—she is also a Pinterest Queen. Or so I have named her.   In this episode, she broke down why Pinterest is the mostly-undiscovered platform for book promotion, how to create boards that attract the readers you want, whether you should have a page for yourself as an author or each of your books and so much more.   Plus she and her co-founder offer a FREE course on Pinterest that you can get here .   How helpful is this? Well, it's about to make me break my Pinterest cherry (will let you know how that works out).   It's all in this episode! Enjoy.   ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, December 14, 2022

How Authors Can Master TikTok with BookTok Sensation Shelby Leigh

If you hear words (but are they words really?) like "TikTok" and "BookTok" and go, "Ugh" or "I'm too late" or "I'm too old" or anything of the sort, this episode is for you.   Shelby Leigh got into the TikTok game relatively late and, in under two years, has sold 40,000 books as a result of her videos (one video in particular sold roughly 7000 copies!) This success has led the poet and mental health advocate not only to traditional publishing deals but also to a career as a book marketer.   And she makes the whole thing sound so DO-able! In this episode, she breaks down ways to hook TikTok scrollers, what TikTok "likes," how to grow your account to sell books and why BookTok truly can work for any book genre out there (yes, even yours).   Oh, and she sells products (including a $23 TikTok for Authors course) and consults with authors about growing their TikTok accounts. Go to her site to get in on all of it (and check out her TikTok here ). Also! Enjoy our conversation, which provides a whole bunch of highly implementable tips and techniques.   ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Thu, December 08, 2022

Launch a Podcast to Find Your Readers with Whitney Gossett

Whitney Gossett is a woman after my own heart.   A former literary agent who has sold numerous books to Big 5 publishers (including 26 New York Times bestsellers), she saw that traditional publishing was broken. Rather than lamenting that face, she turned around and created an audio company called Content Capital .   In other words, if anyone has her finger on the pulse of how publishing is changing, it's her. That's why I paid attention when she told me her firm belief is that authors should launch podcasts—ideally before they even launch their books.   Listen in to find out more about how to record episodes about your book in progress to encourage book pre-orders, why the podcast industry isn't as saturated as you may believe and so much more.   If you're looking to launch a podcast—or revamp your existing one—I highly recommend checking out Content Capital's services .   ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, November 30, 2022

Why Publicists Suck with Christina Nicholson

Christina Nicholson has seen all the bad publicity pitches.   A former TV anchor who hit "delete" faster than publicists could send her terrible pitches, Nicholson is the CEO of Media Maven, a PR agency that offers an online course and group program to help people get media coverage without having to hire a publicist.   Nicholson is also a TEDx speaker and the founder of Podcast Clout, a database for pitching podcasts. And she's offered you—yes you, lucky listener—a 50% off coupon for the service.    To get Christina's list of 16 outlets to pitch, click here . To get the exact pitch that got a newbie on TV in San Diego, click here . To check out her three-day bootcamp to nail a pitch, click here . To find out about her Media Mentoring Program, click here . And to get access to Podcast Clout for 50% off, click here and use the code LEGACY.   That's a lot to do but I'm not done yet! Listen in on our conversation about the easiest ways to get PR, how to make a podcast want you, what do after your media appearance and so much more.   I also may have talked her out of doing the book she thought she was going to do and talked her into doing a different one.   It's all in this episode! Enjoy.   ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, November 23, 2022

Publishing in the Time of Cancel Culture with Tony Lyons

Tony Lyons, the CEO of Skyhorse Publishing , is not one to shy away from controversy.   He's known, in fact, for picking up books from other publishers when the authors are "cancelled."   I'll be honest...I was scared to record this conversation because the times we live in—where anything you say if you don't subscribe to a certain way of thinking can be an opportunity for others to take you down. But the fact is, I believe that everyone should have a right to say what they believe, even if it's not what I believe, and that a mob mentality approach to scandals doesn't help anyone.   And so we got into all of it—how Skyhorse picked up Woody Allen's memoir after Hachette cancelled it, the ways some of his books have lost "likes" when they've been squashed, the money Vanity Fair must have spent punishing him for the Allen book and more. We also talked about which media opportunities can really move the needle in terms of book sales, why newsletter lists matter, how editorially influenced the New York Times bestseller list is and just how few sales you can have to make it on the list...among many other topics.   Brace yourself for this one.   ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, November 16, 2022

Trademark Trouble with Brian Sachetta

Brian Sachetta is the author and owner of “Get Out of Your Head,” a brand and book series that seeks to help folks overcome anxiety and depression.   As a software developer, he combines his experiences in the tech world with previous mental health battles to draw parallels between computer systems and the human mind in order to give readers practical strategies for evading their own psychological demons.   His two books— Get Out of Your Head: A Toolkit for Living with and Overcoming Anxiety and Get Out of Your Head Vol. 2: Navigating the Abyss of Depression —are designed to help those struggling with anxiety and depression.   In this episode, we had every intention of discussing Amazon glitches and working the back end of the site when publishing trouble arises but we got so into our discussion about trademark troubles, beta readers and how important it is not to trash other writers that I simply didn't allow him to discuss our planned topic.    Juicy stuff here! I think you'll love it. For more about Brian and his books, go to Get Out of Your Head .     ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, November 09, 2022

Why to Ignore the Muse with Robert Greene

Of all the interviews I've done, the one I'm asked about perhaps the most often is with the iconic Robert Greene.   This, of course, is not surprising. Greene is an icon in the writing world—as adored by rappers as he is by intellectual entrepreneurs for his meticulously researched tomes on power, seduction, narcissism and more.   What is surprising is what he revealed in this interview—namely, that traditional publishers don't do anything to support authors, why podcast promotion is so important and how listening to "the muse" while you write is one of the worst things you can do.   Please soak in this re-release as much as you can. It contains GOLD.    ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, November 02, 2022

Why a Book Is the World's Best Business Card with Chris Voss

Chris Voss is someone who seems to have popped up out of nowhere before beginning to appear everywhere.   A former hostage negotiator, Voss watched his New York Times bestselling book, Never Split the Difference , become an instant classic in the business world as entrepreneurs soaked up his tactics.    But how, exactly, did his book skyrocket to the top of bestseller lists and become so highly quotable? Turns out Voss took a very deliberate approach to his book promotion and it paid off handsomely. Spoiler alert: podcast interviews changed the game while book tours did not.   Listen to this can't-miss episode re-release to find out more.   ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, October 26, 2022

How to Fix a Broken Book: Misty McAfee

Misty McAfee is an author, marketer, real estate agent and delightful human. She's also someone who has some writing out there that could be relaunched—in particular a book on codependence she released in 2015 and a play she released in 2021.   In this episode, we went through both and discussed how she could change her title, cover, description, publishing company and more.   We also discussed what made her launch the way she did, how to relaunch a book while keeping your existing Amazon reviews and what happens when you dedicate a book to a now ex-husband.   Everything we discuss can be applied to your own books so take some notes for either your upcoming launch or a relaunch of any existing book!   ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, October 19, 2022

How to Sell 1000s of Books Before Even Writing it with Dan Nicholson

Dan Nicholson graduated summa cum laude from Seattle University with degrees in accounting and information systems before completing a fellowship at the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. He went on to work at Deloitte and various Fortune 500 companies and has been named to CPA Practice Advisor’s 40 Under 40 list of global accountants four times.   But, as he might say, blah blah blah.   His passion—and what he wrote his book Rigging the Game about—is what he had to unlearn after doing all those impressive things. He poured it all into Certainty U, a program that helps purpose-based entrepreneurs "get lucky."   On this episode, we discussed how he was able to sell thousands of copies of a book he hadn't yet written—in short, how he was able to rig the book publishing game. (And how you can, too.)   For more about Dan and his book, go to www.riggingamazon.com .   ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, October 12, 2022

How to Fix a Broken Book: John Checki

Did you launch a book and have it not go according to plan?   That's what happened to John Checki, which is why he's the ideal person to feature on my new type of episode, "How to Fix a Broken Book."   He released his book, Spend Time and Save Money , in 2020 and while it's served as a business card for his son JJ (they wrote it together), it hasn't moved the needle nearly as much as it could have.   And so we discussed how his title, cover, description, byline, publisher name and reviews, among many other things, could be improved.   I'm terribly excited about this because even though listeners can't see the Amazon page in discussion ( unless you go here ), the episode contains so many actionable steps you can take if you're gearing up for a launch (or want to launch your book so successfully that you don't need to consider a re-launch).   John said he was going to implement these suggestions for a Thanksgiving relaunch and my plan is to reach out to listeners/subscribers whenever one of the books we've revamped in one of these episodes is relaunched and all support each other. (Except for me, who has been banned from doing Amazon reviews. We get into that in this episode.)   Enjoy and learn what not to do, or at least how to fix it. After all, it's never too late to fix a broken book.   ARE YOU A NON-FICTION AUTHOR? IF SO, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, October 05, 2022

How Authors Can Avoid Getting Sued with Maria Riegger

Many authors are afraid of getting sued.   Many authors are confused about copyright. (It's legit confusing.)   Many authors don't know that they should establish an LLC.   That's why author and attorney Maria Riegger's advice and suggestions were so useful.    In this episode, we talked about how to copyright your book, the risks of writing about someone you know and the importance of setting up an LLC, among many other things.   She's also written a book, Legal Issues Authors Must Consider , that's entirely focused on these topics.   So dig into this episode. And protect yourself!   IF YOU'RE A NON-FICTION AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, September 28, 2022

"My First Launch" (Round Table!)

Oh, wait a treat this one is!   Here you're getting four for the (free!) price of one: a round table interview with four of my clients at ONCE: Barbara Legere, Tamar Hermes, Chris Joseph and Lauren Schwarzfeld on the anxieties and excitement of their first book launch.   Only listen if you want to hear the disparate experiences authors have on their first book launch!   IF YOU'RE WRITING A NON-FICTION BOOK, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, September 21, 2022

How to Make Your Book Into a Podcast with Jeremy Enns

Jeremy Enns is the founder of Podcast Marketing Academy, the only growth-focused podcast education platform for experienced creators, brands and marketers looking to build long-term, sustainable audience growth systems.   We met five years ago at the World Domination Summit in Portland and I've followed his work religiously ever since. I've had other guests on before to talk about how authors can get booked on podcasts but I wanted to bring him on to talk about how authors can turn their books into podcasts (think Tim Ferriss' Tools of Titans ).   In this episode, we talked about why you don't just want to make your podcast a rehash of your book but more a jumping off point, a way you could release a podcast while writing your book, thereby making your listeners into beta readers of sorts and how the way to be successful in a book-to-podcast transition is to have a strong thru-line.   IF YOU'RE A NON-FICTION AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, September 14, 2022

The Big Mistake You Need to Avoid with Craig Stanland

Boy, does Craig Stanland have a story to tell.   It starts with the FBI knocking on his door, followed by two years in prison.   But that's not really what we delve into here. Instead we talk about the book he wrote on his experience—and the one major mistake he made.   Now that he's at work on book number two (title TBD—we get into that in the conversation), he's approaching everything differently.   Find out about that, as well as how he's planning to use videos to launch his next book, in this episode.     IF YOU'RE A NON-FICTION AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH. GET YOUR BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, September 07, 2022

Author Newsletter Musts with Holly Darling

Holly Darling is the owner of Holly Darling HQ, a business that focuses on helping authors create and implement their email marketing strategies to sell more books and build their brand loyalty.    In other words, she was the perfect person for me to interview about why you need to start your author newsletter list now—and the most effective ways to do that.   In this episode, we talked about so many things, including but not limited to: which newsletter provider is the best one to start with (hint: it's not Mailchimp), average open rates (and why open rates have been inflated lately), why to be vulnerable in your emails, how and why to split test, whether or not you should re-send emails to subscribers who don't open, where you should put your newsletter sign up in your book and finally why it's great to not have many subscribers.   In other words, actionable AF.   So dig in. And take action!   IF YOU'RE A NON-FICTION AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Tue, September 06, 2022

SPECIAL EPISODE: Publishing Party Pod!

Dear listener: You're going to notice something quickly: this is not a regular episode. Instead it's an episode of my brand new podcast with iconic writer Zara Barrie.   It's called Publishing Party Pod and you can find it wherever you get your podcasts. But I'm giving you a taste of it—just this first episode—today.   In this season, we talk about all the things you're not supposed to talk about but that we, over the course of our respective careers, have written about.   It's a quickie and while that's not a double entendre, this episode is all about writing about sex.   Enjoy the party!

Wed, August 31, 2022

The Secret to Getting Amazon Reviews for Your Book with Craig Tuch

Craig Tuch is doing God's work.   At least when it comes to the author who really wants Amazon reviews.   See, Tuch started a company called Hidden Gems that, among other author services, provides a way for authors to gather reader reviews for their books. As anyone who has managed an Advanced Reader Team can attest, getting people to follow through on actually writing the reviews they've promised is no simple feat. Hidden Gems to the rescue—with very reasonable prices to boot!   In this interview, Tuch broke down how he gathered a list of 15,000 avid readers who love to review, why it's good to have bad reviews and how sticky the Amazon review process can be.   IF YOU'RE A NON-FICTION AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, August 24, 2022

How a Book Can Make You $5 Million with Rich Goldstein

Rich Goldstein is a patent attorney, speaker, host of the Innovations and Breakthroughs podcast and, most relevantly for this show, the author of the bestselling book The ABA Consumer Guide to Obtaining a Patent, which was published by the American Bar Association.   He's someone who understands through and through what a book can do for someone's business and in this episode, we got into all that as well as how writing a book changed Rich's career, why he sends a copy of the book to anyone who requests it and how writing a book could, theoretically, make an entrepreneur a cool five million.   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, August 17, 2022

What You NEED If You Don't Want Your How-To Book to Fail

This solo episode is material from the book I'm currently writing (working title The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Preparing, Promoting and Profiting from Your How-to Book ). I'm sharing it with you for several reasons:   1) If you're writing a how-to book, you need it. It is all about the WHY, WHAT and WHO of conceptualizing a how-to book.   2) I am practicing what I preach in this book, which is SHARE WHAT YOU'RE WORKING on with your audience so the people you're writing it for can give you feedback.   On that note, do you want ALL the advance intel about this book? In other words, do you want to be the first to hear about the latest tips and techniques when it comes to preparing for, promoting and profiting from your non-fiction book? Do you want to potentially be included in the book? PLEASE SIGN UP HERE . Excited to share the journey and all the exclusives with you!   SIGN UP FOR EXCLUSIVES ABOUT THIS BOOK IN PROGRESS HERE !

Wed, August 10, 2022

You’re Going About Promoting Your Book on Podcasts all Wrong with Alex Sanfilippo

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

Wed, August 03, 2022

The 5 Most Common Questions of First-Time Authors

Today, in this solo episode, I'm answering the five most common questions first-time authors have. They are:   Do I need a copyright for my book? How many copies of my book will be printed? If I launched a book, and I didn't sell many copies, should I relaunch it? Should I sell my book only on Amazon?   Forgive me, that's four. I honestly thought when I recorded it that it was five. I am truly this bad with numbers. Good thing I can do words, no?   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, July 27, 2022

11 Reasons Every Entrepreneur Should Launch a Book

This solo episode is focused on 11 reasons every entrepreneur should launch a book. They are:   Less money spent on ads Less money and time spent on client acquisition Less money spent on PR More effective podcast interviews Less time spent creating content Less time spent coming up with keynotes since they can come from the book Less worrying about the competition, and wondering why someone else got the media hit or speaking gig Numerous opportunities to impress the F out of everyone who hears your best selling author Have the most impressive business card imaginable on you at all times Jump to the front of the line Be a hero to your family (cheesy but true!)   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, July 20, 2022

The 7 Biggest Mistakes First-Time Authors Make

This solo episode is focused on the seven biggest mistakes first-time authors make. They are:   Skimping on cover design Not optimizing book descriptions Not have a reason why/CTA Slacking on editing Not gathering reader reviews Not getting that it's not about them Listening to people who give bad advice once the book is written   Listen to get all the deets!   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, July 13, 2022

Why You Need to Make Sure Your Readers Aren’t Broke with Scott Duffy

Scott Duffy is an entrepreneur and business strategist. He is listed as a “Top 10 Speaker” by Entrepreneur and has been named one of the “Top Influential People To Follow” by Yahoo! Finance.   He's also the author of three different business books on three different topics, from three different publishers and launched in three entirely different ways. When I was at his mastermind a few weeks ago, he articulated why entrepreneurs should launch books in a way that was clearer than I'd ever heard. That's why I wanted him on the show but what I actually got out of our talk was so much more.   In this episode, we got into the importance of subtitles, why authors should be featured on their book covers and how his most recent book launch was a disaster.   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, July 06, 2022

How to Get Over Yourself and Just Promote Your Book with Jerry Stahl

Jerry Stahl is the iconic author of Permanent Midnight (made into a movie starring Ben Stiller), among nine other books (among them, OG Dad, Pain Killers, I, Fatty, Perv, Plainclothes Naked, Happy Mutant Baby Pills, Bad Sex on Speed and his latest, Nien Nien: One Man's Tale of Depression, Psychic Torment, and a Bus Tour of the Holocaust).   A Pushcart Prize–winning author, Stahl’s work has appeared in Esquire, Vice, The Believer, Tin House, Los Angeles Review of Books and the New York Times , among other places.   He also wrote the HBO movie Hemingway & Gellhorn (which earned a Writers Guild Award nomination), Bad Boys II and the cult classic Dr. Caligari and has written on the TV shows Maron, CSI and Escape at Dannemora (for which he received an Emmy nomination).   So you get it; he's done a lot. So why does he hate promoting his work so much? And how does he promote his work in spite of that? Find out in our spirited, sarcastic and deeply salacious (no, it's not salacious, I was just in the mood to be alliterative) interview.   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, June 29, 2022

The Business of Being a Writer with Jane Friedman

Jane Friedman has an icon in the publishing space. With over two decades of experience in the business, she is truly considered the world's leading expert on traditional publishing, self publishing and where the twain shall meet. She's the curator of The Hot Sheet , a biweekly paid newsletter, oversees a wildly popular blog and is also the author of The Business of Being a Writer.   In this episode, we discussed how important it is to know what you want your book to do for you, how to get bookstores interested in hosting you, the biggest changes in the publishing industry over the past year and so much more.    IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, June 22, 2022

How to Make Your Book Into a TEDx Talk with Bridget Sampson

Bridget Sampson is a Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies, the author of Communication Secrets for Success and the co-author of C ommunication Training and Development . She's also a TEDx speaker who helps other people write and deliver their TEDx talks.    All of this made her the perfect person to talk to about how to convert your book into a TEDx talk, whether or not you should outline or write the talk out completely, how to book a TEDx slot, how many times to practice, what to wear and what to do if you bomb, among many other topics.   She also shared that people never seem to care that she was a professor for decades but they all care that she has a book and a TEDx talk. So get on it! It's easier than you think.   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, June 15, 2022

The Secret to Getting Media Attention with HARO Creator Peter Shankman

Peter Shankman is many things, among them a five-time best selling author, entrepreneur and corporate in-person and virtual keynote speaker who focuses on customer service. But in this episode I got him speaking about something so many of you ask me about: HARO , or Help a Reporter Out...the website he started (and sold to Cision many years ago) that helps so many authors get featured in mainstream media.   In this conversation, which happened in rapid fire while he was in the throws of salmonella, Peter shared with me how he started HARO accidentally, the best way to get a journalist's attention and why someone stealing a Yoo Hoo truck ended up being the best PR Yoo Hoo could get, among many other topics.   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, June 08, 2022

Approaching Your Book Like It's a Business with Bonnie Habyan

Bonnie Habyan is a communications marketing professional with an MBA in banking and finance. She's been a news reporter, a wedding DJ and even a Miss Baltimore Oriole. But now she's taken on a whole new role: as an author. Her book, The World According to Bess , is a true love letter to her 90-year-old mother—a woman who can definitely give the Sh*t My Dad guy's dad a run for his money. What surprised Bonnie the most about the book process is that, despite her history in marketing, launching a book is a whole new animal—an animal that requires as much of a plan as any other business...complete with KPIs, plans for how the book plays into ultimate business goals and much more. So what has she figured out about a book business plan and what are her KPI's and plans? It's all in this episode. GET EXCLUSIVE ACCESS TO MY BESTSELLING BOOK BULLETIN (4 QUICK TIDBITS EVERY THURSDAY), BY GOING TO WWW.BESTSELLINGBOOKBULLETIN.COM

Wed, June 01, 2022

Write a Letter to Your Future Reader with Elizabeth Lyons

Elizabeth Lyons is the creator of the Book Writing Accelerator and a five-time author whose first book , which she wrote because she couldn't find another book on the topic and really needed it, sold over 20,000 copies.   As someone who helps aspiring authors write and publish books, she's become a bit of my comrade-in-arms the past few years, where we regularly text each other questions, concerns and the occasional (or not so occasional) gripe.   We have so many feelings and thoughts about publishing, in fact, that in this episode we delve into beginners luck, navigating self-publishing and much more before we get to the meat of it: what to include in your non-fiction book. She breaks down how to start (you write a letter to your reader [genius!]), how to approach your Table of Contents and how to see it through to the end.   Did I mention she's a mom of five and super funny?   You'll like this one, I promise. (Who are we kidding, you like love all of 'em!)   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, May 25, 2022

How to Sell Over 10 Million Copies (and Have Your Books Made Into Movies) with Ben Mezrich

Ben Mezrich has sold over 10 million copies of his books.   And, by the way, that’s not even the impressive part. The impressive part is that he sells EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HIS BOOKS as a movie or TV show; in fact, if Hollywood isn’t interested in the treatment, he doesn’t even write the book.  Mezrich has gotten into this position because of a chance encounter with some MIT students, which led to his writing Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions , which led to Kevin Spacey snapping up the film rights before the book was even out, which led to the book spending over 60 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.   Then there was his book, The Accidental Billionaires , which David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin jumped on as Mezrich was writing the book and which, of course turned into the multi award-nominated movie The Social Network . (Mezrich is the only non-fiction author to have two adaptations open at #1 at the box office.) He’s written numerous other books, including Bitcoin Billionaires and The Antisocial Network and is also a consulting producer on Billions . Oh, and his most recent book, The Midnight Ride , has an NFT component that already has over 3500 owners.   So how does this happen? How does a former struggling novelist become Hollywood’s go to guy pursued by designers who want to dress him for his book tours? And what is the secret to finding the sort of story that makes Hollywood salivate? It’s all in this episode.   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, May 18, 2022

Making Books Into Movies with Warner Bros Studio Head Mike DeLuca

Mike De Luca has, arguably, more experience than anyone else out there when it comes to turning books into movies: three of the four times he's done it (for The Social Network, Moneyball and Captain Phillips ), he has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and the one time he wasn't nominated for one of his book-to-film adaptations, it was for a little movie called 50 Shades of Gray . He's done several other million things in his career, including discovering Paul Thomas Anderson and David Fincher and running New Line studio at the age of 27.   But in this episode, we focused on the process of turning a book into a movie—including how producers find out about the books they end up adapting, how much control the author has over the movie and how much money they can make, among many other topics.   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, May 11, 2022

How Paul Angone Got a Book Deal and Sold Over 100k Books

Paul Angone had an extremely unusual journey to success as an author.   First, he tried to sell a book. For eight years. Nary a bite.   Then a blog post he dashed off went viral. Very viral. From there, he was able to sell a book based on that blog post to a publisher. The problem was that he had to finish it in a month.   Well that book and the next have sold over 100,000 copies and launched a massive speaking career.   But that's not even why I wanted to have him on the podcast. I wanted him on the pod so I could Interview him about the process of turning his book into a course.   Listen in on this mega inspiring conversation about how courses and books work symbiotically—and how your reality may end up being even bigger than your dreams.   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, May 04, 2022

Making a Newsletter Into a Book with Jeff Kober

While Jeff Kober is a terribly successful actor—having appeared on The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, Shameless, New Girl, NCIS: Los Angeles,  Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, ER, 24, The Closer and Criminal Minds, among many other shows—it is only one of the many things he does. In fact, although he's a good friend that I adore, I will admit right here and now that I've never seen any of his acting. Sorry, Jeff! But that's because I think of him primarily as a gifted meditation teacher and writer.   And I am selfishly so grateful that he recently turned his daily newsletter into a book, Embracing Bliss: 108 Daily Meditations . See, for many years, I read his newsletter religiously every morning before meditating and I pretty much curse Jeff every day for making me have to look at my phone to access it. I'm an addict, people! I can't help but get sucked into some stressful email or Instagram rabbit hole when I was just hoping to take in some spiritual truths, Damn it! Well, now that he's made these brilliant daily thoughts into a book, I have no one but myself to blame if I go down an internet rabbit hole before meditating.   You can grab your copy of his book of daily thoughts here . You will not regret it—I ordered multiple copies because I plan to give it out as gifts. But before you order it, do listen in on our conversation so you can learn about his process for turning pre-existing content into a book; it involved spreadsheets, consultations with a colleague and a whole lot of reflection on what people respond to (spoiler alert: musings on relationships and love).   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, April 27, 2022

Writing a Book in Public with Jesse J. Anderson

Jesse J. Anderson's journey to bookdom is unlike any other guest I've had on the show.  For one, he's not launching a book to help build his business.  Also, that book— Refocus: A Practical Guide to Adult ADHD —hasn't launched yet. In fact, he hasn't even finished writing it.  Why, then, you may ask, would I have him on the show?  Well, part of the reason is entirely selfish: he's writing a book in public and I want to write my next book in public so this is simply a shameless attempt to get some intel.  If you're wondering what "writing a book in public" even means, you may want to go back to the Rob Fitzpatrick episode , where he breaks down the process he documents in his book, Write Useful Books . If you don't have that kind of time, I'll tell you: it's essentially getting feedback from your readers while you're writing the book. Jesse is in fact doing it using software Rob designed for that very process and, as of this recording, he's about three-quarters of the way done with writing.  Jesse has also built up an impressive Twitter following by releasing Twitter threads of book chapters—a topic he dove into in detail.  When he's not writing books in public, Jesse is a designer and developer who has made it his mission to help others better understand what ADHD really is.  WANT 4 QUICK TIDBITS EVERY THURSDAY TO HELP YOU GET YOUR BOOK LAUNCHED? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHPADWEEKLY.COM.

Wed, April 20, 2022

Yes, You Can Sell Your Book as a Series of NFTs

Elle Griffin is the Editor-of-Chief of Utah Business and a freelance journalist and co-founder of Cryptopia, a web3 festival that debuted in 2022.   But I most wanted to talk to her about how she's brought her books into the Web 3 world. See, she's not only crowdfunded a novel using crypto but she's publishing her next novel as an NFT series on Twitter .   I first became aware of her through Jane Friedman and began subscribing to her Substack. Then I came across this story in Hacker Noon about how she was selling chapters of her book as NFT's. I wanted to know more. And so I reached out to interview her and now my brain is on fire with ways writers can enter the Web 3 world. Yours will be too once you listen to this.   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, April 13, 2022

Is Making an NFT Out of Your Book Ridiculous?

Lee Richter is a business, leader, visionary and entrepreneur since the 1990’s who has built and sold several multi-million dollar companies. Lately she's been schooling me on the whole Web 3.0 space—in particular how authors can get into the NFT world. And that's exactly what we talked about in this episode. She broke down different tactics authors can take—whether it's writing special intros to certain copies of the book, sending physical copies of the book to your NFT buyer, including a free speaking gig along with the digital asset or anything else. Perhaps more important while it's still only one percent of the population that's engaging in the Web 3.0 world: she tells you how to dip your foot in the water. (Hint: first you approach it as a buyer and then as a personal seller before even trying to mint an NFT for your professional life.) And if you're going "WTF, I don't even know what Web 3.0 MEANS," good news: she defines it at the top of the episode. To learn more about Lee and the NFT world, go to Go Ask Lee or Global Leaders Collective . IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, April 06, 2022

How You Can Write a Book Everyone Recommends with Rob Fitzpatrick

This may be the most useful podcast I've ever released. That's because it's with a guy who's an expert on something EVERY author wants: getting people to recommend your book.   His name is Rob Fitzpatrick and he's a former programmer who dropped out of grad school to go to YCombinator with his first startup.   It's that background—along with his nearly decade and a half of experience as an entrepreneur—that helps make sense of the fact that he's the guy who's seemingly cracked the code on how to write a book that everyone will recommend.   He breaks down his process in his latest book, Write Useful Books , and we also get into our decidedly unique story of how we met (in short, he quoted my interview with Chris Voss in Write Useful Books and I didn't see that he credited me and I fired off an email and anyway, listen to the episode and you'll hear what happened next).   But that's far less interesting than the methods he describes in this conversation—including how to find beta readers, what to ask them and how to use them to craft a book that's DEEP (Desirable, Effective, Engaging and Polished).   How sure is he that his process works? Well, the results speak for themselves. His monthly earnings from his three books are roughly $25k a month, with 1000 copies a week being sold, and, in his words, "growing pretty steadily."   I am not being hyperbolic when I say I think this is the most useful interview yet. (Even more than the Chris Voss one Rob quoted!) If I were you, I would literally study the transcript below. (That's what I'm doing.)   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, March 30, 2022

Creating the Biggest Audience Possible with Becky Robinson

Becky Robinson has helped launch over 150 books. Now she's launching her first traditionally published book of her own—and it's all about having a lasting impact on your readers. WANT 7 DAYS OF WRITING TIPS? GO TO  WWW.YOURBOOKWRITINGTIPS.COM

Wed, March 23, 2022

How to Figure Out Your Business Book: Case Study Tim Westbrook

Listen in on my "booktervention" with rehab owner Tim Westbrook about the book he needs to write—and how it will grow his business. WANT 7 DAYS OF WRITING TIPS? GO TO WWW.YOURBOOKWRITINGTIPS.COM

Wed, March 16, 2022

Lesbians Gone Viral with Zara Barrie & Dayna Troisi

GirlZ Interrupted co-hosts and authors Zara Barrie and Dayna Troisi on how to turn an online audience into an audience that buys and reads your book.   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, March 09, 2022

Finding the People Who "Get" Your Message with Veronica Valli

Listen in on my conversation with Soberful author and recovery addict Veronica Valli as we discuss listening to that inner voice that tells you that you need to write a book, getting help from the experts and finding the journalists and bookers who "get" your message. WANT 7 DAYS OF WRITING TIPS? GO TO WWW.YOURBOOKWRITINGTIPS.COM

Wed, March 02, 2022

How Authors Can Get Media Attention with Kristin Marquet

In this episode, we discussed how authors can get booked on TV and featured in interviews, the secret websites that showcase what sources journalists are looking for and why it's crucial to figure out your angle. WANT 7 DAYS OF WRITING TIPS? GO TO WWW.YOURBOOKWRITINGTIPS.COM

Wed, February 23, 2022

Become the First Author People Find by Overhauling Your Google Presence with Josh Greene

Josh Greene helps companies manage how they’re found online. In this episode, we discussed the three steps you should take right now if you want to control what people find when they Google you.   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, February 16, 2022

Talking About Your Book on TV and Podcasts with Media Coach Susan Harrow

Susan Harrow is a world-renowned media coach, marketing strategist and author of the best-selling book, Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul (HarperCollins). We met in a cave in Mexico, which isn't untrue but also just makes a better story than the literal truth. And that way of explaining our relationship is highly relevant in this case because our conversation was all about how to tell your story in the media in a way that's compelling—and gets viewers interested in your book. My big takeaway from the interview was, after doing media for over a decade, I had a lot more control over how I was presented than I realized. For over 32 years, Susan has helped thousands of CEOs, entrepreneurs and thought leaders shine on Oprah, 60 Minutes, Today, Good Morning America, Fresh Air, Marketplace , NPR and CNN—without selling their soul. Her course, The Zen of Fame: Your Genius Gone Viral™, shows people how to promote themselves with integrity and spirit.  WANT 7 DAYS OF WRITING TIPS? GO TO WWW.YOURBOOKWRITINGTIPS.COM

Wed, February 09, 2022

Make Your Book into a Talk and Get Speaking Gigs with Topher Morrison

Topher Morrison has tips aplenty when it comes to authors getting booked to speak and it makes sense: he is, after all, the founder of Personofi, a firm that specializes in brand messaging for small business owners. He is the author of four best-selling books and was voted one of the top 10 business speakers in Tampa Bay. His extensive speaking career, spanning over the past 30 years, has earned him a global reputation as an expert in mass communication and influence. He has spoken for top execs with American Express, Microsoft and Google, just to name a few.   In this episode, he shared so many gems I'd never heard before—including where authors who have never spoken before can get experience for a reel, the importance of a one-sheet, how to make a book into a speech by using the vignettes in it, why the opening of the speech should not be the same as your first chapter and how to sell your book while speaking without sounding like a douche.   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, February 02, 2022

Writing a Book About Your Greatest Passion with Robert Sikes

Robert Sikes is one of the sweetest men you'll ever encounter. And that may not be obvious when you first look at him. Because, you see, he's a bodybuilder and massive. And I don't just mean massive in terms of bulk. He's also massively influential in the bodybuilding space, as the leading spokesperson about following a ketogenic diet for bodybuilding. He's a natural ketogenic bodybuilder, author and entrepreneur as well as the CEO and founder of Keto Savage, a health and fitness company that offers coaching, training and nutrition for athletes and bodybuilders. He is also CEO and founder of Keto Brick, a company that produces ketogenic meal replacement bars for efficient nutrition with the highest quality ingredients. And he holds first-in-class titles from his bodybuilding competitions within the OCB and WNBF federations and lives in Northwest Arkansas with his wife Crystal. I'm truly honored to be able to say Legacy Launch Pad is launching his book, Ketogenic Bodybuilding , this week. And while he has a built-in audience (his podcast alone has millions of downloads), he still has to have a specific plan in place for how to use the book to build his business. In this episode, we discussed a few specific launch plans (including releasing the first three chapters of his book as podcast episodes) as well as his ideas for how the book will add to his business—specifically, by selling copies with his Keto Brick bars, using a lead magnet to bring readers to a download and his mailing list and teasing out his upcoming online program. But his greatest message is perhaps this: write your book and build your business around what you were most passionate about as a kid. WANT 7 DAYS OF WRITING TIPS? GO TO WWW.YOURBOOKWRITINGTIPS.COM

Wed, January 26, 2022

Is Angela Lauria Right When She Says That Book Quality Doesn’t Matter?

Dr. Angela Lauria is a big believer in using your book to build and grow a business. So why does she say that those who hire you won't ever read your book?   IF YOU'RE AN AUTHOR, YOU NEED AN ELEVATOR PITCH! GET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE AT WWW.BOOKELEVATORPITCH.COM

Wed, January 19, 2022

Can Being a Part of an Anthology Help Build My Business?

As an entrepreneur, you might think the best way to build your brand is to write and publish your own book. But have you considered participating in an anthology? In this episode, I discuss the three golden nuggets necessary for an anthology to build your business.   WANT TO KNOW THE 3 THINGS YOU NEED IN TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO: WWW.LEGACYLAUNCHPADPUB.COM/LAUNCH-YOUR-BOOK-LM

Wed, January 12, 2022

Writing (and Not Publishing) Four Books with Joe DeMaria

Listen in on my "booktervention" with the genius entrepreneur Joe DeMaria about why on earth he hasn't published a book yet. Recorded on the Wisdom app!

Wed, January 05, 2022

Should I Hire a Company to Write and Publish My Book?

A book is an excellent way to build your brand. But what if you're not a writer? In this premiere episode of the Entrepreneur Publishing Academy podcast I discuss why hiring a company to write and publish it for you is a better idea than you may think.   WANT TO KNOW THE 3 THINGS YOU NEED IN TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO: WWW.LEGACYLAUNCHPADPUB.COM/LAUNCH-YOUR-BOOK-LM

Trailer · Sat, January 01, 2022

Entrepreneur Publishing Academy trailer

Make no mistake; if you’re an author, you’re an entrepreneur. You’re selling the world on your book, aren’t you? Of course, it’s not as easy as launching a business and then tossing any old book up on Amazon. Entrepreneur Publishing Academy, one of the best publishing podcasts out there, teaches entrepreneurs to publish books on the specific topic and in the specific way that will launch or grow their businesses.   The show, which has been named one of the best publishing podcasts by LA Weekly, Feedspot, Podchaser and Kindlepreneur, among others, is a combination of solo question-and-answer episodes and interviews with best-selling authors, entrepreneurs and publishing insiders. It has had over a million downloads, regularly appears on the top 100 career podcast list and manages to make discussions about publishing funny.   Popular episodes include interviews with Chris Voss, Robert Greene and Lori Gottlieb.

Wed, December 29, 2021

2021's Most Popular Topics: Media Attention, Book Relaunches & Book Parties

It wouldn't be a year-end episode without some sort of a year-end summary. So please enjoy this compilation of 2021's three most popular Launch your Book podcast episodes: How Do I Get Media Attention from my Book? What Did I Learn from the Party Girl Relaunch? and How Do I Throw a Launch Party? WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, December 22, 2021

Do I Have to be a Famous Author to Do a Book Store Reading?

In this episode, I discuss how you can have your reading at a book store even if you're not a famous author. I also offer other creative ideas and venues you may not have considered that will make your reading a fun and memorable event.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM    

Wed, December 15, 2021

Is Creating T-Shirts and Other Swag for My Book a Good Idea?

To swag or not to swag, that is the question—for authors looking for a marketing edge when releasing their books. In this episode, Anna draws on her experiences with the S-word, when it worked and when it didn't.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, December 08, 2021

What Makes a Great Book Cover?

In this episode, Anna draws on her years of experience as an author and publisher to walk you through every aspect—design, story, marketing, cost, tools—necessary to create a great book cover.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, December 01, 2021

What 5 Books Do You Need to Read This Month?

What are the five books Anna recommends this month to Portland's KATU viewers? Find out in this audio version of the TV segment.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, November 24, 2021

Writing about Sex Addiction with Brianne Davis

In this episode, actor Brianne Davis tells all about her roman a clef, The Secret Life of a Hollywood Sex and Love Addict, and how it’s launched her massive coaching business and speaking career.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, November 17, 2021

The Jeff Garlin Book Soup Event!

Listen in on the hilarious virtual event Jeff Garlin and I did with Book Soup and find out why one of the key elements of getting a movie made is to first write the book.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, November 10, 2021

The Secret to Writing Success: Finding a Mentor with Ashlea Hearn

Ashlea Hearn is a recent college graduate, a 1st Lieutenant in the Army Reserves and the author of   Genesis Mortalis, Book 1 of the Take It Trilogy . She's also my mentee, and a completely delightful one at that. Listen in on our chat, hear how she got her book in countless bookstores and see why I think she's going to take over the world. WANT 7 DAYS OF FREE WRITING TIPS? GO TO WWW.YOURBOOKWRITINGTIPS.COM

Wed, November 03, 2021

Brian Meeks on How NFTs Fit Into the Writing World

Brian D. Meeks writes under his name and the pen name Arthur Byrne. He’s currently working on his 20th novel and has six non-fiction titles, including  Mastering Amazon Descriptions: An Author’s Guid e. Additionally, he has a thriving author copywriting business. And he's obsessed with NFTs—and how they fit into the writing world. In this episode, we talked about how his NFT project has inspired him to love writing again, why he writes some of his books on Facebook and how we can all start selling our writing as NFTs on  bitclout , among many other topics (he's what's known in the talking world as a "digressor"). WANT 7 DAYS OF FREE WRITING TIPS? GO TO WWW.YOURBOOKWRITINGTIPS.COM

Wed, October 27, 2021

Ed Kressy on Meth Psychosis and Landing Big Blurb-ers

Ed Kressy has a much crazier story than your average addict with a crazy story. He also got a much bigger blurb-er than the average author. We got into both of those things in this episode. WANT A WEEK'S WORTH OF FREE WRITING TIPS? GO TO WWW.YOURBOOKWRITINGTIPS.COM

Wed, October 20, 2021

What I Learned From the Party Girl Re-Launch

Ohhhhh, does your own book launch teach you some lessons and that goes double when it's a re-launch  like my recent one for  Party Girl . In this episode, I broke down what went right (fun events out of town, asking someone I knew to help me get in a cool store), what didn't (Launch Squad, I'm talking to you if you said you'd review the book and still haven't!) and what was kinda ehh for the money put out (a publicist). That last question really comes down to... Is this story worth $5k ? Hear the whole rant in this episode! AND PROVE ME WRONG ABOUT REVIEWS BY BUYING THE BOOK AND REVIEWING IT HERE .

Wed, October 13, 2021

A Breakdown of the Bad Art Friend

"Bad Art Friend" is  a story that ran in the  New York Times  last week  and it has  the publishing world abuzz in a way only the publishing world can be . In this episode, I broke down my thoughts about the scandal and what I think it means for the future of publishing.   WANT A WEEK OF FREE WRITING TIPS FROM ME? GO TO WWW.YOURBOOKWRITINGTIPS.COM .

Wed, October 06, 2021

Erika Schickel on How Friends Make Your Launch

Erika Schickel author of You’re Not the Boss of Me: Adventures of a Modern Mom (2007) and whose work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times , LA Weekly , Tin House and Salon , discusses the launch of her new book The Big Hurt .   WANT TO RECEIVE A TIP A DAY FOR A WEEK THAT WILL GET YOU STARTED WRITING YOUR BOOK? GO TO: WWW.LEGACYLAUNCHPAD.COM/FREE-TIPS

Wed, September 29, 2021

Party Girl Excerpt, Chapter 3

In this episode, I read the final excerpt from my recently re-released first book, Party Girl .     WANT TO WRITE AND LAUNCH YOUR OWN BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO  WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, September 22, 2021

Party Girl Excerpt, Chapter 2

In this episode, I'm giving you another excerpt from my recently re-released first book, Party Girl .   WANT TO WRITE AND LAUNCH YOUR OWN BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO  WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, September 15, 2021

Party Girl Excerpt, Chapter 1

In this episode, listen to the first chapter from my recently released first novel, Party Girl.   WANT TO WRITE AND LAUNCH YOUR OWN BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO  WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, September 08, 2021

Mimi MacLean on Being a Bad Ass Entrepreneur and Author

Mimi MacLean is an angel investor who focuses on female-led companies with something to say. A mom of five, she’s also a CPA, a Columbia Business School graduate and the host of The Badass CEO, a weekly podcast where she interviews entrepreneurs and high-level executives to discuss business strategies, life experiences and what a Badass CEO needs to know. And I'm proud to say that Legacy Launch Pad has just released her first book, How to Be a Badass Female CEO: Slay the Competition and Reach the Top ! Inspired by the statistic that fewer than two percent of female-led companies reach over a million in sales,  How to Be a Badass Female CEO  packs all of MacLean's myriad experiences into a guidebook for the female CEO's of tomorrow. On this episode, we talked about her process of deciding to do a book as well as the fear that you're not even conscious of which creeps up right before the launch.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK OF YOUR OWN? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM FOR A CHEAT SHEET THAT BREAKS DOWN HOW YOU CAN.

Wed, September 01, 2021

What to Do 60 Days, 30 Days and 7 Days Before Your Launch

What you do after you've written your book can be just as crucial to its success as writing it. In today's episode, I'll walk you through what to do 60 days, 30 days and 7 days before your launch.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, August 25, 2021

Sarah Alaimo on Going From "I Can't Write a Book" to Launching Her Book

Career happiness coach Sarah Alaimo wasn't planning to write a book, let alone release it. So how did she come to launch her debut memoir? Listen to this episode to find out!   WANT TO WRITE AND LAUNCH YOUR OWN BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO  WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, August 18, 2021

How Do I Re-Launch a Book?

Re-launching your book once it's been traditionally published can be more complicated than you may imagine. In this episode, I walk you through how I did it for my first book, Party Girl.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, August 11, 2021

How Do I Throw a Book Launch Party?

Your party, no matter how awesome, won't help with book sales. Chances are, you'll actually be giving books away! So why do it? In this episode, we explain why it's worth it.   WANT TO WRITE AND LAUNCH YOUR OWN BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO  WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, August 04, 2021

10 Free Ways to Promote a Book

From creating graphics to reaching out to the media, there are numerous ways to bring attention to your book without spending a dime. We go into a bunch of them in this episode.   WANT TO WRITE AND LAUNCH YOUR OWN BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO  WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, July 28, 2021

What Are the Exact Steps to Publishing a Book?

The crucial steps to publishing a book are writing, editing, cover design, layout and back end Amazon wizardry. This episode walks you through them all. WANT TO WRITE AND LAUNCH YOUR OWN BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO  WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, July 21, 2021

How to Get on Podcasts to Promote Your Book with John Corcoran

In this episode, John Corcoran explains how you can promote your book on podcasts, when you should be reaching out and why having your own podcast is the best promotional tool of all.    WANT TO WRITE AND LAUNCH YOUR OWN BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, July 14, 2021

How Did Alex Strathdee Get 40,000 Students to Read His Book?

Alex Strathdee is no ordinary writer. That's because he's as much an entrepreneur as he is a writer. And it's how he got 40,000 students to read his first book.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, July 07, 2021

How Does an Author Build a Newsletter List?

A newsletter list is the single most important tool a writer can have when launching a book. But how do you get started—and what do you do once you have? First off, you need to, no matter how daunting it seems and how much it seems like you don’t have time to.   WANT TO WRITE AND LAUNCH YOUR OWN BEST SELLING BOOK? VISIT WWW.BESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, June 30, 2021

How Does Pat Flynn Launch a Book?

Pat Flynn is one of the kings of the marketing world and that showed in the way he launched his 2016 Wall Street Journal bestseller, Will it Fly? Because he’s very open about the methods he used, I was able to do research and determine some of his most effective strategies. In this episode, I broke them all down.  WANT TO WRITE AND LAUNCH YOUR OWN BESTSELLING BOOK? VISIT WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM.

Thu, June 24, 2021

How Does John Lee Dumas Launch a Book?

The king of podcasting is also quite kingly when it comes to launching a book. This episode breaks down how he blew his most recent release up.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, June 16, 2021

How to Land a Book Deal With Rea Frey

Oh, do I have a great guest for you today.  Rea Frey  is the award-winning bestselling author of three suspense novels and four nonfiction books with St. Martin's as well as the CEO of  Writeway , a multiple six-figure business that helps connect authors to agents so they can land publishing deals (Writeway does proposal writing, query letters...the whole shebang.) Frey also knows her way around a book launch, having built up an active Instagram through a very specific strategy and landing herself in publications like  US Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, Popsugar, Hello Sunshine, Marie Claire, Parade, Shape  and  Hello Giggles  (spoiler: this also involves having a very specific strategy). Listen to her share her top launch tips, her journey through the web of publishing and find out how you can get a free 30-minute consultation with her by listening to this episode.    WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM .

Wed, June 09, 2021

How Long Does It Take to Publish a Book?

Obviously, the length of time it takes to write and launch a book varies from writer to writer; Anthony Burgess wrote A Clockwork Orange while Junot Diaz took a decade to write The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. And I know people who have written massively successful books in a weekend. But the rough statistic I've heard quoted is that if you’re going to write it yourself, expect to spend about 300 hours on the first draft. This episode breaks down how long not just the writing but also the publishing takes.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, June 02, 2021

Do People Look Down on Self-Publishing?

One thing I need to tell you right off: there was no bigger snob about self-publishing back in the day than the person writing this post. My, how times have changed. This episode breaks down how.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, May 26, 2021

What Do I Need to Know to Record an Audiobook?

The audiobook market is a $1.2 billion business but recording and launching your own isn't as easy as you may think. This episode breaks down the sound requirements, what it takes out of you and whether or not you should publish exclusively on Audible, among many other topics.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, May 19, 2021

What's the Difference Between a Ghostwriter, Editor & Coach?

Do you need a ghostwriter, editor or coach—and what's the difference between those three, anyway? I answer all that and more in this episode. WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GRAB MY CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, May 12, 2021

How Can I Use Social Media to Promote My Book?

Social media isn't just for influencers who are shamelessly hawking products. It's actually an amazing tool for authors—provided they follow certain recommendations. I get into all of them in this episode.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GRAB MY CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, May 05, 2021

How Do I Get My Book Made Into a Movie?

Hollywood is not just going to come banging down your door unless you have a crazy number one bestseller that everybody wants. In this episode, I talk about how to try to make it happen for yourself.   WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GRAB MY CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, April 28, 2021

What Does an Author Website Need?

You need an author site and they are so easy to create. But what should be on it?   WANT MY "20 WAYS TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK" CHEAT SHEET BY GOING HERE: WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM .

Wed, April 21, 2021

Can I Get Sued for Writing About Someone?

Are you at risk when you write something less-than-flattering about someone in your memoir? Well, sure. Anyone can sue anyone for anything and even if they don't have a case, you probably don't want to have to deal with the inconvenience of defending yourself. In this episode, I get into my experiences writing about people and not getting sued. PLEASE NOTE: I am not a lawyer, nor have I ever been. While this breaks down advice from attorneys, none of this can be considered a substitute for legal counsel.   WANT MY 20 WAYS TO LAUNCH A BOOK CHEAT SHEET? GRAB IT HERE: WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM .

Wed, April 14, 2021

Do I Need an Agent and If So, How Do I Get One?

If you're trying to publish your book the traditional way, you need an agent. The good news: agents want to find the diamond in the rough. The bad news: They're hammered with a lot of potential diamonds. Here's how you can stand out.   WANT MY 20 WAYS TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK CHEAT SHEET?  GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM .

Wed, April 07, 2021

How to Get an Influencer to Promote Your Book with Jess Lahey

Jess Lahey can talk about so many things so brilliantly that interviewing her felt a bit like walking through an outlet mall: so many choices and they all look so good! But really, here's what you need to know: She's a  former  New York Times  columnist  and current  Atlantic  contributor ,  podcaster  and  New York Times  bestselling author of  The Gift of Failure  whose new book,  The Addiction Inoculation , is the one that the world has been clamoring for. It addresses the question on pretty much every parent's mind at one time or another: how do I prevent my kid from becoming an addict? Lahey addresses this issue from her own perspective (as a sober woman from an alcoholic family who's taught high schoolers in recovery) but with a reporter's brilliance (coupled with scientific and medical knowledge, with some help, she acknowledges, from her in-house researcher, her husband  Dr. Tim Lahey ). In short, she's the perfect person to have penned this book and she couldn't have penned it at a more perfect time. She's also, it turns out, the perfect person to talk to about building a business from a book—particularly if that business includes speaking, podcasting and newsletter writing. She's got tips aplenty for how to get speaking gigs, be booked on huge podcasts and have celebrities endorse your work. But—trigger warning—you'll never again think, "Oh, look how lucky that writer got, I bet it was easy for her." In other words, a sh*tload of work goes into these "lucky breaks," and Jess breaks down every single one.  WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, March 31, 2021

How to Crowd Fund Your Book Launch with Jesse Krieger

Jesse Krieger knows his way around a book launch. His company, Lifestyle Entrepreneurs Press, has published over 100 books in six years. Now he's teaching authors how to raise money for their book launches. In this episode, we broke down that business model and also got into some launch ideas you may never have thought of. WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM FOR MY CHEAT SHEET.

Wed, March 24, 2021

How Do I Avoid Hiring the Wrong Editor for My Book?

Unlike doctors, editors do not need a license or even a degree and there are thousands, if not tens of thousands, people out there calling themselves editors who shouldn't be. Don't be like the dozens of clients who have come to me having busted the bank hiring an editor who did nothing. This episode gets into everything you need to ask and consider when hiring your editor. Only listen if you want to avoid spending your whole book budget on an editor when you don't need to! WANT TO LAUNCH A BESTSELLING BOOK? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHABESTSELLINGBOOK.COM

Wed, March 17, 2021

Samantha Perkins on the Anxiety of Launching Your First Book

Samantha Perkins had all the anxiety that any first-time author has. Except she had more. Her book, after all, is about anxiety—well, anxiety that was exacerbated by drinking. That book,  Alive AF: One Mom's Journey to Becoming AF , has not only become a #1 bestseller but has also ushered in a plethora of opportunities—including coaching, speaking, writing assignments and more. And I had a front-row seat through all of it, since I walked her through the process of writing her story and sat back proudly as she took what I'd guided her through and ran with it. In this episode, we talk about when she knew she was going to follow through on her desire to write a book, the anti-climax of release day and the emotional hangover no one tells you about, among many other topics.

Wed, March 10, 2021

How Do I Get Reviews for My Book?

Readers are a thousand times more likely to buy your book if it has more than a handful of reviews. Here are the secrets to getting people to come through with reviews.   WANT TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS WITH A BOOK? GO TO WWW.BOOKBUILDBIZ.COM . 

Wed, March 03, 2021

How Do I Get Media Attention From My Book?

It's actually quite self-obsessed of us to believe our book is newsworthy to anybody; you need to give the media a reason to cover you. Here's how.   WANT TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS WITH A BOOK? GO TO WWW.BOOKBUILDBIZ.COM TO FIND OUT HOW.

Wed, February 24, 2021

How Do I Figure Out the Core Audience for My Book?

Remember that the riches are in the niches and go find that rabid group that will become advocates for your book. This episode breaks down how.   WANT TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS WITH A BOOK? GO TO WWW.BOOKBUILDBIZ.COM TO FIND OUT HOW.

Wed, February 17, 2021

How Do I Make Money From My Book (Aside From Through Book Sales)?

I didn't make a lot of money from book sales but I've probably added a hundred thousand dollars to my bottom line as a result of the book. This is how.   WANT TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS WITH A BOOK? GO TO WWW.BOOKBUILDBIZ.COM . 

Wed, February 10, 2021

How Do I Use My Book to Get Email Subscribers?

With newsletters, you are offering readers opportunities to do what they want to do—whatever it is that had them buy your book and then sign up for your list. So how do you use your book as an opportunity to get them to do that?   WANT TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS WITH A BOOK? GO TO WWW.BOOKBUILDBIZ.COM . 

Wed, February 03, 2021

How Do I Use My Book to Get Speaking Gigs?

If an event organizer is considering two different people to speak on a certain topic and one of those people has a book and is a bestselling author, that person is going to get the gig. But it is not as simple as writing a book and waiting for these speaking offers to come in. This episode breaks down the steps you need to take.   WANT TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS WITH A BOOK? GO TO WWW.BOOKBUILDBIZ.COM TO FIND OUT HOW.

Wed, January 27, 2021

How Do I Get Blurbs for my Book?

Blurbs, also known as endorsements, are one of the most misunderstood aspects of publishing. Authors tend to prioritize these so much when they need to be asking themselves if they've ever bought a book because of who blurbed it (99% of the time: no). But blurbs are still nice to have so this episode breaks down the most effective ways for authors to get them.

Wed, January 20, 2021

How Do I Use My Book to Get on Podcasts?

Podcasts are one of the best ways an author can reach an audience (as you well know, you podcast listener, you!) But how do authors get on them? Well, there are definitely right and wrong ways to pitch yourself and this episode breaks down both, and also provides information on how you can become a beloved guest.

Wed, January 13, 2021

How Do I Get Clients From My Book?

Experienced authors know that very few of us make money from book sales. Some know, however, that it's quite possible to make a lot of money if you use your book to build your business. Since most businesses don't exist without clients, this episode breaks down exactly how to use your book to get those clients.

Wed, January 06, 2021

Marleen Seegers on Selling the Foreign Rights to Your Book

Marleen Seegers is the co-founder of 2 Seas Agency, which sells the foreign rights of books by authors such as James Altucher. She's also the host of the Make Books Travel podcast. Her team pays regular visits to international book fairs such as those in Beijing, Turin, Guadalajara, Rio de Janeiro, Sharjah, New York, Leipzig and of course Frankfurt and London, combined with trips to major publishing cities including Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Munich and Berlin.   Jealous yet? Well, COVID put a damper in that publishing schedule. Yet Marleen has still managed to thrive—and educate the rest us about how the whole foreign rights think works, which countries like which books and whether or not it really means doing book readings on Greek islands.  Listen to the episode to find out more.    WANT TO BUILD YOUR BRAND WITH A BOOK? GRAB OUR CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.BUILDYOURBRANDWITHABOOK.COM .

Wed, December 30, 2020

How a Book Can Transform Your Business with Gene Moran

Gene Moran has helped myriad clients navigate the murky waters of federal sales. As the Founder and President of  Capitol Integration  and an active duty Navy Captain, Gene has established himself as an expert who consistently brings agility, creativity and results to companies of all sizes: small startup firms, prime and sub-prime contractors, and large multi-billion dollar public enterprises. He is a proven Navy Financial Manager, designated Joint Specialty Officer and was just named one of top lobbyists of 2020 by the National Institute for Lobbying & Ethics,   But to me, he's much more than that; he's a client who I'm thrilled to call a friend. We published his #1 Amazon bestselling book,  Pitching the Big Top: How to Master the 3-Ring Circus of Federal Sales , last year and are publishing his second book next year. Why is he doing two books, you ask? Well, you won't have to ask once you listen to this episode.     WANT TO BUILD YOUR BRAND WITH A BOOK? GRAB OUR CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.BUILDYOURBRANDWITHABOOK.COM

Wed, December 23, 2020

How Do I Get People to Buy My Book?

Whether authors go traditional or indie, we are all faced with the same issue: getting people to actually buy our books. In this episode, I get into the four best methods: Just Ask Be Strategic Reach Out—and Out Again—to Everyone You Know Don’t Expect Strangers to Care For the show notes, where I break down each of those methods, go to www.launchpadpub.com/blog/buy

Wed, December 16, 2020

How Do I Make My Book a NY Times Bestseller?

It's the question I'm asked more than any other. In this episode, I get into:  Why is it So Hard to Get on the New York Times Bestseller List? How Many Copies Do You Have to Sell to Hit the List? What Happens If You Try to Game The List? If You Still Want to Get on the List... Here's Why I Don't Think It Matters For show notes, which break down all of these bits, go to: www.launchpadpub.com/blog/NYT

Wed, December 09, 2020

Should I Give Up on Traditional Publishing?

Today I'm going to dispel some publishing myths and maybe discourage you a little bit, all in the name of showing you how you can launch a book that will build your brand and your business. But first we have to dispel myths. And so today I am answering a question that came to me from a listener, @michaelcringering is his Instagram handle.   Here's the question: “I started submitting to agents in March because I'm hoping to secure someone interested in my novel. I submitted to 153 agents in my genre but heard back from less than 25 percent. With that said and the pandemic raging, should I continue to wait or go ahead and self publish?”   TABLE OF CONTENTS: The Caveat: I'm Biased Against Traditional Publishing How Much Does It Matter to You? You Can Publish Your Book Yourself  The Rules with Novels Are Different I Couldn't Make a Living Until I Could Answer the Question: What Do I Want This Book to do For Me? You Have to Get Realistic You Don't Need Them If Your Goal is to Have a Writing Career... FOR SHOW NOTES, WHICH INCLUDE A TRANSCRIPT, GO TO www.launchpadpub.com/blog/publishing

Wed, December 02, 2020

Katie DePaola on Building Your Brand with a Book

This is an exciting time for the podcast for several reasons, at least one of which is that WE HAVE A NEW NAME! Yes, this has happened before. Oh yes, AfterPartyPod, Recover Girl, Light Hustler, Struggle to Success and some names I'm forgetting were used at some point. But this is the one we're sticking with and I'm not just saying that!   So why this change? Well, in this episode, I explain that since the show was becoming increasingly about how to build your brand with a book, it seemed only right to have a podcast name that reflected it. And now we've got it!   I couldn't have asked for a better guest for this pivot, since she's not only a brand builder extraordinaire but also a friend whose book I feel privileged to be able to publish.   Katie DePaola is an author, speaker, entrepreneur and the founder of Inner Glow Circle, a company dedicated to helping women entrepreneurs find their glow and live purpose-driven lives.   But most relevantly for our show, she is the author of  At Least You Look Good: How to Glow Through What You Go Through,  the latest release from Launch Pad Publishing. The book is part memoir, part self-help and all love; it's Katie's story about surviving Lyme disease and her brother's death by overdose while building her multi-million dollar business.    Just because I have a guest this week doesn't mean those Q&A or break-the-expert's-strategy-down episodes are no longer. I'll continue alternating different ways of showing you guys how to build your brand with a book, both on my own and with special guests.   All of which is to say: if you want me to answer your writing question on this show, DM me on Instagram at  @annabdavid !   WANT TO BUILD YOUR OWN BRAND WITH A BOOK? GO TO WWW.BUILDYOURBRANDWITHABOOK.COM AND GET MY CHEATSHEET ON HOW.

Wed, November 25, 2020

How Do I Get My Book in Book Stores?

Today's episode is another one of those Q&A things, where I'm answering either questions people have sent me about writing and publishing or questions that I'm asked over and over. Today's question is: how do I get my book in book stores?   The short answer is: don't rely on your publisher.   The longer answer is in this episode.   Don't forget: if you want me to answer your writing question on this show, DM me on Instagram at  @annabdavid .   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, November 18, 2020

How Do I Build Up My Profile Enough for a Publisher to Want Me?

The word profile used to mean what we looked like from the side. Nowadays it means what we look like online.   And for better or worse, this has become increasingly important when it comes to selling and promoting a book. So this week I'm answering a question from a listener that's all about how to build a profile, particularly on Instagram, and why publishers may or may not care.   And don't forget: if you want me to answer your writing question on this show, DM me on Instagram at  @annabdavid .   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, November 11, 2020

How and When Do I Come Up With a Title?

Rather than interviewing a guest or breaking down an expert author's way of launching a book, this week I'm answering the question: How and when do I come up with a title?   The biggest problem I see with authors and titles is that some become so committed to the one they came up with originally that they won't consider changing it to something that's going to resonate with readers more. I break that down and talk about how my titles have changed and which I think should have changed in this episode.   And if you want me to answer your writing question on this show, DM on Instagram at  @annabdavid .   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, November 04, 2020

How Do I Become a Better Writer?

Rather than interviewing a guest or breaking down an expert author's way of launching a book, this week I'm answering the question: How do I become a better writer?   The short answer is: write. The longer answer is: write and read. The still longer answer is in this episode.   And if you want me to answer your writing question on this show, DM on Instagram at  @annabdavid .   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, October 28, 2020

How Long Should a Book Be?

Rather than interviewing a guest or breaking down an expert author's way of launching a book, this week I'm answering the question: How long should a book be. The short answer is: it depends. The longer answer is that books are getting shorter. Confused yet? Listen to the episode and you won't be.   And if you want me to answer your writing question on this show, DM on Instagram at  @annabdavid .   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, October 21, 2020

A Play-by-Play Breakdown of How James Altucher Launches a Book

There's no one like James Altucher. Now I get that there's no one like any of us but there's REALLY no one like James Altucher. The hedge fund manager, podcaster and author of over 20 books has one of the most unique writing voices around—a major reason why his book, Choose Yourself , sold 40,000 copies in its first week of release. But there are a number of other reasons he sold so many copies and I break those reasons down in this episode. I get into how he hones his writer's voice, controls his destiny, gathers opinions, comes up with unique propositions and then gets media attention for them, spends what he can afford to and—most importantly—never stops writing. You may not be someone  The New York Times   writes about when you decide to embrace minimalism  but that doesn't mean you can't learn from what he does and apply all the same concepts and techniques to your own book release. In fact, in this episode, I break down exactly how. WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, October 14, 2020

Having Curbed Enthusiasm for Publishers with Jeff Garlin

Do you really need me to tell you who Jeff Garlin is? Well, the simple way to handle that is to tell you that he stars on arguably the most adored show of all time ( Curb Your Enthusiasm ) as well as one of the most mainstream shows of all time ( The Goldbergs ).   But he does so much more than just come to you via your SmartTV. He's also a standup (um, obv), photographer and author. In this episode, he explains what happens when you sell a book to a big publisher but then it doesn't sell the number of copies anyone had hoped (and also has an odd name change somewhere between the hardcover and paperback).   This episode also has LOTS of digressions into random topics both because Jeff Garlin could be renamed DIgression Garlin and also because we're pals who digress a lot. Listen and digress with us...   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, October 07, 2020

A Play-by-Play Breakdown of How Rachel Hollis Launches a Book

Today I'm doing one of those breakdowns of how the experts launch their books (check out my previous one on Tim Ferriss  here ). And this episode analyzes the moves made by the icon to middle-aged women across the globe: Rachel Hollis.    Rachel has had extraordinary success, by any standards. Her book,  Girl Wash Your Face , sold three million copies JUST on Amazon. She hosts a huge conference, has a Netflix documentary and has millions of followers on social media.   But this sprightly little thing didn't just waltz into stupendous success. In this episode, I meticulously break down what I believe are the four main reasons she's had such an impact: 1) She knows her audience 2) She makes it about them 3) She's consistent 4) She listens to that audience   To understand how she's done that and hear more of my analysis of her many bright moves, check out the episode.   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, September 30, 2020

A Play-by-Play Breakdown of How Tim Ferriss Launches a Book

Tim Ferriss needs no introduction. He not only hosts one of the world's most successful podcasts and maintains one of the world's most successful blogs but he was also an early investor in companies like Uber and Shopify and is the author of five #1  New York Times  and  Wall Street Journal  bestsellers, including  The 4-Hour Workweek   and  Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers .    Since there's no one alive who's better at launching books, I decided to do something new for this episode: break down exactly what he does and how he does it. His tactics include reading 50 different books on his book's topic before he even starts writing, offering spectacular launch bonuses for those who buy his books in bulk, attending conferences in order to chat with bloggers and influencers and way too many others to list in this post—so many that you'll soon learn why this required its own episode.   If you like this sort of episode, I'd be excited to do more on other people who are brilliant at launching books but would be hard to land on the show. It's fun to research and talk about how someone like Ferriss manages to do what he does (spoiler alert: it doesn't involve just getting lucky). Please let me know in the form of an  Itunes review  if you want me to do more of these. In the meantime, enjoy this breakdown!   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, September 23, 2020

Getting Over 5000 Media Hits with Cameron Herold

Cameron Herold is the Founder of the  COO Alliance  &  Second In Command Podcast  as well as the author of five books and an international public speaker. By the age of 35, he’d help build his first TWO $100 MILLION DOLLAR companies and by 42, he engineered 1-800-GOT-JUNK?’s spectacular growth from $2 million to $106 million in revenue.   So you get it. The guy's a machine. And he's a machine well worth talking to about what a book (let alone five) can do for a career, seeing as his have added millions of dollars to his bottom line. He also knows how to engineer a fantastic book launch, since he's an expert on generating PR (exhibit A: his 2019 book,  Free PR ). Exhibit B: his tactics have landed him everywhere from  The New York Times  to  Oprah .   In this episode, we talked about how to get the media to care about you (hint: it involves picking up the phone), why to put an 800 number on your book cover and how paying for 1000 copies of your own book to give away may be the smartest business decision you can make.   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET BY GOING TO WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, September 16, 2020

Chris Joseph on Publishing a Book About His Recovery From Cancer

In the last 33 years, Chris Joseph has started and managed three environmental consulting businesses, launched two fan-funded music record companies and founded a non-profit charitable foundation. He has also dabbled in philanthropy, songwriting and magazine writing, and he is currently studying for his real estate license. Chris is an LA native who lives in Santa Monica with his two teenage sons and his longtime girlfriend Susie.    He is also the author of  Life is a Ride: My Unconventional Journey to Cancer Recovery  which I am very proud to say Launch Pad has just published. The book is about how, after being diagnosed with third-stage pancreatic cancer and discouraged by traditional medical treatment, he embarked on his own path to healing. It's a beautiful, poignant journey that will inspire many and I'm looking forward to seeing what it does for him.   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET BY GOING TO WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, September 09, 2020

Getting Hollywood's Attention with Sex and the City's Cindy Chupack

Cindy Chupack is a TV writer/producer whose credits include  Sex and the City, Better Things, Divorce, Modern Family, Everybody Loves Raymond  and  I’m Dying Up Here .  She recently directed her first feature,  Otherhood , now available on Netflix.  She has written two comic memoirs: the  NYT  bestseller  The Between Boyfriends Book: A Collection of Cautiously Hopeful Essays  and  The Longest Date: Life as a Wife . Now divorced, her latest “chapter” was published recently in Katie Couric’s newsletter, a piece called Love in the Time of Covid-19.    She's also one of the kindest, most modest people alive. Proof: that bio above, which she gave me, doesn't even mention the fact that she has won Emmys and Golden Globes. As in: multiple. We met when we both contributed essays to the anthology  Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys  and in the years since, I've watched her straddle the line of author, TV writer, director and storyteller, among several other pursuits.   In this episode, we talked about how important it is to figure out ahead of time what you want your book to do for you, how likely it is to have your book adapted into a TV show or movie and the difference between writing a memoir and a book of essays, among many other topics.   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET BY GOING TO WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, September 02, 2020

Rebekah ("Bex") Borucki on Going From Food Stamps to Author and Coach

Rebekah “Bex” Borucki, founder of BEXLIFE® and the BLISSED IN® wellness movement, is a mother of five, meditation guide, birth doula, mentor for creative healers and author of books for big and little readers. She has taught meditation and is a mentor to creative healers who have gone on to receive publishing contracts with major houses like Simon & Schuster and Hay House. Rebekah is published by Hay House, the Quarto Publishing Group, and her own imprint, Wheat Penny Press, which she founded in 2019.   In this episode, we talked about how we met (sitting next to each other on a bus in Israel—for reals), how she went from single mom on welfare to powerhouse author, mentor and a million other things and how and why writing a book changed her entire career.   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET BY GOING TO WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, August 26, 2020

Meghan Daum on What Happens When Your First Book Becomes a Cult Classic

Meghan Daum is the author of six books, most recently  The Problem With Everything: My Journey Through The New Culture Wars . An opinion columnist for  The Los Angeles Times  for more than a decade, she currently writes monthly for Medium’s GEN Magazine and has contributed to  The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic  and  Vogue , among other publications. Her new podcast  The Unspeakable  launched in July 2020.    In this episode, we talked about the mini scandals you can cause when writing about either leaving New York or your feelings on PhD-ers who call themselves "Dr," what it's like when your first book becomes a cult classic and what happens after cult classic-dom, among many other topics.    WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, August 19, 2020

Robert Greene on Using Power and Seduction to Launch a Book

Holy sh*t, it's  Robert Greene  on the podcast!   Yes, THE Robert Greene came on the show and he talked about the subjects he knows more about than arguably anyone else—power, seduction and narcissism—and how they're relevant when it comes to writing and launching a book.   For you rock dwellers, Greene is the author of the  New York Times  bestsellers  The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, The 33 Strategies of War, The 50th Law,   Mastery  and  The Laws of Human Nature.   In addition to having a strong following within the business world and a deep following in Washington, DC, Greene’s books are hailed by everyone from war historians to the biggest musicians in the industry (including Jay-Z, Drake, 50 Cent) to the titans of Hollywood (including Brian Grazer and Will Smith).   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET BY GOING TO WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM  

Wed, August 12, 2020

The Oprah Effect with Greg Behrendt

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

Wed, August 05, 2020

Jason Pinter on His Journey From Editor to Writer to Publisher

Jason Pinter has had a Byzantine journey through publishing—first as an editor, then as an internationally bestselling author of seven novels and two children’s books and finally as the Founder and Publisher of Polis Books.   So how does one go on that journey? And what does someone who's seen publishing from literally every side have to say about how the industry has changed over the years and the best way to launch a book today?   It's all in this episode, along with invaluable information about how independent and self-published authors can get their books into libraries—and why they'd want to.   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, July 29, 2020

Anna David (That's Me!) on Making Your Message Your Business (Final Excerpt From My New Book)

Here we are at the final week of excerpts from  my new book . This one is the final chapter, Making Your Message Your Business. It's all about the ways you can take that memoir you made out of your mess and create something that can support you for the rest of your life.   TO GET THE BOOK, GO TO WWW.MAKEYOURMESSYOURMEMOIR.COM

Wed, July 22, 2020

Anna David (That's Me!) on Always Remembering You’re The Messenger (Excerpt 2 From My Book)

This week's episode features a very special guest: me. I got such a great response to last week's episode that I decided to release a few more excerpts from  my new book . This week, it's the 13th chapter, which is focused entirely on how to find, nurture and serve your readers.   TO GET THE BOOK, GO TO WWW.MAKEYOURMESSYOURMEMOIR.COM

Wed, July 15, 2020

Anna David (That's Me!) on Launching a Book (Excerpt From MY Book)

This week's episode features a very special guest: me. Yes, it's me giving you an exclusive excerpt from  my new book . It's the 12th chapter of the book and definitely the meatiest. It's also the most relevant for you because it's focused entirely on what to do once you've finished your book and are getting ready to launch it.   GRAB THE BOOK HERE: WWW.MAKEYOURMESSYOURMEMOIR.COM

Wed, July 08, 2020

Blog Your Way to Book Success with Derek Murphy

WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?  DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM   Derek Murphy is a  USA Today  bestselling author with a PhD in Literature, who’s been featured in CNN, writes fantasy and sometimes lives in castles. When not trolling obscure bookshops, he prefers to be sipping espresso, surrounded by kittens and pursuing research on what it means to be a successful creative.   Now the word unique is overused but this is one unique guy. Looking at the amazing array of material he puts out there is to enter into a tireless brain of myriad interests—including  educating aspiring writers ,  designing covers ,  penning paranormal fiction  and  hosting writing retreats in castles .   In this episode, we talked about creative ways to get Amazon to recommend your book (write a blog post that recommends other books like yours and then include a link to that blog in your email auto-responder), the importance of obeying Amazon's ever-changing rules and how to actually make money from book sales.

Wed, July 01, 2020

Why to Read Those A**hole Amazon Reviews with Jay Abraham

Jay Abraham is the world's highest-paid marketing consultant, a proven business leader and top executive coach in the United States.   As Founder and CEO of The Abraham Group, Inc., Jay has spent his entire career solving complex problems and fixing underperforming businesses. He has significantly increased the bottom lines of over 10,000 clients in more than 1,000 industries and over 7,200 sub-industries worldwide.    This is a man who is paid $30,000 for a day of business consulting. And I was lucky enough to not only get him to agree to come on this podcast to talk about applying lessons from other industries to a book launch but I was also able to get invaluable advice from him a few years ago that radically transformed my business (we talk about that at the very end of the episode; you definitely want to hear it).   In this episode, he doles out some of his top gems—including what to write at the beginning of every business book, how to involve influencers in your writing process and why to read the Amazon reviews of every book on your topic that's come before.   WANT THE TOP 14 BOOK LAUNCH TIPS FROM PREVIOUS PODCAST GUESTS? GO TO WWW.LAUNCHPADPUB.COM/POD-TIPS .

Wed, June 24, 2020

How to Make Your Book Not Suck with Adam Carolla

Adam Carolla is, well, Adam Carolla. The comedian, actor, radio personality, television host and  NY Times  best-selling author also hosts a podcast you might have heard of since it holds the Guinness Book of World Records record for most downloaded podcast. He was also the co-host of the long-running radio show Loveline, co-created  The Man Show  and does like 190 other things.    His first book,  In 50 Years We'll All Be Chicks , was on the  New York Times  bestseller list for 10 weeks, while the audio version went straight to the #1 position on iTunes. He has since released a bunch of other  New York Times  bestselling books and it's probably safe to assume that his newest book, the just-released   I'm Your Emotional Support Animal ,  will also make it there.   In this episode, we talked about why he doesn't know his publisher's name, how to write a book while driving to a comedy gig and the best launch tip of all: have an amazing book.   WANT TO WRITE YOUR OWN MEMOIR? DOWNLOAD THE ONE-PAGE STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM.

Wed, June 17, 2020

Neal Pollack on Working with Big Publishers, Indie, Amazon—and Everyone in Between

Neal Pollack , whose alter ego is "the Greatest Living American Writer,"  is the author of 11 books of fiction and nonfiction.   His latest,  Pothead , covers his journey from drug-addled literary sensation to sober Austin dad. He's written thousands of articles for publications current and defunct, prominent and obscure, whoever pays. To continue with the randomness, he's a three-time Jeopardy! champion and a certified yoga instructor.    Neal and I have known each other for years, with essays appearing in some of the same books ( one of which I edited ). A truthteller who reveals the often brutal reality of modern-day publishing, Neal is perhaps most brutal and truth-telling when it comes to himself.   In this conversation, we talked about what happens to Gen X midlist authors, what happens when you seek literary fame and how the most important thing to do when launching a book is to enjoy it.   WANT TO WRITE YOUR OWN MEMOIR? DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM .

Wed, June 10, 2020

Tyler Wagner on How to Hit the WSJ and USA Today Bestseller Lists

Tyler Wagner is the founder of  Authorsunite.com , where he helps people become successful authors.    More specifically what that means is that he does something similar to what we do at Launch Pad—people pay him to write and publish their books.   But he has a superpower we do not—namely, the ability to get books on the  USA Today  and  Wall Street Journal  bestseller lists.    How does he do it? And how does a college drop-out end up connecting with Gary Vee, Tim Ferriss before launching a massive publishing business?    It's all in this episode.   WANT TO WRITE YOUR OWN BOOK? GO GRAB MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM.

Wed, June 03, 2020

Jeff Goins on How Real Artists Don't Need to Starve

Jeff Goins  is a writer, keynote speaker, and award-winning blogger with a reputation for challenging the status quo. He is the best-selling author of five books, including  The Art of Work , which landed on the best­ seller lists of  USA Today, Publisher's Weekly , and  The Washington Post . He lives with his family near Nashville, Tennessee. His website  Goinswriter.com  is visited by millions of people every year.   He is also an idol of mine when it comes to the fine art of combining writing with entrepreneurship and the even finer art of being successful at both.   In this chat, we got into the importance of patrons, why your network is like your neighborhood and how it takes years to promote a book. And of course we chatted about his top launch tips. Spoiler alert: it has to do with being a good neighbor.   WANT TO WRITE YOUR OWN MEMOIR? START WITH MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET, WHICH YOU CAN GRAB AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, May 27, 2020

Chris Voss on How to Negotiate a Book Launch

Chris Voss may be the coolest guy in the world.   The former lead international kidnapping negotiator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the FBI’s hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council’s Hostage Working Group, Voss now runs  Black Swan Limited , where he brings all the techniques he perfected to the business world.   During Chris’s 24-year tenure in the Bureau, he was trained in the art of negotiation by not only the FBI but also Scotland Yard and Harvard Law School. He's taught business negotiation in the MBA program as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Oh and he's also taught business negotiation at a little school called Harvard.   But we barely got into any of that. That's because this conversation focused on his book  Never Split the Difference , which has sold over a million copies, changed how countless businesses operated and made Voss into a media darling with the media hits and Mastermind course to prove it.   In this episode, we talked about his top tips for a successful launch—be prepared to outwork everyone else, answer questions on Quora, do every interview, no matter how small and study the great Ted talkers, comedians and media personalities to see how they deliver information in a compelling way. We also talked about how no one wanted this book that went on to change the way business is done. And then we got into the matter of a Facebook friend request. How did this negotiation go? You're going to have to listen to the episode to find out.   WANT TO WRITE YOUR OWN BOOK? DOWNLOAD MY ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM TO GET STARTED.

Wed, May 20, 2020

Nancy Levin on The Role Boundaries Play in a Book Launch

Nancy Levin  knows book launches from every angle. The best-selling author of five books was the Event Director at Hay House for 12 years where she oversaw events for mega bestselling authors Gabby Bernstein, Wayne Dyer and Louise Hay. And with her new book,   Setting Boundaries Will Set You Free: The Ultimate Guide to Telling the Truth, Creating Connection and Finding Freedom , she used everything she knew.   In this episode, we discussed the role boundaries play in book launches, why focusing on the value your reader is going to get is the way to make a book successful and also got into some marketing nerd speak about funnels, tripwires, courses and all the rest.     DO YOU WANT TO SHARE YOUR STORY BUT NEED SOME HELP? GRAB OUR ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM .

Wed, May 13, 2020

Scott Carney on Switching From Traditional to Self Publishing

Investigative journalist and anthropologist  Scott Carney  had a blow-out success with his traditionally published book  What Doesn’t Kill Us— it   was a  New York Times  bestseller that sold 150,000 copies.     So why would he make the switch from traditional to self with his latest book,  The Wedge ?     The long answer involves lawyers, shoddy editors, a good deal of hustle and just some old-fashioned common sense. The short(er) answer is in this episode.     So who is Scott Carney when he's not  truthtelling about the publishing industry ? Well, his other books include  The Red Market  and  The Enlightenment Trap . He was a contributing editor at  Wired  for five years and his writing also appears in  Mother Jones, Men’s Journal, Playboy, Foreign Policy, Discover, Outside  and  Fast Company . His work has been covered on  NPR  and  National Geographic TV . He's won a bunch of awards, gives TEDx talks, teaches and does a whole lot more.     In this episode, we talked about the realities of traditional publishing, why he grabbed the rights to his book back from a major publisher, the ins and outs of audiobook recording and much more.     DO YOU HAVE A STORY TO SHARE AND NEED SOME HELP SHARING IT? DOWNLOAD OUR ONE-PAGE MEMOIR STRUCTURE CHEAT SHEET AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM .

Wed, May 06, 2020

Gina DeVee on Finding Gratitude When Your Book Comes Out a Terrible Time

To call  Gina DeVee  a queen is an understatement.   No, Gina is the QUEEN of Queens everywhere.   Her journey from struggling psychotherapist (who lived at home with her parents) to globetrotting entrepreneur has led her to found her multi-million dollar women’s empowerment company, Divine Living.  She has dedicated her career to helping clients connect spiritually, start businesses, create wealth and live life to the fullest.   When her book,  The Audacity to Be Queen , was released in early March, it meant canceling—er, postponing—a planned world book tour and learning new launch tools...namely doing TV appearances from her living room, taking over friends' Instagram stories feeds and essentially looking for the gifts that are a part of every unexpected (and expected) experience.   As she points out, book releases NEVER go as planned but you also never know when a book is going to hit (her client Jen Sincero's book  You Are a Badass   was out for years before it became a bestseller). All of this is to say that her advice is as useful for an author whose book comes out at a more convenient time as it is for those who are launching now. This one has plenty of specific advice, including why it's a good idea to include a companion course in your book.   WANT TO WRITE YOUR OWN BOOK? GRAB MY FREE GUIDE TO WRITING A MEMOIR BY GOING TO WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Mon, April 27, 2020

Joel Stein on How a People Pleaser Can Promote a Book

Joel Stein  wrote a weekly column for  Time  magazine for 20 years, was a columnist for  Entertainment Weekly  and the  Los Angeles Times  and is the author of the books  Man Made: A Stupid Quest for Masculinity   and  In Defense of Elitism: Why I’m Better Than You and You’re Better Than Someone Who Didn’t Buy This Book .      He's also such a funny person that he manages to come across as incredibly likable both while penning a book defending elitism and while dis-inviting me to his book launch party (true story; listen to his defense in this episode and let me know if you think it means you think I should forgive him).     In this episode, we talk about how to ask friends to recommend you to a show as a guest, why to never rely on a publicist and ways to make an audiobook much better, among many other topics.     WANT TO WRITE YOUR OWN BOOK? GRAB MY FREE GUIDE TO WRITING A MEMOIR HERE>> WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, April 22, 2020

Jen Gotch on How to Pivot Your Book Promotion in a Pandemic

Jen Gotch is one of those people who seems to stumble toward success. She's the first to admit that she figures everything out as she goes along—and it all seems to work out far better than it does for those with PowerPoints, MBAs and the rest. Case in point: band.do, the company she founded in 2008 with no business experience and which is now a beloved multimillion-dollar brand. Then there's her obsessive Instagram following and podcast that she built by being utterly herself—often sharing about her mental health struggles.   And the trend continued with her first book,  The Upside of Being Down , which has been featured in  People  and  The LA Times  and recently hit  The New York Times  bestseller list.   While the release timing couldn't have been worse—we're talking days into shelter-in-place world shutdown—her attitude couldn't have been better. And although her book tour got canceled and plenty of plans were derailed, she was able to do a pivot that made her launch inarguably successful.    In this episode, we discuss how the business lessons she's accumulated along the way served her when it came to planning her book launch—and how she learned some new ones as life changed.   WANT TO WRITE YOUR OWN BOOK? GRAB MY FREE DOWNLOAD HERE>> WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, April 15, 2020

Create a 7 Million Dollar Franchise from One Book with Mike Koenigs

Mike Koenigs is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, co-host of Capability Amplifier podcast with Strategic Coach founder Dan Sullivan and 13-time bestselling author, Mike is regular contributor to Entrepreneur and Forbes. He's interviewed, consulted and advised celebrity clients, billionaires and bestselling authors including Tony Robbins, Paula Abdul, Richard Dreyfuss, Dave Asprey, JJ Virgin, presidential candidate Tim Ryan, John Assaraf, Brian Tracy and XPrize founder Peter Diamandis, among many others.   He's also ALL love. I met him a few years ago and he was so kind and welcoming and usually wearing red shoes. But that is NOT why I asked him to come on the podcast. I asked him to come on because he is a master at taking advantage of business opportunities and I knew he'd be able to talk about how he's done that with books.   And BOY has he done it. Bet you didn't know you could generate millions from a book. In this episode, he explains how. (And he also mentions that he has a video that can show you how; go to  http://mikekoenigs.com/owo  to see it.)   DO YOU WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR? GRAB MY ONE-PAGE STRUCTURE GUIDE AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, April 08, 2020

Crashing Past the Gatekeepers with Nicolas Cole

Nicolas Cole  is an author and the #1 personal development writer on the internet with more than 75,000,000 views on his work.   Cole rose to internet stardom in 2015 when he became the #1 most-read writer on Quora, accumulating tens of millions of views on his viral articles, and his work being republished in  Time, Forbes, Fortune, Business Insider, CNBC, The Chicago Tribune , and more. In 2016, Cole became one of Inc Magazine's Top 10 contributing writers, accumulating millions of views on his business & creativity column, and in 2017 he founded a ghostwriting and thought leadership agency called Digital Press, for Fortune 500 executives, Silicon Valley founders, venture capitalists, Grammy-winning musicians, Olympians, NYT best-selling authors, international public speakers, and more.   Cole has written two books,  Confessions of a Teenage Gamer , a memoir about his high school years as one of the highest-ranked World of Warcraft players in North America (while simultaneously undiagnosed with Celiac Disease), and  Slow Down, Wake Up:   150 Short Meditations For A More Present Life.   He is also someone who forever changed my business, with an offhand remark he made to me when we had coffee a year or so ago. I know of no one better at merging writing passion with entrepreneurial success and in this episode, we get into why caring about book sales is silly, what journalism professors get wrong and why having no launch strategy is the best strategy of all.     WANT TO WRITE YOUR OWN MEMOIR? DOWNLOAD MY FREE GUIDE HERE>>>WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, April 01, 2020

Why Book Sales Don't Matter with Matt George

Matt George  is the kindest man alive.   Don't believe me? Well, consider this. The Peoria, Illinois-based writer, speaker and CEO of the Children’s Home Association of Illinois is the former Executive Director of the Hult Center for Healthy Living and the former President and CEO of Youth Farm, which later merged with Children’s Home in 2007, under his leadership.   In addition to his work at Children’s Home, Matt helps raise funds for local nonprofits, including Neighborhood House, The Hult Center for Healthy Living, Crimestoppers and more.   But I know a lot more than Matt's resume. That's because my company published his #1 bestselling memoir/business book  NonProfit Game Plan   and so I had a front-row seat on his journey from behind-the-scenes rainmaker to public face.    In this episode, we discussed how a mentor played a crucial role in this transition, the way his book has changed his entire career and why he doesn't track book sales, among many other topics.   DO YOU WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR? GRAB MY FREE 10-CHAPTER MEMOIR GUIDE AT WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM .  

Wed, March 25, 2020

The Live Show With Paul Shirley

After graduating from Iowa State University with a degree in mechanical engineering, Paul Shirley embarked on a nine-year professional basketball career that included stops on three NBA teams, five teams in Europe, and several minor league outfits, some of which even paid him on time.   While playing for the Phoenix Suns, Paul started a blog that led to a book deal with Random House. That book,  Can I Keep My Jersey? , was released to wide acclaim in 2007. Paul has since written for  Esquire ,  The Wall Street Journal, Slate,  ESPN.com and for FlipCollective.com, a website he started.   Paul lives in Los Angeles, where he runs a co-writing space called Writers Blok. His second book,  Stories I Tell I Dates , was released in 2017 and developed into a podcast of the same name in 2018.   But more relevantly than any of that, he was the first person I've ever interviewed LIVE—yes, this episode was recorded in front of a live audience in Los Angeles. Considering the fact that it's nearly impossible to get anyone in LA to go anywhere at rush hour, I was blown away that people showed up to listen to two authors talk about book launches on a Friday night.   If you're looking for an incredibly funny episode, this is it. YES, a show about book launches can not only gather a crowd on a Friday night in LA but also make people laugh.   If you listened to the episode, you know that I promised you a deal at Paul's "writing studio" Writers Blok. All you have to do to get 30% off membership for up to 12 months is go to the Writers Blok site , purchase a membership and use LAUNCHPAD as a coupon code.   WANT MY FREE GUIDE TO WRITING A MEMOIR? GO TO WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM .

Wed, March 18, 2020

Why Publishers Suck with David Nihill

Originally from Dublin Ireland,  David Nihill  is the founder of FunnyBizz Conference, bestselling author of  Do You Talk Funny? , winner of San Francisco International Comedy Competition, runner up in the Moth’s largest US Grandslam storytelling competition and the first-ever Irishman to have a special on Dry Bar Comedy. His work has been featured in Inc, The Huffington Post, Forbes, Fast Company, Lifehacker, The Irish Times, TED, The Irish Independent, Today FM, and on TV3.   He and I met through friends a few years ago and I was immediately impressed not only with his barely indecipherable accent but also with how much knowledge he possessed about marketing, books and how to make them successful. This impression was only solidified when, a few days later, he sent me an email packed with all the strategies he'd used to make his book so successful that he was able to then sell it to a major publisher.   In this episode, we go through all those ideas and more. If you listened to the episode, you know that I promised I would give you the email he sent out to his launch team, which you are welcome to copy and steal (he will never know, unless he's reading this, in which case I say hi David!) You can get it by grabbing the show notes by going to https://www.launchpadpub.com/blog/david   WANT TO WRITE YOUR OWN MEMOIR? GRAB MY CHEAT SHEET BY GOING TO https://www.launchpadpub.com/memoir-download.

Wed, March 11, 2020

Re Perez on Using Pre-Launch Bonuses to Boost Pre-Orders

Re Perez is a seasoned Brand Strategist, International Speaker, Author and CEO of Branding For The People.   He's also someone I met last year and adored from the get go.   As the founder of a leading branding agency that builds and manages brands for funded startups, high-growth entrepreneurs, Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies, and expanding small to midsize businesses around the globe, Re's shared his insights at numerous conferences.   And with his book,  Your Brand Should Be Gay (Even If You're Not) , he's sharing them with you.   He also shares, in this interview, the strategy he used to increase pre-orders—namely offering a series of bonuses to anyone who ordered ahead of time. His strategy—offering consulting calls with him and his team to those who ordered multiple copies—resulted in the book launching to #1 immediately.   WANT TO WRITE A MEMOIR?? DOWNLOAD MY FREE GUIDE TO HOW TO DO IT HERE>>> https://www.launchpadpub.com/memoir-download

Wed, March 04, 2020

Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone to Promote Your Book with Dan Peres

Dan Peres was editor in chief of  Details  for fifteen years, starting in 2000, when the title relaunched under his leadership. During his tenure, the magazine won many awards, including two National Magazine Awards. Before taking the editorship of  Details , Dan spent nine years at  W  magazine, overseeing bureaus in Paris, London, and Milan. While in college, he worked as a copy boy at the  New York Times  and later as a research assistant at  Esquire . He is the author of  Details Men’s Style Manual.  He lives in New York and has three sons.   He's also someone I've known since he first started at  Details . As a freelance writer for the magazine (who also happened to worship every word published in it). I grew accustomed to allowing my month's rent to be determined by Dan's final decisions (if a magazine decided to kill your story because the editor decided the topic was no longer appealing, that meant suddenly getting paid 10% of what you'd signed up for). It's therefore fascinating to witness him joining the other side—learning what it's like to be at the mercy of an editor's whims and having to hustle to get people to care about your book.   In this conversation, we cover the whole transition...and also get into maybe WHY some of the  Details  decision-making was so impossible to predict.   WANT TO KNOW HOW TO MAKE A MEMOIR INTO A MONEYMAKER? CLICK HERE TO GET MY FREE DOWNLOAD: WWW.MEMOIRMONEYMAKER.COM

Wed, February 26, 2020

Why to Avoid Traditional Publishing with Courtney Friel

Courtney Friel is best known for her work as a news anchor at KTLA in Los Angeles, where she also hosts the video podcast “ Keepin It Friel: Conversations on Recovery .” She previously worked as a national correspondent for Fox News Channel and hosted the “World Poker Tour." She has more than a decade sober and speaks on the topic all around the country. Courtney grew up in Philadelphia PA, but now lives in LA with her son and daughter.    She is also the author of  Tonight at 10: Kicking Booze and Breaking News , which was released in January and which I am very proud to say Launch Pad published. The back story is, as follows: Courtney and I became friends back when we both lived in New York between 2007 and 2010. She was an anchor on Fox News and I went on a lot of the shows to talk about addiction and recovery.   At parties (she had some epic bbqs back in the day), she would corner me and ask me about what it was like to be sober. I didn't think much of it. In my experience, people who actually need recovery tend to avoid sober folks like we're cops or their moms back when they were in high school. All of which is to say I was very surprised when she told me, a few months after those inquiries started, that she needed to go to rehab.   Flash forward to a few months ago. During a tour at my housewarming party, I showed Courtney and a bunch of other people my recording studio. The next day she called and confessed that she had a book scheduled to come out but things had gone awry with her publisher. Long story short: my team and I jumped in, re-named the book, gave it a new cover, had Courtney record the audio version and voila, it hit the world.   The news cycle went crazy for some of the tidbits in the book  (particularly the one about how Trump asked her to come to his office so they could "kiss") but it's the story of recovery that resonates.   In this episode, we get into all of that and more.   WANT TO MAKE YOUR MEMOIR INTO A MONEYMAKER? GO HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE LAUNCH PAD FREE GUIDE: WWW.MEMOIRMONEYMAKER.COM

Wed, February 19, 2020

Multiple New York Times Bestselling Author Gigi Levangie on The New Vs. the Old Ways of Launching

Gigi Levangie is the  New York Times  bestselling author of eight novels, including the recently released  Been There, Married That . She's also the screenwriter of the hit film  Stepmom , starring Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon.  But that's not all! Her novel  Starter Wife  was made into a USA miniseries and series starring Debra Messing and her novel  Maneater  was made into a Lifetime miniseries starring Sarah Chalke.      But she's not all work! In fact, she's one of the most fun and hilarious writers I know. She's also lived several lives—not only has she raised three batches of kids (long story) but she was formerly married to prolific producer Brian Grazer and now has a hot French husband.     As an author who gets a lot of attention whenever she releases a book, Gigi isn't someone who employs all the newfangled marketing techniques involving newsletter lists, CTA's and funnels. But while she still does the old school promotional things, like going on TV when her books are released, she's open to embracing the new. Call this episode an intervention of sorts, where I all but force her to promise me she'll add a newsletter sign-up to her website.   WANT TO MAKE YOUR MEMOIR INTO A MONEYMAKER? GO HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE LAUNCH PAD FREE GUIDE: WWW.MEMOIRMONEYMAKER.COM .

Wed, February 12, 2020

How to Master Book Ads with Nicholas Erik

Nicholas Erik  is a science fiction and fantasy author who also writes in-depth marketing guides; this is, in fact, how I discovered him...when I stumbled across  this epic guide  to free book sites and then went down the amazingly informative rabbit hole that is his website.   While he’s launched over a dozen books in a variety of genres, he also specializes in Amazon, Facebook and BookBub ads. I liked this interview because it was straight-up technical…like you could almost say we were talking literature but doing MATH.    WANT TO MAKE YOUR MEMOIR INTO A MONEYMAKER? GO HERE TO DOWNLOAD OUR FREE GUIDE: WWW.MEMOIRMONEYMAKER.COM .  

Wed, February 05, 2020

How You Can Get Banks, Home Depot and Walmart to Help You Launch a Book

Jane Ubell-Meyer is an award-winning entrepreneur and former television/film producer (TV credits include  Good Morning America  and  Entertainment Tonight , among many others).   She taught at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology for seven years and is a speaker and mentor to authors and entrepreneurs. These days, she sits atop  Bedside Reading , a program that places books by the bedsides in luxury hotels and in the media. She's also the most out-of-the-box thinkers I've ever met when it comes to getting a book out there.     I mean, would YOU have connected a successful launch to your BANK or Walmart? Me, neither.     DO YOU WANT TO MAKE YOUR MEMOIR INTO A MONEYMAKER? GO TO WWW.MEMOIRMONEYMAKER.COM FOR OUR FREE GUIDE.

Wed, January 29, 2020

When Your Launch Doesn't Go as Expected with New York Times Bestselling Author Lori Gottlieb

Lori Gottlieb is a psychotherapist and  New York Times  bestselling author of  Maybe You Should Talk to Someone , which is being adapted as a television series with Eva Longoria. In addition to her clinical practice, she writes  The Atlantic’s  weekly “Dear Therapist”  advice column and  contributes regularly to  The New York Times  and many other publications. She is also a  TED speaker , a ​member of the Advisory Council for Bring Change to Mind and advisor to the Aspen Institute. A contributing writer for the  Atlantic , she has written hundreds of articles related to psychology and culture, many of which have become viral sensations. She is a sought-after expert in media such as  The Today Show, Good Morning America, The CBS Early Show , CNN, and NPR’s “Fresh Air.” Learn more at  LoriGottlieb.com  or by following her  @LoriGottlieb1  on Twitter.     She's also someone I've known for over a decade (we first met at a dinner in LA and then the next time we saw each other, it was when we appeared T he CBS Morning Show  together years later...btw, I Googled for the clip, thinking in no way I would find it  but oh my God here it is . I couldn't bring myself to actually watch it because watching something I said on TV when I was probably exhausted—that show taped EARLY—overly made up and nervous? No, thank you!!)     Anyway, she's a prolific writer but she has OUTDONE herself with her latest book. It's the kind of book that inspires you to go back to therapy (at least that's what happened to me), have a deeper conversation with your boyfriend than you've ever had (me again) and burst into spontaneous tears in Trader Joe's if you happen to be listening to the audio version while shopping (er, yeah me of course it was me).     I was thrilled that Lori agreed to talk to me, given that she may be the busiest writer on the planet right now (in addition to her full therapy practice, she gets roughly 100 queries a week now from people looking for a therapist; this in addition to her freelance writing career, TED talks, podcasts, TV shows and the sort of balancing act one must do if their book has been on  The New York Times bestseller list for the past NINE months).   In case it's not obvious, I love this episode. And I loved her book so much that I will almost tell you to read it before you even listen to this. But who am I kidding, I love downloads! Listen to this and then grab the book if you haven't already.   WA

Wed, January 22, 2020

NY Times Bestselling Author Annabelle Gurwitch's 3 Musts for a Book Launch

Annabelle Gurwitch is an actress, activist, and the author of the  New York Times  bestseller and Thurber Prize finalist  I See You Made an Effort . Her other books include:  Wherever You Go, There They Are,  and  You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up  (coauthored with Jeff Kahn).    She was the co-host of  Dinner & a Movie  on TBS and has appeared on NPR,  The Today Show, CBS Early Show, Real Time with Bill Maher, PBS,  and numerous CNN and MSNBC programs. Her essays and satire have been featured in  The   New Yorker ,   The New York Times ,  The Wall Street Journal ,  The Los Angeles Times,   AARP,  Real Simple, Prevention,  The Los Angeles Book Review,  The Daily Beast,  Time.com , Next Tribe, Lenny Letter, Hadassah  and  The Hollywood Reporter , among other media outlets.   She's also an extremely methodical (she might say obsessive-compulsive?) person—one who starts planning her launch as she comes up with the book concept. And she works it—making lists, checking them way more than twice, reaching out to people she knows and doesn't know and ultimately making it so that her books have no option but to be successful.   If you want practical steps on how to prepare both emotionally and literally for a release, this episode is packed with tips, tactics and other t-words!   WANT TO WRITE AND LAUNCH YOUR OWN BOOK? GET OUR FREE GUIDE TO WRITING A MEMOIR BY GOING TO WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM.

Wed, January 15, 2020

How Julie Reisler Used a Structured Plan to Launch Her Second Book

Julie Reisler , Life Designer®, TV Host, Author and Global Brand Ambassador, is all about helping you to tune into your intuition to be your You-est You.  Julie is the author of the  Get a PhD in YOU  book series, a multi-time TEDx speaker, the host of The You-est You® podcast and a mindfulness teacher on the popular app, Insight Timer, with over 110,000 downloads. Not enough for you? Julie also has a Master's degree in coaching, more than 12 certifications in mindset, leadership and wellbeing and is on the faculty at Georgetown University in their coaching program. As someone who has launched books by hiring various consultants, Julie has a unique perspective. That's why I brought her onto the show to discuss the most effective techniques for a DIY-er who's specifically using their books to build up other aspects of their career. WANT TO WRITE AND LAUNCH YOUR OWN BOOK? DOWNLOAD OUR FREE GUIDE TO WRITING A MEMOIR HERE !

Wed, January 08, 2020

The Truth About Traditional Publishing with NYT Bestselling Author Jennifer K. Armstrong

Jennifer Keishin Armstrong is the  New York Times  bestselling author of  Seinfeldia: How the Show About Nothing Changed Everything ; a history of  The Mary Tyler Moore Show ,  Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted ; and  Sex and the City and Us: How Four Single Women Changed the Way We Think, Live, and Love . She spent a decade on staff at  Entertainment Weekly  and has since written for many publications, including BBC Culture,  The New York Times Book Review , Vice,  New York  magazine, and Billboard.   She's also an old pal from my NYC days; in fact, we used to host Readings & Rubdowns events where people would listen to writers read from their latest books while getting massaged.   In the ensuing years, Jennifer has become a huge author and in this episode, she breaks down, step-by-step, what makes for a successful launch.   WANT TO WRITE AND LAUNCH YOUR OWN BOOK? GET OUR FREE GUIDE TO WRITING A MEMOIR HERE: www.memoirdownload.com

Wed, January 01, 2020

Make Sure Your Book is Muzzy Approved with Dave Chesson

Dave Chesson is the creator of  Kindlepreneur.com , a website devoted to teaching advanced book marketing which even Amazon KDP acknowledges as one of the best by telling users to “Gain insight from Kindlepreneur on how you can optimize marketing for your books.” Having worked with such authors as Orson Scott Card, Ted Dekker and more, his tactics help both fiction and nonfiction authors of all levels get their books discovered by the right readers.    But that's the official bio stuff. The stuff that really matters, at least to me, is that he is the wisest person out there today when it comes to successful indie publishing. Basically, he does the work so that the rest of us can utilize his techniques and systems.   The main takeaways are this: if you want to successfully launch a book, start your launch work the day you start writing; to cut down on haters, show readers you're human; and the right keywords and categories on Amazon can make the difference between bestsellerdom and obscurity.   Enjoy this episode and by all means, employ the techniques! Also, if you like it, please consider reviewing (or just rating!) I'm putting so much into this pod revamp and would be so grateful for any and all support.   WANT TO WRITE AND LAUNCH YOUR OWN BOOK? GET OUR FREE GUIDE TO WRITING A MEMOIR HERE: WWW.MEMOIRDOWNLOAD.COM

Wed, December 25, 2019

Transgender Comic Ian Harvie on Life Changes (Re-release!)

In this episode of the podcast, Ian Harvie joined me on my couch to talk about his childhood in rural Maine, his journey to discovering his true gender identity, his recovery from alcoholism, and his new life in sobriety as a trans comic.

Wed, December 18, 2019

Author Sarah Hepola on Going from Blackouts to Bright Life (re-release!)

Author Sarah Hepola isn’t just a writer but the author of the biggest book about addiction since  A Million Little Pieces  (as  a fellow author of a book about addiction , this pains me to write but only a little because her book is  so God damn good ).   Hepola’s memoir,  Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget , has been written about in seemingly ever publication known to man, clearly striking a chord among the recovery community and beyond. The Texas-based Salon essay editor has also written for  The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Glamour, The Guardian , Nerve and Slate, among others, and is as modest about her book’s success as possibly only a Texan can be.   In this episode, we talk about the relative coolness of sobriety, crying every day, whether or not Tinder dating profiles should mention sobriety and if a best-selling book can actually make you happy, among many other topics.

Wed, December 11, 2019

Jemima Kirke on Drinking After Years of Sobriety (Re-release!)

Actress and artist Jemima Kirke came on the podcast. Yes, those are thrilling words to write. This is not only exciting because she’s luminous, talented and plays Jessa on freaking  Girls  but also because she has a history with substances that you don’t hear many people share about.   After a wild youth, which included multi-day benders and bouts of depression, Kirke showed up at her mom’s in early 20s, saying she was ready for rehab. She went from one treatment center to the next, finding enough fault with the program there for her to be kicked out (but not before meeting the man she eventually married, who happens to now own a sober living).   After years of staying sober and doing the 12-step thing, Kirke began to question whether the one-size-fits-all philosophy about addiction applied to her. And so she had a drink. Contrary to what she’d been told, nothing bad happened. That was a few years ago and in that time, she’s watched her career rise to superstardom and embraced motherhood (in addition to the two kids she has with her husband, she is also the step-mother to his kids from a previous marriage).   In this episode, we talk about self-hatred, rehabs just out to take your money and if meeting your future spouse in treatment is “trauma bonding,” among other topics.   DO YOU WANT TO SHARE YOUR STORY? DOWNLOAD OUR FREE GUIDE TO WRITING A MEMOIR HERE !

Wed, December 04, 2019

Moby on Launching Himself Into a New Life (re-release!)

What is there to say about Moby that hasn’t already been said? The legendary musician, who burst onto the scene with his fifth studio album, Play, is also a DJ, photographer and soon-to-be memoirist (we all know he’s a descendant of Herman Melville, right?) And it’s not just his own music he’s had a hand in; the active animal rights supporter has remixed, co-written and produced music for many of the other greats. But let's talk about how, in his 40s, he launched into a whole new life: after a bout with sobriety when he was a Christian, Moby developed this reputation as something of a puritan. But he was actually boozing it up, as well as taking plenty of recreational illegal substances, while he brought the party back to his place. It wasn’t until he got to his 40s and the hangovers started to get debilitating that he started to look at the possibility of sobriety. Now he’s years into the sober game and growing all the time. In this episode, he and I talk about deciding to get sober, relapsing, how unappealing the thought of having just a drink or two is and and the fact that people still come up to him on the street to thank him for the epic parties he used to have, among many other topics.

Wed, November 27, 2019

Georgia Hardstark on Life Before She Became a Famous Murder Obsessive (re-release!)

Georgia Hardstark has blown up since she and Karen Kilgariff launched the mega popular My Favorite Murder podcast. But what was she up to before that? This episode—a re-release from several years ago—focuses on exactly that. So who is Georgia Hardstark? Find out everything and more in this ep.

Wed, November 20, 2019

Rich Roll on Recovery, Plant-Based Nutrition, Launching His Podcast and More

Bestselling author, ultra-endurance athlete, plant-based nutrition advocate and sober father  Rich Roll  has been hailed as one of the world’s fittest men. He also graduated from Stanford and Cornell Law and built up a successful law practice, all while drowning in alcohol. Then, after years of sobriety, he realized he was anesthetizing himself with food the way he had with drinking and what started out as a cleanse turned into—well, one of the world’s fittest men. Here, we talk about familial expectations, being an alcoholic in New York and the spiritual aspects of recovery as well as the tragic death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, among many other things. THIS IS A RE-RELEASE OF AN OLD EPISODE AS WE PREP FOR THE SHOW RE-VAMP (get excited)!

Thu, November 14, 2019

Marc Maron on Addiction, Recovery and Launching WTF

Marc Maron appeared on the podcast in 2017, back when the focus of the show was on addiction and recovery. This re-release covers his life BEFORE Obama strolled over to his garage for an interview, before he was starring on Glow...essentially when he was already huge but not the hugest. The legendary comedian and host of the immensely popular WTF podcast needs no introduction but I'm giving him one anyway:  Marc Maron  has spent a couple of decades honing his craft, has appeared on Conan more than 40 times and is essentially the person responsible for putting podcasting on the map.

Wed, November 06, 2019

Lewis Howes on Releasing Shame Around His Childhood Secret

Professional athlete  Lewis Howes  and host of the podcast The School of Greatness is also what’s known as lifestyle entrepreneur. The short version of the story is this: sidelined by an injury while playing professional football, Howes had no money, nowhere to live and no interest in doing anything but the sport that he could no longer do.   So he took to his computer and managed to become a social media maven in just a few years, earning millions in the process and then coaching and inspiring many others to do the same.   As it turns out, he was also dealing with having been sexually abused as a child—an event he never shared with anyone until recently. Now he’s doing what he does: telling others about it so that they can be released from their own shame and then become, as he would say, great. In this episode, he and I talk about dreams, passion, finding inspiration and handling adversity, among many other topics.   This is a re-release of one of my most popular episodes from years ago. Enjoy it now that Lewis has become one of the darlings of podcasting—and arguably the world!   Could a book help your business? Click here to find out: www.futureauthorquiz.com.

Wed, October 30, 2019

Dr. Neeta Bhushan on Surviving Domestic Violence & Much More

Dr. Neeta Bhushan is a former cosmetic dentist turned best-selling author, international speaker, social entrepreneur, advocate of emotional health, and leadership coach.   She helps entrepreneurs own their story, create their message in the form of books to chart their next big chapter.   She conducts Book To Bestseller workshops, and optimizes businesses to scale their message, their business, and their impact. Despite having met Neeta a few times, I had no idea what her back story was until this interview—in short, how she was orphaned t a young age, survived an abusive marriage of domestic violence, faced homelessness and essentially defines gritting out of the dark. (Her book is called Emotional Grit , natch.)   Would a book help your business? Click here to find out: www.futureauthorquiz.com .

Wed, October 23, 2019

Melyna Harrison on Building a 7-Figure Biz After Losing Everything

Melyna Harrison is a 7 Figure Entrepreneur and a business coach. While that's amazing, the craziest part of her story is where she was able to build that from.   See, she and her husband were doing just fine—his business was moving along, they had a couple kids—when, out of nowhere, they lost everything.   She realized she could feel sorry for herself or she could do something.   She chose the latter.   That led to her becoming a network marketing leader, with 300,000 people under her.   Yes, 300,000.   How did she do that—while continuing to be a wife and mother (they now have four kids in all)?   Hear all about that—and about why she chooses to tell people about her life's darker sides—in this episode.   Would a book help your business? Click here to find out: www.futureauthorquiz.com .

Wed, October 16, 2019

Nick Sonnenberg on How ADD Helped Lead Him to Success

Nick Sonnenberg is a serial entrepreneur, business efficiency consultant, Inc. columnist and author of the book Idea to Execution. He is the founder and CEO of Leverage and Efficient Frontier Solutions, as well as co-founder of the Bullseye Mastermind Group. And he's worked with every big business name in the book, from Tony Robbins to Jay Abraham.   He's also always seemed, to me, to be the ultimate example of someone who's 100% "together," whatever that's come to mean today. He's also always seemed, to use another word that can conjure up a variety of concepts, "fancy." So I was very surprised to hear that he's the first person in his family to go to college and that he struggled in school with ADD.   In this conversation, he talked about how it was that very struggle that led to his success. Listen to hear us chat about mentors, books and more.   Would a book help your business? Click here to find out: www.futureauthorquiz.com .

Wed, October 09, 2019

Hal Elrod on Cheerfully Accepting the News He'd Never Walk Again

After surviving multiple near-death experiences and impacting millions of lives through his books, Hal Elrod is on a mission to elevate the consciousness of humanity, one person at a time.   As the bestselling author of one of the highest-rated books in the world, The Miracle Morning , and his newest book, The Miracle Equation , he is doing exactly that.   He is also perhaps the kindest person I have ever met. I learned this when I met him at a college speaking event over a decade ago and it was reinforced during my process of working on The Miracle Morning for Addiction Recovery with him.   In this episode, he shares multiple gems—including how doctors thought he must have been in denial when he cheerfully accepted the news that he'd never walk again, what the word "acceptance" really means and how a lesson he learned in sales training has changed his entire outlook on life...among many other things.   Would a book help your business? Click here to find out: www.futureauthorquiz.com .

Wed, October 02, 2019

Stephan Spencer on Going From Poverty & Foster Care to Success & Love

Stephan Spencer is an SEO expert and bestselling author of The Art of SEO, Social eCommerce, & Google Power Search. He founded the SEO agency Netconcepts (acquired in 2010) and is now part of a multi-billion dollar ad agency conglomerate.   He's optimized websites for some of the world’s biggest brands, including Chanel, Volvo, Sony, and Zappos and hosts two popular podcast shows: Get Yourself Optimized & Marketing Speak. He's also overcome circumstances that would have destroyed most, including a childhood of constant moving and foster homes. But it was during this childhood, where he was left on his own to take care of himself, that he learned computers...which led him to where he is now: as one of the world's leading experts on Search Engine Optimization.   In this episode, we discussed resilience, Tony Robbins, proposing in a hot air balloon...and much, much more.   Would a book help your business? Click here to find out: www.futureauthorquiz.com .

Wed, September 25, 2019

Shauna Faulisi on Turning Disordered Eating Into a Nutrition Business

Shauna Faulisi is the CEO of Soul Wellness Method , a nutrition and wellness practice that's gained a loyal online following and high-profile clientele by teaching an accessible approach to holistic health. As a celebrity chef and nutritionist, she's been featured in places like Vogue, HuffPost, WGSN, The Zoe Report and PopSugar.   As a former model who moved to New York after college, however, Shauna experienced loneliness, which she coped with by developing some not-so-healthy eating habits. Getting her own diet in order led to her helping a celebrity get in shape for a role and then building an entire business around nutrition and wellness.   Would a book help your business? Click here to find out: www.futureauthorquiz.com .

Wed, September 18, 2019

Emily Fletcher on the Anxiety That Led to Her Meditation Empire

Emily Fletcher is the founder of Ziva Meditation and the creator of zivaONLINE, a powerful 15 day training in mindfulness, meditation and manifesting. She is considered the leading expert on meditation for performance and has spoken at Google, Harvard Business School, Apple and been named one of the top 100 women in wellness to watch.   In this episode—taken from my Apple TV show—we talked about all those accomplishments, but also what led to them...namely being on Broadway, with all her dreams allegedly coming true, cowering under a table because she couldn't handle the anxiety.   We also touched on why meditation is good for your sex life. Yep, we covered all the bases—so to speak—here.

Wed, September 11, 2019

Emily Lynn Paulson on Sharing Her Story of Addiction & Recovery

Emily Lynn Paulson is an author, network marketing leader, certified professional recovery coach, and a member of the long-term recovery community. Formally trained as a chemist and a teacher, she rose to success in the top tiers of a direct marketing skincare company, where she gained her voice and a platform for sobriety and healing. Emily's on Instagram at @highlightrealrecovery and lives in Seattle with her husband and their five children.   Sober since January 2, 2017, her recovery path is focused on ruthless honesty, grace, and self-love. She is passionate about connecting women with resources for recovery from trauma, eating disorders, and substance abuse, and believes that sharing our truth with each other is the best resource of all.   And you get to hear all about it in this special two-part episode! Why a two-parter, you ask? Because my company is the proud publisher of Emily's first book, Highlight Real: Finding Honesty & Recovery Beyond the Filtered Life. which was just released and has been called an "instant classic in the recovery genre." We did our first interview when we were just embarking on the project together and our second as we were coming up on the book release. If you've ever wanted to know the behind-the-scenes as a writer prepares to share her dark to find her light, it's all in this episode.   Do you want to know if you should work with Launch Pad to share your story? Fill out a form at www.launchpadclientform.com  to find out.  

Wed, September 04, 2019

Rory Vaden on the Keys to Success—and The NY Times Bestseller List

Rory Vaden is the New York Times bestselling author of Take the Stairs . His insights have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CNN, Entrepreneur, Inc, on Fox News national television and in several other major media outlets. As a world-renowned speaker, His Tedx talk has been viewed nearly 3 million times, he is a 2x World Champion of Public Speaking Finalist, has been called one of the top 100 speakers in the world by Inc Magazine and was recently inducted into the professional speakers Hall of Fame. He is the Co-Founder of Brand Builders Group where he teaches people to build their influence, their reputation and their personal brand.   But we didn't talk about that...well, we didn't talk ONLY about that, anyway. We also chatted about being born in a trailer park, moving multiple times throughout childhood and the keys to success.   We also talked about his SPECIAL GIFT only for you guys: a free call to talk about building your brand. To schedule it, go to www. brandbuildersgroup.com/lighthustle/

Wed, August 28, 2019

Brian Kurtz on Surviving Cancer, a Stroke...and Business

Brian Kurtz has been a serial direct marketer for almost 40 years. Just how successful has he been at that, you ask? Well, in his first job, company revenues went from approximately $5 million (in 1981) to a high of over $150 million (in 2006).   His first book, The Advertising Solution, was released in October of 2017 while his second book, Overdeliver: Build a Business for a Lifetime Playing the Long Game in Direct Response Marketing , was released in April of 2019.   Well, that last book release didn't exactly go as planned. How? Well, most people find book releases stressful but Brian's was more stressful than most: he had a stroke that week.   The experience changed everything for him. Hear how in this episode. And get a copy of Overdeliver , as well as the crazy amazing bonuses he has overdelivered at overdeliverbook.com .   DO YOU HAVE A BOOK IN YOU? GO TO WWW.FUTUREAUTHORQUIZ.COM  TO FIND OUT.

Wed, August 21, 2019

Natasha Case on Building the Biggest Female-Owned Ice Cream Biz

Natasha Case is the CEO and co-founder of Coolhaus, which is the is the leading women-owned ice cream business at grocery stores. If you're craving it right now, have no fear: it can be found in 7,500+ gourmet grocery stores.   She has been named a Forbes 30 under 30 Food & Beverage, Zagat 30 Under 30, Linked in 10 under 35 for Food & Leisure, and was recently named UCLA LGBTQ+ 2019 Alum of the Year. She co-hosts the podcast, ‘Start to Sale’ through Eater/Vox Media.   She is also my business idol; in fact, when I first started brainstorming the entrepreneurs I wanted to interview, she was at the top of my list. (YES I said that last week - if you listen in sequential order - and here's the crazy part: Suzy Batiz and Natasha Case are my TWO business idols and both of these interviews actually happened on THE SAME DAY.)   Anyway...it was a true delight to discover that she's funny, cool...and very open about the challenges of opening a business with her life partner. Listen to find out how a business that started with an engine-less truck purchased off of Craig's List has evolved into a $500+ business...and the struggles that came along with it.   Should you be sharing your story? Go to www.futureauthorquiz.com  from your computer to find out.

Wed, August 14, 2019

Suzy Batiz on Surviving Trauma to Build a $500 Million+ Company

Suzy Batiz is the founder of Poo~Pourri and supernatural . She experienced some of life’s lowest lows — poverty, sexual and domestic abuse, depression, two bankruptcies and a suicide attempt — which led to what she calls the luxury of losing everything. After harnessing the power of intuition, her journey led her to building her businesses from the ground up without ever taking a dollar of outside investment. Suzy harnessed the power of true transformation and turned ALIVE IDEAS into a $500+ million empire.   She's been featured by leading publications including Forbes, CNBC, Fast Company and Entrepreneur. She has been named one of Forbes’ Richest Self-Made Women in America (2019), EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year (2017), Conscious Company’s World Changing Women (2019), EarthX’s Community Leader of the Year (2019) and is WBENC (Women Owned) certified business owner. She's given presentations for Conscious Capitalism, Google, HustleCon, SXSW, Create & Cultivate & the In goop Health summit.   AND she was my dream guest...my White Whale, if you will. And I got her! She does not disappoint. Listen if you want to hear the clearest explanation I've ever gotten on how early life challenges play into success and so much more.   Should you be telling your story? Go to www.futureauthorquiz.com  from your computer to find out.

Wed, August 07, 2019

Joe Clark on Finding Friendship, Market Crashes & More

Joseph A. Clark , CFP, is a Certified Financial Planner and has been in the financial services industry for more than 30 years. He is the Managing Partner of The Financial Enhancement Group, LLC, an asset management and financial planning firm based in central Indiana. The firm currently manages more than $450 million serving families in 31 states. Joe is also a former Adjunct Assistant Professor at Purdue University, having taught the Capstone course for the Financial Counseling and Planning program for 7 years. He is a Charter Member of Ed Slott’s Master Elite IRA Advisor Group and has appeared on various national and local media outlets. Joe writes a weekly column for The Herald Bulletin and is the host of a weekly radio show called “Consider This” that airs on WIBC Saturday’s 6-7am, as well as other stations throughout the country.    But we didn't talk about any of those accomplishments during our chat. Oh, no. We talked about WHY he accomplished so much, in particular the way his childhood struggles and the vagaries of life contributed to his success. Do you remember looking for a friend during recess? Do you want to know how that relates to managing money? Listen to find out more.

Wed, July 31, 2019

Katie DePaola on How Death & Disease Helped Her Build Her Business

Katie DePaola is an entrepreneur, author and the founder of I nner Glow Circle . Exactly one hundred days after opening her business, Katie’s brother died from an accidental overdose. Also a Lyme Disease survivor, she built her business from her bathtub, taking the company from self-funded startup to million-dollar business. Katie has turned her greatest challenges into her greatest opportunities and says her business is what saved her life. Through certification programs, memberships and online courses, Katie has taught thousands of women how to “glow through what they go through.”   In this episode, we dove deep into things I've silently pondered forever...like if people who wonder why we're all on this planet are smarter or just more depressed than others, whether or not shifting your mindset is a decision or moment of grace and of course the role struggle plays in success. We also decided to become friends. Don't miss this one! Well, don't miss any of them. But especially don't miss this one.   Should you be sharing your story? Take the quiz to find out: www.futureauthorquiz.com  or  https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/5d168d0f1d45c90014e00b0b

Wed, July 24, 2019

Paul Ollinger on Finding Success After Retiring at 42

Paul Ollinger is a nationally-touring stand-up comedian, author, Ivy League MBA, former Facebook sales leader and host of the podcast Crazy Money.   What this means, between the lines: he was one of the first 250 Facebook employees, which means that...well, he was able to retire at the age of 42.   But does that make him successful? That's what we discussed here—getting into the fact that he discovered he loved stand-up comedy while in business school (ie, the last place on earth you go to discover you want to go into one of the least financially rewarding careers imaginable), how he still worries about the gas bill even after his Facebook windfall and the ways he tries to raise his kids to appreciate and understand money.   This type of conversation is exactly what I'd hoped to be able to have when I decided on the new version of the podcast. Warning: if you listen to it, you may come away with different definitions for "struggle" and "success" than you ever had before.   Have you ever wondered if you should write a book? Go to www.futureauthorquiz.com  to get the answer.  

Wed, July 17, 2019

Tony Grebmeier on Struggling to Success

Tony Grebmeier describes himself as a husband and father first and then an entrepreneur, podcast host, journal creator, and host of the BEFULFILLED community.   It's this value system that may be what's most responsible for his success. While he's best-known for building a multi-million dollar business, it's his mission in life to create a community where entrepreneurs know they can achieve anything they want despite their past.   Sober since 2008, Tony had gotten to the point where he was alienated from his family and suicidal when he was able to rediscover meaning in his life. His main message when it comes to finding personal and professional success is to find a community. But his second one is to try to understand where you come from so you can make sense of who you are.   There's a reason I'm partnering with Tony on his BeFulfilled journals:  the guy gets it. I'm therefore thrilled to present him as the first guest on this new incarnation of the podcast.   Have you struggled on your way to success and would the journey make a good book? Take this quiz to find out!

Wed, July 10, 2019

Lauren and Anna on What The Words "Struggle" & "Success" Really Mean

As the podcast moves into this new incarnation, it felt important to really break down what the words "struggle" and "success" really mean.   Here's why: I've discussed the podcast's new focus with people and I keep finding that they assume I'll be talking to people about their business challenges.   While that will definitely be part of the conversation, the main thing I want to get at here is WHY so many successful people have had life throw so many struggles their way... particularly in childhood. I want to get at what made these people use their struggles to fuel their journey, rather than allowing it to bring them down.   And so I brought Lauren Wallett back to the pod to chat this idea out. In this episode, we talk about Oprah, escaping your family and how money can and can't make you happy, among many other topics.

Wed, July 03, 2019

Anna David on Why Light Hustler is Changing to Struggle to Success

Name change time! Yes, the podcast formerly known as AfterPartyPod, Recover Girl and Light Hustler is now transitioning into Struggle to Success, where I'm going to be interviewing some of the world's highest achieving people about how they've been able to make their greatest struggles into their greatest success. While I'll still be talking to some people about their issues with addiction and journey into recovery, I'll also be chatting with folks about other struggles and journeys.   I'm so excited about this transition and thrilled about some of the people I've lined up as guests. Look out for the first Struggle to Success episode next week and please know how grateful I am to you for sticking with the show through its many incarnations.

Wed, June 05, 2019

Coach Mike Bayer on Going From Addiction to Dr. Phil & in the Process, Selling 100K Copies of His Book

Mike Bayer, also known as Coach Mike , is Founder and CEO of CAST Centers and author of the Best Self: Be You, Only Better .   His career began over 12 years ago as a mental health and addiction counselor. After a residency at The Hazelden Foundation, Mike spent five years in the field and became one of the leading interventionists in the country. He did crisis consulting for several of the country’s top treatment programs, including the Hazelden Foundation.   Fifteen years ago, he founded CAST Centers , a treatment center that provides a network of professional support – including doctors, psychologists, counselors, and instructors – to help clients heal and improve their mental health, emotional health, and their overall well-being.   He's a regular contributor to Dr. Phil , television’s #1-rated daytime talk show. He's also on the Dr. Phil  Advisory Board , which consists of 18 of the most accomplished and respected health care professionals in the country.   In this episode, we discussed how you go from struggling with addiction to coaching high-end clients and then becoming a weekly Dr. Phil guest and selling over 100,000 copies of your first book.  

Wed, May 29, 2019

Lifestyle Business Coach Lauren Wallett Sharing the Shameful

Lauren Wallett is a woman of many occupations: business coach, personal coach, writer and my co-host on SHE-E-O , among other things.   We spend an insane amount of time together and this episode is real fly-on-wall stuff: basically what we talk about when there aren't mics around (btw the mics got screwed up and so the interview was done on my Iphone...sorry if it sounds wonky).   Only listen if you want to hear us confess those things we normally don't—getting into being attracted to dysfunctional men, STD's, skin picking and much more.   Oh, yeah.

Wed, May 22, 2019

Tech Titan Kevin Chiu on Quitting Drinking & Raising Millions

Kevin Chiu is the co-founder of Catalyst, an NYC-based startup that has raised $5.5M from top venture capitalists like True Ventures & Work-Bench to build a customer data platform that helps tech companies reduce user churn and increase product adoption. Prior to starting Catalyst, he led sales teams at fast-growing companies like Greenhouse Software and DigitalOcean. Kevin also recently received the Forbes 30under30 award for Enterprise Technology entrepreneurs.   He is also two years sober, after a series of incidents that showed him he may have a drinking problem (including a time he got mugged while in a blackout). If you want to know the secret to getting sober and then raising millions of dollars, this one is a must-listen.

Wed, May 15, 2019

SMART Recovery President William Greer on Alternatives to AA

In 2014, Willam (Bill) Freer launched the first Family & Friends SMART Recovery meeting in Washington, DC. He was elected to the SMART Recovery Board in 2017 and was named chair of its first Communications Committee. That same year, he became a founding Board member of SMART Recovery International. He helped write the SMART Recovery Five-Year Strategic Plan: Freedom from Addiction.   Now serving as President of SMART Recovery, Bill was a guest on our recent Light Hustle retreat where we were able to sit down and chat about the history of SMART, why this program appeals to certain types and how they have a special rule about how you can't trash AA, among other topics.

Wed, May 08, 2019

Todd Zalkins on Being the Worst Case Doctors Have Ever Seen

Todd Zalkins is an addiction specialist, private counselor, interventionist, and public speaker.   The author of the memoir, Dying for Triplicate, Zalkins was the subject of the award-winning documentary The Long Way Back: The Story of Todd “Z-Man” Zalkins, which documented his own descent into addiction as well as his relationship with the band members of Sublime.   Todd is the Founder and CEO of Four Keys, Inc., an integrative enterprise that encompasses four major aspects of recovery: interventions, treatment recommendation, private counseling, and public speaking & education.   We got to know each other at the recent Light Hustle Publishing retreat , where we talked about sharing our stories, ate s'mores (Todd's first!) and sat down to record a chat about addiction, publishing and what it was like growing up in the belly of the beast.

Wed, May 01, 2019

Meditation Special with Anna David

We break from our regular programming of stories and interviews for a guided meditation designed to help you get in your body, breathe and then access the part of you necessary to share your story.   If you think you may have a story inside of you but haven't been sure how to access it, give this meditation a try.   We'll be back next week with another interview. But in the meantime, why not give this a try?

Wed, April 24, 2019

The Sober Glow's Mia on Gray Area Drinking

Mia is a teetotaling NYC broad currently living in LA. She gave up drinking in September of 2015 when she finally stopped ignoring the fact that she would never live the life she so craved if she didn't remove the booze. After nearly 4 years of living this unmasked lifestyle, she has organically created a community online of like-hearted women. Mia is currently facilitating alcohol-free adventure retreats, hosting book club circles and will soon be launching her signature Get High Naturally Breathwork and Coaching programs for the Gray Area Drinker.   In this episode, we talked about finding a community in recovery, how sobriety may give you a "second" marriage and getting out of your comfort zone, among many other topics.

Wed, April 17, 2019

Ruby Warrington on Being Sober Curious

Ruby Warrington is a British writer and thought leader currently living in Brooklyn, NY. Formerly Features Editor on the UK Sunday Times Style magazine, in 2012 she launched The Numinous , a cosmic lifestyle platform that updates all things "new age" for life in the Now Age. Ruby also works as a consultant, while other projects include "sober curious" event series Club SÖDA NYC and spiritual coaching program Moon Club .   Author of Material Girl, Mystical World , Ruby's second book, Sober Curious , was published on December 31 2018. Offering an eye-opening new way to think about our relationship with alcohol, Sober Curious reveals the enormous benefits that come from unlearning the mindless habit of drinking and embracing the life-enhancing choice of sobriety: greater joy, clarity, confidence, and connection.   In this episode, we talked about what it means to be sober curious, the importance of sharing our stories and why one should never sign a new business deal when Mercury is in Retrograde, among many other topics.

Wed, April 10, 2019

Omar Pinto on SHAIR-ing Sobriety

Omar Pinto is a Life Transformation Coach, Addiction Recovery Specialist and Lifestyle Entrepreneur who hosts the popular SHAIR podcast .   He took his last drink and hit of cocaine in May 25, 2003. This was the beginning of his journey into personal development.   Over the next 15 years he would completely transform his life - Mind, Body and Spirit. It took him four years to successfully complete the 12-Step recovery process in Narcotics Anonymous.   He launched SHAIR in February 2014 and it now boasts over 1 million downloads. Omar has also cultivated a thriving Facebook Community with over 5,000 members and runs a successful personal development Life Coaching business.   Today, Omar is living his dreams by helping people transform their lives and become the best version of themselves, working remotely from his home office with clients from all over the world, continuing to learn and grow as a coach all while living in Costa Rica with his beautiful wife and daughter.

Wed, April 03, 2019

Arlina Allen on Sobriety in Silicon Valley

Arlina Allen is many things. A Silicon Valley executive, she is also a writer, the host of The ODAAT Chat podcast and the founder of Sober Life School. Sober since 1994, she's been married for 21 years and is the mother of two teenage boys.   In her own words...   "When I was 25 I hit rock bottom.   I had managed to alienate my family and all my friends. Although I was ambitious, my drinking and using was getting the way of my sales career. My heart was broken after ending a relationship and I had no evidence that I would ever feel different.   I stood at the abyss and I had to make a decision.   Through a series of fortunate events, I managed to find a community of people who had overcome their addictions and were willing to help me do the same.   These people changed the entire trajectory of my life.   I started out feeling lost, full of self loathing, demoralized and hopeless. But after a short time, my life began to transform. I felt a new zest for life. I began to see life beyond addiction. It was as if the veil in front of my eyes had lifted and I could see a path to the life I had always dreamed of.   All I ever needed was the right information, the right support and the willingness to do the necessary work. For that, I will be forever grateful.   After this type of “near death” experience, it is human nature to want to shout the message of recovery to the entire world."   In this episode, we talk about long-term sobriety, dating cops and why it's so important to share your story with the world.  

Wed, March 27, 2019

Anna David on Dating a Newcomer Who May Have Still Been High

Anna David is a NY Times bestselling author, journalist, occasional TV talking head, coach, creator of this podcast, CEO of Light Hustle Publishing and the person typing these words.   This story involves the time she opted to respond to a missive from a stranger that read "I'm hot and you're hot; plus, I'm sober and you're sober."   But was he sober? Well, that's something she found out more about when he moved from LA to New York to be with her. Just how did this love story end? You're going to have to listen to find out.

Wed, March 20, 2019

Bucky Sinister on Dating a Mysterious Woman with a Mohawk

Bucky Sinister s a stand-up comedian and author of nine books, including Black Hole: A Novel and Get Up: A 12-Step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks and Weirdos.   He's told many stories at numerous shows—including one where he brought a now-deceased friend (in an urn) up on stage with him—but it's safe to say this is the most graphic tale he's told at a Light Hustler show.   Just how does a story about dating a mysterious woman with a mohawk get graphic? Let's just say it has to do with a tattoo of hers he discovered in an intimate moment.   Want to know what in God's name that means? You're going to have to listen.

Wed, March 13, 2019

Lauren Wallett on Flying to America from South Africa for a Date

Lauren Wallet is an award-nominated actress and director who starred on the South African reality show My Top Billing Dream, has been interviewed on national television since she was nine years old, and ran Star Quality Performing Art School and Fame Academy in South Africa.   The story she told starts off innocently enough—a nice night out in South Africa with a few new friends but quickly devolved into flying across the world for a romantic adventure with a guy she met in a blackout.  

Wed, March 06, 2019

Matt Lieb on Bottoming Out with a Turkey Baster

Matt Lieb is a comedian, writer, and actor from Los Angeles. As a stand up comedian in San Francisco, he was named one of the “2016 Best Comedians in the Bay Area” by SFist and has performed at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival 2017, SF Skecthfest 2013-2017, and the 10,000 Laughs Festival in Minneapolis.   Matt’s comedy has been featured on the VICELAND, Hulu, SeeSo, and Gabriel Iglesias’ “Stand Up Revolution Radio” on SiriusXM. Currently, Matt is a correspondent on Emmy Nominated short form series The Star Wars Show, a writer/performer on Newsbroke on AJ+, and staff writer for Audible’s original series Bedtime Stories for Cynics with Nick Offerman, where he has written for David Spade, Tommy Chong, Nick Thune, and more.   In this story, he talked about an attempt to get clean from heroin which ended with a realization that he could get high one last time, in his childhood bedroom, if he was willing to use a turkey baster to inject drugs into a place that sun doesn't shine.   Yep, that place.  

Wed, February 27, 2019

Matt Gallagher on Doing Acid with a Bull

Matt Gallagher is an actor and comedian who has performed all around New York and Los Angeles. His work can also be seen on CBS, ESPN, The History Channel, and MTV. He created and starred in the popular live storytelling series THE STORY CELLAR with Jessica Wood, and you can see his first one hour special, A Stumble in the Woods, on Amazon now.   In this story, Matt delves into a night he decided to try acid. And then decided to do more acid. And then decided to get into a cage with a bull. Yep. It's all true. Listen and you'll find out.   If you want to find out what happened, you have to listen.   SHOULD YOU BE SHARING YOUR STORY? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT !

Wed, February 20, 2019

Anna David on Babysitting (with) a Movie Star

Anna David isn't just the person writing these words. She's also the NY Times bestselling author of seven books, TV talking head, journalist and blah blah.   In this episode (taken from the Light Hustler live storytelling show), she/I tells/tell a story about an early sobriety "date" with a movie star, who taught her/me that the glamorous life may not be all it's cracked up to be.

Wed, February 13, 2019

Kane Holloway on Why to Not Drunkenly Steal Your Dad's Car

Kane Holloway is a Seattle native who resides in sunny L.A. Kane is a nationally touring comedian, podcast host and he has performed on "Laughs on Fox." He has appeared on VH1's "Walk of Shame Shuttle," "FNX Comedy Experience" and started the Podaholics comedy network. You can hear his comedy album "See What I Did There?" On iTunes.   In this episode, he talks about a night he and his friend stole his dad's car but also delves into a potential answer to the age-old question: what happened when you see your friend wearing his pants as a shirt?

Wed, February 06, 2019

Debi Hall on Handling the Waves of Sobriety

A native of West Texas, Debi Hall has appeared on film and performed in Dallas as well as in Story Salon, BackStory, I Love A Good Story in Los Angeles. She’s written story collections for performance, a collection of screenplays and several novels.   In this episode, she tells a story about the surprising way she found to handle a low point in her sobriety.

Thu, January 31, 2019

Eddie Pepitone on Sobriety During End Times

Eddie Pepitone has appeared on numerous hit TV shows, including It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Sarah Silverman, Jimmy Kimmel, Last Comic Standing, Chappelle’s Show and Law and Order. He’s performed at some of the biggest venues in the comedy scene including The Improv, Caroline’s on Broadway, Largo at the Coronet, and both the LA and NY Upright Citizens Brigade Theaters. He hosts the popular comedy podcast Pep Talks and is the subject of The Bitter Buddha. In this episode, he touches on adult coloring books and a number of other non-sequiturs but ultimately zeroes in on his favorite topic: the fact that we're living in the end of times. If you want to hear him speculating on the sort of shares people might have in meetings when they've had to fight for their lives to arrive there (and you do), you have to hear this one.

Wed, January 30, 2019

Melanie Vesey on Performing for Drunk Trump Supporters

Melanie Vessey co-starred with Jim Carrey in Man on the Moon and performs all over at major comedy clubs and festivals. Her comedy special/album #WildAnimal will be available in November.   She is also a fierce talent who has been sober over two decades—a fact she shares about in ways that may make you pee your pants. To hear her story about long-term recovery, which includes performing for naked Trump supporters, download this episode ASAP.

Wed, January 16, 2019

Anna David on Relapsing on 4.5 Hits of Ecstasy

Anna David is, well, someone who writes about herself in the 3rd person out of the misconception that you will believe someone else is writing this. She writes books and articles , talks on TV and stages and tells stories about things like relapsing on 4.5 hits of ecstasy, which you can hear here...

Tue, January 15, 2019

Author Kristin Casey on Surviving Addiction and Rock Stars

Kristin Casey  is a recovered alcoholic and addict who’s survived clinical depression, numerous addictions, the panhandle of Texas and 17 years of Catholicism. Her first book, Rock Monster, documents a tumultuous six-year relationship with rock legend and Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh, their drug-fueled train-wreck breakup and her ensuing suicidal spiral. Unlike every other affair-with-a-rock-star book I’ve ever read, however, it is as literary and poignant as it is salacious and gripping. In addition to writing for The Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, The Nervous Breakdown, From The Asylum, $pread, and elsewhere, Kristin works in the field of sex therapy as an  intimacy coach  and IPSA trained  Surrogate Partner  Intern. In this episode, we talked about letting go of resentments before writing a book, what exactly an intimacy coach is, why the writers who succeed are the ones who keep going in the face of rejection and who, really, was the monster in her story, among many other topics.

Wed, January 09, 2019

Annie Grace on Gaining Freedom From Alcohol

Annie Grace is the bestselling author of the hit book,  This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life  as well as the just-released  The Alcohol Experiment: A 30-Day, Alcohol-Free Challenge to Interrupt Your Habits and Help You Take Control . Her unique approach has helped thousands of people change their relationship with alcohol by looking at their subconscious beliefs about drinking that are at odds with their conscious desire to live alcohol free. In this episode, we discussed how her book became successful, what sobriety really means and what it all has to do with a famed back doctor, among many other topics.

Wed, December 26, 2018

Amy Dresner on When She Thought She Was a Lesbian

Amy Dresner is a former professional stand-up comic, having appeared at The Comedy Store, The Laugh Factory, and The Improv. Since 2012, she has been a contributing editor of the online addiction and recovery magazine TheFix.com. She’s also written for the Good Men Project, The Frisky, Refinery 29, and has been a regular contributor to Addiction.com and PsychologyToday.com, where she has her own addiction blog entitled “Coming Clean.” Her first book,  My Fair Junkie , was released in 2017 and is  now available in paperback . In this episode (from the Light Hustler live storytelling show in LA), Amy tells a very funny story about how she met a woman at an AA meeting who made her think she was gay. Spoiler alert: she’s not. How did she realize that? You’re going to have to listen to find out.

Wed, December 19, 2018

Anna David on Her Fictional Alter Ego’s Misadventures [Excerpt from PARTY GIRL]

Once upon a time, I wrote a book called  Party Girl . I was very proud of it and had high hopes it would be made into an audio book and movie. Alas, those dreams were dashed. But just like the proverbial phoenix rising from the ashes, the dreams are now alive! It’s actually not nearly that dramatic. But there is renewed movie interest in the book ( optioned by Martin Scorsese’s producer! ) and I decided to make my own dream happen by getting the audio rights to the book back from HarperCollins and recording and releasing it on Audible myself. And now! I’m giving the first bit of it exclusively to you guys in this episode. I do hope you like it. And then I hope you’ll go pick up a copy of the  audio book . If you’re not an Audible subscriber, it’s free!

Wed, December 12, 2018

Jessica Sele on Why Men Should Never Tell Women to Smile

Today’s episode features the very funny Jessica Sele from one of my live  storytelling shows. In her own words, Jessica Sele is a “deeply weird human being and stand-up comedian.” She’s performed at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival and SF Sketchfest and was described by Bitch Magazine as a “hilarious and talented queer woman.” The story she tells has to do with a fire, a crack addict just trying to be helpful and a very special cat. How do these things tie together, you ask? Well,  you’ll have to listen to find out.

Thu, December 06, 2018

Comedian Matt Gallagher on A Series of Bad, Drug-Related Decisions

Matt Gallagher is an actor and comedian who has performed all around New York and Los Angeles.  His work can also be seen on CBS, ESPN, The History Channel, and MTV. He created and starred in the popular live storytelling series THE STORY CELLAR with Jessica Wood, and has just completed filming on his first one hour special, A Stumble in the Woods , which will be available for streaming soon. While this episode is from his first time appearing in my storytelling show, it certainly won't be his last. In it, he tells a seriously disturbing and yet unabashedly hilarious tale about getting deep into hard drugs. Warning: it is a bit graphic so if you're new to sobriety, this may not be for you. If you're not in danger of getting triggered, however, be prepared to laugh your ass off.

Wed, November 28, 2018

Author Dana Bowman on Trying to be the Perfect Sober Mom

Dana Bowman speaks and writes about recovery, momhood and beating the perfection myth. An English teacher for over 20 years, she decided to take up a writing at momsieblog.com  while mothering two babies. A chance submission to Glennon Doyle watched her blog go viral and she promptly landed a book deal. Her first book, Bottled,  was selected as a Kansas Notable book in 2016. Her second book, How to Be Perfect Like Me,  was released in August 2018 and landed her on The Today Show . In this episode, we discuss imposter syndrome, directional dyslexia and being a recovering perfectionist, among many other topics.

Sun, November 18, 2018

Author Kristin Casey on Surviving Addiction and Rock Stars

Kristin Casey is a recovered alcoholic and addict who's survived clinical depression, numerous addictions, the panhandle of Texas and 17 years of Catholicism. Her first book,  Rock Monster , documents a tumultuous six-year relationship with rock legend and Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh, their drug-fueled train-wreck breakup and her ensuing suicidal spiral. Unlike every other affair-with-a-rock-star book I've ever read, however, it is as literary and poignant as it is salacious and gripping. In addition to writing for  The Foliate Oak Literary Magazine ,  The Nervous Breakdown ,  From The Asylum ,  $pread , and elsewhere, Kristin works in the field of sex therapy as an  intimacy coach  and IPSA trained  Surrogate Partner  Intern. In this episode, we talked about letting go of resentments before writing a book, what exactly an intimacy coach is, why the writers who succeed are the ones who keep going in the face of rejection and who, really, was the monster in her story, among many other topics.

Wed, November 14, 2018

Writer and Podcaster Tawny Lara on Documenting Sobriety From Day One

Tawny Lara is an entrepreneur, writer and public speaker. She’s the founder of SobrieTea Party ™ and Readings on Recovery ™ and an award-winning filmmaker of her recovery documentary, Fixed Up . She's also the co-host (along with previous podcast guest and all-around bad ass Lisa Smith) of the hot new podcast  Recovery Rocks podcast. But she's also someone who started documenting her sobriety journey from the beginning. With so many people out there wanting to tell their story but scared to jump into the fray, Tawny serves as the perfect example of someone just getting out there, making her mark and, well...rocking it. In this episode, we talked about growing up as a rocker, what to tell people who are thinking of sharing their stories and our random meeting at a Macklemore concert, among many other topics.

Wed, November 07, 2018

Tennis Pro Murphy Jensen on Changing Treatment Success Rates

Murphy Jensen is an entrepreneur, former professional tennis player and French Open Champion. He’s also the Founder & EVP of Business Development for  WEconnect Recovery , an addiction relapse prevention and real-time outcomes data platform that just raised 6 million (yep). He was ALSO one of my first friends in early recovery, back when we would hang out at our friend Allison’s place and really just wander around trying to make sense of our new lives. In this episode ( which was taken from this Facebook Live interview ), Murphy and I talk about what it was like to go to meetings in pajamas, realizing you were meant to do more than teach rich people how to play tennis and whether or not those psychic readings we got in 2000 turned out to be true, among many other topics.

Wed, October 31, 2018

Recovery Advocate Tim Ryan on Turning Negatives Into Positives

As one of the world’s leading recovery advocates, Tim Ryan tirelessly tours the country speaking to addicts and their families. The star of A&E’s  Dope Man  and bestselling author of  From Dope to Hope: A Man in Recovery , Ryan found recovery in prison and is committed to sharing a message of hope after losing his son to an overdose soon after finding sobriety himself. The creator of the  501c3 A Man in Recovery , Tim is a regular subject on national media, a Global Goodwill Ambassador and was an invited guest to the State of the Union address. He has been a featured thought leader on numerous television shows and publications, including  Fox & Friends, Varney & Company, Martha MacCallum ,  USA Today, Newsweek, The Chicago Tribune ,  The Doctors and  The Steve Harvey Show , among many others. A regular on WGN radio, Tim has also appeared repeatedly on CNN and HLN, spoken on TEDx stages and was named one of the top 100 visionary leaders in the world by  Real Leaders  magazine in January, 2018. But in this episode, we didn’t talk about his resume. We talked about turning from the Dope Man into the Hope Man and the importance of sharing your story, among many other topics.

Wed, October 24, 2018

Anna David on Calling the Cops on Yourself

Anna David is, well, the person writing this. In addition to writing in the third person, she's the New York Times bestselling author of six books, a contributor to The New York Times, Time, Playboy and more, a writing coach and the creator of this site/podcast/storytelling show. In this episode, she/I tell a story about living in West Hollywood in the 90s, giving your front door key to every coke addict in the vicinity and calling the cops on yourself when you become convinced that your neighbor is trying to kill you. To find out if you should be sharing your story, go to www.lighthustler.com/quiz .

Wed, October 17, 2018

Super Agent Darren Prince on Bottoming Out at the Top

Darren Prince is a sports and celebrity agent who has represented Muhammad Ali, Magic Johnson, Pele, Joe Montana, Smokin’ Joe Frazier, Dennis Rodman and Hulk Hogan, among many others. He's also sober for a decade after a brutal struggle with opiate addiction. Finally (and most importantly—to me), he's a friend. We've spent the past year working on his memoir, Aiming High: How a Prominent Sports and Celebrity Agent Hit Bottom at the Top , and I'm thrilled to say that it's the first release from the Light Hustler Publishing imprint . Already an international bestseller in four countries, the book has been making waves all over. In this episode, we discuss what role trauma plays in addiction, why to wait until you have some sobriety under your belt before going public and how Magic Johnson saved Darren's life, among many other things.

Wed, October 10, 2018

Bucky Sinister on Going to Poetry Readings Wasted

Bucky Sinister is a stand-up comedian and author of nine books, including Black Hole: A Novel and Get Up: A 12-Step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks and Weirdos . In this episode (which is from the Light Hustler live storytelling show in LA), he veers from his planned story to regale the audience about what it was like to go to poetry readings completely wasted. To find out if you should be sharing your story, go to www.lighthustler.com/quiz .

Wed, October 03, 2018

Kane Holloway on The Hilarity of Slapping Someone While Drunk

Kane Holloway is a Seattle native who resides in sunny L.A. Kane is a nationally touring comedian, podcast host and he has performed on Laughs on Fox. He has appeared on VH1's Walk of Shame Shuttle, FNX Comedy Experience and started the Podaholics comedy network. You can hear his comedy album "See What I Did There?" On iTunes. In this episode (from the Light Hustler monthly live storytelling show), he talks about how funny it was when he drunkenly slapped someone he didn't know (spoiler alert: it wasn't funny at all). To find out if you should be sharing your story, go to www.lighthustler.com/quiz .

Wed, September 26, 2018

Eddie Pepitone on How Love Went Out a Long Time Ago

Eddie Pepitone is the subject of  The Bitter Buddha , the critically acclaimed documentary about his life, and is also occasionally a part of his stand-up act. As a comedian and actor, he’s been on WTF and Conan repeatedly, as well as on  The Last Comic Standing, The Sarah Silverman Program, Happy Endings, Flight of the Concords, 2 Broke Girls, It’s Always Sunny  and so many more. In this episode—which is from the Light Hustler live storytelling show in Los Angeles—he (hilariously) talks about why having commitments in AA is silly, how love went out a long time ago and so much more. To find out if you should be sharing your story, go to www.lighthustler.com/quiz .

Wed, September 19, 2018

Amy Dresner on Getting Into and Out of the Psych Ward

Amy Dresner is a former professional stand-up comic, having appeared at The Comedy Store, The Laugh Factory, and The Improv. Since 2012, she has been a contributing editor of the online addiction and recovery magazine TheFix.com. She’s also written for the Good Men Project, The Frisky, Refinery 29, and has been a regular contributor to Addiction.com and PsychologyToday.com, where she has her own addiction blog entitled “Coming Clean.” Her first book, My Fair Junkie , was released in 2017 and is now available in paperback . In this episode (from the Light Hustler live storytelling show in LA), Amy talks about one of her visits to the psych ward—explaining what group therapy was like, what other residents had as goals for the day and the fellow patient who was smarter than the doctors, among other things. To find out if you should be sharing your story, go to www.lighthustler.com/quiz .

Wed, September 12, 2018

Kristi Coulter on When a Blog Post Turns into a Book Deal

Kristi Coulter holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan. She is a former Ragdale Foundation resident and the recipient of a grant from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Her work has appeared in  The Paris Review, The Awl ,  Glamour ,  Vox ,  The Mississippi Review ,  Longreads,  and elsewhere. Her debut essay collection,  Nothing Good Can Come from This,  was published by MCD Books/FSG Originals in August 2018. She lives in Seattle, where she is working on her next book.  We talked about Nothing Good Can Come From This , being a high-functioning alcoholic and what happens when a story you write goes viral, among many other things. To find out if you should be sharing your story, go to www.lighthustler.com/quiz .

Wed, September 05, 2018

Dr. Jamie Marich on EMDR Trauma Therapy

Dr. Jamie Marich  is an EMDR bad-ass. Sure, that's a kind of crazy way to identify someone but it's what our medical consultant (and previous podcast guest) Dr. Josh Lichtman (not to mention everyone else) says about her. Her are her stats: she travels internationally teaching on EMDR therapy, trauma, addiction, expressive arts, yoga and mindfulness while maintaining a private practice in her home base of Warren, OH. She is the founder and director of The Institute for Creative Mindfulness, developer of the Dancing Mindfulness practice and co-developer of the Yoga Unchained approach to trauma-informed yoga. She is also the author of five books on trauma recovery , most recently EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma Focused Care (with previous podcast guest Dr. Stephen Dansiger). She's also over 16 years sober. If you’re asking yourself at this point, “What in God’s name is she talking about and what is this EMDR thing,” EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and while it doesn’t tend to involve much eye movement anymore, it is a form of trauma therapy that helps people to reprocess their past. If you ever go to my Facebook page , you may have seen me sharing lately about how I've started doing EMDR. It's been changing my life so I was thrilled to be able to interview one of the world's leading experts on the topic. This episode is a can't miss, folks. Who knew talking about trauma could be so fun?

Wed, August 29, 2018

Anna David on Being an Intolerant Ex-Smoker

Today’s episode features a very special guest: me. Since I’m releasing episodes that contain stories from my live storytelling show and I perform in this show, sometimes these episodes are going to feature—well, me. The story I tell here is about the journey I took from two-pack-a-day smoker to the most self-righteous ex-smoker the world has ever seen. If you want to feel better about your own self-righteousness, I highly recommend giving this a listen.

Wed, August 22, 2018

Gayle Saks on Writing About Recovery as a Counselor

Gayle Saks-Rodriguez has been a writer since filling her fourth grade diary with such perfectly crafted sentences as: “Ricky is getting confirmed tomorrow. Since I’m Jewish, I’m not really sure what it does. I should congradulate [sic] him though.” She has graduated to being published in places like The Fix, The Huffington Post, Thought Catalog and Salon and has appeared on HuffPost Live. Now she's working on her memoir, You Ain't No Soccer Mom , about her work with female inmates and at an all male sober living. She was also a contributor to Light Hustler's first anthology, Darkness Before Light: 12 Writers on Addiction, Sobriety and Recovery . In this interview (which originally took place over Facebook Live ), we talk about being the only contributor to the anthology who's not in recovery, shelving one book proposal to work on another and her experiences in my coaching program for writers , among many other topics. We also—spoiler alert—had a lot of fun. Listen here .

Wed, August 15, 2018

Dr. Lauren Casey on Falling in Love With a Lifer in Recovery

Dr. Lauren Casey has a fascinating story. The international recovery coach, award-winning author and public speaker specializing in sex industry work, women’s health, substance abuse and trauma hasn’t just learned her area of expertise by studying. Now sober, Casey is a former high-end escort who found sobriety and then, to her utter surprise, found herself falling in love with a prisoner she began writing in prison. They’re still together decades later and now Casey  has a book coming out about her entire story . I’m proud to say that she wrote the proposal for  Breaking the Chains: Drugs, Millionaires and the Prisoner Who Set Me Free  in my  All the Write Moves coaching program and that the book will be released by Zephyr Bookshelf in 2019. This episode is from one of my Facebook Live interviews and it’s a juicy one.

Wed, August 08, 2018

Brian Finkelstein on Cocaine and Hookers

Brian Finkelstein  is a writer who has been nominated for two Emmys. He is also a regular performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and is a host/storyteller for The Moth. You can read his story “Perfect Moments” in the Moth’s first book, 50 True Stories . He has performed eight solo shows in a variety of venues, from the HBO/US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen to the Summer Nights Festival in Perth, Australia and New Zealand. Brian’s told stories on public radio shows including Good Food, The Business, UnFictional, Marketplace and many more. At the Light Hustler storytelling show, he told a story about wild nights at a Brooklyn speakeasy called Kokie's where you could buy cocaine, a roommate named Babyface, dating a Muslim girl and quitting hookers, among many other topics.

Wed, August 01, 2018

Ken Garr on Competing in the Special Olympics

Ken Garr is a graduate of Second City who has performed at The Laugh Factory, MGM Grand and Hollywood Improv, among many other places, and has been seen on Hulu, Playboy and Funny Or Die. His comedy album, So I’m Sitting in Jail, is now available on the DASH Radio app. In this episode from my live storytelling show, he talks about competing in the Special Olympics, feeling all your feelings in sobriety and burying an idea three levels into someone’s head, among many other topics.

Wed, July 18, 2018

Ally Weinhold On Taking Acid to Get Sober

Today’s episode features the one and only Ally Weinhold. Ally is a Los Angeles-based comedian, writer, and alcoholic. She hosts a monthly stand up show at Bar Lubitsch, called Awkward & Aggressive and recently co-produced a pilot called Murder Roommates with her sketch team, BadAssKnitties, and WhoHaha. This story is about the time she realized she needed to get sober and so she did the most logical thing she could think of to bring on the spiritual experience that she thought getting sober would require: she took a bunch of acid. Want to know what happened next? You best listen.

Wed, July 11, 2018

Having Miraculous Mornings with Joe Polish

In a rather short period of time, Joe Polish has become one of my favorite people around. The genius marketer (who presides over The Genius Network) and I met in early 2017 and connected over the fact that we were both trying to change the message around addiction. (Related: we also connected over the fact that we were both once active drug addicts.) And so we partnered with Hal Elrod and Honoree Corder on creating a book in the Miracle Morning series that focused on addiction recovery. You can get it here ! If you're not familiar with The Miracle Morning, it started as a book written by Hal Elrod. Published in 2012, it quickly became one of the highest rated books on Amazon, with over 2500 five-star reviews. The premise: changing your life starts with following certain habits and tactics every morning. I'll be honest: when this opportunity first came up, I thought, "Look, I already meditate and pray in the morning. What could this book tell me that I don't already know?" Well, here's what I learned: the day after reading it, I changed my morning routine, incorporating movement, affirmations and much more into it. There's something magical in Hal's message—perhaps because he's one of the kindest people ever, perhaps because he's experienced events that would have destroyed most of us...and come out with the most hopeful attitude I've ever experienced. Here's the concept of our particular book in the series. As many of us know, addiction can be fatal, and while it may sound glib to say something simple like attending to your morning can magically influence the course of your recovery, implementing this Miracle Morning practice can help you transform any area of your life...all before 8 am.  The Miracle Morning for Addiction Recovery outlines cutting-edge research, all designed to support your recovery. Here's some of what we cover in the book: Why mornings are critically important to an addict’s success, how your alarm can be a gift, challenge, and opportunity, the Five-Minute Five-Step Snooze-Proof Wake-Up Strategy, how the Six-Minute Miracle Morning can be the remedy for an overly packed schedule and much more. (Bonus: we've included morning routines from some of our favorite folks in recovery, including Recovery 2.0's Tommy Rosen, Wes Geer from Korn, actress Mackenzie Phillips and more.) In this episode, Joe and I interview each other about our respective morning routines and how we strive to live miraculous lives.

Wed, July 04, 2018

Uncovering Shocking Family Secrets with Tina Alexis Allen

You could call Tina Alexis Allen an actor. After all, she recently starred in the hit WGN series Outsiders . You could call her a playwright. After all, she wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed solo show Secrets of a Holy Father and the 12-character one-woman show Irresistible . You could also call her a writer. After all, she's the author of the un put down-able new release Hiding Out: A Memoir of Drugs, Deception and Double Lives . But really the most interesting thing about Allen is her life story: the last of 13 children from a religious Catholic family, Allen ended up becoming her father's greatest confidant. This started with them each acknowledging that they were gay, moved on to wild notes out doing poppers at all the gayest clubs of DC and ended with...well, you've got to read the book to find out.

Wed, June 27, 2018

Anna David on Her Three Dealers

Today’s episode features a very special guest: me. Since I’m releasing episodes that contain stories from my live storytelling show and I perform in this show, sometimes these episodes are going to feature—well, me. (By the by, the show, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an  LA Weekly  pick of the week  and is being developed into a video series.) The story I tell here is about the three cocaine dealers I had during my using days, the different signature moves they had and how I ended up in rehab with one of them.

Wed, June 20, 2018

Going From Attorney to Author With David Griggs

David Griggs has a JD, an MBA and extensive experience representing and advising clients in matters involving employment, contract, regulatory, licensing, eminent domain, business, injury and other areas of law. But that's not what's interesting about him. What's interesting about him is that he's a sober addict who decided to let some of his most shameful stories out—first through articles, then through a book proposal and now through a book— Taming the Wild Things in My Head, a memoir which will be released by Zephyr Bookshelf later in 2018 . In this interview—which happened over Facebook Live—he explains his descent into addiction, how he pieced his life back together and why he decided to share that journey with the world.  

Thu, June 14, 2018

Ally Weinhold on What Happens When You Bring a Homeless Man Home for Dinner

Today’s episode features the one and only Ally Weinhold. Ally is a Los Angeles-based comedian, writer, and alcoholic. She hosts a monthly stand up show at Bar Lubitsch called Awkward & Aggressive and recently co-produced a pilot called  Murder Roommates  with her sketch team, BadAssKnitties. Her story asks a seemingly simple question: what happens if you bring a homeless man home for dinner? If you’re Ally, you make that into a hilarious, ridiculous story. Enjoy.

Wed, June 06, 2018

Laura House on Her Panic Marriage

If there’s anyone who can make a ridiculous drinking story hilarious, it’s Laura House. A headlining comedian who has performed on HBO, Comedy Central, NBC, she is originally from Texas and moved to LA after starring in MTV’s cult-favorite  Austin Stories . She’s written on the Emmy-winning shows  Mom  and  Samantha Who , BAFTA-winning  Secret Lives of Boys , as well as Nicole Byer’s  Loosely, Exactly, Nicole ,  The George Lopez Show, Mad Love, Blue Collar TV  and more. This story is about what can happen when you marry a guy you shouldn't (spoiler alert: it doesn't go so well). She told it at my live storytelling show, which happens on the last Friday of every month at Open Space Cafe (457 N. Fairfax Ave) in LA.

Wed, May 30, 2018

From Raves and Car Stealing to Recovery and Advocacy with Ivana Grahovac

Ivana Grahovac is a wonder to behold. And she's even more wondrous once you know her story. The Director of Advancement for Facing Addiction and former Executive Director for Transforming Youth Recovery wasn't always the poised spokesperson today. In fact, she's the girl who spent so long raving in Croatia that she decided to drop out of school and move to Milan to model. While living the so-called glamorous life (which she swears wasn't glam), her heroin addiction took hold. Numerous stints in treatment followed, as did jail time after she stole a car. And then, against all odds, Grahovac had a spiritual experience that not only got her sober but also made her not experience opiate withdrawals. Hear about the entire journey by downloading this episode.

Fri, May 25, 2018

How the Unlucky Get Sober with Kane Holloway

Kane Holloway is a Seattle native who resides in sunny L.A. Kane is a nationally touring comedian, podcast host and he has performed on "Laughs on Fox." In this story, told at the live monthly Light Hustler storytelling show, he talks about a number of experiences—being bald at the wrong time, physical pain and what happens when the person rooting for you seems to be giving up on you. The overall theme: even the unlucky can find recovery. And, if that supposedly unlucky person is named Kane Holloway, he can make it into comedy gold.

Wed, May 16, 2018

How Getting Sober Sucks and Doesn't Suck with Jules Posner

Jules Posner cut his teeth in his hometown of San Francisco, where he honed his act by yelling over rowdy bar crowds, coffee grinders, and shouty vagrants that have become commonplace in the San Francisco comedy scene. Now based in Los Angeles, he is one of those comics whose writing and delivery make standup seem like it’s just a funny person talking off the top of their head. Reality isn’t far behind the illusion; his riffing paces his written material in quality. This story, which had people screaming with laughter (and asking when he'd be back to perform again), covers the solo drinking games Jules liked to play, how having a bird shit on your head can be lucky and different reasons sobriety sucks and doesn't.

Wed, May 09, 2018

When Your Ex-Boyfriend Takes Out a Restraining Order on You with Ally Weinhold

Today’s episode features the one and only Ally Weinhold. Ally is a Los Angeles-based comedian, writer, and alcoholic. She hosts a monthly stand up show at Bar Lubitsch, called Awkward & Aggressive and recently co-produced a pilot called Murder Roommates with her sketch team, BadAssKnitties, and WhoHaha. Her story asks a seemingly simple question: what happens if you hack your ex-boyfriend's email and then send the woman he's dating a break up email? And what if you follow that with a series of decisions that culminate in his feeling like you're a danger to his life? If you're Ally, you make that into a hilarious, ridiculous story. Enjoy.

Wed, May 02, 2018

Going From Zero to Hero with the Comedian ANT

The comedian ANT has been everywhere: a regular on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Tyra Banks Show , he is the only comedian to appear on all five seasons of NBC’s hit series Last Comic Standing . He was the host of VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club and starred in the LOGO series, U.S. of ANT . His hit stand-up DVD, ANT: America’s Ready and comedy CD “Follow my ass!” have sold tens of thousands of copies. On his hit podcast Second Chances , he interviews people about their, you got it, second chances in life. But he's much more than his resume. ANT, who's in recovery after a great deal of tragedy in his life, has an ability to turn even the darkest stories imaginable (say, this one, about his cat, partner and dad all dying) into touching hilarity.  

Wed, April 25, 2018

Anna David on Eating Space Cakes and Losing Her Mind

Today’s episode features a very special guest: me. Since I’m releasing episodes that contain stories from my live storytelling show and I perform in this show, sometimes these episodes are going to feature—well, me. (By the by, the show, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an  LA Weekly  pick of the week  and is being developed into a video series.) The story I tell here is about why someone like me should have never smoked pot—let alone gone to Amsterdam to eat a succession of space cakes.  For more about who I am when I’m not eating space cakes and losing a day of my life,  click here . For more about the workshops I lead where I teach people to take their most disturbing or interesting experiences and make them into stories,  click here . For more information about my online writing classes and coaching programs,  click here. For a list of events, so you can stay up to date on future storytelling shows, click here . If you want to see live broadcasts of the show, go ahead and Like my Facebook page , since that's where we broadcast them!

Wed, April 18, 2018

20 Years of Sobriety with John Taylor of Duran Duran

To say I was excited to interview John Taylor would be the understatement of the century. As an allegedly together adult, I resisted the urge to tell him that my adolescent bedroom was papered with his image (covered in lipstick kisses, despite the fact that I didn’t and still don’t wear lipstick). In short, my inner 14-year-old was having a conniption fit while my outer adult had a glorious, insightful conversation with a brilliant, thoughtful man with over two decades of sobriety. Those who only think of Taylor solely as Duran Duran’s pretty boy will be delighted to hear what an analytical and kind guy he is—a man who speaks openly about what it was like to have worldwide fame while he was still living at home with his parents and talks about a recovery meeting as a place where he’s thrilled to be able to meet people from all walks of life. In this episode, we talked about his must-read autobiography   In The Pleasure Groove , what it’s like to go from blaming everyone to taking responsibility for yourself, how no one really acts their age and the joys of watching soccer, among many other topics.

Wed, April 11, 2018

Greg Behrendt on the Night a Burrito Saved His Life

Today’s episode features an absolute doll of a human being: Greg Behrendt . In it, Greg tells a story from the Light Hustler live storytelling show which takes place the last Friday of every other month in LA. His story veers from a night where he was wasted and cold and ended up with a burrito stuck to his hands but also touches on driving a car into the ocean and why we should bring our solutions and not our problems home. When he’s not making Light Hustler audiences nearly pee their pants with laughter, Greg is performing (both as a comedian and musician) or writing (oh yeah; he’s the guy who co-wrote the seminal book  He’s Just Not That Into You,  among other bestselling books) . To see the calendar for future storytelling events, click here . To catch the live broadcasts of the shows, go ahead and give a like on  Facebook , since we play every show on there.

Tue, April 03, 2018

Feeding the Good Wolf with Brad Vos

Brad Vos is a mental health and addictions recovery advocate who, in his words, "promotes the opportunity, and not the sacrifice, that recovery provides." Canada-based, he's someone who's tried numerous roads to sobriety, including 12-step and SMART Recovery, but finds he has a "bad wolf" who can talk him out of staying on the right path. But he's determined to let the good wolf take charge, something that's evident in his new project—the website Sobertunity, which also includes accounts on  Instagram and Facebook. Brad and I first got to know each other when he joined the accountability group I run with Sober Evolution's Austin Cooper and from day one, he's been active in the group—sharing updates, schedules, plans...and his struggles. He's therefore the ideal person to show the rest of the world the sort of stuff we do in there. He also happens to be very funny and as someone who's semi obsessed with people sharing their "light," I cherish any opportunity to let hilarity reign. In this episode, we discuss escaping a soulless sales job, staying on the path and how animals can help with our recovery, among many other topics. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews.  Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info !

Wed, March 28, 2018

Ask the Shrink: Can You Tell When Patients Are Lying to You?

Most every addict who's been in therapy has lied to their therapist or psychiatrist. The question is...do shrinks know when you're lying? We asked LA board certified psychiatrist Dr. Josh Lichtman for his take.

Tue, March 27, 2018

How to Balance Work and Life with Recovery Elevator’s Paul Churchill

It’s hard to picture Paul Churchill as an active alcoholic. He’s nevertheless got the back story to prove it—including years of destructive drinking, a DUI and a suicide attempt. Yet no one could accuse him of resting on his laurels once he found sobriety in September of 2016. No, sir. He launched the podcast  Recovery Elevator  soon after getting into recovery and then, 20 episodes in, decided to start an accountability group. Now Recovery Elevator is something of an empire—with retreats, groups and more. Still, all didn’t become shiny and perfect overnight. Instead, Paul wrestled with plunging too quickly into projects destined to drown him. He’s now stepped back slightly but still has the sort of fire that has inspired his followers and fans. In this episode, we discuss the impact pets can have on recovery, how acceptance truly is the answer and launching businesses because we were looking for things that didn’t exist, among many other topics. OTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews.  Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info !

Wed, March 21, 2018

Ask the Shrink: What Do You Do When a Patient is Treatment Resistant?

Some people suffer from depression and other mental issues that doesn't respond to medication. What are they—and their doctors—supposed to do? Double board certified psychiatrist Dr. Josh Lichtman lays out some options.

Tue, March 20, 2018

Natasha Vargas-Cooper on Trying to Seduce a Bipolar Man With a Jesus Complex

We all have stories. Some of us have funny ones. Others have tragic ones. If you're Natasha Vargas-Cooper, you have both. If you listen to the podcast regularly, you know about Natasha but for anyone new around here...she is a wondrous sprite who graduated Summa Cum Laude from UCLA with a double major in history and public policy and has been published in such places as  The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine  and  GQ , among many others. Her book,  Mad Men Unbuttoned , was praised as “a well-versed primer” by  The New Yorker  and “likely to become a trivia-lover’s bible” by  The New York Times . Oh and in her spare time, she created the popular LA storytelling show  Public School . In this story, she discusses taking Ambien and then driving to 7-11 for cigarettes, the emails she shouldn't have sent and why being addicted to people is so much worse than being addicted to substances, among other (funny) (and tragic) things. This episode is from my live storytelling show, which happens on the last Friday of every month at Open Space Cafe (457 N. Fairfax Ave) in LA.

Wed, March 14, 2018

Ask the Shrink: How Do We Break Down the Stigma Around Mental Illness?

Addicts are increasingly more comfortable coming forward and sharing about their problems. But the same doesn't seem to be true for those suffering from mental illness. What can we do about that? Dr. Josh Lichtman, a Los Angeles-based board-certified psychiatrist, breaks down his thoughts.

Tue, March 13, 2018

Losing A Brother to a Heroin Overdose with Stephanie Wittels Wachs

Stephanie Wittels Wachs has endured something a sister should never have to experience. In February of 2015, she lost her brother Harris to a heroin overdose. Her brother wasn’t some low-bottom, down-and-out guy. Quite the opposite. He was actually nothing short of a legend in the comedy business, having been hired as a writer on  The Sarah Silverman Show  a year after graduating from college. From there, his career was on fire—he wrote on numerous MTV Movie Awards and was a writer and actor on  Parks and Rec . When he died, he was on the verge of moving to New York to write on and star in  Master of None  with his friend Aziz Ansari. (In his spare time, he invented the word #humblebrag and  wrote a book about it .) In order to process her grief, Stephanie turned to the page…specifically to Medium.com, where she wrote a piece called “ The End of Empathy ,” about a stranger’s reaction to their family’s grief. The post struck a cord and next thing Stephanie knew, she was writing a book. Well, that book,  Everything is Horrible and Wonderful: A Tragicomic Memoir of Genius, Heroin, Love and Loss , is out now. And it is brilliant and juicy and wonderful and horrible and basically tells such a gripping tale of what it’s like to be the sister of a genius who just happens to be a drug addict that you will feel confident you actually knew Harris Wittels when you’ve put the book down. In this episode, we talked about the surreality of talking about a book that only exists because your brother is gone, if there’s anything she would have done differently and the strange and even hopeful places her mourning has taken her, among many other topics.

Wed, March 07, 2018

Ask the Shrink: What is Narcissism and NPD?

We live in a world where everyone is diagnosing our president as narcissistic. So what, exactly, are we saying and are we allowed to diagnose someone we don't know based solely on their symptoms? Dr. Josh Lichtman provides some answers.

Tue, March 06, 2018

Ryan Hampton on What Can Happen When People in Recovery Come Together

You surely know about Ryan Hampton by now. Not only has he become one of the world's leading recovery advocates, fighting to take down nefarious treatment centers and shady players but he's also the author of the upcoming book American Fix: Inside the American Opioid Addiction Crisis—And How to End It . He's also one of my closer friends. We work on a lot of things together but the one we're most excited about right now is our upcoming Light Switch: Turning on Your Inner Hustle retreat. It's happening the last weekend in April and will be a medley of workshops, treatments, bonding, laughter, panels and plenty of LA woo woo stuff. In this episode, we talk about the retreat (and our EARLY BIRD SPECIAL pricing which ends, alas, on March 8th) but also about the gifts that can come from bonding with our fellows in recovery (among many other topics).  

Wed, February 28, 2018

Ask the Shrink: How Do You Separate Depression and Anxiety?

In this episode, I talk to addiction psychiatrist Dr. Josh Lichtman about how depression and anxiety manifest—and overlap.

Tue, February 27, 2018

Developing Healthier Relationships with Laura McKowen

I've long admired Laura McKowen. The sober mama is a prolific writer (you can see her many posts over at LauraMcKowen.com ), podcaster (for years she co-hosted HOME , now she's co-hosting Spiritualish ) and all-around honest person living in recovery. What do I mean by honest? Well, follow her on Instagram and you'll see more than just Ghandi quotes and hot photos. The woman spills it out there—and people love her for it. While we met at the Unite to Face Addiction rally in the fall of 2015, this is the first time we were able to chat one-on-one. And what a chat it was! Tune in to hear us get into losing our virginity, the stories we tell ourselves and developing healthy relationships with other women, among many other topics. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews.  Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info ! It's better with the lights on. So go out there and hustle your light, Light Hustler...

Thu, February 22, 2018

Ask the Shrink: Do You Send Every Addicted Patient to AA?

AA is a controversial topic within recovery circles. Some are all for it, some violently opposed. So where does a prominent addiction psychiatrist stand? Does he tell all his patients who are addicts to go there? The answer may surprise you.

Tue, February 20, 2018

Bucky Sinister on How Addicts Are Scared of All The Wrong Things

Bucky Sinister is a poet, self-help author and comedian, he has published four books of poetry and two self-help books, including Get Up: A 12-Step Guide to Recovery for Misfists, Freaks, and Weirdos . His journalism, film reviews, and short stories have appeared on The Rumpus, The Bold Italic, and a number of other online and print publications. His novel, Black Hole , is flat out the funniest novel I've ever read about addiction. He's been something of a regular in my world—a repeated podcast guest and performer at my live show. This episode is from one of those live shows and in this story, he talks about being terrified of small talk but not remotely scared to score drugs from strangers or get in fights. This episode is from my live storytelling show, which happens on the last Friday of every month at Open Space Cafe (457 N. Fairfax Ave) in LA.  Sign up for the newsletter  to make sure you’re notified when shows are coming up and/or  stay up to date on the schedule here . For more about the workshops I lead where I teach people to take their most disturbing or interesting experiences and make them into stories,  click here . For more information about my online writing classes and coaching programs,  click here .

Tue, February 13, 2018

Making Sense of Sexuality in Recovery with Jen Matesa

Jen Matesa is a recovery powerhouse. Unafraid and unapologetic, she speaks out about two "s"'s that scare some others—namely, Suboxone and sex. She's written extensively about both—Suboxone in blog posts like this one and the sex in two of her four books...especially her most recent one, Sex in Recovery: A Meeting between the Covers (her previous book for Hazelden, The Recovering Body: Physical and Spiritual Fitness for Living Clean and Sober,  also got into meditation, exercise, nutrition and more). She has spoken and written widely, teaches writing at the University of Pittsburgh, is a psychotherapist in training and is currently working on her second master’s degree. Sober since 2010, she was one of the first sober bloggers and she's been dedicated in that time to giving the public reliable information about addiction and recovery without advertising or paywalls. Her commitment to removing social stigma from addiction and recovery earned her a fellowship at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Plus, she talks sex...here we got into best vibrators, losing your sex drive when you're taking opiates and what constitutes good sex. Get some great sex (info) and more in this episode—just in time for Hallmark's favorite holiday. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews.  Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info !

Tue, February 06, 2018

Laura House on Going From Bible Loving Texan to Drunk Foreign Exchange Student

If there’s anyone who can make a ridiculous drinking story hilarious, it’s Laura House. A headlining comedian who has performed on HBO, Comedy Central, NBC, she is originally from Texas and moved to LA after starring in MTV’s cult-favorite  Austin Stories . She’s written on the Emmy-winning shows  Mom  and  Samantha Who , BAFTA-winning  Secret Lives of Boys , as well as Nicole Byer’s  Loosely, Exactly, Nicole ,  The George Lopez Show, Mad Love, Blue Collar TV  and more. This story is about how she went from being a girl who knocked on doors trying to talk to strangers about Jesus to vomiting Pina Coladas all over a bus to peeing her name in the hallway outside of a teacher’s hotel room. Did she end up suffering consequences for being a host family’s worst nightmare? Well, no—and yes. It all makes sense if you listen. This episode is from my live storytelling show, which happens on the last Friday of every month at Open Space Cafe (457 N. Fairfax Ave) in LA.

Tue, January 30, 2018

Getting off Fentanyl But Continuing to Do Drugs with Drew Grant

I first met Drew Grant through friends, when we both lived in New York. She was a young, dynamic, cool, talented writer who'd worked at Salon and The New York Observer , among many other publications. While I'd always found her somewhat fascinating, that feeling was only enhanced when, during a causal conversation, she mentioned that she had a brief addiction to Fentanyl. I was working at The Fix website at the time and so I did what I did whenever anyone mentioned drugs...promptly assigned her a story. While she wrote that piece under a pen name , a few years later—in the wake of the Philip Seymour Hoffman overdose—she came out under her own name. Drew and I recently got in touch again, when she spoke to the students in my coaching program . She told me that her story with drugs had only gotten more Byzantine since we'd last spoken and so I did what I do whenever someone tells me that...promptly invited her to come on the podcast. I knew it would be such a different story than the one my guests usually tell. This one didn't involve a bottom, a resurgence, church basements (well, there are some church basements in her story but not many) and eventual sobriety. Instead it started with childhood chronic masturbation and ADD meds, Xanax tapering and much, much more. In this episode, we discuss what it was like to be on so many medications that you thought loved ones were out to get you, being intervened on by heroin addicts and how to handle doctor shopping across three states, among many other topics. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews.  Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info !

Tue, January 23, 2018

Coming Back From Darkness with Sean Paul Mahoney

Sean Paul Mahoney isn’t your average bear. He isn’t your average human, either. That’s because he’s much funnier than your average human. As a blogger , playwright and podcaster , Sean shares his many witticisms with the world?—?including me, back when I used to edit his essays at AfterParty. Just over nine years sober, he’s now working in the mental health and recovery field…and as he says, it keeps life very “real.” In this episode, we discuss hitting (and coming out of) an emotional bottom at seven years of sobriety, discovering that he was HIV positive, sitting with someone who’s overdosing and how his family sent him to church basements instead of a cushy Malibu rehab, among many other things. The interview got cut off at the end but he’s so great that it’s well worth the abrupt finish. This one’s a can’t miss, guys! NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info !

Tue, January 16, 2018

How to Combat a Tech-Related Addiction with Gabe Zichermann

Gabe Zichermann is an unlikely hero in the addiction recovery world as he literally spent the first half of his career making sure we got hooked on tech. The world’s foremost expert and public speaker on the subject of gamification, user engagement and behavioral design, Zichermann is also the author of  The Gamification Revolution  (McGraw Hill, 2013),  Gamification by Design  (2011) and  Game-Based Marketing  (2010). But, as he observed addictive tendencies in both himself and the people around him, Zichermann realized he was potentially part of the problem. Consider his new project,  Onward , penance. Onward is an app he co-founded that brings together the latest data science and artificial intelligence to help people change their potentially addictive relationships with technology, pornography, gambling or shopping. In this interview, we talked about his epiphany about his own addictive relationship with gaming (spoiler alert: don’t invite him to your party if he’s in the middle of a game), why cognitive behavioral therapy works for some people struggling with addiction and not for others and if his former tribe now considers him the enemy, among many other topics. NOTE: This episode is from a  Facebook Live interview that we did , which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews. Make sure you  Like my page  so stay up on the info!

Tue, January 02, 2018

Why AA Doesn't Work with Producer Scott Steindorff

Prolific TV and movie producer Scott Steindorff has convinced authors like Philip Roth and Gabriel Garcia Marquez to give up the film rights for their books. He's won Golden Globes and been nominated for Emmys. He's worked with Matthew McConaughey, Paul Newman and Nicole Kidman, among many others. But his greatest passion in life doesn't have anything to do with the entertainment business. His greatest passion is related to the fact that, at over 30 years of sobriety, he's watching more and more people die as a result of addiction. He believes our current treatment methods—in particular AA—need to be modernized and he's devoting his time and passion to doing just that by putting together his own recovery program, Life Renewal. In this episode, he and I get into a very heated debate about whether or not AA works. When this aired as a Facebook Live , the comments and questions were never-ending and I couldn't even begin to address all of them. A tame episode this is not. A lively one it is. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews. Make sure you  Like my page  so stay up on the info!

Sun, December 31, 2017

Becoming Accountable with Sober Evolution’s Austin Cooper

Austin Cooper didn’t want to live anymore. Like many people suffering from addiction, he was at the too-scared-to-live, too-scared-to-die crossroads. He’d forgotten that he had people who loved him. When those loved ones did an intervention, he knew he had a choice: to live or die. He chose to live…and in less than five years, he’s become an outspoken recovery advocate. It all started when he discovered some inspiring quotes that changed his life. He thought maybe those quotes could help other people and so he started an  Instagram account  filled with them. The account grew so rapidly that he soon found himself on  20/20  and working as a coach. Now he and I have partnered on  The Light Hustler Evolution , an accountability group that includes weekly assignments, webinars, coaching sheets, a book club and more. We talk all about it in this interview and explain that if you join before January 1st, you can get locked in at a 20% off discount. While this group will eventually be invitation and nomination only, for now it is open to anyone who wants to join. There is no obligation to stay in the group if you don’t want to so if you’ve ever struggled to meet a goal or want to interact with some cool folks (charter members include Golden Globe award winning producer Scott Steindorff,  Girl Walks Out of a Bar  author Lisa Smith and recovery advocate Ryan Hampton), we encourage you to join now. You can find out more about the group  here  and join  here . NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews (make sure you  Like my page  so you can stay up on when they happen).

Tue, December 26, 2017

Surviving Columbine and Finding Recovery with Austin Eubanks

Austin Eubanks shouldn't be alive. And he certainly shouldn't be thriving. An injured survivor of the Columbine High School shooting, Eubanks was shot twice as he watched his best friend get murdered in front of his eyes. Afterwards, a phalanx of doctors prescribed him everything he wanted and more, until he found himself on a drug cocktail that included not only stimulants but also benzos and opiates. Marijuana and harder drugs followed soon after. A few trips to rehab didn't do much to slow his roll but, after coming to in jail in April of 2011 and learning that no one he knew was willing to take his call let alone bail him out, he made the choice that saved his life and entered treatment at the Stout Street Foundation for over a year. He has been sober ever since and is now a world-renowned speaker on the topic of recovery, COO of Foundry Treatment Center, on the board of directors for Stout Street Foundation and a member of the founding board of directors for 5280 High School. In this episode, Eubanks shares the secret to working through trauma, why he never used to tell people he went to Columbine and how he can prove that addiction doesn't always have a genetic component, among many other topics. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews (make sure you  Like my page  so you can stay up on when they happen).

Thu, December 21, 2017

Drunken Escapades with Comedian Jodi Miller

Jodi Miller is what they call bust-a-gut funny (do they call it that or did I make that up?). She's also, as they say, blue. So if you're prone to blushing, you may want to skip this one. If, on the other hand, you don't shock easily and also enjoy laughing, you'll love this one. Jodi has performed on The Tonight Show and America's Got Talent . She's also written on a Cinemax series and been a recurring guest commentator on Showbiz Tonight . In this episode, she tells a night of drunken abandon...and a wardrobe malfunction. She performed it at my storytelling show,  Hammer(ed) Time,  which takes place every other month in LA, has been an  LA Weekly  pick of the week  and is being developed into a video series. For more about the workshops I lead where I teach people to take their most disturbing or interesting experiences and make them into stories,  click here . For more information about my online writing classes and coaching programs,  click here .

Tue, December 19, 2017

Launching the Global Recovery Movement with Greg Williams

Filmmaker and  Facing Addiction  co-founder Greg Williams puts most recovery advocates to shame. And he’s one of the most humble people you’ll ever meet. Here’s how the story goes: Williams got sober and was doing just a basic sober job when he started meeting people in the recovery advocacy movement. He was earning a grad degree at NYU that involved studying both advocacy and filmmaking and so he did the next logical thing: make a movie about these impressive folks he was meeting. After taking out a loan and then doing the Indie Go Go thing, Williams was able to present to the world  The Anonymous People —the definitive film about recovering out loud. Because there’s no rest for the weary, he then co-founded Facing Addiction, the non-profit responsible for the 2015 march in Washington where Steven Tyler, Sheryl Crow and Joe Walsh performed. Since then, he’s completed another film ( Generation Found ) and embarked on a handful of other equally impressive projects. In this episode, Williams talks about where he got the faith to take out a $70,000 loan for a project he had no idea would pay off, why we need more recovery advocates than we already have and what it really means to recover out loud, among many other topics. We also talked about how YOU can get involved. For information on that,  click here . For a quiz on whether or not you’re ready to tell your story,  click here .

Wed, December 13, 2017

How to Get Arrested and Destroy Your Fraternity with Travis Jones

Travis Jones is a video editor by day and a storyteller by night.  He has performed at The Moth and various other shows around LA. In this episode, he tells arguably the funniest story I've ever heard about getting arrested (and I've heard a lot). Suffice it to say that there are some fraternity brothers who surely regretted every setting eyes on him. He told the story at my live storytelling show,  Hammer(ed) Time,  which takes place every other month in LA, has been an  LA Weekly  pick of the week  and is being developed into a video series.  

Tue, December 12, 2017

From Gutter Punk Rocker to Recovery Hero with Wes Geer

Wes Geer may have once looked like an unlikely recovery hero. The founding member of the band Hed PE, Geer went down the path familiar to many young, wild and crazy dudes in bands...all of which culminated in a trip to rehab in 2004. After finding sobriety in 2007, Geer was asked to join the legendary band Korn and he played with them for years. But just being a rock star wasn't enough for Geer and so, in 2013, he formed Rock to Recovery. Rock to Recovery's mission sounds almost impossible: a bunch of musicians go into treatment centers and teach the (non-musical) residents there to play. Together, they write a song. Yes, non-musicians write and play a song. Does it work? Well, Rock to Recovery currently does about 400 sessions a month—at both non-profit organizations and high-end treatment centers. They also put on shows, where people like Billy Idol, Fred Durst and Mark McGrath play. In this episode, Wes and I talk about the manifestation meditation that led to his greatest epiphany, whether or not he's always been spiritual and the fact that aliens may have been tuning in on our conversation, among many other topics. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you  Like my page  so stay up on the info!)

Tue, December 05, 2017

The Shame Behind Male Eating Disorders with Brian Cuban

Brian Cuban is the ideal recovery advocate. Sober since 2007, the attorney and best-selling author of two books about his recovery is willing to talk about something very few men are: struggling with bulimia and anorexia. And not only is he willing to talk about it—he's willing to delve into how he developed his eating disorder (he writes touchingly about being teased as a kid in this compelling easy for CNN ). The brother of Dallas Mavericks owner and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban, Brian was a practicing attorney whose addiction had caused him to lose all his clients before his brothers intervened on him. Yet it was years before he was actually ready to seek help—when his now-wife discovered his secrets and was ready to leave. In this interview, we talk about the role family plays in addiction, lying to your psychiatrist and moving full-time into recovery advocacy, among other things. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you  Like my page  so stay up on the info!)

Thu, November 30, 2017

Anna David on What Drinking Gave Her (and Then Took Away)

Today's episode features a very special guest: me. Since I'm releasing episodes that contain stories from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, and I perform in this show, sometimes these episodes are going to feature—well, me. (By the by, the show, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.) The story I tell here is about how, the first time I got drunk, I confessed my love to the big man on campus. What happened next shocked even unshockable me.

Tue, November 28, 2017

Coming Out About Your Addiction with Lawyer Lisa Smith

It’s one thing to be open about your addiction when you’re a writer in LA—aka a person most people assume WOULD be an addict. It’s quite another when you’re a high-powered attorney. But  Lisa F. Smith  is a trail blazer. The author of the hit book  Girl Walks Out of a Bar  is also probably my favorite person I’ve never met. (Side note: I’ve slept in her bed despite not having met her; it’s not as sexy as it sounds but that’s something we get into in the interview.) What’s fascinating about Lisa’s story is that she was so high functioning that the day she got sober was just like any other day where she was headed to work—although instead of going to work, she went to detox. In this episode, we discuss her fear around coming out, the way addiction can start with food and how she feels when men in AA are called sexual harassers, among many other topics. (BTW, Lisa is featured in my Guide to Becoming a Light Hustler, where I profiled the people I know who have taken their darkest experiences to share their light and in some cases built careers off of it. If you want to be one of them, be sure to get the free guide here:  www.annadavidcoaching.com. ) NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you  Like my page  so stay up on the info!)

Fri, November 24, 2017

Just How Uncomfortable is Being Sober? As Greg Behrendt Explains, Very

Today's episode features an absolute doll of a human being: Greg Behrendt. In it, Greg tells a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series. His story captures, perhaps better than anyone ever has before, exactly why being sober is so uncomfortable. When he's not making Hammer(ed) Time audiences nearly pee their pants with laughter, Greg is performing (both as a comedian and musician) or writing (oh yeah; he's the guy who co-wrote the seminal book He's Just Not That Into You, among other bestselling books).

Wed, November 22, 2017

SheRecovers Co-Founder Taryn Strong on Coming Out as an Addict

Taryn Strong was sitting atop the largest resource for women in recovery and keeping a secret: namely that in between hosting retreats in places like Bali, where she and her mom Dawn Nickel were getting women to open up about their recovery, she was doing coke. She'd been honest about her past up until then—about self-harm, about co-dependency, about a drug phase when she was younger—but coming clean about the fact that she was also an addict required a new level of bravery. In this episode, Taryn talks about the SheRecovers brand—the retreats they host, the malas they sell, the coaches the certify—and so much more. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you  Like my page  so stay up on the info!)

Fri, November 17, 2017

Getting Sober as a Teen with Lindsay Adams

Lindsay Adams is no joke. Yes, she tells jokes but the seriously funny comic also got sober when she was a teenager after surviving—well, some pretty horrific shit. And she bakes! She has a baking show on something I'm too old to understand called Twitch. In this episode, Lindsay tells a story at my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series. When she's not charming Hammer(ed) Time audiences, Lindsay is performing at the Laugh Factory, Improv and Comedy Store, being featured in the TBS Just for Laughs comedy festival, appearing on Oxygen and Fox or performing with Mortified in LA, Chicago, and San Francisco. She also produces Heat: A Comedy Show and Full Moon: A Gathering of Comedy and the Metaphysical.

Wed, November 15, 2017

Finding the Funny in Binging and Purging with Angela Gulner

Angela Gulner is not your typical actress. For one, the Harvard grad is a multi-talent, having created and starred in the binge-worthy series Binge . Secondly, Binge is about something most people don't talk about—that is, binging and purging. And then there's the fact that Gulner is incredibly open about the fact that this series is based on her life. While I'm not normally a plot summary gal, the plot of the  Binge  pilot is too hilarious not to spell out. It opens with Gulner waking up hung over in her car and then agreeing to have sex with the guy she clearly hooked up with the night before so long as he gives her his coffee mug. Then we move into a storyline about how she's blackmailed into checking into treatment for her eating disorder by the sex addict she met when blacked out. The episode ends with her destroying her best friend's dinner party for her future mother-in-law by announcing that the man she had sex with that morning for the coffee mug is the future mother-in-law's boyfriend. In this episode, my new girl crush and I discuss just when the roots of her eating disorder started (spoiler alert: the age of six!), what parents can do to prevent their kids from developing issues like this and why she went the indie route when it came to getting Binge made, among many others topics. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you  Like my page  so stay up on the info!)

Fri, November 10, 2017

Jessica Sele on How to Get Wasted and Shame Everyone in the Vicinity

Today's episode features the very funny Jessica Sele from one of my live  storytelling shows, Hammer(ed) Time. In her own words, Jessica Sele is a "deeply weird human being and stand-up comedian." She's performed at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival and SF Sketchfest and was described by Bitch Magazine as a “hilarious and talented queer woman.” The story she tells is a basic how-to if you want to know how to get wasted and shame everyone in the vicinity.

Wed, November 08, 2017

Therapist Kelley Kitley on Sharing Your Trauma With Your Clients

Therapist Kelley Kitley could have kept quiet about her own past. She had a thriving practice—first in Santa Monica, then in Chicago—and didn't need her clients knowing about her own experiences. Instead she decided to spill all...in her memoir, My Self: A Story of Survival , a memoir which details her experiences being sexually abused, developing an eating disorder and then struggling with addiction (she's now sober four-and-a-half years). In this episode, she talks about how her clients reacted to her own confessions, what happened when she told her father she was being abused and why "Get it Girl" is her motto, among many other topics. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you  Like my page  so stay up on the info!)

Fri, November 03, 2017

Anna David on Smoking Two Packs of Cigarettes a Day

Today's episode features a very special guest: me. Since I'm releasing episodes that contain stories from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, and I perform in this show, sometimes these episodes are going to feature—well, me. (By the by, the show, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.) The story I tell here is about how I went from chain-smoking derelict to sanctimonious ex-smoker who only tried to quit smoking in the first place because a guy I liked went to a certain Nicotine Anonymous meeting. (And if you smoke, just know I'm not talking about you!)

Wed, November 01, 2017

Making the Decision to Open Up About Recovery With Garrett Hade

Garrett Hade is a guy who usually sits behind the scenes. As the right (and left) hand(s) of prominent recovery advocate Ryan Hampton , Garrett is the one by Ryan's side as they travel across the country interviewing people in recovery, visiting jails and in short doing everything they possibly can to change the way addiction is perceived and treated. Though Garrett and I have become closer over the past year, getting him in front of a camera and mic was a serious treat. In this episode, we talked about the struggle he had about publicly sharing about his addiction and recovery and what he's learned as a result, among many other topics. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Jesse, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you  Like my page  so stay up on the info!)

Fri, October 27, 2017

Reminiscing About Your First Intervention with Bucky Sinister

Today’s episode features a truly unique soul: author Bucky Sinister. In it, Bucky tells a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series. His story is about an event not everyone has the opportunity to reminisce about: the 30th anniversary of his first intervention. (Spoiler alert: don't take acid beforehand.) Bucky is the author of not only the hilarious addiction novel Black Hole but also four books of poetry and two self-help books, including Get Up: A 12-Step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks, and Weirdos. His journalism, film reviews, and short stories have appeared on The Rumpus, The Bold Italic, and a number of other online and print publications.

Wed, October 25, 2017

Mary Patterson Broome on People Who Ask Her If She Really Needed to Quit Drinking

Today's episode features one of my very favorite people I know: comedian and writer Mary Patterson Broome. In it, MP tells a story from our live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series. Her story is about something most people in recovery are all too familiar with: those friends from the drinking days who question whether or not she really needs to be sober. When she's not entertaining the rest of us with tales of her former debauchery, MP is the Editor-in-Chief of AfterParty Magazine and RehabReviews and tours the country performing comedy. She has written for Women's Health and for AOL Originals’ Emmy-nominated Making a Scene with James Franco.

Fri, October 20, 2017

Defying Impossible Odds with John Clint Mabry

What John Clint Mabry has endured would have destroyed most people. John Clint Mabry is not most people. During a tragic car accident when he was 18, he lost both a friend and his leg. The former class clown then got addicted to opiates and thought he was living a terribly exciting life—appearing in movies like Superbad and partying at the Playboy Mansion. Then he lost his brother to addiction and spiraled down that road himself...until he couldn't any longer. Now a sober counselor, motivational speaker and author (lucky for me, I get to be the one helping him bring his story to the world, through my coaching program for writers!), Mabry serves as an example that with the right attitude, we can overcome anything. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)

Wed, October 18, 2017

Sara Benincasa on Having a Panic Attack in Italy

Today's episode features a woman everyone loves: Sara Benincasa. Benincasa is a screenwriter, recovering stand-up comedian and the author of "Real Artists Have Day Jobs" (William Morrow 2016); "DC Trip" (Adaptive 2015); "Great" (HarperTeen 2014); and "Agorafabulous!: Dispatches From My Bedroom" (William Morrow 2012). She also wrote a very silly joke book called "Tim Kaine Is Your Nice Dad."  In 2017, she adapted "DC Trip" as a screenplay with Bona Fide, Gunpowder & Sky, and Adaptive Studios. She also adapted "Agorafabulous" as a pilot for TV with Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody. Born and raised in New Jersey, she attended Emerson College, graduated from Warren Wilson College, and got a masters degree in teaching from Teachers College at Columbia University. She lives in Los Angeles and she's working on an untitled novel for Adaptive Books. She told this story at my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series. It's about being in high school, going to Europe, getting homesick, having a panic attack and ruining the day for her popular nemesis.

Fri, October 13, 2017

How to Brew Miracles with Carly Benson

Carly Benson is a sober wundekind. The voice behind the mega popular website Miracles Are Brewing, Benson is a yoga instructor, coach, leader of a monthly group about intentional living, co-founder (with Kelly Fitzgerald) of the Bloom Club, co-host (also with Kelly) of the Regroup podcast, and all around spiritual badass. While she and I had never met before, we'd both admired one another from afar—and now, frankly, I want to do as much as I can with her. In this episode, we discuss realizing everything has to change, what it's like to have a sudden spiritual change and how to make your mess into your message, among many other topics. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)

Wed, October 11, 2017

Comedian Greg Behrendt on Hanging Out with Crazy People While Under the Influence

Today’s episode features an absolute doll of a human being: Greg Behrendt. In it, Greg tells a story from my live storytelling show,  Hammer(ed) Time,  which takes place every other month in LA, has been an  LA Weekly  pick of the week  and is being developed into a video series. His story veers from a night where he was wasted and suddenly realized he was hanging out with dudes who had submachine guns into the rage he feels over the way people order from Starbucks to a riff on pudding, all while managing to make commentary on what it’s like to be a sober man today. When he’s not making Hammer(ed) Time audiences nearly pee their pants with laughter, Greg is performing (both as a comedian and musician) or writing (oh yeah; he’s the guy who co-wrote the seminal book  He’s Just Not That Into You,  among other bestselling books) . For more about the workshops I lead where I teach people to take their most disturbing or interesting experiences and make them into stories,  click here . For more information about my online writing classes and coaching programs,  click here .

Fri, October 06, 2017

Wearing a Wire to Bust Drug Dealers with Jesse Heffernan

Jesse Heffernan, the National Outreach and Empowerment Coordinator at Faces and Voices of Recovery, is a Certified Recovery Coach who's over 16 years sober. I was lucky enough to speak to him about finding a toxic community based on similar "woundedness," wearing a wire to bust drug dealers, whether or not he's clean cut and if the word "addict" is good or bad, among many other things. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Jesse, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)

Wed, October 04, 2017

Laura House on the 4th of July Party That Lasted 3 Days

Today's episode features the person Louis CK named as one of the funniest female comedians of our time: Laura House. In it, Laura tells a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series. Her story covers a 4th of July party she once attended that actually lasted three days and included lots of beer, nudity and an eventual police bust. Bonus: it also teaches you how to make a "hillbilly hot tub"! When she's not entertaining the rest of us with tales of her former debauchery, Laura is writing on TV shows (including Mom and Samantha Who), teaching meditation or performing in her one-woman show, How to Hate Yourself.

Thu, September 28, 2017

The Two Longtime Friends Behind InTheRooms.com

Kenny Pomerance and Ron Tannebaum, or Mr. Clean and RT, are the recovery titans behind the Facebook-for-recovery website InTheRooms. The two longtime friends—who first met when they were in college—launched their site in 2008, when they were both nearly three decades sober. Since then, the site has blossomed—with hundreds of thousands of members attending on-line meetings, watching lectures, using the ITR apps and bonding in ways they never could otherwise. I've been lucky enough to know these guys since the launch of ITR and they've never been anything but generous, kind and compassionate. This has a great deal to do with how they've been able to thrive—with an astounding 400,000+ members that have a combined million+ years of sobriety. In this episode, we discuss how many people told them that a Facebook for recovery idea was never going to work, why they don't look at anyone as competition and having a song written for them by Aerosmith, among many other topics. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Dawn, which means that the audio isn't as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)

Wed, September 27, 2017

Bucky Sinister (and Urn) on What It Takes to Be a Good Sober Man

Today’s episode features a truly unique soul: author Bucky Sinister. In it, Bucky tells a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series. His story is about a friend of his who happened to be "the most batshit crazy person" he knew, the sort of person who'd ask, if you told him your mother had breast cancer, "how nice her tits were." He also explains how much this friend of his taught him about how to be a sober man. When he's not bringing urns onto a stage (yep—if you listen to the episode, it will all make sense), Bucky is writing. He's the author of not only the hilarious addiction novel Black Hole but also four books of poetry and two self-help books, including Get Up: A 12-Step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks, and Weirdos. His journalism, film reviews, and short stories have appeared on The Rumpus, The Bold Italic, and a number of other online and print publications.

Thu, September 21, 2017

From Workaholic to the Inspiring Woman Behind SheRecovers

Dawn Nickel is a legend in the recovery world. The womab behind SheRecovers, Nickel was in recovery a long time and a self-proclaimed workaholic looking for a change when she realized, while sitting on the beach in Mexico, that what she really wanted to do: help people in recovery. And so she launched a Facebook page. Despite being something of a social media novice, the page took off—attracting hundreds of thousands of Likes as it established itself as the place for women in recovery (from anything) to gather together for inspiration and connection. Now SheRecovers is a business which includes retreats, events and coaching. In this episode, Nickel and I discuss how she was able to corner the market on women recovering, whether or not the word "addict' is stigmatizing and how she makes sure she doesn't sway back into workaholism (hint: it has to do with going on the SheRecovers retreats). NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Dawn, which means that the audio isn't as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)

Wed, September 20, 2017

Mary Patterson Broome on Comedy Festival Shenanigans

oday's episode features one of my very favorite people I know: comedian and writer Mary Patterson Broome. In it, MP tells a story from our live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series. Her story answers the question many among us may have craved an answer to: what kind of crazy activities go on at comedy festivals? Well, in this one, we learn about "mirror moments," deciding to hook up, how to handle it when the dude who just drove you home pukes all over himself and what to do when a drunk stranger needs to sleep it off when you're sharing a room. When she's not entertaining the rest of us with tales of her former debauchery, MP is the Editor-in-Chief of AfterParty Magazine and RehabReviews and tours the country performing comedy. She has written for Women's Health and for AOL Originals’ Emmy-nominated Making a Scene with James Franco.

Wed, September 13, 2017

Anna David on Her Three Dealers

Today's episode features a very special guest: me. Since I'm releasing episodes that contain stories from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, and I perform in this show, sometimes these episodes are going to feature—well, me. (By the by, the show, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.) The story I tell here is about the three cocaine dealers I had during my using days, the different signature moves they had and how I ended up in rehab with one of them. 

Fri, September 08, 2017

Natasha Vargas-Cooper on Taking Ambien in Recovery

Recover Girl takes to the stage again, as I'm giving you another episode featuring a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time—which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series. This episode features previous podcast guest Natasha Vargas-Cooper, a wondrous sprite who graduated Summa Cum Laude from UCLA with a double major in history and public policy and has been published in such places as The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine and GQ, among many others. Her book, Mad Men Unbuttoned, was praised as “a well-versed primer” by The New Yorker and “likely to become a trivia-lover’s bible” by The New York Times. Oh and in her spare time, she created the popular LA storytelling show Public School. In this story, she asks the question many may have pondered: what happens if you're "sober" but take Ambien? (Hint: it may involve texting your boss that you bet he looks good naked.)

Fri, September 08, 2017

Recover Girl Talks Creativity: The Language of Recovery

In this episode, Anna David speaks about how discovering the fact that recovery had its own language inspired her to focus her own work on the topic.

Wed, September 06, 2017

From Party Chica to Sober Senorita with Writer Kelly Fitzgerald

Kelly Fitzgerald is probably the most successful sober blogger in the world. The voice behind The Sober Senorita, Fitzgerald launched to internet fame when she wrote a post about being sober a year, which The Huffington Post picked up and posted on its home page. Cut to the post going viral, being published in multiple languages and placing Fitzgerald in a position of authority on recovery. She's now been published on sites like Elite Daily, Ravishly and Thought Catalog, hosts her own podcast and offers a virtual coaching program. In this episode, we discuss being uncomfortable outing yourself as sober, what it is about her first blog post about sobriety that hit a nerve, being a member of my coaching program for writers and whether or not everything happens as it's meant to, among many other topics. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Kelly, which means that the audio isn't as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)

Fri, September 01, 2017

Going From Gang Member to World Famous Tattoo Artist with Freddy Negrete

Freddy Negrete is inarguably one of the world's greatest legends in the tattoo world. The former Chicano gang member perfected the art of "prison" black and grey tattoos before going to work for fellow tattoo legends “Good Time” Charlie Cartwright and Jack Rudy in East LA. He logged time working with Ed Hardy (who, for the uninitiated, is a real guy and not just a t-shirt line) and now makes headlines when he tattoos famous folks like Henry Styles. Despite his current celebrity status, Negrete has hardly had an easy life: the son of a Jewish woman and a Mexican father, Negrete was pretty much orphaned when both his parents went to prison. He joined a gang, entered a life of crime, started going in and out of juvie halls and prison and, along the way, became a heroin addict. Now sober over a half decade, Negrete is the co-author of a memoir based on his life, Smile Now, Cry Later: Guns, Gangs and Tattoos: My Life in Black and Gray . In this episode, we talk about how gangs provided camaraderie, making tattoo guns out of cassette tapes and his sudden spiritual awakening, among many other topics.

Wed, August 30, 2017

Eddie Pepitone on Neighbors Who Smoke Pot and Being Addicted to Self-Improvement

Recover Girl takes a turn this time, as I'm going to start releasing episodes that contain stories from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time. It takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series. This episode features previous podcast guest Eddie Pepitone, a national treasure to the part of the nation that knows him. This was the theme of The Bitter Buddha, the critically acclaimed documentary about his life, and is also occasionally a part of his stand-up act. As a comedian and actor, he’s been on WTF and Conan repeatedly, as well as on The Last Comic Standing, The Sarah Silverman Program, Happy Endings, Flight of the Concords, 2 Broke Girls, It’s Always Sunny and many more. In this story, he talks about "sculpting a winner" and great thinkers who believe we were never born, among other (hilarious) topics. For more about the workshops I lead where I teach people to take their most disturbing or interesting experiences and make them into stories, click here . For more information about my online writing classes and coaching programs, click here .

Thu, August 24, 2017

Recover Girl Talks Creativity: Why You Never Run Out of Stories

In this five-minute episode, Anna David talks about how new ideas occur to her every time she thinks she's shared everything she has to say about recovery.

Thu, August 17, 2017

Handling Trauma in Recovery with Buddhist Teacher Dave Smith

Buddhist meditation teacher Dave Smith has been studying the Dharma since 1993 when a series of traumatic incidents (including the death of his sister and girlfriend) motivated him to seek help. Over the next decade, he lived a double life—going on meditation retreats while also living the high life as a touring musician. Now sober over 14 years, Smith has led retreats, mentored people one-on-one and given numerous Dharma talks (you can listen to some of them here). He’s also become an author, releasing Ethical Mindfulness in 2015 (he’s currently working on a follow up, which we chat about at length in this episode). In this episode, we discuss how to recognize trauma when it comes up, his feelings about no longer being a musician and why his writing career is only just beginning, among many other topics.

Thu, August 10, 2017

Recover Girl Talks Creativity: Deciding to Write About Recovery

In this five-minute episode, Anna David discusses how she gently dipped her toe into the waters of writing about recovery—before ultimately submerging herself.

Thu, August 03, 2017

Embracing Creative Dreams in Recovery With Writer Jenna Hutt

Writer Jenna Hutt always knew she had a story to tell. The Colorado-dwelling wife and mother of one had an inarguably interesting life and had been through struggles she knew could help other people: in the span of three years, her father committed suicide and her husband had a traumatic brain injury, all while she struggled with alcoholism. Hutt had always been a secret drinker—her very first drink was a bottle she chugged at home alone, when she was 12—and her secrets caught up with her when her husband discovered her suitcase full of empty bottles during a trip to see his family. Now sober over three years, Hutt is writing her story and it is my great pleasure to be able to have a front row seat during the process because she’s doing it in my coaching program. All this means that while we’ve been in email, phone and webinar contact over the past six months, this recording marks our first in-person meeting. In this episode, we discuss where being a control freak meets alcoholism and embracing the little voice inside that tells you to write, among many other topics.

Thu, July 27, 2017

Recover Girl Talks Creativity: How "One Day at a Time" Helped Me Write My First Book

In this special five-minute episode of Recover Girl, Anna David discusses how she wanted to write a book her whole life—but didn't make any progress until she learned that writing worked just like recovery.

Thu, July 20, 2017

Going From Anonymous to Recovery Writer with Mary Patterson Broome

It seems crazy that comedian Mary Patterson Broome hasn't been on the podcast before. The Alabama-bred lady has performed stand-up comedy at clubs, colleges and many other places for over 11 years. She's also written for AOL Originals’ Emmy-nominated Making a Scene with James Franco and WE TV’s Sex Box. But most relevantly for me, she's the Editor-in-Chief at RehabReviews.com/AfterParty Magazine. Faithful listeners know this is a website I started and MP helped me run until I left in March (to take the helm at In Recovery Magazine) and MP took over. To say she's been my right hand is an understatement. MP's journey to sobriety has gone hand-in-hand with her journey to becoming a professional writer—a subject we get into in this episode. Listen and find out how the anonymous "Sarah" came to rule the roost of one of the biggest recovery sites out there.

Thu, July 13, 2017

Recover Girl Goes to the Shrink: If You Take an Addictive Medication Enough, Are You Going to Become Addicted?

Dr. Josh Lichtman answers a listener's question about whether or not you're guaranteed to become addicted to an addictive medication if you take it enough.

Thu, July 06, 2017

Becoming a Pastor in Recovery with Rock Star Royalty China Isler

China Isler—ne, Kantner—is someone I've known for a while...since I was 10, as a matter of fact. This is because we went to the same grammar school and despite the fact that the place where I grew up was somewhat sophisticated and jaded, our school was often abuzz over the fact that rock star royalty—the daughter of Jefferson Starship's Paul Kantner and Grace Slick—was among us. Despite how China appeared—I remember her being bubbly and cool beyond belief—she had her first drink at two, was "uncomfortable" by four and was drinking regularly by 12. And so she found sobriety at an early age—in high school—and watched her life take off. Suddenly she was the youngest MTV DJ ever and discovering how much she loved acting. An acting career as well as a relapse followed—after which China took a look at her life and decided what she really wanted to do was a lot more spiritual than saying someone else's lines in front of a camera. And so she became...a pastor. No, it's not the typical path for the daughter of two rock stars. But the Minister of Substance Use Disorder and Recovery at UrbanMission in Pomona is as passionate about recovery as anyone I've ever met. Sober since 1998, she's now the Faith Leader/Liaison at Facing Addiction.

Thu, June 29, 2017

Recover Girl Goes to the Shrink: If I Take Medication, Am I Still Sober?

A listener was told by her sponsor that because she takes anti-depressants, she isn't actually sober. Dr. Josh Lichtman gives his take.

Thu, June 22, 2017

Becoming a Writer in Recovery With Paul Fuhr

I'm going to have to be honest here: I'm very invested in Paul Fuhr's recovery—and it's not just because I am a selfless person. I've gotten to know Paul, you see, because he wrote me a fan email several years ago about this very podcast. How lovely was it? Well I'm a hardened soul and it made me cry.  But here's the really fabulous part: after that email, Paul wrote a story on spec for the site I was then editing. And it was brilliant. Cut to: Paul becoming AfterParty's most prolific writer. Every story he turned in examined a different aspect of recovery in a way that was wholly original, clever, and passionate. (Side note: because Paul is incredibly modest, he never told me until we recorded this very episode that he had a Masters in English and had worked as an editor. I had been patting myself on the back for years over having "discovered" him.) Our conversation did not disappoint. Please listen and learn how a brilliant guy with a wife, three kids, a career managing dozens of people found and then handles sobriety.

Thu, June 15, 2017

Recover Girl Goes to the Shrink: What is Bipolar 2?

A listener's psychiatrist diagnosed her as Bipolar 2. Then she found out the psychiatrist was wrong. What is Bipolar 2 and how is it different than regular old Bipolar 1?

Thu, June 08, 2017

Quitting Drinking When You’re Not an Alcoholic with James Swanwick

Aussie entrepreneur James Swanwick  has been an ESPN anchor on SportsCenter, is the author of ‘Insider Journalism Secrets’ and is the co-founder of international agency, Crocmedia. He has been a print or TV journalist for 20 years, writing for newspapers and magazines in the US, UK and Australia. These include Associated Press, Sky Sports, ESPN, WPLJ radio, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Daily Telegraph, The Sun, Sky Movie Channel, Q104FM, Loaded magazine, Woman’s Day, The Courier-Mail and much more. He also sells the coolest blue-blocking glasses around, hosts an eponymously titled hit podcast and runs any number of other successful online ventures. But the reason I had him on the pod was to discuss his 30 Day No Alcohol Challenge , a program he developed after he decided to quit drinking because he was tired of “just existing in the world.” His program isn’t for alcoholics but for people like him—those who feel that drinking is preventing them from living the best lives they can. (Swanwick’s experience, by the by, is that he followed those 30 days of not drinking with continued abstinence; it’s now been years.)

Thu, June 01, 2017

Recover Girl Goes to the Shrink: What's a Co-Occurring Disorder?

Psychiatrist Dr. Josh Lichtman answers the question: what the hell is a co-occurring disorder?

Thu, May 25, 2017

From Homeless Skateboarder to Sober Recovery Advocate with Brandon Novak

Brandon Novak shouldn’t be alive. The professional skateboarder, New York Times bestseller author and member of the Jackass crew has hit all the pit stops on the way to the bottom: homelessness, multiple trips to rehab, incarceration and the like. But somehow, some way, the 38-year-old from Baltimore had a moment of clarity on May 25, 2015 and nothing’s been the same since. The guy who once passed a UA in jail by using his cellmate’s urine has transitioned into a recovery evangelist, flying all over the country to help those struggling with addiction and get them into treatment. Just how serious is he about it? Well, he gives out his personal cell phone number (610-635-9092) and encourages anyone who thinks they need help to call it. When I interviewed Novak, the Baltimore native was visiting LA where he was making a series of appearances advocating for recovery. And how’s this for irony? The hotel room where we did the interview ended up a little bit thrashed but I was the one who thrashed it. To understand how that happened, you’ve got to listen to the whole episode.

Fri, May 12, 2017

From Homeless to Grammy-Winning Recovery Advocate with Sirah

In this episode of Recover Girl, Grammy Award-winning recording artist, Sirah, joins me for a brutally honest conversation about her disturbing, crazy, wonderful life of dysfunction, addiction, crime, and music.

Fri, April 28, 2017

Transitioning from Addicted Woman to Sober Man with Ian Harvie

Ian Harvie is the groundbreaking transgender stand-up comedian whom you may have seen in the Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning TV series  TRANSPARENT.  In this episode of Recover Girl, Ian Harvie joined me on my couch to talk about his childhood in rural Maine, his journey to discovering his true gender identity, his recovery from alcoholism, and his new life in sobriety as a trans comic.

Fri, April 14, 2017

Drinking After Years of Sobriety With Jemima Kirke

Actress and artist Jemima Kirke came on the podcast. Yes, those are thrilling words to write. This is not only exciting because she’s luminous, talented and plays Jessa on freaking Girls but also because she has a history with substances that you don’t hear many people share about. After a wild youth, which included multi-day benders and bouts of depression, Kirke showed up at her mom’s in early 20s, saying she was ready for rehab. She went from one treatment center to the next, finding enough fault with the program there for her to be kicked out (but not before meeting the man she eventually married, who happens to now own a sober living). After years of staying sober and doing the 12-step thing, Kirke began to question whether the one-size-fits-all philosophy about addiction applied to her. And so she had a drink. Contrary to what she’d been told, nothing bad happened. That was a few years ago and in that time, she’s watched her career rise to superstardom and embraced motherhood (in addition to the two kids she has with her husband, she is also the step-mother to his kids from a previous marriage). In this episode, we talk about self-hatred, rehabs just out to take your money and if meeting your future spouse in treatment is “trauma bonding,” among other topics.

Thu, March 23, 2017

Having Carrie Fisher Save Your Life with Mara Shapshay

Writer and comedian Mara Shapshay has had a life of inarguable highs and lows: Growing up outside Boston as the daughter of a sex therapist, Shapshay felt alienated as the only Jewish girl at her school (not to mention the only girl whose mother talked extensively about oral sex). After a traumatic incident in Israel, Shapshay turned to opiates and alcohol; they helped her through film school at NYU, after which she landed in LA and promptly married a gay man. Stints at rehab followed but they didn't take and Shapshay ended up homeless and living in her car. Then she randomly met Carrie Fisher and asked her for help. Next thing she knew, Shapshay was living with Fisher and helping the late actress through shock treatments. Now over a decade sober, Shapshay is a practicing Orthodox Jew married to a sober (not gay) Orthodox Jew. And she's determined to carry on Fisher's mission to spread awareness about mental health. In this episode, we discuss why mental illness carries more of a stigma than addiction, the lure of celebrity and the difference between trust and faith, among many other topics.

Thu, March 16, 2017

Finding Christianity in Sobriety with Author Heather King

Author Heather King puts the rest of us to shame. She's written so many books she literally has no idea how many. She went through law school pretty much in a black out and managed to ace the bar. And she manages to embody the sort of joy that many seek and cannot find. At least part of this surely has to do with the fact that she very much walks the walk. Now sober over 30 years, King converted to Catholicism after having a crisis of faith and now writes a weekly column on arts, culture, faith and life for Angelus. It's been a long journey from the bar stools of Boston to the churches of LA and luckily King is a charming narrator. In this episode, we discuss knocking on a neighbor's door to buy beers off of him during brutal hangovers, being too cheap to become a gambling addict and weaning oneself off of romantic obsessions, among many other topics.

Thu, March 02, 2017

How Pot Can Help Recovery with Joe Schrank

Interventionist, sober companion, Fix co-founder and former proprietor of Brooklyn's Loft 107 Sober Living, Joe Schrank is a somewhat controversial figure in recovery circles. While he's never been afraid to speak his mind, Schrank has just launched his most chatter-worthy business of all: High Sobriety, an LA-based "cannabis included" treatment center that offers, in its own words, "harm reduction through an innovative medication assisted program." The first of its kind in the United States, High Sobriety is aimed at those people who Schrank feels would be dead if they had to abstain from all chemicals—that is, those who try sobriety and end up with a needle in their arm. In this episode, Schrank discusses his own sobriety, how the US is conservative in its approach to recovery and why the issue of harm reduction isn't as simple as it first seems, among many other topics.

Thu, February 16, 2017

How Art Helps Addicts with Joe Polish

Marketing guru Joe Polish can't simply be described as a marketing guru. The founder of ILoveMarketing and the Genius Network, Polish is one of the world's leading business coaches (this can happen when Richard Branson is one of your clients) and runs several exclusive mastermind groups. But now Polish has found his true passion: enlightening the world about recovery—in particular the way making art can help addicts. Hence his project, Artists for Addicts. In this episode, we discuss getting down to 105 pounds when freebasing cocaine, the insidious nature of sex addiction and how Artists for Addicts is helping to change the global conversation about how people view addicts, among other topics.

Thu, February 02, 2017

Finding Recovery After a Scandal with TV Journalist Rob Koebel

Former TV news journalist Rob Koebel's future looked bright: he'd won an Emmy and worked his way up to being a reporter at a Wisconsin TV station. Then, in 2012, his ex-wife, a news anchor named Christi Paul who had worked for CNN and HLN, released a book called Love Isn't Supposed to Hurt about her marriage to an abusive drunk—Koebel (though in the book his name is changed to Justin). This set Koebel off on the bender to end all benders—an event which culminated in him getting busted for peeing outside an Apple store. He was well enough known in Wisconsin for this incident to make the papers and as a result he lost his job. But Koebel didn't want that to be the end of his story so he got sober and then packed up his bags and made his way to LA, where he's landed acting roles in everything from Eastbound and Down to Under The Dome. In this episode, we talk about what it's like to sell your Emmy and finding new dreams after your original ones were shattered, among other topics.

Thu, January 19, 2017

From Addict to Political Advocacy with Ryan Hampton

Ryan Hampton was all set up for a career in politics: he made his first political donation at the age of 12, met Bill Clinton at the age of 13 and worked for Al Gore and Janet Reno while in college. All sounds rosy, yes? Well, the reality is that his childhood had been anything but (Hampton's dad not only went to prison but kept his kids in the dark about it for years). After a hiking injury at the age of 23, Hampton became hooked on hydrocodone and, after being labeled a "drug seeker," he—like many others—turned to heroin. While he was lucky enough to find sobriety, other people he knew weren't so lucky and he in fact lost three close friends to addiction in his first year clean. That's when he decided to turn back to his first love. After being elected as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in July, 2016, Hampton drove out to Philadelphia, interviewing people whose lives were affected by addiction along the way. It was during that trip (which he documented for HuffPo) that Hampton was invited to meet with the President's domestic policy advisors to discuss his mission and since then, he's continued to call attention to the prevalence of addiction. In this episode, we talk about how to handle finding out that your dad has a secret life and why pill addicts turn to heroin, among many other topics.

Thu, January 19, 2017

Special Episode: Writing Issues: Patrick O'Neil

Regular listeners will notice something unusual here: an entirely new show! I am launching a new project, Writing Issues, where I'll be interviewing authors about their struggles and successes and in order to get it in people's hands (er, ears), I am inserting one of the interviews here as a special episode. The guest, Patrick O'Neil, is not talking about his issues but about his writing career. It's a short episode where he discusses how Ryan Gosling was going to play him in a movie; I hope you enjoy it and if you don't, I promise that the next episode will bring us back to our regularly scheduled programming. Patrick's bio, in brief: Patrick O’Neil is the author of the memoir Gun, Needle, Spoon and an excerpted in part French translation titled: Hold-Up (13e Note Editions). His writing has appeared in numerous publications including Juxtapoz, Salon, The Weeklings, Fourteen Hills, The Nervous Breakdown, and Razorcake. Patrick is a contributing editor for the NYC-to-California-transplant-post-beat-pre-apocalyptic art, writing, and music anthology: Sensitive Skin Magazine. He is a regular contributor to the recovery website: AfterPartyMagazine, a two-time nominee for Best Of The Net, and a PEN Center USA Professional and Mentor. Starting in 2017, Patrick will be the Coordinator for Why There Are Words, a Los Angeles reading series.

Thu, January 19, 2017

Special Episode: Writing Issues: Kristen McGuiness

Regular listeners will notice something unusual here: an entirely new show! I am launching a new project, Writing Issues, where I'll be interviewing authors about their struggles and successes and in order to get it in people's hands (er, ears), I am inserting one of the interviews here as a special episode. The guest, Kristen McGuiness, has been a guest on AfterPartyPod, but here she's not talking about addiction but about her writing career. I hope you enjoy it and if you don't, I promise that the next episode will bring us back to our regularly scheduled programming. Kristen's bio, in short: Kristen McGuiness is the author of the Los Angeles Times bestselling memoir, 51/50: The Magical Adventures of a Single Life , which was optioned by CBS Cable with Alison Brie attached to star and Original Films attached to produce. In addition, Kristen has co-written numerous books in the genres of self-help, business, psychology, travel, memoir, and dating. She has also written for Marie Claire, AOL, Huffington Post, and The Fix, and has appeared on The Today Show, KTLA , and in USA Today . Kristen lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughter, and dog Peter.

Thu, January 05, 2017

Going From Teenage Delinquent to Treatment Center Owner with Jamison Monroe

Newport Academy owner Jamison Monroe may look like a successful, dashing Southern gentleman and—well, he is. Not only do we rate Newport as one of the top 10 rehabs in the world but Monroe is a sought-after speaker (yep, that was him at the Aspen Ideas Festival) and frequent subject of articles. There's a reason for this: for all that Monroe was born into privilege, his inner world wasn't always so privileged and so, when he discovered in high school that all the so-called cool kids drank, he dove in head first. School expulsion, cutting, jail, suicidal ideation and many treatment centers followed but after finally getting clean and sober for good, Monroe found his life mission: he opened Orange County-based Newport in 2009 when he was 28 and a second facility in Connecticut in 2013. In this episode, we discuss what it means to be cool, how addiction is a family disease and how kids who hate rehab show up smiling at alumni events, among other topics.

Thu, December 22, 2016

An Argument For Non-Abstinence with Dr. Adi Jaffe

Dr. Adi Jaffe is someone who's well-known in addiction and recovery circles—primarily for his unorthodox approach to recovery. A former meth addict who went to prison for dealing drugs, Jaffe cleaned up his act in rehab and spent three years in 12-step abstaining from drugs and alcohol. And then one day he thought about drinking; he talked it over with the people in his life and gave it a try. It's now 11 years later and his addiction hasn't resurfaced, despite the fact that he's sampled both pot and ecstasy during this past decade and change. During this time, he went to grad school, became a counselor and opened Alternatives Addiction Treatment, a rehab that teaches people to moderate drinking (it also shows those seeking abstinence how to achieve that). A sought-after public speaker (check out his Ted X talk here), Jaffe is the first to admit that he may be wrong about his approach to addiction but is determined to try to spark conversations that show people there are alternatives to 12-step. In this episode, we discuss why you shouldn't ride a motorcycle to make your drug deals, what it's like to stay sober in jail and how he may have just had his first spiritual experience, among many other topics.

Thu, December 08, 2016

Getting Sober After a Tragedy with Maurice LaMarche

Voice actor Maurice LaMarche is someone you've heard more times than you've possibly heard your own parents. He wasn't only the voice of the Brain on Pinky and the Brain but won an Emmy for one of the numerous characters he played on Futurama. Then there were the parts he played on a little show called The Simpsons. Have we mentioned Zootopia, The Powerpuff Girls, Rick and Morty and Team America? Though he started out as a stand-up who did impressions (in this episode alone, you can be privy not only to Orson Welles but also Peter Falk and many others), that all changed when his life took a tragic turn in his late 20s. In short, his father was murdered and Maurice's life was derailed by alcoholism. A few years later, after an intervention arranged by his wife, the younger LaMarche found sobriety. In this episode, we discuss dreaming in color, pretending you're starring in your own TV show as a kid and whether or not it's important to have A-listers at your intervention, among other topics.

Fri, November 25, 2016

Managing OCD and Alcoholism with Joleen Lunzer

Comedian Joleen Lunzer may hail from Minnesotta but she's carved her way into the LA comedy scene quite nicely. She was one of three finalists in "Loni's Laugh Off" and produced the LA comedy show "Dissecting the Set." The journey to where she is now—happily married and the doyenne of the website PaleGurl —hasn't, however, been without its tribulations. After following a "slutty" boyfriend to Arizona, Lunzer ended up briefly institutionalized in a place where, on her first night, her teenage roommate threatened to kill her (a worker at the institution slept in between them as protection). Managing OCD has made some things challenging—after checking to make sure a door is locked, she has to touch the handle in a certain way to confirm that all is okay—but she's now got the condition under control and and is sitting atop four years of sobriety. In this episode, we discuss how pale skin fares during heat waves, punching a guy over a cab and just what a bad idea it is to drink while taking antidepressants, among many other topics.

Thu, November 10, 2016

From Homeless to Healer with Khalil Rafati

Entrepreneur Khalil Rafati is arguably the least likely entrepreneur out there. Many years ago, the former heroin and crack addict left Toledo, Ohio after getting into some serious scrapes with the law. He ended up living in a shed in Malibu where he and a roommate shot drugs by the light generated by Fast Times at Ridgemont High (which they played over and over again on a VCR that was powered by electricity they were siphoning from next door). Finally washing ashore at Pasadena Recovery Center, Rafati got sober but still found himself unfulfilled and awash with anxiety and the feeling that his life wasn't happening the way he'd hoped. After filling up on Tony Robbins and getting inspired by Oprah, he set about changing that, opening first a Malibu Sober Living and then SunLife Organics, a juice shop that had lines out the door from day one and has now spread to numerous other locations. Now Rafati is sharing his unlikely success story in his just released memoir, I Forgot to Die (available on Amazon as well as at SunLife). In this episode, we discuss what happens when a combination of ecstasy and pills changes your life, what it feels like to be able to buy your mom a house and how to let go of the sad story you tell yourself, among many other topics.

Fri, October 28, 2016

Getting Over An Addiction to Money (and Everything Else) With Sam Polk

Author Sam Polk has had an interesting journey to authorship. The former hedge fund manager had traveled what many would consider the picture perfect upward trajectory journey, escaping the confines of a "Willy Loman-like dad" and landing at Columbia University. But an addiction to drugs and alcohol, among other vices, helped him get kicked out. No matter! He landed on Wall Street, where he quickly rose to the top. But then he realized, as some do, that the top was empty and that his lifelong belief that enough money would cure all that ailed him wasn't true. And so he left Wall Street, began working on a book about it and sent off a blind query to the New York Times about how sick his money obsession had made him. This piece, For the Love of Money, immediately went insanely viral and his book (also called For the Love of Money ) snatched up by Scribner. It's no wonder; the book is impossible to put down and takes the reader to when his final Wall Street bonus was $3.6 million and he was, as he wrote in the Times, "angry because it wasn’t big enough." He was 30. Times have changed for the happily married, LA-dwelling father of two, who's been sober for 14 years and is now the cofounder and CEO of Everytable, a social enterprise that sells fresh, yummy food at reasonable prices and the founder and Executive Director of Groceryships, a nonprofit that helps low-income families struggling with food-related illnesses. In this episode, we talk about our societal obsession with money, how many Wall Street-ers want out but are trapped in gilded cages and the break up that led him to bottom out, among many other topics.

Fri, October 14, 2016

From Alcoholism to Alcohol Counselor with Erica Spiegelman

Addiction and wellness specialist Erica Spiegelman isn't only the author of the best-selling addiction book Rewired:A Bold New Approach to Addiction & Recovery but also a motivational speaker and counselor. Her focus is on authenticity, in particular how to rewire the brain after substance abuse to become more authentic, and she shares that message not only to her personal clients and in her book but also through newsletters, blogs and her radio show, Rewired Radio, which plays on RadioMD. But Spiegelman doesn't come at this work from solely a clinical perspective. Yes, she is a certified CADAC but she also struggled with alcoholism for many years herself, as she went from Northern California to Arizona to New York to LA. Eventually, she bottomed out and ended up at Betty Ford, where she actually learned about alcoholism—and what to do about it. That's when she realized that all the approaches to recovery she saw were quite specific—those that, say, followed solely AA or only Buddhism—and so she set out to establish a method to help people who don't relate to one specific path. In this episode, we discuss growing up in the Bay Area, whether or not shoplifting is a rite of passage and what ever ends up happening to those friends who our parents thought were the bad influences (hint: they don't seem to be the ones who end up in rehab), among many other topics.

Fri, September 16, 2016

Getting Relationships Right With Luke Storey

Lifestylist Luke Storey is an interesting fellow. A former stylist (he's dressed everyone you can name and plenty you can't), he founded the School of Style, a fashion school for stylists (which teaches everything from the fundamentals of the business and art of styling to experiential, hands-on training) in 2008 but slowly realized that his heart was more in this business called life than it was in styling. Using himself as a "human research lab," Storey has done some, well, out-and-out crazy things in the name of health—from daily ice baths to injecting himself with poisonous frog venom to only drinking spring water. Now he teaches those lessons to the masses, through one-on-one coaching, public speaking and his hit new podcast, The Life Stylist. Storey is also sober nearly 20 years, after a youth that included crack smoking, drug dealing and all the issues that go along with those pastimes. In this episode, we discuss the two sides of humility, how we're really just walking around in meat suits and the mysteriousness of people who are naturally balanced in their relationships, among other issues.

Thu, September 01, 2016

The Double Whammy of Alcoholism & Sex Addiction with Jim Norton

Comedian Jim Norton may, with apologies to Stern, be a rival for the King of All Media (let's just call him the Prince). The co-host of the immensely popular Opie with Jim Norton radio show (he replaced Anthony), Norton's not only been a regular on Leno but also appeared on Letterman and Kimmel. The host of multiple HBO specials and an eponymously titled VICE show, Norton performs stand-up all over the country, is the author of two New York Times bestselling books and has appeared on numerous TV shows, including regular spots on Inside Amy Schumer. Sober since the age of 18 (he's coming up on his 30th sober-versary), Norton's first drink was a Whiskey Sour at a family wedding and his last a year or so after rehab (where he snuck out and drank). Despite his thriving career and decades of recovery, Norton struggles—very openly—with a sex addiction that causes his life to be unmanageable in all the requisite ways. Though he's had periods of dealing with it, at this point Norton is open about the fact that he experimented regularly with other boys as a kid, does the porn-Tinder merry-go-round and has a predilection for transsexual hookers. In this episode, we explored the many facets of his addictive tendencies while also touching on feeling like a fraud, extreme thinking and self-destructive tendencies that bring an inordinate amount of pleasure, among other topics.

Fri, August 19, 2016

Switching Addictions with Debra DiGiovanni

Comedian Debra DiGiovanni has had an enviable career: she's been awarded the Canadian Comedy Award for best female comic for the third time in five years, has been called the “Best Comedian to see after a Messy Break Up” and for three years running was named her hometown Toronto’s favorite comedian. Then there's the fact that she was a finalist on the fifth season of Last Comic Standing , performs all over the world and has been featured repeatedly on Comedy Central. But it's not all laughs—oh, no. The lovely lady has a long history with booze, pot, acid and the like (estimated number of times she'd done acid: hundreds). Though she quit drinking years ago, she's a recent full on convert to sobriety, having given up pot this past January. Next on her radar of addictions to deal with: food. In this episode, we talked about the sort of dreams you have when you quit pot, whether or not small towns make people drink more and not being able to watch TV, among many other topics.

Fri, August 05, 2016

Making Recovery Your Life with Shane Ramer

Podcaster and musician Shane Ramer has a day job but his passion is recovery—sharing about his journey out of addiction in the hope that he can help others share about theirs. And so one day, he got an idea: why not start a recovery podcast? A month later, That Sober Guy was born; on it, he's interviewed everyone from Paul Gilmartin to Rich Roll to Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach (to yours truly). The father of two kids, Ramer lives in Northern California where he works in customer service at a company where he also hosts an in-company podcast (who knew there was such a thing?) After a rough childhood ("When I watched the show Cops, I always thought my family was going to be on it," he says), Ramer first found drugs and then recovery. In this episode, we talk about being "one of the 'almost' guys, playing the victim and whether getting or staying sober is more challenging, among other topics.

Fri, July 22, 2016

A New Way to Work the 12 Steps with Herb K

Herb K is something of a legend in the recovery community, having discovered a specific way of working the 12 steps in 1988 (when he was four years sober) and then sharing that way with the world. The author of Twelve-Step Guide to Using the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book and Twelve Steps to Spiritual Awakening; Enlightenment for Everyone , Herb didn't know, when he retired from the four-decade career that he'd spent working in human resources, he'd be launched on a path of guiding people through the spiritual path he found. But now the man who spent seven years in seminary and has a graduate education in psychology conducts workshops and teaches courses on 12-step spirituality all over. In this episode, we discussed the misunderstanding of the word meditation, how guiding adolescents means toning down the spiritual language and the way he first came into recovery (spoiler alert: he thought his wife had the problem), among many other topics.

Fri, July 08, 2016

Giving Up Random Sex in Sobriety with Emily McCombs

Writer, blogger, Instagram star, adopted mom of the cat that looks like Adam Driver—there are very few media fame boxes Emily McCombs hasn't checked. The 32-year-old is also the gal who pretty much single-handedly put xo jane on the map back when it launched in 2011, with the sort of mind-blowing traffic attracted by brilliantly written stories on such topics as talking to your former rapist on Facebook. McCombs has been equally open about her issues with addiction, whether she's writing from the perspective of seven years of sobriety to people who may have drinking problems or sharing about her struggle with sex addiction—in particular the need to give up meeting strange men on Craigslist for random sex. Happily for me, I met Emily when she was 10 days sober and at her first party that offered alcohol (and I was also someone she called for career advice when she was offered the xojane gig—a fact that I manage to drop into conversations every time one of her stories causes a sensation). Now sober seven years, McCombs can sound off about almost anything. In this episode, we discuss if you have to be a tormented kid to be a cool adult, how it seems like all dreams can come true in early sobriety and why being a mom means you can never again toy with the idea of suicide, among other topics.  

Fri, June 24, 2016

The Early Days of Sobriety with Fielding Edlow

Writer, actor and stand-up comedian Fielding Edlow may claim she didn't get anywhere in her 20s but she's more than made up for it since: after her solo show Coke-Free J.A.P. killed at the NYC Fringe Festival, it was developed as a half-hour pilot for Showtime. Her plays have been finalists with the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Actors Theatre of Louisville and City Theatre. She voices the recurring character ‘Roxie’ on BoJack Horseman and just created and starred in her web series Bitter Homes and Gardens . And there's more! She has a monthly stand-up show—Eat, Pray, Fuck—the third Friday of every month (alas, at the same time and date as the AfterParty storytelling show , which means she can never perform in ours). Now over 18 years sober and a happily married mother, the former New Yorker seems to be something not many people can claim: content. In this episode, we discuss how recovery is like peeling an artichoke and not an onion, the idyllic early years of sobriety and whether or not it's cheesy and awful to talk to your inner child, among many other topics.  

Fri, June 10, 2016

Surviving Self-Harm with Christina Beck

Filmmaker Christina Beck's looks may be deceiving: a picture perfect blonde, Beck grew up in the San Fernando Valley and quit high school to became a punk rocker scenester after a crazy night out in Hollywood seeing the band The Cramps. An all-girl rap band called Toe Jam followed, as did acting roles in numerous Penelope Spheeris movies, including Suburbia and The Boys Next Door. Now she's acting in something even more personal: Perfection, a movie she also wrote and directed. Perfection deals not only with substance abuse (the mother character imbibes plenty) but also narcissism (the mother character's got that covered) and self-harm (Kristabelle, the character Beck plays, uses self-harm as a way to cope with those other two factors). Now sober, Beck talks about her month of doing heroin in London, blowing off the high school sorority for the punk rock scene, her own experiences with self-harm and the 10-year journey to get Perfection to the screen, among many other topics.

Fri, May 27, 2016

Finding Your Biological Father on Facebook with Bill Dixon

Comedian and writer Bill Dixon (who's, by the by, performed in  our storytelling show ) had a childhood destined to melt the heart of the hardest souls. His parents met in rehab, his dad took off and his mother—after a long struggle with hardcore alcoholism as well as bipolar disorder—killed herself when he was 12. Miraculously, Dixon managed to come out of those formative years and become an incredible Hollywood success story, writing on and producing  Hollywood Game Night  with Jane Lynch, being featured on HuffPo,  The Today  Show  and Fox News, among other well-known places, and running a popular LA comedy show. He's also over a decade sober, after alcoholism so severe that he actually came out of a blackout and realized he was dating someone he didn't know (as he jokes, when your parents meet in rehab, you're destined to become a comedian as well as an alcoholic). In this episode, we discuss planning your shares in AA meetings, whether or not peanut butter is a condiment or a food and what happens when the Dad you haven't spoken to since you were little suddenly starts re-posting your Facebook photos, among many other topics.

Thu, May 12, 2016

Where Buddhism Meets Recovery With Noah Levine

Author, counselor and Buddhist teacher Noah Levine is a legend in the Buddhist community—not to mention the recovery one (not to mention the world). The 45-year-old author of Dharma Punx and Refuge Recovery , among other works, got sober at the ripe old age of 17, after multiple incarcerations and a youth filled with suicidal ideation. While in juvie, his dad—famed Buddhist teacher Stephen Levine—suggested that Noah try meditation. Thus began the younger Levine's journey, which saw him training with Jack Kornfield, establishing the Against the Stream meditation society and crafting a program that combines Buddhist principles with recovery. (Along the way he got a Masters in counseling.) His program, Refuge Recovery, is now a treatment center but all sorts of rehabs and groups use the principles he writes about in their programs. Levine currently travels the globe, speaking, holding retreats and leading groups. In this episode, we talk about how not to attach to outcomes, thinking about death at the age of five and not working too hard, among many other topics.

Thu, April 28, 2016

What Happens When Your Dad Directs Your Drug Movie with Nick Reiner and Matt Elisofon

Writers Nick Reiner and Matt Elisofon, the cowriters of the new addiction and recovery drama Being Charlie , did more than their fair share of research in order to create a compelling, convincing story: the two met when they were roommates at Promises rehab and, after bonding over the usual rehab stuff (that is, making fun of other residents), they started channeling their newfound time and energy into a script. Originally something they wrote for TV (though they confess they truly never thought it go anywhere), Being Charlie eventually got into the hands of Nick’s director dad Rob ( When Harry Met Sally and The Princess Bride , among many others). Originally, Rob was just giving the boys notes; eventually, he signed on to helm the project. The story, which focuses on the troubled son of a movie star-turned-politician (played by The Princess Bride star Cary Elwes), was strongly influenced by young Reiner’s own experience (he’s been to 18 rehabs, starting when he was 14 and has had bouts of homelessness you wouldn’t associate with a denizen of Hollywood). In this episode, we discuss the most epic fights the cowriters have had, the ways 12-step has and hasn’t helped them and how the movie isn’t actually The Nick Reiner story, among many other topics.

Wed, March 30, 2016

Being Agnostic in AA with Joe C

Author and musician Joe C. is more than a bit of a legend in recovery circles. Sure, he's been sober for over four decades but that's not why he's known. He's known because he manages to question 12-step without ever attacking it—and he does it in a way that speaks to many. The author of the daily reflection book, Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life , Joe also runs Rebellion Dogs, a site which includes his radio show, blog posts and information about his various conferences across the globe where he shares his wisdom. In this episode, we discuss coming to AA at the age of 14, New York vs. LA vs. San Francisco recovery and how the word "yellow" (not to mention the word "agnostic") means different things to different people, among many other topics.

Wed, March 16, 2016

AfterPartyPod: Being Bipolar with Rob Roberge

Author and musician Rob Roberge has been prolific for quite a while (five books, guitarist and singer in the band The Urinals, teaching at various universities) but it's his newest work that's got people seriously buzzing. Liar: A Memoir chronicles his journey not just through addiction but also through rapid cycling bipolar disorder. Written in the second person in a non-linear fashion, Roberge says he wrote the book this way because it's how he could best show how his mind works. In this episode, we discuss opiate addiction, manic writing jags and whether or not some books are meant to be written but not released, among many other topics.  

Wed, March 02, 2016

AfterPartyPod: Avoiding Road Rage with Danny Nucci

Actor Danny Nucci may have played characters who were killed off in three major movies of the 90s ( Eraser, The Rock, Titanic ) but in real life he's surviving and thriving. Now starring on the ABC Family drama The Fosters (playing Mike Foster, a character who happens to be in recovery), the Italian-Austrian is also 26 years sober. Over the years, he's acted in a bunch of TV movies, a slew of movies and most every TV show on the planet ( Growing Pains, Family Ties, Snoops and Just Shoot Me , to name a few). In this episode, we talk about the way recovery is like The Karate Kid , avoiding road rage and how to deal with customer service people without having to later make amends, among other topics.

Wed, February 17, 2016

AfterPartyPod: Growing Older in Sobriety with Screenwriter Jeff Roda

Screenwriter Jeff Roda is not someone who's going to be bragging about his accomplishments. You will, in fact, have to attempt to drag them out of him—and you still won't be successful at learning much. Everything about what he's done career wise must be gleaned through Google. And here it is: he's written screenplays for DreamWorks, Paramount Pictures and New Regency Films, and television pilots for the WB, CBS and Media Rights Capital. He was a producer on Love Liza starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Kathy Bates, has written three Black List scripts and he is currently developing his pilot When I'm Sixty-Four for HBO. He's also either 12 or 13 years sober, according to him (it was determined that it was 13) and has a lot to say about developing emotional maturity, becoming invisible as you age and isolating (the conversation is a lot more hilarious and uplifting than it sounds, swear). In this episode, we talked about reminding your hairdresser of her uncle, Eve Plumb (that's Jan Brady to you and me), long-term sobriety and whether or not his friend Andrew is a figment of his imagination, among other topics.  

Thu, February 04, 2016

AfterPartyPod: Jack Grisham

Musician, writer and political activist Jack Grisham is a man of many names and even more lives. Perhaps you know him as Alex Morgan or James DeLauge? Maybe you're familiar with him because he's the lead singer for the punk band T.S.O.L. or perhaps it's through his book A Principle of Recovery: An Unconventional Journey Through the Twelve Steps ? Or could it be that you know his name from when he ran for governor in 2003? Okay so we've established it: he's an interesting guy. He's also over 27 years sober after a, well, disturbing youth well documented in his book American Demon. In this episode, we discuss why his favorite review called his book "mean-spirited," how only unpeaceful people talk about peace and whether or not he was hypnotizing me during the interview, among other topics.

Wed, January 20, 2016

AfterPartyPod: Bob Marier

Sobriety coach and interventionist Bob Marier has suddenly became the face of sober coachery (a word we just made up). See, coming to represent a fake word is what can happen when you're hired to work with Toronto mayor Rob Ford, especially when you're accused of kicking a Ford heckler. But Marier had been working behind the scenes long before he ended up on the cover of every Canadian paper and his journey to top sober dog was hard-earned: after destroying three noses and grinding his teeth down from snorting more coke than can possibly be imagined, he had a fairly dramatic OD, smashing into a glass table and spending weeks in a coma. It was only after seeing a video from his hospital bed of his mom begging him to get help that the then 39 year-old sought help; now he's over 12 years sober and the subject of a Vice doc. In this episode, we discuss people who talk in platitudes in meetings, boiling Fentanyl patches into pills and how Ford is one of the best people Marier's ever met, among many other topics.

Wed, January 06, 2016

AfterPartyPod: Cindy Caponera

Writer, actress and performer Cindy Caponera launched her career at Chicago's Second City and wrote for Saturday Night Live from 1995 to 1998, which is to say that she came up with just about everyone, from Stephen Colbert to Will Ferrell to many more in between. She's also written for Shameless and Nurse Jackie and by the way appeared in the pilot for a funny little show you may have heard of called Curb Your Enthusiasm . On the personal front, she's been sober over 20 years and has made her way from Chi Town to NYC to LA, where she's happily married and has a small pool where she likes to do stationary swimming. If you clicked on that link, you know that she's also written a best-selling Kindle Single, I Triggered Her Bully , which very humorously touches on such topics as food, alcohol, meditation, medication, dating guys who live in halfway houses and moving back in with your parents as an adult. In this episode, we discussed how alcoholism is different for women, coming to sobriety through Alanon and how sober people on SNL helped her find her way, among many other topics.

Wed, December 23, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Vicki Abelson

Author Vicki Abelson has worn many hats: she's been an actress, a director, a teacher, a comic, a manager, a (yes I'm still going), fundraiser, a producer, a workshop leader, a private coach and possibly two or three (hundred) other things. The spitball of energy is perhaps best known for being the grand doyenne of Women Who Write, a renowned literary salon that has featured Jackie Collins, Garry Marshall and Marianne Williamson (not to mention previous podcast guests Marc Maron, Michael Des Barres and Mackenzie Phillips), among so many others. But her legacy may change now that she's released her first book, Don't Jump: Sex, Drugs, Rock n Roll...and My Fucking Mother , a coming-of-age novel about a gal in a celeb-laden world that's got more than a dash of roman a clef to it. As you may be able to glean from the title, there's also some drug use in there and Abelson's now been sober nearly a decade-and-a-half after a lengthy love affair with pot. In this episode, we discuss going to bars on dates, being "ghosted" in Hollywood and her 14-year book writing odyssey, among many other topics.[did we determine that editors need to upload all photos for their writers now, even the writers who log into the system? I think we decided that was the case for reviews but since we’re not re doing review photos yet, it’s not relevant and the only writer I can think of who does not review inputting is Tracy and I can just put her on the email.

Thu, December 10, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Tony Denison

Actor Tony Denison is best known for his role as Detective Andrew Flynn in The Closer (now called Major Crimes ) but was originally launched into the cultural stratosphere back in the 80s when Michael Mann cast him as a mob boss on Crime Story . Over the years, the former insurance agent has popped up everywhere, from Melrose Place to Walker, Texas Ranger to NYPD Blue, CSI and ER , to name just a few (he estimates that about 80% of the time, his characters are either cops or gangsters). He's also sober over 22 years after struggling with cocaine and alcohol. In this episode, we talk about going from obscurity to the mainstream, learning to be happy with who and not what you are, and following drivers to make amends after a road rage attack, among many other topics.  

Wed, November 25, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Mark Pellington

Director Mark Pellington started off directing videos for Pearl Jam, U2, Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen, among many other musical icons (his video for Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" is one of the most popular videos of all time and earned him no end of awards). He moved on to films, directing, among others, Arlington Road, The Mothman Prophecies and I Melt With You , the latter a nihilistic drama about four friends who do more drugs than one might imagine possible and end up...well, you need to see the movie but let's just say the ending is darker than dark. Over the years, Pellington dealt with grief and addiction through the bottle (and the chemicals) but is now three-and-a-half years sober. In this episode, we talk about lying to your therapist about your sobriety, the way great art can help people feel less alone and how a Mayo clinic's comment can change your life, among many other topics.

Wed, November 11, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Rob Patterson

Korn and Filter guitarist Rob Patterson isn't only an incredibly talented musician but also, it turns out, a tech wizard who managed to fix the very recorder used for this interview. His journey to rock stardom started with the metal band Otep but his big break came when he played with Korn from 2005 to 2008. After that, he played with the post industrial band Filter. If we were going to be cheesy we could say that the whole time he was also playing with fire—namely heroin—and he veered in and out of sobriety before quitting for good four years ago. This Massachusetts-reared son of a cellist has also been tabloid fodder for some time, not only because he was engaged to Carmen Electra but also because he's palled around with Charlie Sheen. In this episode, he talks about being a teenage hacker, not doing drugs till your late 20s and how the amount of time someone's sober doesn't mean anything, among many other topics.

Wed, October 28, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Kristen McGuiness

Author Kristen McGuiness may claim not to be a writer anymore but the facts don't lie: the author of the LA Times bestselling book 5150: The Magical Adventures of a Single Life has also been published in The Fix, among other publications, and these days writes grant proposals for non-profits. She's also nearly a decade sober after a bout with alcoholism which took her from LA to Dallas to New York back to LA. Though she looks like the very picture of innocence, McGuiness hardly grew up in white picket fence land: her father was one of the biggest drug smugglers around (he's in Blow , the book the Johnny Depp movie was based on) and so the family was constantly up and moving whenever the law got too close. McGuiness writes openly about this not only in her memoir but also in a piece for The Fix. In this episode, she discusses the time in her life when she wore pantyhose while working for Mary Kay, how the TV show based on her book didn't sell after they took away her character's alcoholism and speaking at her dad's hearing after a bender that involved trying to hang out with some Texan drug dealers, among many other topics.

Wed, October 14, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Sarah Hepola

Author Sarah Hepola isn't just a writer but the author of the biggest book about addiction since A Million Little Pieces.  Hepola's memoir, Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget , has been written about in seemingly ever publication known to man (including ours), clearly striking a chord among the recovery community and beyond. The Texas-based Salon essay editor has also written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Glamour, The Guardian, Nerve and Slate, among others, and is as modest about her book's success as possibly only a Texan can be. In this episode, she and Anna David talk about the relative coolness of sobriety, crying every day, whether or not Tinder dating profiles should mention sobriety and if a best-selling book can actually make you happy, among many other topics.

Thu, October 01, 2015

AfterPartyPod: John Albert

Writer and musician John Albert did not have a standard trajectory to literary success—in fact he says he became a writer by accident when he submitted information about his amateur baseball team, which was made up of a slew of misfit former addicts and rebel rousers, to LA Weekly . That information became a story, that story became a cover story and that cover story became Albert's widely praised book Wrecking Crew: The Really Bad News Griffith Park Pirates . This wasn't Albert's first foray into the public eye: he co-founded the cross-dressing band Christian Death and was the drummer in Bad Religion. Now sober over three decades, the husband and father works for a record company when he's not handling the movie offers Wrecking Crew regularly receives (it's been optioned more than four times by various people, including the late Philip Seymour Hoffman). In this episode, he and Anna David discuss having sex with borderline schizophrenics in rehab, the essay on Sober House he wrote for David's reality TV anthology and being on methadone at the college where your dad teaches, among other topics.

Mon, September 14, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Steve Goldbloom

TV host, writer and producer Steve Goldbloom has done a lot in his 31 years on the planet: the Canadian (dual citizenship, yo) created the PBS Digital Studio comedy series Everything But the News , where he documented his misadventures exploring the tech scene, and which USA Today named Best Web Series. This was after his stint as a correspondent for the PBS NewsHour. He currently produces a weekly segment on PBS called Brief but Spectacular which is, he says, an interview without the interviewer. Now he's launching Intimacy with Strangers , where he speaks with various people about intimacy, for Discovery and for this episode, we did something entirely unprecedented: while I interviewed him for the podcast, he simultaneously interviewed me for Intimacy With Strangers . Did this meta double project work? We'll find out when you listen to this podcast while watching the Intimacy with Strangers episode (that's overly ambitious, I get it; also I have no idea when IWS will air). Since he is neither an addict nor a person with serious issues (my diagnosis), we focused the conversation on developing and maintaining healthy relationships. In this episode, we discuss relationships that cause you to stare at the ceiling wondering what's happened to your life, whether or not just a few sessions with a therapist can do the trick and if, when we saw Boyhood and he elbowed me every few minutes, we were on a date or not (TBD).

Thu, September 03, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Joseph Naus

All sober addicts have their stories, some more severe than others. Well, it's safe to say that author and former attorney Joseph Naus checks all the boxes on the "most severe" scale. Born to a heroin addict mother, Naus managed to rise from poverty to become a successful attorney. As this was happening, however, his sex addiction and alcoholism were increasingly controlling his life—causing him to cheat on girlfriends, visit massage parlors and eventually get a DUI. Then came the cataclysmic event that brought him to sobriety: the night when, in a black out, he tried to break into a massage parlor but instead broke into a guy's apartment, stripped naked (thinking he was in the massage parlor) and beat the guy up. He went to rehab and got sober but ended serving time (for attempted murder), was disbarred and has to register every year as a sex offender. Now over a decade sober, Naus chronicled this journey in his memoir, Straight Pepper Diet , and is at work on a second book. In this episode, we talk about the ways people respond when you write about them, how nicotine addiction is as intense as any other and why not to call your ex the minute you get sober to ask if if they want to edit your memoir, among other topics.

Thu, August 20, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Jason Smith

Author Jason Smith is not a writer who languished in obscurity for years as he tried to make sense of his journey through addiction to recovery. The Northern California based former teacher only started writing a mere year ago because he was on an ankle bracelet due to some legal trouble (more about that in a sec) and was trapped at home. He loaded some of his stories onto Medium (a fabulous site but one where most posts get lost and ignored) and the rest is history. People started reading them. Lots of people. A book deal followed and that book, The Bitter Taste of Dying , is now being hailed as one that leaves the reader "gasping for breath." While Smith's writing is undeniably gripping, he also had a lot of rich history to pull from: he went from trying pills in high school to losing his virginity to the hottest girl in his class that very day. And you could say he spent the next chunk of his life chasing that high, from continent to continent, job to job, high to high. In this episode (where we're joined by Danielle Stewart!), we discuss attractive sponsors, sex inventories and doing fentanyl in space, among many other topics.

Thu, August 06, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Dr. Allen Berger

Best-selling author and therapist Dr. Allen Berger is a wonder to behold. Not only is he nearly 45 years sober (though he looks no older than 45) and one of the more articulate dudes out there but he's written many of the classic books about recovery, including 12 Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery, 12 Smart Things to Do When Booze and Drugs Are Gone and 12 Hidden Rewards of Making Amends . He also has made a series of audio recordings that analyze Bill Wilson's 1956 letter on emotional sobriety and videos while maintaining a very full private practice. But a million times more impressive than any of this is the guy's manner and way of articulating the nuances of addiction and recovery while opening up about the 60+ truances he had in school, shooting barbituates while in the navy and how losing his dad at an early age still causes him to choke up today. In this episode, we discuss the way he practices therapy (in particular his use of the shuttle technique), why procrastination is always about perfectionism and the ways he still doesn't support himself during his fourth decade of sobriety, among many other topics.

Thu, July 23, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Dave Nadelberg

Mortified creator Dave Nadelberg is the guy behind—yes—Mortified, a "cultural phenomenon" (per Newsweek) that consists of a live show in cities around the world (from Austin, LA and New York to Amsterdam, London and Guadalajara), two books, a TV show, a documentary and now a podcast. The Mortified concept, in short, is this: people take diary entries, letters and any other ephemera from their childhoods and read them on a stage (the books featured collections of some of them, the TV show had Nadelberg going through personal artifacts with celebrities, the documentary documented the entire project and the podcast consists of recordings of live shows accompanied by interviews with the performers). As the guy who created a project that gives adults a chance to connect with their old selves while taking the shame out of previous, potentially ludicrous, thoughts and feelings, Nadelberg is a thoughtful soul. Though he's not an addict, he's worked through his own share of issues over the years, all of which we get into here. In this episode, we discuss male sluttiness, why therapy doesn't need to take place in an office with a shrink and how sex is psychological, among other topics.

Thu, July 09, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Mitchell Sunderland

Vice  writer and editor Mitchell Sunderland is what they mean when they talk about wunderkinds and also what they mean when they talk about human miracles. Okay, so the wunderkind fact: he's 23 and already the Managing Editor of Broadly,  Vice's  forthcoming women's interest channel. Now for the second part: he grew up in Florida which, according to him, is traumatic in itself. He comes from a family where his mother would fall asleep at the wheel while on Ambien. She also breastfed him until he was five. Then, last year, he discovered that the man he'd always thought was his father was not. So there's been some stuff to work through. It wasn't all disastrous though; Sunderland's brilliance, humor and charm saw him through and he became the party throwing king of his high school, charging the jocks who'd once been mean to him $10 a head as an entrance fee. But things came to a head after he spent his junior year of college in England and Sunderland, inspired by  previous podcast guest Alexis Neiers , ended up getting sober the day he was hired at  Vice . In this episode, we talk about the ridiculousness of trying to get sober in England, why New York parties aren't as decadent as Florida ones and thinking people intervening on you are calling because they want to have a threesome, among other topics. Subscribe to the podcast on  iTunes  or listen to it on  Soundcloud  or  Stitcher . Find Mitchell Sunderland on  Twitter ,  Tumblr ,  Instagram  and  Vice . Mitchell Sunderland photo by Matthew Leifheight.

Thu, June 25, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Leonard Buschel

Reel Recovery Film Festival  creator Leonard Buschel has become an advocate for recovery in ways that no one else has—by creating Reel Recovery, which screens movies relating to addiction in Los Angeles, Manhattan, San Francisco and Ft. Lauderdale, among other cities. Every festival features live Q&A's with either well-known recovery advocates or people involved with the films; previous participants include Ben Stiller (for the screening of Permanent Midnight), Ed Begley, Jr. and Duran Duran's John Taylor. In his 20+ years of sobriety, Buschel has also created  Writers in Treatment , which helps anyone who works with the written word into rehab, and hosts the annual Experience, Strength and Hope Awards. In this episode, we talke about forgoing the Rockettes in order to smoke pot, so-called casual crack smoking and how finding a treatment center with an 800 number can help launch you into recovery, among other topics. Subscribe to the podcast on  iTunes  or listen to it on  Soundcloud  or  Stitcher . Find Leonard Buschel on  Facebook  and  Twitter .

Fri, June 19, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Amanda Fletcher

Writer Amanda Fletcher is more than just a sober warrior. A breast cancer survivor who also manages to remain cheerful about having broken her neck and worn a cervical halo for four months, Fletcher is a brilliant and hilarious writer who has also been a crucial part of the AfterParty editorial team. In addition to being a 2012 PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Fellow, Fletcher is a breathwork practitioner who teaches writing in the recovery community, was a flash fiction finalist for the Orlando Prize and has performed for Tongue and Groove, the Dirty Laundry Lit and Roar Shack reading series. Sorry, not done here. Her writing has appeared in  The Writer’s Tribe Review  and  The Orange County Register  as well as on this very site. And hey—as part of a new format we’re trying out for the podcast, our  last guest, fellow AfterParty writer Tracy Chabala , joined us for a three-way conversation. In this episode, we discuss being hung over from nights of over sharing, getting hooked on meth and whether or not we all get what we deserve, among many other topics. Subscribe to the podcast on  iTunes  or listen to it on  Soundcloud  or  Stitcher . Find Amanda Fletcher on  Facebook  and  Twitter

Thu, May 28, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Tracy Chabala

AfterParty contributor Tracy Chabala  not only writes a good, um, 85% of the stories that are now appearing on the site but her work has also appeared in The LA Times, The LA Weekly and Salon. She holds a Masters in Professional Writing from USC and is working on a memoir about her journey through the sausage fest of fine dining kitchens (based on her history as a pastry chef). Among the topics she's covered on the site are  escaping from a scary rehab , life  in a mental ward  and  being 13th-stepped . If anyone is a testament to surviving most anything and then thriving, it is this girl. And—surprise!—this episode featured a special guest:  Danielle Stewart , who  appeared on the podcast  so long ago that the sound was terrible and who has written even more for the site than Tracy (she's also an AfterParty editor and all-around problem solver around here). In this episode, we discuss getting 13th stepped and then being the 13th stepper, drinking Kombucha in sobriety and speaking openly about being in AA, among other topics. Subscribe to the podcast on  iTunes  or listen to it on  Soundcloud  or  Stitcher . Find Tracy Chabala on  Twitter  and  her own site .

Thu, May 14, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Richard Rushfield

Journalist, author and editor Richard Rushfield is a man of many hats and even more opinions—most of them about relationships. A contributor to  Vanity Fair , author of three books and former editor at  The LA Times , Gawker , Buzzfeed , Yahoo and more, Rushfield is now the Editor-in-Chief of  HitFix . As AfterPartyPod veers into a direction of focusing not just on recovery from addiction but also on developing healthier relationships, Rushfield came in to school me (and you) on how to both find and then maintain romance. He claims that he comes by this knowledge by having worked on the TV show  Blind Date  as well as by his friendship with author Robert Greene (author of  The Art of Seduction , among many other bestselling books). But the spin he gives is all Rushfield-ian (he is, it's worth mentioning, married to the brilliant and lovely journalist  Nicole LaPorte  and they have two kids). In this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David  discuss ways to seem desirable (ask to borrow someone's phone and then leave them sitting there while you go use it), whether or not we know if we're interested in someone immediately (according to him, yes) and why women need to talk less, among many other topics.

Thu, April 30, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Shadoe Stevens

Radio host, actor, TV personality, author and artist Shadoe Stevens possesses one of the most recognizable voices in the world, having hosted American Top 40 from 1988-1995. He was also the announcer on  The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and has been the voice of numerous award shows, including the Emmy's and the Grammy's. Oh and hey, he also created three top radio stations, including KROQ. Other hits along the way: being a regular on  Hollywood Squares  and guest starring on Beverly Hills 90210, Baywatch  and  The Larry Sanders Show , among many others. There's also a spate of children's books and a career as an artist, not to mention a happy marriage and three kids. Though some of the success came early on, Stevens attributes the majority of it to his 30 years of sobriety—an anniversary that was  documented last year on Oprah's network . In this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David  talk about the people in the bushes that talk to you when you're on coke, the large amygdala all addicts seem to have and believing that every job is the last one before the universe comes in at the last moment and saves the day, among many other topics.

Thu, April 16, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Amber Smith

Model, actress and  Celebrity Rehab  star Amber Smith is far more than just a pretty face (and words can't describe how) spectacular body. Rather than perpetuating the image that seemingly ever model alive does by pretending that her life is as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside, Smith took the courageous step of appearing on  Celebrity Rehab  and showing the entire world that she was a full-blown opiate addict. This, after she'd appeared in the  Sport's Illustrated  swimsuit issue and on the covers of  Vogue ,  Elle ,  Cosmo  and  Marie Claire  as well as in such seminal films as  L.A. Confidential  and  American Beauty. But there she was on  Celebrity Rehab , sharing about and recovering from her 16-year struggle with painkiller abuse, after which she appeared on  Sober House  and  Sex Rehab . Now that she's sober, Smith has dedicated her life to helping others (check out the  speakers bureau  she's established with  previous AfterPartyPod guest Jason Wahler ) and developing healthier relationships. In this episode, she and AfterParty 's Anna David  talk about friendships with controlling women, high school trauma and being taken advantage of as a model, among many other topics.  

Fri, April 03, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Dr. Drew

This one was a long-time coming. Dr, Drew Pinsky, the board certified internist/addiction medicine specialist and one of the kindest men in the world, graces the podcast this week. The co-host of Loveline since its 1984 inception, Pinsky currently hosts  Dr. Drew On Call  on HLN; previous gigs include hosting  Lifechangers  on the CW and, of course, producing and hosting  Celebrity Rehab  and its off-shoot shows. He’s appeared on roughly a million other shows, including  Dawson’s Creek  and  Big Brother , written bestselling books and even had asteroids named after him (yep; Google it). But far more important than his massive array of accomplishments is what he’s done for the recovery movement—a role that has earned him more than his share of controversy. In this episode, he and AfterParty's Anna David talk about how a bullshit meter is crucial when working with addicts, the anxiety he used to suffer from and the queen of GHB (nope, it wasn’t me), among many other topics.  

Wed, March 18, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Kevin Pereira

TV host, podcaster, mini mogul and wunderkind Kevin Pereira isn’t only potentially the sweetest man alive but also one of the more accomplished. He started working in tech at the age of eight (!) (not a typo) (not a child labor situation—listen to the episode and you’ll get it). He joined the G4 network as a PA and eventually rose to host of Attack of the Show. He and AfterParty’s Anna David met when she joined the cast as the  relationship expert  in 2006 and worked together for the next three years. Since then, he has hosted the syndicated quiz show Let’s Ask America and launched his ever-popular Pointless podcast in 2012. That pod is one element of his  Supercreative  production company, which has a number of other podcasts as well as some highly entertaining web shows (exhibit A: T he Real Housewives of Horror ). He’s currently hosting TruTv’s Hack My Life and doing about a million other things—including being a guest on this podcast. Faithful listeners will note that Pereira is a unique guest as he’s not an addict discussing his recovery but a guy (excuse us, a wunderkind) who has experimented with drinking and drugs and is open to talking about his feelings around that. In this episode, he and David discuss a bender that caused him to barely make it to New York to host a show sans any clothing, buying cocaine for all your party guests, how to prepare for a night of Ecstasy and their good old Attack days, among many other topics.

Sat, March 07, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Mishka Shubaly

Author and musician Mishka Shubaly isn't only the author of seven bestselling Kindle Singles. (If you don't know what these are, Google Kindle Singles, where you'll also learn that almost all the publications who have written about them, from  The New York Times  to  The Atlantic , focus on Shubaly. This is because he's been the most successful Kindle Single author of all time). His writing is fierce, honest and funny—not an easy trifecta to pull of—and much of it focuses on alcoholism and sobriety. While Shubaly's path to recovery is controversial, he's never shy about saying it works for him but doesn't suggest others follow in his wake. In this episode, he and AfterParty's Anna David talk about how the world is trying to make him into a hippie, why taking mushrooms doesn't interfere with his sobriety and how his non 12-step-ness never stops him from recommending it to others, among many other topics.

Fri, February 20, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Dr. Pat Allen

Relationship expert and licensed Marriage, Family and Child counselor  Dr. Pat Allen  has been a legend in the psychology field for over three decades. She's the author of the longtime bestseller Getting to I Do (now in its 32nd printing and about which, she jokes, sells so well because women are so initially horrified by its "50s mentality" that they throw it away and later have to buy it again). She's written numerous other books, appeared repeatedly on Oprah, Geraldo, Blind Date and many more and is also a certified addictions specialist. In her  twice-weekly Los Angeles seminars , she walks women and men through her communication techniques that result in romantic unions. She's also been sober from drugs and alcohol for several decades and abstinent from sugar for 11 years. In this episode, she and  AfterParty ’s  Anna David  talk about how she started drinking at the age of five (!), ways women can be "men" in the workplace and "women" in their personal lives and marrying a man who used her own courting techniques on her, among other topics.

Thu, February 05, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Katie Rubin

Actress, comedian, solo show performer, writer and healer (yep, you read that right) Katie Rubin is no ordinary hyphenate. Not only has she toured the country with her one-woman shows and performed repeatedly on the stage but she also coaches performers in stand up and solo show making and has done numerous commercials and voice-over jobs. And then there's the healing work, where she offers clearing sessions, access consciousness and more. So how did she get to the point where she could offer this, you ask? Well, at seven years of sobriety, she hit a wall. None of the tools she'd learned that were supposed to help her worked anymore. Then, through a Byzantine set of circumstances, she ended up studying Sufism at a school in Northern California for three years. In this episode, she and AfterParty 's Anna David  discuss what it means to move from your head to your heart, how she knows who's calling her before she looks at her phone and why she should be the female Jon Stewart, among other topics.

Thu, January 22, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Ritch Shydner

Comedian Ritch Shydner isn't exactly just a comedian. Yes, he's appeared on The Tonight Show, Letterman and Leno a bunch of times. Sure, he's had HBO specials. Yep, he played Al Bundy's coworker on Married With Children. And of course he's been a working comic for decades. But there's a bunch of other stuff: writing gigs on Roseanne, Titus and The Jeff Foxworthy Show.  A book on comedy . And the you-need-to-go-watch-right now documentary I Am Comic where he's the star and folks like Sarah Silverman, Nick Kroll, Jeff Foxworthy, Roseanne and Margaret Cho have cameos. And now for the substance abuse stuff: Shydner boozed it up for years, dabbling in drugs too, and only stopped when he saw that all the drinking and drugging was sabotaging his comedy career. He got that career back but then, years into sobriety, decided to give up the stage so he wouldn't have to always be on the road away from his family. I Am Comic focuses on his decision to get back on the comedy circuit—a decision that allowed him to get off the meds he'd been on for a decade-and-a-half. In this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David  discuss how cops used to drive you to concerts instead of arresting you for drunk driving, the best way to perform for a Rasta audience (hint: smoke out and then just laugh on stage) and getting heckled by Sean Penn, among other topics.

Thu, January 15, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Ethlie Ann Vare

Writer Ethlie Ann Vare is a woman of many hats: a prolific TV and film writer, she's also the author of Love Addict: Sex, Romance and Other Dangerous Drugs, as well as 10 other books. Her popular blog  AttentionDeficitDisorder  expands on much of what's in Love Addict—namely, her own experiences with sex and love addiction, her recovery from it and information for potential SLA's out there. Have we mentioned that she's also been a rock critic for Billboard, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter as well as an E! TV talking head, not to mention the fact that she's a serious historian? Oh and guess what? You can get answers to your sex and love addiction related questions on that aforementioned blog of hers. (Teaser: she's also going to be answering some questions soon enough on AfterPartyChat.) In this episode, she and  AfterParty 's Anna David discuss bottoming out on love addiction, the time she spent in jail for drug dealing, the husband that got her into that and much, much more.

Fri, January 09, 2015

AfterPartyPod: Aaron Akins

Musician Aaron Akins  has opened for Bob Hope, contributed to various projects for Russell Simmons Television and performed everywhere from a festival in Jakarta, Indonesia to the House of Blues on the Sunset strip. He's also performed at the Vatican and at the annual Music Cares benefit. But if there's anything Akins likes talking about more than his singing ( and acting ) career, it's his passion for recovery. This is a guy who firmly believes that healthy thinking is the direct result of a connection with a Higher Power—and isn't shy about telling people as much. In this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David  discuss what it's like to be constantly surprised by alcoholic thinking, suddenly becoming convinced your sponsor hates you and how a police chase can convince you to give sobriety another try, among other topics.

Thu, December 18, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Patrick O'Neil

Author Patrick O'Neil is not only one of AfterPartyChat's most talented authors; he's also a former roadie, author of the forthcoming memoir Gun Needle Spoon and alumni of what he calls "several bad bands." And boy did this guy love heroin: he shot it for 10 years, only taking a respite to shoot speed because he thought it would cut down on his heroin cravings (and it did!) That love for heroin took him to some extreme places—most notably bank robbing, a topic he's written about here, and which eventually got him busted and sent to jail. Though jail was a reunion of sorts with his former junkie pals, he managed to get strung out there as well. After a behavior modification program left him sober but without any support system, O'Neil eventually turned up at the Salvation Army rehab in San Francisco and, despite these low-bottom circumstances, has stayed sober nearly 14 years. In this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David  talk about his struggles with bulimia, getting kicked off of Lollapalooza and just how badly executed his last bank robbery was, among many other topics. Photo courtesy of  AfterPartyChat  

Thu, December 11, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Patty Powers

Recovery coach and one of the stars of the A&E show Relapse, Patty Powers has led what in any context or circles would be called an interesting life. Growing up in Canada, she experimented first with acid but when she moved to New York City at the age of 17, graduated right to heroin. And rest assured she was doing the whole underground New York deal: living at the Chelsea Hotel, hanging out at CBGB's and even working with Andy Warhol. Of course, the fabulous life had to unravel at some point and unravel it did—to the point when Powers was living in an abandoned building, getting robbed by her homeless friends and planning to kill one of her abandoned building "housemates." Now sober 26 years, Powers has managed to build up a  massive business as a recovery coach , traveling the world with musicians and other clients and helping them to stay sober while also working on more creative pursuits (including writing for  AfterPartyChat ). In this episode, she and AfterParty 's Anna David  discuss how hard she had to try to get someone to shoot her up for the first time, changing limiting beliefs we have about what our lives can be and combining creative work with business pursuits, among many other topics. Photo courtesy of  AfterPartyChat  

Thu, December 04, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Ronnie Marmo

Actor and director Ronnie Marmo may be a soap star but the truth is he's so very much more. Sure, he played Ronnie Domestico for three years on General Hospital (yeah, the character was written for him) but his main passion is directing theater. The Artistic Director and Cofounder of Theatre68 (which has an outpost in New York as well as LA), Marmo has produced over 30 plays, including the critically acclaimed Bill W. and Dr. Bob (in which he's also played Bill). He's also been in numerous feature films and guest starred on Jag and The Young and the Restless, among others. But more significantly, he's been sober over two decades after years of crack addiction and drug dealing led to him coming to at a San Diego 12-step picnic (you gotta listen to get the whole story). In this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David  talk about hating the taste of beer, why the whole world could benefit from 12-step and always imagining dying young, among many other topics. Photo courtesy of  Cinesnatch

Thu, November 27, 2014

AfterPartyPod: John Griffiths

Us Weekly TV critic John Griffiths is on the public awareness task force for the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention and is the founder and president of the Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association. Yet the 51-year-old Angeleno wasn't always such a do-gooder. After having his first drink at five (!), little Davy Griffiths (as he was known then) eventually ended up at USC, dreaming of being a TV programming executive a la Brandon Tartikoff but spending more time being the guy who talked about wanting to be a network executive while actually being the life of the party. Despite the chemical chaos racing through his system (alcohol! pot! ecstasy! meth!), Griffiths was able to build a successful writing career, first at  People  magazine (where he and I first met) and then as a contributor to such magazines as  Cosmo , Redbook , The Advocate  and  In Style , among others. In this episode, he and  AfterParty  s  Anna David  talk about how fussy kids can turn into alcoholic adults, discovering hookers and crystal meth in one night and being able to recite our character defects, among many other topics.   Photo courtesy of  LinkedIn  

Thu, November 20, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Mo Gaffney

Actress Mo Gaffney was on the seminal show Absolutely Fabulous and rest assured she is absolutely fabulous. After launching to stardom with the off-Broadway show The Kathy and Mo Show (which she created with friend Kathy Najimy), Gaffney went on to: a) Win Obie awards for it; b) Make it into an HBO show; c) Work non-stop, on everything from That '70s Show to Friends to Mad About You to Mike & Molly to pretty much every other show you can name. It may be inappropriate to say this when you're writing about a recovery podcast but it's clear Gaffney was what's known as a fun drunk. Still, after becoming a mom and noticing, increasingly, how drinking was negatively impacting her life, she sobered up—joining five other siblings and her mom in recovery. In this episode, she and AfterParty's   Anna David  discuss martinis, pretending to take ecstasy, missing smoking and craving a companion to read with, among many other topics. Photo courtesy of  AfterPartyChat

Thu, November 13, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Tommy Rosen

Yoga and recovery expert Tommy Rosen is, despite his serenity, not a man who sits still very long. The Hatha and Kundalini yoga teacher (who's been sober for 23 years) has been one of the pioneers of the yoga-recovery model (in short, practicing certain types of yoga can help your recovery—a lot). He's also created a new movement called Recovery 2.0, which launched as an  online conference series  that featured such luminaries as Dr. Gabor Mate and Richard Branson (as well as  AfterParty 's  Anna David ). Now he's published the remarkable  Recovery 2.0 book  and is touring the world sharing the principles from it. He does all this, by the way, when not hosting retreats with his wife Kia Miller (also a yoga teacher). In this episode, he and David talk about getting addicted to sugar before drugs, discovering (and being saved by) the Grateful Dead and acting out in sobriety (girls! gambling!), among many other topics. Photo courtesy of  HuffPo  

Thu, November 06, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Lisa Sunstedt

Comic Lisa Sundstedt has not only written on and produced such TV shows as Girls Behaving Badly, The Chelsea Handler Show and Chelsea Lately but she’s also the creator of the longest-lasting all female comedy show in the country. Yep, that’s right; Pretty, Funny Women has featured everyone from Chelsea Handler and Margaret Cho to Natasha Leggero, Maria Bamford,  Stefanie Wilder-Taylor  and AfterParty’s own  Danielle Stewart . But it’s not all pretty, funny performances for Sundstedt: she’s also a bipolar alcoholic who speaks openly about these issues (including the fact that she lost her Chelsea Lately job because of one of her bipolar episodes). In this episode, she and I talk about the way your scores can change when you take quizzes to see if you’re alcoholic, how depression and pot smoking is prevalent in the comedy community and being a non drug taking alcoholic, among other topics. Photo courtesy of  AfterPartyChat  

Thu, October 30, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Sarge Pickman

Comedian Sarge Pickman is less a comedian who talks about his recovery and more a recovering addict who incorporates his comedic gifts into the work that he does. While he started off working the comedy circuit in LA and still does plenty of comedy gigs, Pickman's main career path these days is leading groups at treatment centers, doing what's known in the recovery world as in-the-trenches work. The Sarge story, in short, is this: Florida-born and dwelling, Pickman was adopted by Jewish parents and raised on Long Island where, as a mixed race youth, he suffered from plenty of identity confusion. Drugs and alcohol helped him to handle these feelings and all that led where addiction can lead—to homelessness, hanging out under the Manhattan Bridge and feeling hopeless. In this episode, he and  AfterParty 's  Anna David  talk about smoking angel dust, realizing that chasing stardom is an empty goal and realizing an ultimate purpose, among many other topics. Photo courtesy of  DPreview

Thu, October 23, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Claude Shires

Comedian and entrepreneur Claude Shires is no ordinary comedian or entrepreneur (um, to start with, you don't see that hybrid too often, amIright?) The Florida-reared husband and father was sent to a year-long treatment program at the age of 17, after which he enrolled in the military—where he stayed for five years. Moves to Boulder, Colorado and San Diego followed before he relocated to LA to pursue stand-up comedy. (While he didn't end up staying sober consistently that entire time, he's now been sober 17 years.) While becoming a working comic, he started an editing company, UnReel Media (which he still runs), and is also now the co-creator of TubeStart, a Kickstarter for TV and film. Have I mentioned that his dad is  one of the doctors who invented Gatorade ? In this episode, he and I discuss unemotional fathers, whether or not drinking non-alcoholic beer is a slippery slope and why women love men who are in therapy, among many other topics. Photo courtesy of  UnreelLA  

Thu, October 16, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Alice Carbone

Writer Alice Carbone has not been afraid to explore the dark side—in her blog, her podcast and her  essays for AfterPartyChat . But as her more recent pieces have shown, she explores the lighter side just as poignantly. Carbone's story in brief: after moving to California from her native Italy in 2010, she lost everything and found sobriety—and eventually happiness. The author of  The Sex Girl  (due out this May, 2015 from Rare Bird Books), Carbone is currently working on her second novel and developing her podcast and blog as a TV show. In this episode, she and  AfterParty ’s  Anna David  discuss what Carbone’s bottom looked like, the mentors who have helped her along the way (Leonard Cohen!) and how to tell the difference between serenity and external circumstances going well, among many other topics. Photo courtesy of  AliceCarbone  

Tue, October 07, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Moby

For reals, what is there to say about Moby that hasn't already been said? (Well, there's one thing that's at least never been in print: How f-ing psyched are you that he agreed to do AfterPartyPod?) The legendary musician, who burst onto the scene with his fifth studio album, Play, is also a DJ, photographer and soon-to-be memoirist (we all know he's a descendant of Herman Melville, right?) And it's not just his own music he's had a hand in; the active animal rights supporter has remixed, co-written and produced music for many of the other greats. But we can find all that out everywhere so let's talk about his sobriety. After a bout with sobriety when he was a Christian, Moby developed this reputation as something of a puritan. But he was actually boozing it up, as well as taking plenty of recreational illegal substances, while he brought the party back to his place. It wasn't until he got to his 40s and the hangovers started to get debilitating that he started to look at the possibility of sobriety. Now he's years into the sober game and growing all the time. In this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David talk about deciding to get sober, relapsing, how unappealing the thought of having just a drink or two is and the fact that people still come up to him on the street to thank him for the epic parties he used to have, among many other topics.

Fri, October 03, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Jeff Ullrich

Earwolf co-founder Jeff Ullrich is something of a podcast legend—ever since he and Scott Aukerman created the podcast network Earwolf in 2010. Now arguably the biggest network in the game, Earwolf hosts everything from Comedy Bang Bang (since turned into an IFC show), Kevin Pollak's Chat Show, Sklarboro Country, Who Charted? and How Did This Get Made? among many others. But Ullrich has actually recently left the company he launched (in his own words, he fired himself). Sober for two years and change, this is a guy who took a somewhat lengthy route to alcoholism: though he drank as a kid, he spent the next decade a teetotaler who lectured other people about partying before joining the heavy drinking brigade in his mid-20s. After a good run, though, it all got unmanageable by his late 30s and now he's navigating the next sober chapter of his life as a father and husband (cute fact: he grew up across the street from his wife). In this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David talk about supporting yourself by playing pool, drinking yourself into a state where you forget which 7-11 you're calling your wife from, getting hypnotized to quit smoking and trying to be better at surrendering, among other topics.

Thu, September 25, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Mike Gaffney

Comedian Mike Gaffney is a bit of an anomaly—a guy who got his start doing recovery-oriented comedy and has been able to build a solid career from there. Sober since 1983, Gaffney was a semi-finalist on Last Comic Standing (not to mention the guy who made judge Wanda Sykes cackle—no easy feat—and was featured in all the promos for the show). Though he'd been cracking people up since he was a kid, he didn't decide he wanted to pursue comedy until 2002; since then has appeared on The Artie Lange Show, Gotham Comedy Live and 30 Rock. He also performs all over the country and (like all of us) has his own podcast. In this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David  talked about his mom coming and yelling at his former drug dealers, why speakers in meetings always tend to look at him when they talk and how he might have won Last Comic if he'd managed to stay in the moment, among many other topics.

Wed, September 17, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Mick Betancourt

Comic, TV writer and podcaster Mick Betancourt is, to put it mildly, a survivor. The host of a popular podcast, Betancourt endured a childhood that might give Oliver Twist a run for his money. The offspring of teenagers, Betancourt went to live with his mom after his father died, where he withstood spirit-breaking abuse, started drinking seriously before he turned 10 and soon found himself taking on the role of designated driver when his mom took him to bars (no matter how wasted he was himself). When his beloved grandfather died and he was shuffled around a bit, he had to resort to panhandling and stealing in order to eat. He nevertheless launched a career as a comic and then managed to get sober a little over 12 years ago. A happily married father of two and TV staff writer (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Chicago Fire, et. al), Betancourt is also one of the cheeriest people alive—and not in one of those I-swear-I'm-cheery ways. In this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David talk about finding a spiritual connection after believing there couldn't be any God, toning down anger and why people who chew gum loudly are the worst people on earth, among many other topics.

Wed, September 10, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Caleb Bacon

TV writer and podcaster Caleb Bacon is not only on the writing staff of Vince Vaughn's TBS show Sullivan & Son and the host of the popular Man School podcast. He's also a journalist, sound expert, former weightlifter, San Fernando Valley resident—and many other things you'll discover when you listen to this episode. Oh! He's also sober seven years, after a drinking career that started when he made his first alcoholic concoction from his parents' liquor cabinet in junior high to his last night out there, which involved Special K, bus stop punching, nudity—and a 12-step call from his boss, NYPD Blue and Deadwood creator David Milch. In this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David discuss being low-achieving drunks, boozing in England, bottoming out in LA and why Disneyland sucks, among many other topics.

Sun, August 31, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Alonzo Bodden

Comedian Alonzo Bodden is far more than just the winner of the third season of Last Comic Standing. The former aircraft mechanic had no idea he even wanted to pursue comedy until he got sober over two decades ago and met people in recovery who actually loved what they did for a living who all worked in the entertainment industry. (Also, he'd realized through sharing in the program—and also through teaching aircraft mechanics, arguably the least amusing topic in the world—that he was funny.) And so began a career that first started at the Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, has included appearances on Conan and Leno, acting roles in Scary Movie 4 and Bringing Down The House and hosting duties on 101 Cars You Must Drive and America's Worst Driver. In this episode, he and After Party 's Anna David  talk about hot women being one of AA's best initial attractions, discovering your dreams in recovery and how he donated his remarkably clean kidney to his brother, among many other topics.

Thu, August 21, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Morgan Walsh

Actress Morgan Walsh may look like the very picture of innocence but it took quite a journey for her to earn her sobriety. Now married to Veep star and UCB founder Matt Walsh and the mother of three, Morgan did the full alcoholic dance--drinking, passing out, smoking pot, doing coke, spending time in a psych ward---before eventually quitting drinking and continuing to smoke pot and then, when she got pregnant with her first baby, quitting it all. Despite all those babies, Morgan has appeared in a succession of shows and movies--including Burning Love, Children's Hospital, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Happy Endings. In this episode, she and AfterParty 's Anna David talk about bottoming out, quitting drinking but continuing to smoke pot and going from a single lady in Venice to a married mother of three, among many other topics.

Wed, August 13, 2014

AfterPartyPod: John Heffron

Comedian John Heffron may have been introduced to the world at large when he won the second season of Last Comic Standing but he's been in the comedy game since college. Since then, there have been Comedy Central specials, The Tonight Show, Chelsea Lately and numerous VH1 talking head shows, among many other appearances. He's also been Danny Bonaduce's wingman on Detroit's number one radio show, appeared on Courtney Cox's Dirt and done stand up at numerous Fortune 500 companies. But he can also claim a gig that few comics can: an NA convention—an interesting irony because though he's been sober many years, he doesn't continue to go to meetings and disagrees with some 12-step tenets. Though Heffron doesn't recommend the path he's taken to other addicts, he's able to find freedom through a series of brain exercises and philosophies. In this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David discuss why meetings make him want to drink, temporarily believing a shirt is going to fix things and the assistant we plan to share, among many other things.

Sun, August 03, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Amos Pizzey

Musician and entrepreneur Amos Pizzey is a one-man powerhouse: the son of women's refuge movement founder Erin Pizzey, Amos ended up joining Culture Club at the age of 14 (!) before then landing his own Virgin Records deal. Over the years, he's worked in various capacities with Madonna, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and George Michael, among many others—in the process becoming  perhaps the most fabulous bon vivant in the world . But underneath that drinking, cocaine-using and MDMA-taking persona lurked a man who was desperately seeking the sort of spiritual connection he'd first experienced as a youth. The founder and creative director of  Talenthouse —a company which creates content with brand partners such as Rihanna, Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga and more—Pizzey is passionate about bringing success as well as enlightenment to the masses. In this episode, he and I discuss quitting drugs while continuing to drink, what part the neocortex and limbic brain play in alcohol and drug use and how to get the entire world to embrace the principles behind the 12 steps, among many other topics.

Wed, July 30, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Bennett Yellin

The co-writer of Dumb and Dumber, Bennett Yellin is far more than a guy who can make the masses giggle until they burst. The writer of a slew of other comedies, Yellin may have gotten on the map when Dumb and Dumber became a sensation but he was actually bottoming out on crystal meth while his comedic talents were entertaining the masses. It wasn't until he got sober, cleaned up his past and started living life on a pink cloud that he got that career back on track. The long-awaited Dumb and Dumber sequel is coming out this fall, while Yellin enjoys his 12th year of sobriety and anticipates "marching forth" (his sober anniversary is March 4th) next year. In this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David discuss why it's not a good idea to date your drug dealer, what it's like to be a lazy meth head and being an Orthodox Jewish addict, among many other topics.

Mon, July 28, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Mike Carano

Podcaster, photographer and best observational living comedian who's not a comedian Mike Carano has shared his unique personality with the public in myriad ways: through his photographs of comedians, his five-minute YouTube videos, his Loveline After Disaster show and his podcast, Miscellaneous Adventures From The World of Mike Carano —where listeners can hear him talk to them as he runs errands and drives around. Carano has opened up about his battles with booze and anxiety before but in this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David get into the minutia of recovery: how they feel about medication, relapse, swearing, going to Disneyland (as Carano had just gone there with Dr. Drew) and much more.

Wed, July 23, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Stefani Wilder-Taylor

Writer, comedian, podcaster, TV host and all-around delight Stefanie Wilder-Taylor is one of the greatest lessons out of there for those who like to booze to the point of unmanageability and don't see any problem with it. The author of  Sippy Cups Are Not For Chardonnay  and Naptime Is The New Happy Hour  was the role model for partying moms everywhere—until she realized drinking was more than a fun pastime for her. Now sober, the author of several more books, the star of  Parental Discretion With Stefanie Wilder-Taylor  on Nickelodeon and the co-host of the popular For Crying Out Loud podcast, Wilder-Taylor uses her oh so charming powers of persuasion to show moms (and others) that sobriety is just as cool, if not more so, than being the hip, partying mom. Here, she and  AfterParty 's  Anna David  discuss writing books, being outed as an alcoholic by  The New York Times , how many times we've each been fired and so much more.

Wed, July 23, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Mark Ebner

Author and journalist Mark Ebner puts the F in fearless reporter. Not afraid to get his hands dirty, the guy  who took on Scientology  has gone on to publish seven books—including the New York Times bestselling Hollywood Interrupted, which he co-wrote with the late Andrew Breitbart. What I didn't know until he told me (during this interview!) is that, after 23 years sober, he made the choice to start smoking pot. This wasn't some sudden brainstorm of course but a decision he came to after a scooter accident left him hooked on painkillers and he used medical marijuana to detox. Though this isn't a common path for anyone who had multiple decades of sobriety (or recommended!), Ebner explains in this interview how he's able to smoke pot non addictively—and I have no reason to doubt him. Not only do he and AfterParty 's Anna David unpack that fascinating turn of events here but they also get into Narconon (the Scientology "addiction recovery" program), the ways his sober friends have reacted to his pot smoking, how they only see each other as dueling talking heads on shows like E's  Secret Societies of Hollywood  (she's in this even though she's not in this teaser) and the hell of writing books for a living.

Mon, July 07, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Craig Gass

Comedian Craig Gass is known for his ridiculously spot-on celebrity impressions (seriously, his Gene Simmons is so accurate that Gass actually accused Gene Simmons of being the fake on Howard Stern). In addition to numerous Stern appearances, Gass has been on Sex and the City, King of Queens and numerous celebrity roasts. Growing up in all deaf family, Gass honed his skills because he learned to speak from watching TV. Later he became a big time party guy with a penchant for cocaine. Here, he and AfterParty 's Anna David talk about those nights Gass turned down ladies at clubs so he could party in back rooms, how good it feels to be sober and paid for your craft and what people who are struggling with addiction can do, among many other topics. Plus: celebrity impressions galore!

Mon, June 30, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Natasha Vargas-Cooper

Writer Natasha Vargas-Cooper has accomplished more in 30 years than some do in a lifetime. After graduating Summa Cum Laude from UCLA with a double major in history and public policy, she started being published in such places as The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine and GQ, among many others. Her book,  Mad Men Unbuttoned , was praised as "a well-versed primer" by The New Yorker and "likely to become a trivia-lover's bible" by The New York Times. Oh and in her spare time, she created the popular LA storytelling show  Public School . But over the years she was doing all this impressive stuff, her drinking was also increasing and a DUI helped her find recovery. Now sober a couple years, she and AfterParty 's Anna David discussed where alcoholism ends and dysfunctional relationships begin, medications to help with depression and other mental disorders and how to end toxic friendships, among many other topics.

Mon, June 23, 2014

AfterPartyPod: ANT

The comedian ANT may have legally changed his name from Anthony but that is hardly the most unique fact about him. The veteran of Last Comic Standing (six of the show's seven seasons) is also a TV show host who puts those milquetoast hosts to shame by delivering genuine, laugh-out-loud moments—during his years hosting Celebrity Fit Club, on all of his many TV appearances (on shows as varied as Tyra Banks, Best Week Ever and The Tonight Show) and on Howard Stern (where he's a frequent guest). But his outspoken extroversion kept many from realizing that he had a horrific drug addiction which led to homelessness as well as to members of the Hell's Angels urging him to cut down on his meth use (you'll have to listen to the episode to get that whole story). Here, he and AfterParty 's Anna David discuss the time he thought he was being intervened on so he fessed up about his addiction, the methods he uses for staying in the moment in sobriety and how his Greek Orthodox upbringing influences his spirituality today, among many other topics.

Tue, June 17, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Laura House

Comedian and TV writer Laura House has starred in MTV's iconic Austin Stories , written on Blue Collar TV, The George Lopez Show, Samantha Who?  and Mom and been called one of the funniest female comedians out there by none other than Louis CK . And she's been sober for over six years while also becoming a certified meditation teacher and raw food expert . Yep, her repertoire is vast: this is a girl who knows how to bring the funny to meditation. Other Laura House accomplishments include wowing the crowds at storytelling shows (including Anna David's True Tales of Lust and Love , which she performed in more than any other writer or comedian), publishing essays in several anthologies (including the aforementioned True Tales of Lust and Love book ) and being featured on Comedy Central. Here, she and David discuss sending a video of a drunken, slurry set to a big manager, various ways the alcoholic brain doesn't seem to work right and how to work through disappointment in sobriety, among many other topics.

Sun, June 08, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Amber Tozer

Comedian Amber Tozer is so much more than a comedian. Sure, she's performed stand-up all over the world, been featured on Last Comic Standing and stars in the hit web series nitTWITS but she's also written on the Emmy-award winning show Mad and taken time off from comedy to work with autistic children. Want more? She had an advice columns on Laughspin, has written for HuffPo, has appeared on The Mental Illness Happy Hour and much more. Here, she and  AfterParty 's  Anna David  talk about how her moment of clarity involved driving on the Bay Bridge drunk and waking up the next morning fully accepting that she was an alcoholic and needed to do something about it. We also delve into what it was like to grow up with alcoholism (her father and grandgather on her mom's side), drinking before Last Comic Standing and what she's learned in her roughly six years of sobriety, among other topics. 

Mon, June 02, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Brent Bolthouse

Nightlife impressario Brent Bolthouse has ruled the LA social landscape for the past few decades, helping to put such classic clubs as the Roxbury, the Opium Den, the Viper Room and Joseph's on the map (the way it works is this: wherever Bolthouse backs, the coolest kids in town follow and lines out the door ensue). In 1999, he opened The Coffee House on Sunset Blvd., immediately attracting a celeb clientele (it was reportedly the first place Robert Downey, Jr. went post jail) but more importantly, creating a 24-hour-a-day gathering place for sober people when he started having open AA meetings in the back room. While The Coffee House closed in 2003, Bolthouse has gone on not only to open a slew of other successful clubs but also to play himself on The Hills, Entourage and a number of other hit shows. And he's been clean since the age of 16, racking up an impressive 27 years of sobriety. His spirituality matters much more to him than all the celebs in his proximity (even the fact that Jay Z immortalized Bolthouse's strict door policy in his hit song "I Just Wanna Love You," when Bolthouse's partner Jenifer Rosario wouldn't let Jigga and his group past the velvet rope until he dropped some of the entourage). In this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David discuss his first jobs (gas station attendant, hairdresser), last days using (meth was his drug of choice), being an "anti-social social person" and how he maintains a spiritual connection in the hubbub of Hollywood.

Mon, May 19, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Ben Mandelker

Blogger and screenwriter Ben Mandelker is one of the most quick-witted people out there. He created and then sold the website TVgasm years ago (he still blogs, mostly about TV and food, on his own well-trafficked blog, BSideBlog). But here's the really interesting part about him—and the part that earned him an episode of his own: for 30 years, he was 100% in the closet. As in: we were friends and I had no idea he was gay until he came out to me a few years ago. In this episode, he and AfterParty 's Anna David talk about what it was like to live with a secret like that for your entire life—the compartmentalization needed, the shame (and online porn) required to maintain the ruse you're somewhat convinced people suspect isn't true anyway. They get into all that as well as how the recovery movement in a way mimics the gay movement in terms of societal awareness and the attempts many people make toward removing the shame about something you can't control and isn't your fault. They also reminisce a bit about the days  when they got paid decent money to sit on a TV set and discuss The Bachelor for 20 minutes  (mentioned also in the  Jimmy Pardo episode !) And listen to his two podcasts, Watch What Crappens and The Banter Blender (Anna David has been  a guest   on both ).

Mon, May 19, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Georgia Hardstark

TV personality Georgia Hardstark is one half of the dynamic duo known as Alie and Goergia but she's a fascinating woman all on her own. People came to find out about her after she and Alie Ward made a video of themselves concocting  ajoke cocktail called a McNuggetini and the video went viral; next they were being profiled in The New York Times and starring in the Food Newtwork's Drinks with Alie and Georgia. The Cooking Channel's Classy Ladies with Alie & Georgia and their highly addicitve podcast Slumber Party with Alie and Georgia followed. But it hasn't been all pretty dresses and TV appearances for Hardwick; a troubled teen, she got into meth, was sent to rehab and wised up quickly. She's also struggled with eating disorders, esteem issues and all the other issues that come along, all too often, with just being a woman—er, person—in society today. Here, she and AfterParty's Anna David talk about wild youths, finding stability and what happens when best friends fight, among other topics. [Note: in this episode, they discuss the fact that Hardwick was doing hard drugs and able to stop without getting sober; this isn't to say that AfterParty recommends this path for people who are using hard drugs; addiction is self-diagnosed and many who use harder drugs aren't doing so recreationally.]

Fri, May 16, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Jesse Joyce

Comedian Jesse Joyce is a New York-based comedian who's appeared on Comedy Underground with Dave Attell, @Midnight, Last Comic Standing and Red Eye (among many others), has written on numerous Comedy Central roasts and award shows and performed in over 15 countries. He's also sober after booze almost destroyed his health (and got him a DUI). The guy's big on giving back to the sober community, too, performing regularly in Alcohol Awareness programs . While he and AfterParty 's Anna David veer off into the nitty gritty of comedy (and whether living in LA or NY is better—Joyce is Manhattan all the way), they also trace Joyce's first drink at 20 to his last one at 26, his family's history of alcoholism and how he manages to be a happy alcoholic, among other topics.

Thu, May 01, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Dr. Stephen Dansiger

WTF regular and clinical psychologist Dr. Stephen Dansiger has lived many lives while the rest of us were inhabiting only one: once a CBGB regular who played drums for the bands King Missile and Pianosaurus, he ended up getting sober, having a breakdown and finding peace again through a year-long residence at a Zen monastery. The practing Zen Buddhist for the past two decades then got a doctorate and masters in psychology to start running groups at treatment facilities. Now he and Dharma Punx /Against The Stream's Noah Levine have opened an outpatient addiction treatment center BLVD . Here he and AfterParty 's Anna David discuss sobriety, rocker rebellion, breakdowns, meditation and much more.

Tue, April 22, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Susanna Brisk

Author, comedian and actress Susanna Brisk is an outrageous Aussie with a penchant for the shocking. Her AfterParty stories have documented her feelings about sex and mental health and her memoir, I'll Be The Death of Me ,  and blog Malibu Mom  provide even more details. Here, she and AfterParty's Anna David discuss if being a dry drunk counts as sobriety, parenting, mental illness and whether or not Brisk can leave the podcast office with a phone number (spoiler alert: she does).

Sat, April 12, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Janie Haddad Tompkins

Actress Janie Haddad Tompkins has appeared in more TV shows than could fit in this space— Desperate Housewives, Criminal Minds, Monk, Happy Endings and Modern Family , to name just a few—and just as many comedy sketches and storytelling shows (she's married to the comedic genius Paul F. Tompkins). She's charming as can be and seems to live a charmed life but in fact spent years involved with and engaged to a sociopath who was leading a double life. Here, she and AfterParty 's Anna David talk about what makes people suspectible to toxic relationships and what can be learned from them, among other topics.

Sat, April 12, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Lewis Howes

Professional athlete Lewis Howes  and host of the podcast The School of Greatness is also what's known as lifestyle entrepreneur. The short version of the story is this: sidelined by an injury while playing professional football, Howes had no money, nowhere to live and no interest in doing anything but the sport that he could no longer do. So he took to his computer and managed to become a social media maven in just a few years, earning millions in the process and then coaching and inspiring many others to do the same. As it turns out, he was also dealing with having been sexually abused as a child—an event he never shared with anyone until recently. Now he's doing what he does: telling others about it so that they can be released from their own shame and then become, as he would say, great. Here we talk about dreams, passion, finding inspiration and handling adversity, among many other topics.

Sat, April 12, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Marc Maron

The legendary comedian and host of the immensely popular WTF podcast needs no introduction but we're giving him one anyway: he's spent a couple decades honing his craft, has appeared on Conan more than 40 times,  stars in and writes a TV show based on his life  and, whether he likes it or not, does a better job of spreading awareness about addiction and recovery than perhaps anyone else out there. Here, he and  AfterParty 's Anna David discuss cocaine psychosis, taking meds for mental issues, how success has changed his recovery and much more. 

Thu, March 20, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Brian Finkelstein

Storyteller Brian Finkelstein is an Emmy-nominated writer, a regular performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) in LA and the host of the LA Moth Storyslams. He's also performed one-man shows all over the world, including a recent tour to New Zealand to do First Day Off in a Long Time , a show based on his years working at a suicide hotline. Here, he and AfterParty 's Anna David talk about getting through depression, whether or not saying you wish you'd never been born is depressing, not taking medication and what it would be like if this podcast were the only thing to survive a world-ending earthquake, among other topics.

Wed, March 12, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Sara Benincasa

Writer and comedian Sara Benincasa is a memoirist, a novelist, a performer, a delight and also completely open about her issues with mental health. After having her first panic attacks as a child, the New Jersey-reared lass managed to later overcome agoraphobia and write a book (currently being developed as a TV show) about it. Here, she and AfterPartyChat 's Anna David discuss finding the right medication, whether or not regular therapy is necessary and why remaining grateful while staying confident is the perfect balance to strike, among many other topics.

Fri, February 28, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Dave Anthony

Comedian, actor, writer and podcaster Dave Anthony is the first non-alcoholic guest as AfterPartyPod opens up to welcome not just addicts but also those who have overcome major life obstacles and can speak about the transition. The son of an active alcoholic, Anthony hit a wall of anger before joining Alanon and while still a bit on the angry side (it's part of what makes him so hilarious), is now a happily married father with a hit podcast who also writes and stars on IFC's Maron . Here, he and AfterPartyChat 's Anna David talk about dealing with abusive family members, how humor doesn't work in an Alanon setting and why they were both obsessed with the Woody Allen scandal, among many other topics.

Sat, February 22, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Eddie Pepitone

Comedian Eddie Pepitone is a national treasure to the part of the nation that knows him. This was the theme of The Bitter Buddha , the critically acclaimed documentary about his life, and is also occasionally a part of his stand-up act. As a comedian and actor, he's been on WTF and Conan repeatedly, as well as on The   Last Comic Standing, The Sarah Silverman Program, Happy Endings, Flight of the Concords, 2 Broke Girls, It's Always Sunny and many more. He's also a sober addict and spiritual seeker (see doc title) and though he's billed as bitter (see doc title), he's also seemingly ever delighted and amused. Here, he and AfterPartyChat 's  Anna David discuss how he rebels against his sobriety, the various shenanigans of the alcoholic brain and everything and more you might want to know about parking in LA, among many other topics.

Fri, February 21, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Jason Wahler

Hills and Laguna Beach star Jason Wahler played up his reality star bad boy image to the extreme by getting arrested multiple times (in multiple states!) But when he washed up on the Celebrity Rehab shores, it became clear that he wasn't a bad guy, just a sick one suffering from addiction. Not only is he now sober but he also works full-time in recovery at Northbound , a treatment center in Costa Mesa, California. He and AfterPartyChat 's  Anna David talked about sneaking off to do cocaine alone, getting arrested by a cop on a horse after an MTV Awards after-party and how to get high naturally, among many other topics.

Mon, February 10, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Rich Roll

Bestselling author , ultra-endurance athlete, plant-based nutrition advocate and sober father Rich Roll has been hailed as one of the world's fittest men. He also graduated from Stanford and Cornell Law and built up a successful law practice all while drowning in alcohol. Then, after years of sobriety, he realized he was anesthetizing himself with food the way he had with drinking and what started out as a cleanse turned into—well, one of the world's fittest men. Here we talk about familial expectations, being an alcoholic in New York and the spiritual aspects of recovery as well as the tragic death of Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Mon, January 13, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Riki Rachtman

TV and radio host Riki Rachtman may have the tattoos and rocker guy persona of a tough guy but make no mistake—he's a sweetheart. The host of MTV's Headbangers Ball and former owner of the Cathouse club, Rachtman now hosts Racing Rocks on over 120 radio stations and also lives a life free of drugs and alcohol after a multi-year battle with the substances. (No, he wants to assure you, he's actually been absolutely sober for a lot of the "stupid shit" he's done over the past 20 years.) Here, we talk about what got him sober (a drug that starts with m, ends with h and has et in between), how he lives today and everything in between.

Mon, January 13, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Kristen Johnston

Actress and author Kristen Johnston needs no introduction but we're giving her one anyway: the Emmy award-winning star of Third Rock From the Sun who's now starring on TVLand's The Exes (Wednesdays at 10 pm!), Johnston is also the New York Times bestselling author of Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster , which details her struggle with and recovery from addiction. Here we talk about the nitty gritty details of her stomach exploding (that's what taking too many pills will do to you), the part fame played in her addiction and her plan to start up sober high schools in New York .

Thu, January 02, 2014

AfterPartyPod: Mackenzie Phillips

Mackenzie Phillips had, from the outside, the most glamorous childhood that could be imagined: the daughter of the Mamas and Papas lead singer John Phillips, she starred in American Graffiti and on the hit TV show One Day at a Time as a teenager, while also hitting every club on the Sunset Strip. But her career was stymied by addiction—until 1992, when she went into treatment. After a bout of long-term sobriety, she relapsed and was eventually arrested with heroin in her while on her way to New York for a One Day at a Time reunion on The Rachel Ray Show . The release of her book, High on Arrival —and the revelation in it that she'd had a 10-year consensual sexual relationship with her father—sent the media (and her family) into a tizzy. Now sober again and arguably as enthusiastic about recovery as anyone in the world, Phillips is the Recovery Advocate for the Pasadena Recovery Center and a sought-after speaker on spiritual matters. You'll see why when you listen to this episode.  

Wed, December 18, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Jerry Stahl

Permanent Midnight author Jerry Stahl is, bar none, this generation's king of junkie lit. Dark and hilarious, Permanent Midnight was an insta-classic that was made into a movie with Ben Stiller as the lead and Stahl has followed it with a succession of other nihilistic novels—including his latest, Happy Mutant Baby Pills . He and TheAfterPartyGroup 's Anna David have known each other since Stahl blurbed her first book in 2005. Here they discuss heroin, sobriety, swearing, life coaches, meditation, yoga, writing and so much more.

Fri, November 08, 2013

AfterPartyPod: D.H. Peligro

Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro has been to rehab 31 times. He's also been in the Red Hot Chili Peppers, lived with a whole bunch of crazy addicts in San Francisco and LA, stayed half-awake through an operation when he had a liter of pus extracted from his leg and lived to tell the tale. He and AfterPartyChat 's Anna David talk about his newfound sobriety (he was a few days from checking out of a treatment center the day of the interview), his brushes with death, the way his trauma caught up to him and his new book, Dreadknaught: King of Afropunk . 

Thu, November 07, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Michael Des Barres

Musician and actor Michael Des Barres has had many lives: he's been in bands with John Taylor and Steve Jones, performed at Live Aid, co-written hit songs ("Obsession," which Animotion made famous, and which Des Barres admits is about cocaine), had memorable appearances on TV shows from WKRP in Cincinnati through Melrose Place and Nip/Tuck (as well as many in between and since) and is now, at 65, hosting The Michael Des Barres Show for TRadioV . He and AfterPartyChat 's Anna David met over a decade ago, before she was sober—when he called the fact that she was doing cocaine "so very 80's." Here they discuss Michael's childhood in an English boarding school, his time doing drugs (with several shout outs to Quaaludes) and the fact that he's been sober since 1981. Also in there: singing! Reminiscing about the date they once had! And more.

Wed, November 06, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Jake Fogelnest

Comedian Jake Fogelnest was more successful at 14 than many of us will ever be: his public access TV show, Squirt TV, had a cult following that included The Beastie Boys, the guys from They Might Be Giants and many more; within a few weeks, he was fielding calls from superstars who were declaring themselves fans. While Squirt TV went to MTV and Fogelnest has gone on to have a busy career that includes multiple Sirius radio shows, a podcast (The Fogelnest Files), TV writing gigs and much more, he also became addicted young and struggled to find sobriety. Here, he and AfterPartyChat 's Anna David discuss how finding success at a young age can contribute to addiction, his amazing Twitter joke about Banksy and the most important topic of all: cats.

Mon, October 21, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Josh Leonard

Actor and director Josh Leonard (though he'd introduce himself to you as Joshua) launched into the spotlight as one of the stars of The Blair Witch Project . After a bit of a wayward youth (getting in trouble for having alcohol and Playboy s at school, time spent in a boys home and legal emancipation) followed by a bit of a wayward next-phase-in-life (culminating in heroin addiction), Leonard was only a few months into sobriety when the indie movie he'd made in two weeks became the Next Big Thing. In the years since, he's done time on many a TV series (including Hung and The United States of Tara ) before 2009's Humpday put him back in the indie spotlight. Also a successful director, Leonard has done both music videos (Morcheeba, Fitz and the Tantrums) as well as feature films (2011's The Lie ). He's also maintained not only his sobriety but also his humility, which wasn't so easy in the beginning (stick around for the white limo story, which comes hear the end). Here he and AfterPartyChat 's Anna David talk about how as kid, he used to try to work through recess to avoid getting his ass kicked, the letter he wrote that helped his brother get sober and whether crying out of gratitude is "girly" or not.

Fri, October 11, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Carrie White

Author Carrie White has lived many lives. The first female hairdresser to the stars, White tended to the tresses of everyone from Ann Margaret and Elvis to Sharon Tate and Elizabeth Taylor. And she did it all on rollerskates (it was the 70s, people). But her high-flying life—which included three husbands and five children—was masking a crippling drug addiction which eventually left her curled up in the fetal position outside her dealer's door. Now sober for multiple decades, White built her hairdressing business back up and published a best-selling memoir, Upper Cut , about the entire thing. Here she talks to AfterPartyChat 's Anna David about bottoming out, coming back, and how getting sober but continuing to smoke is like switching seats on the Titanic. 

Fri, October 11, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Jennifer Gimenez

Actress and reality star Jennifer Gimenez first worked as a teenage model before acting alongside Johnny Depp in Blow and Cameron Diaz in The Sweetest Thing . But many first came to know her when she was the house manager on Sober House —a job she got after she went from being one of Dr. Drew's nightmare clients to one of his miracles. Here she and AfterPartyChat 's Anna David talk about the drug dealer they used to share, how they first got sober together back in the early 2000s and whether or not Gimenez would use her real name if she was a drug dealer.

Fri, October 04, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Danielle Stewart

Comedian Danielle Stewart will say anything any time, anywhere. And so her conversation with AfterPartyChat 's Anna David covered addiction, yes, but also jealousy, hope, Facebook, sex addiction and more. Arguably NSFW or the conservative.

Fri, September 27, 2013

AfterPartyPod: John DeVore

Writer and editor John DeVore was a great drunk, as AfterPartyChat 's Anna David well knows, since she logged many (sober) hours with him while he was still boozing and the two were living in New York. Now sober over three years and settled in Los Angeles, he and David discussed the difference between drunks and alcoholics, how he once saw how bored she looked at a party and what a really famous architect had to say about LA—among many other glorious topics. Follow John Devore on Twitter here .

Thu, September 19, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Paul Gilmartin

Comedian and Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast host Paul Gilmartin is, to some, the affable longtime co-host of TBS' Dinner and a Movie . But to others, all that he's done in comedy (which includes Comedy Central specials and spots on Politically Incorrect and The Craig Ferguson Show ) pales in comparison to the amazing feat he's accomplished in getting his guests to address distressing issues like depression, addiction and abuse on his much-lauded podcast. He talks to AfterPartyChat 's Anna David here about addiction, abuse and the relationship between the two. Check out the site for The Mental Illness Happy Hour here .

Tue, September 10, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Claudia Lonow

Prolific television producer and former actress Claudia Lonow has been the force behind Rude Awakening, How To Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life) and more. She's also 28 years sober and met with AfterPartyChat 's Anna David back when David wanted to be a TV writer and had cocaine drip going down the back of her throat. The two discuss that meeting, David's potentially disturbing obsession with her, losing everything in sobriety, why even one night can set off a relapse and much more. Follow Claudia on Twitter here .

Thu, September 05, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Jeff Kober

Actor and meditation teacher Jeff Kober has been in every TV show you've ever seen ( China Beach, Star Trek, Law and Order, Sons of Anarchy and trust us, that's only the beginning) and is one of LA's most revered meditation teachers. Here he talks to AfterPartyChat 's Anna David about huffing ether, detoxing in a San Diego hotel room and realizing the big movie role wasn't going to change anything. Sign up for Kober's Meditation Thought For The Day on his site .

Thu, August 29, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Nic Sheff

Best-selling author of Tweak , staff writer for The Killing and the beautiful boy of his father David Sheff's best-selling book, Nic Sheff has written and spoken openly about his struggles with meth addiciton and where that took him: to homelessness, sex work, near arm amputation and, finally, a meth-induced psychosis that ultimately led him to sobriety. Here he talks to AfterPartyChat 's Anna David about those experiences and they also discuss working together and their plan to speak at colleges about addiction and sobriety. Follow Nic on Twitter here .  

Thu, August 22, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Craig Shoemaker

Comedian  Craig Shoemaker talks to  AfterPartyChat 's Anna David about his 20+ years of sobriety, forgiveness, his penchant for being nude and the healing energy work he does. Spoiler alert: they almost have a fight!

Wed, August 14, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Sam Lansky

Writer  Sam Lansky  has managed to pack seven rehabs, five years of sobriety and thousands of brilliant words into his 24 years and here he tells  AfterPartyChat' s Anna David all about it.

Wed, August 07, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Alexis Neiers

Bling Ring member (Emma Watson played her in the Sofia Coppola movie) and reality TV star  Alexis Neiers  talks to AfterPartyChat's Anna David about getting sober, getting married, having a baby and becoming a sober advocate and role model.

Sun, July 28, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Greg Behrendt

Comedian, best-selling author, musician and Walking The Room podcast co-host  Greg Behrendt  talks to  AfterPartyChat 's Anna David about addiction, relapse and how sobriety helps you give relationship advice.

Tue, July 23, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Jimmy Pardo

Comedian and Never Not Funny host  Jimmy Pardo  talks to  Anna David  about drinking too much, gossiping about other people and the would-be spin-off show they never had.

Sun, July 14, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Pat O'Brien

Radio and TV personality, sportscaster, author and sober alcoholic  Pat O'Brien  talks to AfterPartyChat's  Anna David  about the bottles of wine that got him to change his ways, whether or not cocaine addiction can cause tinting in the whites of your eyes and his plans to go back to school to get certified to become a drug and alcohol counselor.

Sun, June 30, 2013

AfterPartyPod: Carlos Herrera

Comedian  Carlos Herrera  joins AfterPartyChat 's Anna David and  Laura House  to discuss addiction, quitting smoking, whether or not Favoriting someone's tweets is manipulative and much more.  

Thu, January 01, 1970

Transitioning From Addicted Woman to Sober Man with Ian Harvie

In this episode of Recover Girl, Ian Harvie joined me on my couch to talk about his childhood in rural Maine, his journey to discovering his true gender identity, his recovery from alcoholism, and his new life in sobriety as a trans comic.