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

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

Show Notes

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

What is On Good Authority: Publishing the Book that Will Build Your Business?

There are people who launch books and end up just having a nice thing to put on their shelves. Then there are people who launch books that transform their careers—and lives. As a former member of the first group, Legacy Launch Pad publisher and New York Times bestselling author Anna David strongly urges you to be part of the second.

In this show, she talks to entrepreneurs and authors about how to intentionally launch the book that will serve as the best business card and marketing tool you’ve ever had—and then how to use that to build your business even more.

Named one of the best publishing podcasts by LA Weekly, Feedspot, Podchaser and Kindlepreneur, On Good Authority features solo episodes as well as 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.