Eighty million people read Matt Shumer's piece on AI. That's nuts.

In case you missed it, he compared this moment to the early days of COVID. He said he'd been giving people "the polite version... because the honest version sounds like I've lost my mind." Then he told everyone to start experimenting with AI for at least an hour a day.

He's not wrong. I've been building with AI every day for three years. The pace is, indeed, staggering.

But here's what I want to add to the conversation, because I think millions of people heard the alarm and missed the invitation.

Buried near the end of Shumer's piece, almost as an afterthought, he wrote:

"Your dreams just got a lot closer."

That should have been the headline. Because THAT is the "something" in the Something Big Is Happening.

Yes, AI can cause you to lose your $100K/yr job. But it will just as readily help you start a $1M+/yr business. You can multiply your income, enjoy your life more, and work less if you embrace this technology.

That is the headline. And I know, because I've lived it.

Before AI, I was a full-time employee. My salary had hit its ceiling. Even as a freelancer, I couldn't get beyond low-to-mid six figures. I just couldn't serve more than a handful of clients without sacrificing quality and speed.

AI completely changed that. I'm now serving 20X more clients (not a typo) than I ever have in my entire career in publishing. The quality is better. The outcomes are better. The speed is insane (literally record-breaking). And I've never enjoyed my work more. At risk of sounding like an annoying infomercial, I feel like the luckiest man alive. And I want everyone to experience their own version of this.

My wife watched me do all this firsthand for three years, with plenty of encouragement. But even she didn't really get it until she had a major a-ha moment the other day. She could not believe how easily she'd be able to start her dream business. Everything suddenly clicked. She saw what I see every day:

AI turns dreams into projects.

Shumer wrote a solid piece, and he's clearly sharp. But for what it's worth, I'm not looking to him to tell me the future. I live with this stuff every day (and yes, Claude Opus 4.6 is the biggest leap forward since ChatGPT came out - no question).

If I'm looking for someone to tell me where all of this is going, I'd rather listen to the guy who predicted AI judgment nearly 60 years ago.

A brighter future with AI

Arthur C. Clarke co-wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey, arguably the definitive story about AI, where it starts making its own decisions.

Clarke was a legit futurist. He proposed satellite communications in 1945, twenty years before the first one launched. His predictions were so accurate that the geostationary orbit is literally named after him.

His prediction for where this is all headed?

"The goal of the future is full unemployment, so we can play."

Note the wording. He did not say "The future is unemployment." Unlike every headline you see in the media.

He said the GOAL is unemployment, so we can PLAY.

That's a future worth getting excited about. Here's why:

For most of modern history, our survival required labor. Over time, that necessity turned into morality. The Protestants turned work into virtue. Struggle became proof of your worth.

That's the guilt engine most of us run on. If you're not grinding, you're failing. If it's easy, it doesn't count. If you're playing, you're irresponsible.

This is the American operating system we're so immersed in that most working professionals just assume it's how it has to be.

The internet started chipping away at that premise years ago. But now, AI is in the process of completely destroying it.

If machines handle more of the execution, analysis, logistics, and coordination, then our value can no longer be measured primarily by how hard we grind.

That's terrifying if your identity is "I am what I produce."

It's liberating if your identity is "I am how I live."

There's a framework I love that makes this concrete. It's called the Motive Spectrum, and it ranks the six motives that drive human performance:

At the top: Play, Purpose, and Potential. These are direct motives. The work itself pulls you forward. You do it because it's inherently interesting, because it connects to who you are, or because it's building toward something meaningful.

At the bottom: Emotional Pressure, Economic Pressure, and Inertia. These are indirect motives. You're not pulled by the work. You're pushed by fear. Fear of judgment. Fear of going broke. Or worst of all, you keep doing it because you forgot why you started.

The majority of working professionals are in the bottom group. Our top performers and greatest contributors to society are all in the top three motives.

In other words, people operating from the top three motives consistently outperform people operating from the bottom three. Not by a little. By a lot.

Play isn't the opposite of productivity. It's the engine of it.

Clarke wasn't predicting a world of laziness. He was predicting a world where the highest-performing motive finally becomes available to everyone, not just the lucky few who happened to love their jobs.

AI is the unlock. It removes the drudgery that keeps most people stuck in the bottom half of the spectrum. It lets you spend your time on the work that actually matters to you, the work you'd do for free, the work that makes you lose track of time.

Again, we hear the alarm (AI = unemployment, oh no!) and miss the invitation to a brighter future (AI = we can... play and be more human?).

Rather than eliminating our responsibilities, play elevates them.

Raising children. Building communities. Solving meaningful problems. Exploring art, science, and your inner life. These are all made better, easier, with AI.

AI won't automatically give us that world. It could just as easily amplify inequality or leave people feeling purposeless. I'm not blind to that.

But I believe if we can respond with curiosity and optimism, instead of paralysis and doom, we can start separating our worth from our labor. We can re-anchor what it means to be human to something far more interesting than survival.

For the first time in history, technology may make it possible for huge numbers of people to not be organized primarily around fear. That's a world I'm excited to see. Because it leaves us with an exhilarating question:

Who do we become when we are no longer afraid?

I was recently on a panel with Hal Elrod, the author of The Miracle Morning. To date, his books have sold over 3 million copies.

In the book's first year, Hal promoted The Miracle Morning on more than 200 podcasts, and was dedicated to marketing it full-time (40+ hours per week).

Guess how many copies he sold in Year 1...

13,000 copies.

That's a lot, by the way. But nowhere near enough to make a living.

But because Hal was self-published, he was able to keep making revisions to the book based on negative reviews he received on Amazon. He kept improving the product until the negative reviews stopped, and word-of-mouth took off.

By year six, The Miracle Morning had sold over 1 million copies.

Hal is a rare case in the self-publishing world. Most self-pub authors (myself included) don't stick with improving and promoting a book full-time for years on end. But I love his strategy of kaizen (continuous improvement).

To treat your book like software – always imperfect, in need of upgrades – is a really smart approach. One that's only possible with self-publishing, where you have complete control over what updates you make and when.

You can succeed on either path: self-pub or traditional. Just know the tradeoffs for each, because there are many on both sides (though I do believe the majority of authors should self-publish, so long as they're willing to invest in doing it as professionally as possible).

What Factors Determine Mega-Bestsellers?

As I've said before, most books sell less than 1,000 copies. Only 0.003% sell more than million. Here are the key factors that actually make a difference for the books that sell tons of copies:

1. Market: There is a massive demand for the topic, and an unmet need for a quality book that's aligned with the cultural zeitgeist.
2. Discovery: Millions of prospective readers are able to discover the book. They hear about it and/or see it repeatedly.
3. Distribution: Millions of readers are able to instantly buy the book with ease. That means the Amazon app on their phone, where 80% of book purchases take place.
4. Packaging: The title is excellent, and the cover design is clearly professional.
5. Platform: The author is able to continuously and repeatedly market and sell their book to large audiences.
6. Quality: The book is so immediately compelling and useful that it retains attention and warrants memorization.
7. Transformation: Readers change their perspective, behavior, and identity because of the book.
8. Word of Mouth: Readers either brag about what the book did for them, or people notice and ask them about it.

Please notice that all of these factors are either within your control, or you can study and work toward achieving them to maximize your odds for success. Not saying you will, but you CAN work hard to increase your likelihood.

Whether you choose self-publishing or traditional, remember that you are in the driver’s seat. No one else will care as much about your success as you.

How to Sell More Books Today, Even If Yours Hasn't Sold For Years

A common myth is that social media sells books. It does not.

Social media is an ad that converts at a mere 0.01%.

Email marketing is better at 1%, but even that is challenging for selling large quantities of books.

There's a great saying in business:

People will buy what you're selling, when you start selling what people are buying.

If you want to sell a lot of books, do NOT look at them as the product you're selling, but as the *ticket* to getting what they actually want to buy.

For instance...

Do people regularly pay you $10K for consulting? Great! Have a part of their fee go toward buying 100 books, which you can send out to their network of employees / customers / donors, etc.

Do they pay you $5K for speaking gigs? Great! Have 100 books be part of your fee, with every attendee getting a copy.

The harsh truth: No one wants to buy your book. They want to buy what they want to buy.

Tie your book into the big purchases they're already making, and sell it in bulk.

And please, don't fall into the trap of selling individual copies of your book - one at a time. You're not Hal Elrod, and I don't want you to starve.

"What else can I do to market my book?"

I asked her to pull it up on Amazon.

Lo and behold, the answer was staring us in the face.

The cover sucked.

But not in a "Wow, that's a terrible cover" way.

More in a "This is clearly an amateur design" way.

She suspected it might be the case, but she'd gone with it anyway.

The real problem wasn't quite as obvious, which is why this is such a common scenario in the first place:

What happens when a potential reader sees that amateur cover?

They instantly assume the content is bad.

They decide not to read it, not to buy it. The book is crippled by its own packaging.

I asked who designed the cover for her.

"Our in-house designer. They're great at designing our PowerPoints."

They might be great at design, but they have no clue how to design a book cover.

And that is the biggest landmine in publishing, the #1 mistake that so often kills good books: Mediocre covers.

Do you know what makes-or-breaks a YouTube video?

It's not the content – it's the thumbnail.

And do you know what separates amateur YouTubers from professionals?

Amateurs: Design the thumbnail themselves, or pay an overseas designer on Fiverr / Upwork to slap one together in Canva. Either way, it's a complete afterthought. Then they wonder why their video isn't getting views. ("bUt ThE vIdEo iS sO gOoD!!!!1")

Professionals: Understand the thumbnail is the viewer's first touchpoint, and therefore the most critical. Pro YouTubers might not even start making the video until they have the thumbnail concept nailed. Then, they invest in the BEST possible design (Mr. Beast spends $10,000 per thumbnail), and split-test multiple versions until they land on a winner.

Having a great YouTube thumbnail can literally be the difference between 100 views and 1,000,000 views.

The same can be said of your book cover.

And while a great book cover doesn't always guarantee more sales, it does make a massive difference between readers taking you seriously... or not.

In this article, I'm going to share:

• Why So Many Good Authors Have Mediocre Covers
• How a Mediocre Cover Damages Your Brand and Business
• My Process for Ensuring You Get a World-Class Cover

Why So Many Good Authors Have Mediocre Covers

Here are the two most common dynamics I see:

1. Amateur publishing houses with low standards and bad processes.
2. Self-published authors hire the wrong designers, then fail to communicate their style preferences.

The first is unfortunately very common. You'd think a company built on making books would know better, but they often don't. Amateur publishing houses are basically run by C-students with no taste. Which was a fine way to operate in high school, but when it comes to entrusting them with your livelihood and reputation, you shouldn't be settling for mediocrity.

How do you know if you're working with a C-student publishing house? It's shockingly easy. Just look at the books they've published. Based on the covers alone, would you be excited to read most of them? Would you be proud to have your book right alongside their "success stories"? Or have they published a sea of unremarkable, unimportant books?

That usually clears things up real fast.

The second dynamic of the author hiring the wrong designer, then failing to effectively communicate with them, is also very common. I'll teach you how to fix those issues in the last section of this article.

You might be wondering, What does a mediocre cover look like?

It's hard for me to show you without punching down on other authors and publishing houses, so I'll refrain from making them into examples.

Instead, let's use two of my book covers. One is amateur, the other is professional. See if you can tell which is which:

Now, you might think the one on the left isn't that bad.

But it IS that bad.

Literally anyone could have made that cover, in a matter of minutes.

But if you asked 1,000 people to re-create the one on the right, they could not do it.

Only a professional designer can make that (thanks, Erin).

Now, I did the one on the left as an experiment. I took the book off of Amazon long ago, as I had zero expectations for Stress Hacks to contribute to my business or brand. It quickly felt like more of a liability than an asset.

But what about a book that you're depending on to bring in new clients? Or speaking gigs? Or business opportunities?

You better make sure that cover is stunning. Here's why...

How a Mediocre Cover Damages Your Brand and Business

"Don't judge a book by its cover!" – Author who designed their own cover

Imagine you're about to go on a date with your future spouse.

You've been told that they are the PERFECT match for you. The best you'll ever do. They will bring you a lifetime of happiness.

You picture them in your mind, and you can barely contain your excitement.

Then, you show up to the date. Your "perfect match" is wearing a tie-dye shirt that says "MARRY ME." Their hair is messy. Their shoes are old New Balances.

Do you accept that they are your perfect match...

Or do you instantly dismiss them based off of their appearance?

Almost certainly the latter (although I do love New Balances).

That's because what they are signaling is misaligned with your expectations.

And that's what a mediocre book cover does to your brand and business. Even if you're the best person in the world, and your business is truly world-class, your mediocre cover is signaling You ain't it.

And it could be costing you millions of dollars.

Don't believe me? Here's another example:

Same product, different packaging.

Now think about this when it comes to you and your book...

If you're a top-tier expert with a book cover that screams "amateur" or "ugly" or "weird" or "slightly off" or even "just like everyone else"...

Then why would you expect a total stranger to view you in a positive light?

Like it or not, people WILL and DO judge you based on your book cover. And they do it instantaneously.

They assume a bunch of things about you and your book – within a couple of seconds – based on how your cover looks and makes them feel. With that one piece of paper, you have signaled your position and value in the marketplace.

Your cover influences whether they will hire you, or not...

Your cover influences whether they believe you're an interesting expert, or just another wannabe...

And your cover influences whether they'll read your book, or donate it to a Little Free Library.

The question is this: Will you hold your cover design to the highest standard, or settle for average?

My suggestion: The standard you should hold your cover to is one that matches your own excellence, and elevates you in the marketplace (rather than diminishes you).

Here's how to achieve that.

My Process for Ensuring You Get a World-Class Cover

It's very simple, really. Just follow these steps and you'll be thrilled with the outcome.

1. Decide that you'll only work with the world's best cover designers. No more Fiverr. No more Upwork. No more 99Designs. No more farming it out to a publishing house that only puts out mediocre work. You must insist on staying away from average designers, and only going with the best. You can find the best at INeedABookCover.com. My two favorites are Pete Garceau and Erin Tyler.
2. Create a cover brief. I once heard the CEO of a publishing house say "Sometimes it takes 20 rounds to get the cover right." Twenty rounds? Yikes. Not how I like to play. You can usually get the cover nailed within two rounds if you take the time to clearly communicate your style preferences upfront. The way you do that is by creating a cover design brief. Here's a simple tool I created to assist you with that process.
3. Invest in a world-class design. I recommend spending at least $2,000 on your cover. "$2,000?!" Yes. If budget allows, please go upwards of $3,000+. And if you think working with pros is expensive, try working with amateurs. What you save upfront with an amateur is lost 100X in opportunity costs – from all the clients who instantly decided to not give you and your book a shot.
4. Trust your designer. Most authors are used to being in control and directing people. You need to fight that impulse during this process. You hired an ARTIST, not a minion. You wouldn't tell Picasso to make the font bigger. Be warned that you might have a negative emotional reaction when you get your first round of designs back. "This is it? It's not at all what I pictured in my head!" Breathe. This is a normal response. Thank your designer, let them know you want to sit with their beautiful designs for the next 48 hours before you give any feedback. Now, how do you give them feedback?
5. Ask questions. Instead of telling them "I hate the colors" or "I want to do blue," ask them "Can you talk me through these color choices?" and "Are there any other colors you considered?" and "Do you believe blue would work well here, or no?" They have more than a decade of experience, and oftentimes hundreds of covers under their belt. I can assure you that they know A LOT more than you about color choice, font selection, type spacing, etc. I'm not saying their designs will be perfect, but the likelihood that their stylistic choices are more right than yours is near 100%.
6. Go with the bold cover that you'll love living with. You can test the cover all you want - on PickFu, with Facebook ads, or putting it in front of your target readers. And that data is helpful. But at the end of the day, this is your book. You get to live with this cover design, so make sure it's one you'll love. Just remember that the battle your book is fighting is whether its overlooked and forgotten. So whenever possible, go BOLD.

Was this post helpful? Do you want to see more like this?

Reply and let me know!

Many years ago, I emailed a blogger. I said I liked one of his articles.

He thanked me, then asked for advice on publishing.

I suggested self-publishing, but he wanted to go traditional. So he did.

That blogger was Mark Manson, the author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.

His book sold 15 million copies, got translated into 60+ languages, and is one of the bestselling nonfiction books over the last few decades.

Here's the reason I got it wrong with Mark:

I didn't take the time to fully assess Mark holistically as an author – his goals, his preferred experience, his assets, his desired lifestyle, what help he needed and didn't need, etc.

Nowadays, I don't make this mistake. I take the time to understand each author's unique circumstances, then make a personalized recommendation for them.

When it comes to your publishing path, there is no "right" or "wrong." There is only what's right for you.

In this article, I'm going to give you my criteria for how to decide which publishing path is right for you.

The Problem with Trying to Figure It Out Alone

I speak with authors every week who aren't sure which route is best. And I don't blame them. There is a seemingly infinite number of combinations of service providers, processes, and experiences you can have.

It's also extremely difficult to tell the level of quality you're signing up for. I know several authors who have spent in the multiple six-figures in ghostwriting services, only to find themselves starting from scratch and re-writing the entire book by themselves due to poor craftsmanship.

The biggest mistake I see authors make is deciding to just get started and try writing their book alone. This is a strategy with a 97% failure rate. I do not recommend it. You need to have a game plan with clear outcomes, and – above all – a professional and experienced team who can support you.

Why? Because you cannot do this alone. Just check the acknowledgments section in any of your favorite books. Creating a great book is always a team sport.

Choosing the right publishing path for you is similar to choosing your mode of transportation to Hawaii.

Sure, you can try to row a canoe alone, but it's not going to work out so well.

You're going to need help. So, the question is which mode do you prefer?

• Private jet? (Luxury, ease, and speed)
• Business class on United? (Premium service)
• Economy class on Spirit Airlines? (Cheap, expect painful delays)

How to Find The Right Publishing Option For You

Here are 15 essential questions I take into consideration for every author, along with some actionable advice based on their responses.

Once you have answers to each of these questions, you'll have more confidence in what you need. And that will make conversations with publishing service providers much easier moving forward.

1. What stage are you currently at with your book?

• Just an idea: Be sure you validate demand for your book idea with your target audience. Before you write the book, have conversations with your ideal readers, write a guest article, blog posts, emails, and/or social media posts on the topic. Assess the feedback to ensure it's a book worth writing (and reading!)
• Outlining/planning: Take the time to write a "Book Business Plan" so you can begin with the end in mind, and see a clear path to achieving your goals.
• Writing first draft: Ensure your Table of Contents and chapter outlines are structured properly before you go too far down this path.
• Editing/revising: Edit first by reading out loud and listening to your book via Speechify. Then invest in professional editing and bring in beta readers.
• Completed manuscript: Prepare for publishing, launch, and marketing. Strategize around bulk sales. It's much easier to sell 100 copies to 100 people than it is to sell 1 copy to 10,000 people.
• Signed a deal with a publisher: Collaborate closely with your publisher, and use your advance to hire the help you need to create and launch a 5-star book.
• Ready to launch: Plan your book launch strategy with an expert who's repeatedly achieved the desired outcome you want. Hire a project manager to ensure all essential tasks are delegated and achieved on time.

2. What is your primary goal for writing your book?

• Establish authority in your field: Showcase your expertise with high-quality content, stories about your achievements, and client success stories.
• Share your personal story: Follow Tell Your Story's formula.
• Educate or inform readers: Provide your exact secret recipe for success, do not hold anything back.
• Solve a specific problem for readers: Offer your battle-tested solution.
• Generate more income: Understand the most effective ways to make significant revenue from your book (hint: it's not selling copies).

3. Why are you writing your book? (Choose all that apply)

• Get new clients/opportunities
• Speaking engagements
• Raise visibility/profile
• Increase authority/credibility
• Leave a legacy
• Impact others

4. Do you care about the financial return on your book?

• Yes: Focus on using your book as a lead generation tool for your business, not a product to sell.
• No: Write your book for ONE specific, real person who you want to help (instead of a big general audience).

5. What category does your book fall under?

• Business/Leadership
• Self-help/Personal Development
• Health/Fitness
• Biography/Memoir
• History/Science

6. How would you describe your writing experience?

• Beginner
• Intermediate
• Advanced
• Professional author (earning a living from writing)
• Published author (has published at least one book)

7. What is your preferred timeline for publishing your book?

• Within 3 months
• Within 6 months
• Within 1 year
• More than 1 year
• No specific timeline

8. What is your budget for writing, publishing, and marketing your book?

• Less than $10,000
• $10,000 - $25,000
• $25,000 - $50,000
• $50,000 - $100,000
• $100,000 - $250,000
• More than $250,000

9. Do you have any of these assets to help market your book?

• Professional services clients pay 5-7 figures for
• Keynote speeches (regularly speaking at conferences, seminars, or events)
• Excellent network (connections with influential people or organizations)
• Large active email list (250K+)
• Large social media following (1M+)
• None of the above

10. How have you validated that your book idea will be something people want to read?

• Conducted market research
• Tested ideas with my target audience
• Received feedback from industry experts
• Published related content with high engagement
• Not validated yet

11. What type of publishing are you most interested in?

• Traditional publishing
• Self-publishing
• Open to both traditional and self-publishing
• Not sure

12. How involved do you want to be in writing your book?

• I want to write it all myself and enjoy the creative process
• I want to be involved but hire help for organizing and researching
• I prefer to be hands-off and hire experts to handle most of the writing

13. How involved do you want to be in marketing your book?

• I want to handle all the marketing myself
• I want to be involved but hire help for certain tasks
• I prefer to be hands-off and hire experts to handle most of the marketing

14. Which of these milestones do you HAVE to hit in order for you to believe your book is a success? (Select all that apply)

• New York Times bestseller
• Amazon bestseller
• High reader engagement and positive Amazon reviews
• Significant media coverage
• Generating a certain amount of revenue
• Establishing credibility and authority in my field
• Building a loyal reader base
• Sell a ton of copies

15. What type of support are you looking for during the publishing process? (Select all that apply)

• Ghostwriting
• Book coaching
• Editing services
• Cover design and interior layout
• Marketing and promotion
• Full-service publishing

Do You Need Help Choosing Your Path?

I’d love to hear from you! Just reply with your thoughts on the publishing path you’re considering, any apprehensions, or excitement you have about writing a book.

Your feedback will help tailor future content to better meet your needs. Please comment below with your questions and share this post to spread the word.

Ready to transform your book-writing journey? Book a call with my team today and take the first step towards becoming an author.

For the past few months, I've been working on something really special. Something that no one else in the publishing world is doing...

I'm turning what I've learned working with more than a dozen New York Times bestsellers and authors who've sold millions of books – like Tim Ferriss, Ramit Sethi, Noah Kagan, and many others – into a product.

So far, it's been awesome. (More details on this to come...)

Now, I need your help! I'd love your input to make sure what I'm building truly meets the needs of those who wish to become an author.

Could you take a few minutes to answer these questions HERE?

. . .

When I first started, my mission was to solve these big problems:

Less than 1% of people who start writing a book will finish.

The authors who finish take an average of 5 years to publish.

Most books make less than $1,000 per year.

My program aims to solve all three of those problems:

• Increases your likelihood of finishing from 1% to 90%+
• Allows you to publish in months, rather than 5 years
• Set authors up to earn a huge R.O.I. from their book (potentially millions of dollars)

I've made a lot of headway, but I need your help if I'm going to serve more people who want to turn their books into a reality.

Your answers will help me better understand your needs and ensure that this program helps you achieve your publishing dreams.

Thank you so much for your time and honesty!

Charlie

P.S. Here's the form again.

A few days ago, I wrote a post about how some influential people shared my book.

I was wrong.

That’s not a good reason to write a book.

There is only one reason to write a book.

There is only one reason to create anything:

To let your light shine through.

. . .

You hear the whisper each day.

It's the internal nudge, the spiritual tug.

Create.

Do the thing.

Be the person I made you to be.

But you don’t. 

Because it's impractical.

There are other things to do that are more important and urgent.

There are other ways that are safer, less disruptive.

But...

What's more urgent than creating what you know you must create?

What's more important than your soul’s growth?

. . .

The only way to get what you need while you're here – the spiritual lessons you seek in this lifetime – is to listen to that whisper, telling you to PLAY BIGGER.

Because you are on stage.

You are the main character, and the director, editor, and screenwriter.

Everyone else is in their own movie, too. 

They’re all playing those roles, just like you.

And sometimes, you're their supporting cast.

Other times, you're just an extra. A random side character.

But you're not meant to stay in those quiet roles.

You have your own movie to live.

. . .

It’s been 20 years since I made my first video.

I’ve made more than a thousand videos since then.

But… how many of those videos were mine?

Not very many.

The best videos I most wanted to make? 

Never made them.

They’re still inside.

Because they’re scary to make. Some are very difficult. 

Up until recently, I thought it was my choice as to whether I made them or not.

But it's not my choice.

The whisper persists. 

. . .

What about my books? Why did I write them?

I had to write them.

And I listened to the whisper.

I wrote and shared stories I was afraid to tell. 

I made some people upset. That was scary.

I almost got sued. Also scary.

But not as scary as never saying my truth.

I can't imagine who I'd be if I hadn't done that at all.

. . .

I don’t blame people who are unwilling to create.

I don’t blame people who consume everyone else’s art and never create their own. 

I get it.

And I know how easy it is to tell someone “You should write a book.”

Sure, the process has never been simpler, faster, or cheaper.

But that's not what gets in the way.

It's fear.

The act of creation requires you to shine your light.

And that brings up fear.

That's why creating is a divine act.

Because, in those moments, you reveal you are a child of God.

Which is exactly when fear tells you to stop.

And fear will keep dimming your light, if you let it.

Some say "Just come up with logic as to why the fear doesn't make sense!"

That has never worked for me. Ever.

The only way I've found to diminish fear's power is to have it play alongside me.

. . .

The whisper quietly insists that you SHINE.

Even if the light upsets others, or makes you look strange.

Shine.

And if you don’t? If you decide to stop listening?

It will insist you pay attention.

You'll stub your toe, or hit your head.

One day, you might get a serious injury.

Or a sickness.

Right now, it's gently telling you to shine.

It doesn't want to have to yell WAKE UP.

. . .

You don't need to know the end of your movie.

You just need to make your next move.

The one where you shine just a little brighter.

Because the world grows dim when you hide your light.

And you are made of star stuff.

Shine.

A couple years ago, I got this text message from my friend Molly:

Totally out of blue.

At the time, I had never heard of Huberman Lab.

Now, the show has 5M subscribers on YouTube.

Here's the segment (@ 1:42:13) where he recommended my book:

I got a similar message from my friend Eli a decade ago, to let me know that Tony Robbins had just tweeted an excerpt from my book.

Again, totally out of the blue.

I've never met Huberman or Robbins, nor had I reached out to them.

There's no reason they would have me on their radar.

Except... I wrote a book.

They read it (or part of it), then generously recommended it to their millions of followers.

I didn't have to ask. It just happened.

I don't share any this to brag, but rather to make a point:

A book is this magical marketing tool, that produces wild results you can't fathom until they start happening to you.

I remember talking to an author who was a huge fan of Gabor Mate, the famous therapist with several million followers. She'd just written a book about healing, so I suggested she invite Gabor for coffee when he was in town for SXSW.

She went silent for a few moments. Then, she said:

"I could do that, couldn't I?

Indeed. And she did.

You know what? She and Gabor are now friends.

All because she wrote a book!

As one of my clients put it:

"All I know is if write a good book, then put it out into the world, good things will happen.'"

If you're a business owner, you're trying to grow your business. You're testing out all sorts of marketing channels and tactics. Maybe you've hired an ad agency or a bunch of freelancers to help.

And you want these big names to promote your stuff.

But here's the thing: They never will, until you write a book.

As someone with 15 years experience in online marketing, who's tried literally EVERYTHING, here's the truth...

Nothing compares to writing your own book.

Nothing else I've done has impacted more people, elevated my brand more, or permanently leveled up my life more than writing a book.

I'm embarrassed to admit: I didn't even have a game plan to use my books to grow my business! I didn't have a high-end offer to sell to people. I certainly didn't expect much in the way of royalties.

I just wrote books I believed would be useful.

And yet, they've made me multiple six-figures in opportunities.

Not to mention countless friends, and even some fans.

Writing a book is the shortcut to your business goals. One that just so happens to keep delivering results - at zero cost - long after it's done.

So, before you spend your marketing budget on an ephemeral webinar, a series of blog posts, or YouTube videos, or Facebook ad campaigns...

I'd encourage you to pause and reflect:

What if you did something BIG and long term?

What if you had marketing that lasted for the next decade? Marketing that people were happy to pay for, with dozens of "touch points" adding up every time they saw it on their shelf?

What if you made something that all these big influencers you admire actually wanted to talk about and share with their audience?

What if you created something important that people actually VALUED?

What if you wrote a book?

One of the big myths people believe about becoming an author is that the path to success is selling a ton of copies.

When they hold this false belief, they inevitably think of their book as a failure. Because most books don't sell many copies. And there's misleading data that backs this up:

"Just 1% of self-published authors make more than $1,000 per month from their book."

Makes it sound like self-publishing is a losing strategy, right?

Meanwhile, the top traditionally published authors are making millions of dollars through royalties and advances. Wow!

Is it safe to assume a publishing deal will be a better, safer, more lucrative path for you?

No.

The numbers are misleading because they only track one source of revenue:

Copies sold.

And selling copies, in my opinion, is the WORST way to make money from a book.

Why Selling Lots of Copies is The Worst Business Model for Nonfiction Authors

Let's do some basic math here.

With traditional publishers, you get $1-4 per book sold.

With self-publishing, you get $3-10 per book sold.

Now, if the typical self-published book sells less than 1,000 copies...

And a traditionally published book typically sells 5,000 to 10,000 copies...

The conclusion is... WHO CARES!

Either way, you're only making a $10K to $40K in royalties, for the entire lifecycle of your book.

That ain't much. Certainly not enough to live on.

This is why it's so dangerous to view your nonfiction book as "a product I need to sell." You will go broke if you think your path to wealth is by selling tons of copies of your book - a single SKU, by the way!

When it comes to making money through book sales, neither path is great.

So, which is the better option overall? Self-pub or traditional?

The answer: It depends on your circumstances.

When You Should Take A Publishing Deal

If you can land a publishing deal with a 6-7 figure advance, great. Take it. Get paid to make the book, work with their team, and use that credential. It's a good bet.

Most people can't pull this off, though. Most people don't have a huge audience, primed and ready to buy 10,000 copies of their book before it goes live on Amazon.

Still, the idea of being chosen by a Big-5 publisher is enticing. Who doesn't want that kind of validation? These publishers have put out amazing work. They work with the biggest, most important names in the world.

Maybe you could be part of that group!

No, you can't. Sorry.

Unless!

Unless you're a semi-professional writer who's practiced for a decade by testing and validating hundreds of ideas online, in front of a dedicated audience...

Unless you've written multiple viral posts (1M+ views) on your topic, and you can see a clear path to a 3-10 book series...

Unless you can pre-sell 10,000 copies of your book, get hundreds of PR pieces across legacy channels (TV, radio, print), and tens of thousands of shares and comments across each of your online platforms...

You ain't getting a publishing deal.

Which leaves us with self-publishing, where – if you're smart about it – you can actually outearn traditionally published authors.

The Real Path to Riches With Your Book

I know two of the top selling nonfiction authors in the world. They've both sold over 10 million copies of their books. They are both traditionally published.

Do you want to know how they've made the most money from their books?

(Hint: It's NOT from book sales.)

By getting equity in startups.

Because of their books, they were offered advisory roles and small percentages of fast-growing businesses, in exchange for helping those startups with their marketing.

The founders and CEO's of these companies gave them this equity for a simple reason:

"I liked your book! You seem really great at what you do. Can you help us?"

THAT is how you get rich with a book.

If you're actually trying to use your book to make a decent income (minimum of $100K, ideally $1M+), you absolutely MUST view your book as a marketing tool. One that can lead you to...

• New clients signed
• Old clients re-signed
• Speaking gigs
• Board seats
• Advisory roles
• Investment opportunities
• Event sales
• Course sales
• New paid subscribers
• New employees
• Permanently elevated branding
• Permanently elevated reputation

You don't need a publisher for all that. In fact, it's antithetical to your success.

Your publisher's revenue comes from book sales. 

Your revenue comes from leads.

That's why you shouldn't worry about selling your book.

You can actually make more money giving away your book for free.

Think about it...

What's a better way to make $100,000?

(A) Sell 20,000 copies of a book.

(B) Enroll 2 clients for $50,000.

Duh.

Now, how many books would you have to give away to land 2 clients?

My guess: Less than 200.

Your Book is a Marketing Tool, Not a Product You Need to Sell

Your mission as a self-published author is NOT "Go sell a bunch of copies."

Your mission is "Use your book as a marketing tool."

Give it away for free to the people you want to work with. Include a letter. Follow up with them. If they like it, send them 20 more copies for co-workers.

Or you can do a free book funnel instead, like my friend Brad Hart:

A book is the ultimate lead generator. It's one of the few marketing funnels that people respect. If done well, they don't ignore it or trash it. It's a valuable product, so they put it on their shelf, or gift it to a friend. It's marketing that lives on.

Again, you don't need a publisher to do well financially.

You just need a great book that makes people want to work with you.

Final Thought: Free > Selling

I always tell my clients: Your book is a seed.

Maybe it will grow into a mighty oak tree.

Maybe it will become an orchard that bears fruit for others, or continues to pollinate and spread throughout the world.

Or maybe it will be a bonsai tree that only you and a few others get to appreciate.

But that's the fun of it. You make a book, you give it a nudge and put it out into the world, and see what it grows into.

John Chapman didn't earn the nickname "Johnny Appleseed" by selling seeds. He gave them away for free. He handed out just as many apple trees as he sold. Today, he's a legend who planted more than a hundred thousand trees.

Follow Johnny's lead. Give your book away for free, and watch that seed grow.

If you are ready to write your book, I can help. Click here.

It was the summer of 2021.

My daughter, Emmy, was 4-years old. She loved stories.

Every night, she'd ask me to make up a new story for her.

I'd start by asking, "What's the animal?"

Once she decided, I'd ask, "What's its name?"

Then, we'd be off to the races.

I told stories about dragons made of marshmallows, a puppy with the world's longest tail, and cats that broke into a mall.

But nothing topped the rainbow cheetah, named Chimay.

Good Lord, she loved that story. Maybe it was because I was bored with telling "kid stories" at that point. That wasn't Chimay's journey. I started with her being chased and nearly eaten.

The next night, she asked for another Chimay story. She sat up in bed, angry when I stopped. Interesting, I thought. The next morning, Emmy woke me up, asking what happened to Chimay.

For the next several weeks, I told her about this rainbow cheetah. Each night, Emmy would interject to add in details or twists that I'd have to work into the story.

We had a blast. At a certain point, I started recording us telling the stories on my phone. Finally, we hit a nice resolution for the character and stopped the story there. That was the end, so I thought.

A few years passed. Then, in the summer of 2023, I started experimenting more and more with ChatGPT. I'd stay up late, just to see what it could do.

One prompt yielded fascinating results:

Wow. The proof was staring me in the face.

We could make Chimay: The Rainbow Cheetah into a book.

And so, we did.

The Aftermath

It's been awesome. Emmy's eyes lit up when she saw she was the author.

(I published it with Emmy as the author, and me as the editor, because that's how publishing works 😄)

She took the book around to our neighbors, toting it in her little red wagon and handing out free copies. Many of them gave her cash. She and her sister sat outside one day, and instead of doing a lemonade stand, they tried to sell her books.

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A post shared by Charlie Hoehn | Author Marketing Strategist (@charliehoehn)

Her teacher read some of the book to her class. When I picked her up from school that day, she told me "Dad, everyone kept saying 'Emmy's an author!'"

The next day, she told me her teacher had to stop reading because a character dies – apparently a faux pas in children's literature. Whoops! 😂

Update: Since writing this post, we've received some fun messages from friends:

How We Published The Book

A few readers asked how we put this book together, so here are all the details.

The project us took about 45 days to publish, and cost roughly $1,700 with the majority of costs (80%) attributed to ghostwriting and editing.

1. Writing: Otter.ai for recording and Chat GPT for transcription processing.
   1. Time: 6 hours
   2. Cost: $30 per month
2. Editing: Annamaria on Upwork for ghostwriting and some editing. I also did a few passes myself (free of course).
   1. Time: 40 days
   2. Cost: $1,342.50
3. Cover Art: Wombo Dream AI iPhone app.
   1. Time: 15 minutes.
   2. Cost: $5
4. Cover Boost: Let's Enhance Upscaler to increase cover art resolution to 300 dpi (i.e. print ready).
   1. Time: 15 minutes
   2. Cost: $9
5. Cover Layout: My friend Erin Tyler kindly laid out the typeface, and I used Canva to do the rest.
   1. Time: 15 minutes
   2. Cost: $0
6. Interior: Vellum app for Mac to design the interior.
   1. Time: 2 hours
   2. Cost: $250
7. Illustrations: Aliya on Upwork for drawings in each chapter.
   1. Time: 4 days
   2. Cost: $150
8. ISBN: Bowker for barcode and ISBN number.
   1. Time: 15 minutes
   2. Cost: $150
9. Publishing: Amazon KDP for Kindle and Paperback (print-on-demand).
   1. Time: 30 minutes
   2. Cost: $0

Why I Did This Project

One thing I promised myself many years ago:

My daughters will be authors.

Because I met a woman who told me all the harassment and abuse she experienced in her career came to a screeching halt after she published her first book. Her identity as an author elevated and protected her, like a shield.

Any author will tell you this. That their book changed how the world sees them, and how they see themselves.

Yes, your book can make you successful. But the real benefit is the unshakeable knowing that you made something people value. That you helped others in some way, that's permanent and lasting. They respect you for it. They see you.

We had a lot of fun with Chimay: The Rainbow Cheetah. It was a great experience, and a nice memento for our family during that challenging period in history. And it happened to show me a better way to make books, which is what I help clients with now.

We have no plans of Emmy's book becoming anything beyond that. Because it doesn't need to be.

It made her an author.

There aren't many nonfiction authors selling 20,000 copies of their book per week.

Jordan Peterson is one of the few who is doing it.

In this post, I'm going to break down a few of Jordan’s primary sources of income as an author, as well as which revenue streams you should emulate.

If you prefer to watch the video instead, you can do that here:

(And be sure to subscribe to my new YouTube channel, where I'll be posting more Bestseller Breakdowns.)

Revenue Stream #1: Book Royalties

Even though Jordan is making $120,000 per month from selling his book...

... Book royalties are arguably the WORST WAY to make money as a nonfiction author. 

Just look at the math.

If you’re a self-published author selling your book for $20 on Amazon, you get to make a much better royalty than a traditionally published author – about $8 per book sale. 

Nice, right? 

Not really. 

According to BookScan, only 6.7 percent of books will sell more than 10,000 copies in their first year. 

That means your odds of making $80,000 in royalties during your book’s first year are less than 10%.

Not great.

Should you celebrate if you end up selling thousands of copies?

Of course! 

But you should never bank on book sales as your primary source of income. (Unless you're a fiction author).

Not to take anything away from Jordan Peterson. Earning 7-figures per year through book sales is an amazing accomplishment. Seriously, bravo!

But for the rest of you authors: If your goal is to make $100K per month, there are much easier and more efficient ways to do it.

This leads us to…

Revenue Stream #2: Paid Memberships & Digital Products

Selling access to a community or course is a better way to make money as an author. Before Jordan parted ways with Patreon, he was making $80,000 a month through the platform. He had nearly 10,000 members paying him at different tiers:

• $5 per month for early access to videos and lectures.
• $10 per month for additional content, like articles or podcasts.
• Higher tiers – $100 or more – included personal interactions with Jordan, such as monthly Q&A sessions.

(These price points aren't totally accurate, but you get the picture):

The nice thing about this model is that you can charge for recurring subscriptions. The monthly amount could be as low as the price of a book, and now your reader is effectively buying your book 12 times per year. 

You can also go the course route, which has a much higher profit margin and perceived value - even if it’s nearly identical to the content in your book. 

Now, doing an online course well is a different story. Most authors do a terrible job of translating their written word to a video course. This is because you have to effectively treat courses as tutorials, rather than lectures. Your students aren’t looking for more information, they’re looking to achieve a specific outcome.

Here are a few examples of excellent courses that are making $1M per year, or more:

• Clients On Demand by Russ Ruffino (Price: $10,000)
• Earnable by Ramit Sethi (Price: $1,500)
• Full Time Filmmaker by Parker Walbeck (Price: $700)
• Content OS by Justin Welsh (Price: $100)

Assuming you create a great course that delivers a valuable outcome, you can sell it for a minimum of $100 (don’t go lower than that), all the way up to $2,000. 

That $2K price point tends to be the most you can charge without needing to do sales calls.

(Note: I NEVER recommend the Udemy discount model, where you’re selling a course for $10. That’s just as bad as selling individual copies of your book). 

Want to make even more money as an author, without putting in much more effort?

I’m so glad you asked…

Revenue Stream #3: Ultra-Premium Offers

I bet Jordan Peterson is charging a minimum of $100,000 for public speaking appearances. That’s what I like to call an ultra-premium offer, which I loosely define as a service you provide for $50,000 or more.

This is my favorite way to make money as an author, because it’s the most efficient pathway to earning a full-time income and beyond.

You might think you could never charge such high prices. 

And you’d be totally wrong.

High net-worth clients are more than willing to pay a premium for luxury experiences, exclusive access, and getting much better results with much less effort.

They don’t want to compete for your attention in your online community...

They want to have exclusive access to work directly with you, 1-on-1.

They don’t want to do a bunch of monthly Zoom calls...

They want to work alongside you for three days at a 5-star hotel.

They don’t want to have to implement the suggestions in your book or course...

They want you to just do it for them.

Get the picture? 

When you cater to high net-worth you can absolutely charge $25K, $100K, even $1M and beyond.

Here's the easiest way to get started...

Take your online course, then package it up into a premium group coaching model. Offer them live coaching calls and support, twice per week. This simple change alone will allow you to charge $3K, $10K, even upwards of $50K.

Now, there’s a lot more to it than I’m laying out here. The devil is definitely in the details. So, if you want to learn more about this model, the two best coaches I’ve found are Kathryn Porritt and Russ Ruffino. They’ve been following and teaching this model for a long time, and they’ve been extremely successful at it.

Final Thoughts

If I had to guess, I'd say that Jordan Peterson is making about $500,000 per month. Maybe more. Good for him!

I love to see nonfiction authors getting compensated well for their hard work. They deserve it. 

But most authors struggle to make even $1,000 per year from their books. I'm not a fan of that statistic, but it’s true.

If you want to make a living as a nonfiction author, and actually find a viable business model that will support your life, check out my group Author Alliance. Or you can set up a call with me.

You deserve to be compensated for your talent, expertise, and dedication as an author. Because writing a book creates a disproportionate amount of value for the world. A good book is magic that people can buy.

And when you write a good book, your bank account should reflect it.

Last week, Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan hit the New York Times Bestseller List (#8) and Amazon's Most Sold Books List (#8 again).

This success was 13 years in the making, and I was there to personally witness Noah go from "entrepreneur with a big idea" to New York Times best-selling author.

In this post, I'm going to show you what it takes to go on this type of journey, so you can take your ideas and turn them into bestsellers.

If you prefer to watch the video instead, check it out here.

And be sure to subscribe to my new YouTube channel, where I'll be posting more "Bestseller Breakdowns."

I first met Noah Kagan back in 2009, where I directed Ramit Sethi to throw a cup of coffee into his face. The bit was for a comedy sketch we wrote called 'Extreme Frugality.'

Noah took the coffee to the face like a champion, and thus began our friendship.

For the last 15 years, we've bounced good (and bad) business ideas off of each other. I introduced him to Ayman Al-Abdullah, who became the CEO of his company, AppSumo ($80M+ company).

One of the main ways that we've collaborated together is through Noah's writing. This brings us to the first step in creating a bestselling book, which is...

Step 1. Validate The Concept

When I was working with Tim Ferriss, Noah suggested that he do a guest post about how to start a million-dollar business in 48 hours.

Respectfully to Noah, when he emailed me this draft, it was a mess. It was a bunch of thoughts cobbled together, random dry humor sprinkled throughout, and there wasn't quite enough meat there.

This is normal for a first draft. It's not a knock on Noah, at all. We could see that there was something really brilliant there, especially with Noah's background starting six (6) million dollar companies. We knew there was something special about the concept.

It took me a long time to edit the post, but when it finally went live on Tim's blog, readers LOVED it. To this day, it's still one of the most popular posts on Tim's blog.

That popularity validated the concept that this could be a book.

You can validate your ideas for free just by writing a great article or a great tweet thread. If you look at The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, it sold over a million copies.

How did that book get its start? With a tweet thread!

If you're posting the premise to your book online, and people aren't sharing, commenting, or being transformed by it... it's not good enough.

Step 2. Have a Platform

Noah is an email marketing genius. AppSumo has over 1 million subscribers on their email list. He's emailed people for over a decade who are his fans, who are his customers. They're going to want to buy the book.

Email is the single most effective online platform for selling products, especially books. It outperforms social media platforms by 50 to 100x.

That's right. For every 100 books you'll sell on email, you'll sell maybe 1 or 2 on a platform like YouTube or Facebook.

I use SendFox, which is an email tool that Noah developed, and I've used it for years. SendFox is a one-time purchase, not a monthly fee, and if you have 10,000 subscribers, it costs $100 for life.

Step 3. Coach Through Fears

I have never met an author who didn't have some fears during the process of writing a book, whether it was at the beginning or at the finish line. Writing a book and putting it out there is a big, big act, and it brings up a lot of insecurities.

You can read the transcript of Noah and I talking through this on his podcast in this segment right here:

Noah: I think putting myself out there really publicly is a fear and challenge of, 'Is my message worthy? Can I help the people that I think I can help? Do they even need my help? Do I even want to be that big?' Part of me is like, 'I am afraid. I don't know what's behind that door.' And so that gives me a little bit of motivation to face it. I don't know if I'm being like a whiny bitch and...

Charlie: Stop. I've talked to hundreds and hundreds of authors over the last 10 years. Literally, all of them have the exact same underlying emotion, which is fear. Because fear, or I'm sorry, change to your mind is death. And so that radical of a change means the death of your current level of your current life.

Noah: Yes.

Charlie: And so your brain interprets it as death, and that is scary. It's death to your current self. You have to grieve your past life.

Noah: Some next-level shit, Charlie. Where is this coming out of?

Charlie: Just the truth.

Noah: I'm so afraid, Charlie! (laughs)

Charlie: Well, let's talk about them. What did you say is the number one fear around the book?

Noah: Do I really want this now? Is this worthy of my time? I really admire like the Jeff Bezos and Zuckerberg and these people making things. I want to follow the path of, you know, maybe the Branson or the Bezos or the people who've made the businesses. They're not making books.

Charlie: Branson has written a few books. You can also follow the path of Noah Kagan, and a book might be really great right now.

Noah: I guess I just like, 'Is that what I want to do? Do I need everybody else to make feel good about myself?'

Charlie: I'll tell you, you won't feel good about yourself by helping everybody else, clearly. Because you've been doing it for years and you're still dealing with this.

Noah: That was some shit right there.

Charlie: That's got to come from you.

Noah: I feel ready. I feel more ready to go into the fire.

So if you're writing a book and you have some fears, worries, doubts around it, get a coach. I don't care if it's somebody like myself, which you can sign up for here, or somebody who's just a mindset coach.

You need to get through those fears so that you can publish your book and make an impact on the people whose lives you want to change.

Step 4. Hire Help

One of the biggest myths is that the author did the book alone. It's never true. Look in the Acknowledgements section, and you will see all the people who helped them:

• Their agent
• Their publishing house
• Their cover designer
• Their interior designer
• Friends
• Family
• Support that they had during the process of publishing the book

It takes a village to make a book!

In this instance, Noah made the brilliant decision to hire Tahl Raz, one of the best writers on the planet. Tahl helped Keith Ferrazi write Never Eat Alone, and Chris Voss write Never Split the Difference. Two mega-bestsellers.

Then Noah hired me to help with editing.

I loved working with Tahl because he is a phenomenal writer. It really illustrated such an important concept, which I'll steal from my friend Tucker Max:

If you're a race car driver, no one expects you to build the car, no one expects you to fix the car, no one expects you to change the tire. Your job is to drive.

The author's job is not to sit and type. The author's job is to get their ideas and stories and truth out.

Tahl's job is to take what Noah says and turn it into book prose that flows, that's easy to understand, that doesn't disengage the reader or bore them. And Tahl did a phenomenal job.

Tahl's at the top of the writer market, he's going to cost you a mid six-figures. So unless you're a traditionally published author getting a seven-figure deal or you're a very successful business person who only wants to hire the best, somebody like Tahl is probably going to be out of your range.

But the point still stands: Hire the help that you need.

Here are some of the people that you'll definitely need help with in writing your book:

1. Book Business Planner. The average self-published author makes less than a $1,000 from their book per year. If you're going to go through all the effort of writing a book, you need to plan for success. That means not doing a book proposal, but doing a book business plan. And a lot of authors say, 'Oh, I don't want to write a book and deal with a backend.' If you write a decent book, people will be reaching out to you asking you to speak for them, consult for them, etc. You have to prepare for that. Why would you write a book that feeds into a non-existent funnel? That's why I say that the first person you need to hire is somebody who can lay out your book business plan, so you reach your financial and lifestyle goals. It makes a huge difference. You need to do it at the outset; it can't be an afterthought.
2. Editors. What I mean by this is you need one professional editor and then you need a group of beta readers. These are people who are the ideal readers of your book who can point out where it's boring, confusing, etc.
3. Beta Readers. I will say that beta readers are just as important as a professional editor because they treat your book like software. They're looking for where the book is boring, confusing, buggy, making me want to check out, not ever read it again, or never recommend it. Beta readers are invaluable, and I don't care how good your editor is. They are the ones who will really point out what needs to be fixed in your book because they are the actual readers.
4. Designers. Do not try to design your own cover. You need a cover designer. You also probably need an interior designer, though you can get away with using a tool called Vellum. It does pretty good interior design. It's $200 for lifetime software, and I have used that on certain books. But if you really want to go higher end, I would recommend hiring an interior designer. My favorite book cover designers are Erin Tyler, Pete Garceau, and Michael Nagin. They are all phenomenal, and they have done tremendous work.

Those are the people you do need to hire, and you definitely want to allocate for those costs. So just be aware when you're hiring your help, you need a budget of people who can get you through the entire book production process and make you look good.

Step 5. Launch and Marketing

I could go on for two or three hours just on this topic alone, but I'm going to tie it back to what I said at the beginning, which is I believe Noah's book will sell a million copies.

If Noah does everything right during his launch, he'll sell 25K to 30K copies, he'll hit the New York Times bestseller list, and the book is a success. And guess what? He did that! Yay!

But that still leaves 970,000 copies before it sells a million copies, right? That's a lot. And so he can't just be in launch mode repeatedly. Noah can do this launch maybe two times, which still leaves nearly a million books.

How is that going to happen?

The key here is that he wrote a book that can market itself. This is what I lay out in my article, 'How to Sell a Million Copies of Your Non-Fiction Book'. It has to have the DNA of a book that is:

• Remarkable
• Impulse purchase
• Brag-worthy
• Transforms you,
• Cult-worthy

Is this book guaranteed to sell a million? No, of course not. There are no guarantees. But I think Noah has so much in his favor going with this book. I believe it's inevitable that, over the next decade, it will sell a million copies.

You heard it here first :)

But because every author cares about launching their book and they think it's super important, let's talk a little bit about it.

Most authors get super anxious during their launch. What happens is they try to do a little of everything, and those things don't even work.

Then at the end of launch week, they say:

'Wow... I've only sold 100 copies. This book is a failure.'

No, it's not! That's like judging a human being the week it's born. Don't judge it so harshly!

After a good launch, most authors typically sell about 1,000 copies over the course of the next three months. This is for self-published authors, by the way. So any traditionally published authors who are thinking, 'Oh, that's garbage,' remember this...

Traditionally published authors are playing a different game. That game is maximizing the number of units sold. They have only been able to sign with a publishing house because that house knows that they have 10,000 units sold on day one in working with that author, because their audience will buy it. So don't judge the self-published authors who can only move a thousand books over the course of a few months.

1,000 copies sold over 90 days is solid.

You just introduced your book into the collective consciousness. It is now your job to set up systems – marketing systems – that can continually sell it and make it easy for people to talk about and buy and gift.

I got over 600 reviews on my book Play It Away, mostly because I set up an email automation sequence for a free email course to people with anxiety.

They would get 10 tips – one tip a day – and I would say:

'Did you like this tip? It was taken from my book 'Play It Away'. If this is helpful, it would be great if you left a review.'

I got hundreds of reviews that way. And that book has now sold over 30,000 copies through that system.

This is why I say it's so important to do the book business plan in advance. You can actually achieve your financial goals and lifestyle goals by giving away your book for free.

I have seen authors make millions of dollars and not even sell their book on Amazon. They give it away.

I have seen people do "free plus shipping and handling" funnels, so they give their book away, and then they get people on an email list that sells them other stuff like supplements, coaching, courses. And they make millions of dollars that way

They also get their book out there, thousands and thousands of copies. I know a guy who sold 500,000 copies of his book this way.

So that's where you really want to think: marketing systems that can sell the book for the next 10, 20 years.

You can make all your dreams come true by having a great book. But remember:

The launch does not make or break the book! Your marketing systems are far more important than the launch.

Grab a copy of Million Dollar Weekend. Many congrats to Noah for his well-deserved success!

If you’re interested in applying, click the button or continue reading below:

Who Author.Inc is Right For

This program is designed for business owners, thought leaders, and industry experts who want to write an excellent nonfiction book – as quickly and painlessly as possible.

You are an excellent candidate for the program if…

• You lead something real. You’re a founder, CEO, or senior leader actively running a company, division, or platform with real scope, people, and decisions.
• You already have scale or reach. Your company generates $1M+ annually, you lead a full-time team, or you have a substantial personal platform that moves people, money, or markets.
• You’re strategic about growth. You’re in a phase of scaling, repositioning, or legacy-building, driven by smart, substantive goals—not fear or vanity.
• You’re comfortable being seen. You already speak, create content, or appear in media, and you’re ready to step further into visibility to strengthen your brand and impact.
• You value excellence and efficiency. You want a clear, expert-led process that saves time without sacrificing quality, and you’re ready to invest the resources needed to do it right.
• You collaborate as a true partner. You take ownership, follow a proven process, and show up reliably from start to finish.
• You care about legacy. You want to capture and share your wisdom in a way that will influence and inspire others for years to come.
• You’re self-aware and grounded. You bring authenticity, curiosity, and emotional maturity to the creative process, and you’re open to being coached.
• You’re capable of multiple books. You see this as the beginning of your author era—a repeatable process you can use to create long-term authority and impact.

The Big Problems We Solve

Before we dive into the specific program details, let's talk about the big problems most nonfiction authors run into, and what we are aiming to completely solve with this program:

• Problem #1: Writing a book is f*ing hard. Less than 0.1% of people who want to publish a book will actually publish it. Less than 1% of people who starting writing a nonfiction book will finish it. There are many reasons for this, including: getting the structure wrong, underestimating the level of difficulty, overwhelmed by fear and insecurity, not knowing which things to put in and leave out, not having enough valuable content, feeling demoralized by an inability to get it done, loneliness and lack of accountability, etc.
• Problem #2: Writing a book takes a long time. The typical duration for an author to write and publish a nonfiction book is five years. I’ve met several authors who tried and failed to write their book for more than a decade. Some people naively assume that A.I. will solve this problem. This is wrong, due to “garbage in, garbage out.” If you don’t know how to strategically and surgically use these tools, you will produce garbage books that people won’t want to read.
• Problem #3: Monetization can be confusing. The majority of self-published authors make less than $1,000 per year from their books. Many of them assume that they need to sell a ton of copies and hit bestseller lists in order to make good money. This is also wrong. Not having the right monetization strategy and business model can turn your book into a liability, rather than an asset.
• Problem #4: Author marketing is confusing. Forget hitting bestseller lists; how about just having a basic funnel? A solid author website that elevates your brand, and a sales process that allows you to earn 3-10X more? The vast majority of nonfiction authors either completely neglect or botch this part.
• Problem #5: Author branding is easy to screw up. It’s hard to “read the label when you’re inside the bottle.” In other words, it’s very difficult to step up your own brand and marketing when you’re so close to it. Very often, authors are constricted or delusional about their brand. This is mostly due to the gap between how they feel about themselves and how others think of them.
• Problem #6: Publishing landmines are everywhere. There are many phases to navigate in order to successfully release a book into the world. There’s planning, writing, editing, designing, branding, publishing, marketing, monetizing, launch, and sales. That’s a LOT to learn along the way. The path is riddled with hidden landmines, many of which can turn into costly or irreversible mistakes. Watch out for “publishing gurus” who’ve been doing this for 2-5 years. Many of them will walk you directly into these landmines. Speaking of…
• Problem #7: Finding legitimate experts is challenging. I don’t like talking down on anyone, but it is frustrating to witness so many of these “experts” — with zero track record of doing anything truly noteworthy — guide naive people into programs that result in unremarkable books, bad books, or no book at all.

What Makes Author.Inc Unique?

Author.Inc is designed for busy founders and leaders who want to get things done. You’ll be given templates and tools to help you make the process as efficient as possible. While you will have to do work, I’ll help you accelerate, delegate, and automate the hardest stuff.

My unique writing process can get your first draft done in just one month – roughly 90% faster than if you did it alone. Best of all: Your content will be in your words, in your voice. No unusable A.I-generated nonsense. This is your book.

Unlike with other book writing programs, readers will actually be impressed by your book – a 5-star read ★★★★★ that's as professional as what you'd produce with a Big-5 publishing house.

For a full year, we will coach and guide you every step of the way to becoming an iconic author – from book idea to writing, editing, publishing, launch, marketing, and monetization. This is an end-to-end program that’s supercharged for efficiency, effectiveness, and ease.

The program is structured with the nine key phases of becoming a successful nonfiction author:

When you join Author.Inc, you are hiring our team to help you become an author. That means:

• We will help you write, publish, and market a top-tier nonfiction book.
• We will help you elevate your brand and business so they’re aligned with your goals and dream life.
• We will equip you with tools & templates that expedite and alleviate the process of finishing your manuscript, and show you exactly how to use them.
• We will introduce you to the best publishing experts we know to help you get things done, and show you how to best work with them.

But we will NOT do all of the work for you. To be clear…

What’s Included

✅ Best-in-class program to fast track your iconic author journey

✅ Author Business Plan to help you achieve your most ambitious goals

✅ First draft of your book done in a matter of weeks, using our proprietary process and AI tools (without it sounding robotic, inauthentic, or plagiarized)

✅ 6-12 months (depending on package) of access to weekly group coaching & accountability calls so you’ll never get stuck or feel lost

✅ Proven SOP’s, templates, and tools to expedite and elevate every phase of writing, publishing, and marketing your book

✅ Introductions, clear work orders, and potential discounts with my network of top publishing & brand experts

✅ Your book done in your words, your voice, and your vision

✅ You get 100% ownership of your book royalties and rights

Additional Costs

Not all of these costs are required to get through the program, but some of them will. If you want to do any of these, they will cost extra:

• Ghostwriting your book for you
• Editing your book for you
• Book cover design
• Book interior layout
• Author photographs
• Book launch execution
• Author website and book sales page design
• Hiring, managing, or paying contractors on your behalf

Which brings us to an important question…

Why should you listen to me?

Meet Your Coach: The Guide to Iconic Authors

My name is Charlie Hoehn. I'm a 3-time author, 4-time New York Times bestselling editor, keynote speaker, and the co-founder of Author.Inc.

For the last 15 years, I’ve worked with many of the world’s most iconic nonfiction authors, helping them step into the spotlight and level up their books, brands, and businesses exponentially.

Their work has changed countless lives, quite literally shaped the global culture, earned them millions (in some cases, hundreds of millions), and sealed their reputation as icons.

Collectively, these authors have sold tens of millions of books.

Several of them hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Four of them hit #1 on Amazon OVERALL.

One is the star of a Top 10 Netflix series (congrats Ramit!)

Not only have I coached more than 250 nonfiction authors (with many becoming millionaires and industry leaders in the process), I’ve also gotten great results for myself.

• Published multiple influential books that are selling 10+ years later
• Sold more than 40,000 copies
• Received unsolicited endorsements from the likes of Andrew Huberman, Tony Robbins, Ryan Holiday, Tim Ferriss, Chase Jarvis, Justin Mares, and Dr. Peter Gray
• Briefly hit 'Top 10 Audiobooks on Audible'
• Delivered four TEDx talks, with over 250K+ views
• Professional speaker, charging $25K for domestic keynotes
• Invited by and presented to groups at the Pentagon, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Stanford, and New Canaan Society
• Worked for six years at the top professional publishing company in the world, Scribe Media, where we published over 2,000 books

Who Should NOT Join Author.Inc

My program is definitely not for everyone. You are not ready or right for the program if…

• You cannot afford to invest money into doing your book. This program is not cheap for a simple reason: we insist on excellence. So, if you have a bunch of credit card debt, or the thought of investing 5-figures into a program like this makes you sweat, do not apply to the program.
• You have not validated your business or book concept. I understand the appeal of writing a book to generate leads for your new business venture. But if you haven’t sold your offer to at least three people, do not apply to the program. Same goes with ”big idea” type books. If you haven’t validated that people urgently want the information or advice you’re dispensing, do not join the program. You don’t want to dump attention onto a broken funnel. Go validate your offer / ideas first, then apply.
• You just want to tell your story. Writing a book can certainly be therapeutic, but that’s not what this program is about. If you’re wanting to write a memoir, where you focus on sharing your truth and healing yourself, check out my friends' program at Tell Your Story. They are two of the best memoir authors on the planet (both in terms of writing AND selling), and both are phenomenal coaches.

Three Ways to Join

There are three levels to this program, which are fundamentally different games. The simplest way to explain them is as follows:

• Level 1 is Book — To help authors get their first draft done
• Level 2 is Launch — To help authors edit, publish, and launch their book.
• Level 3 is Scale – For authors aiming to earn $1M+ leveraging their book.

If you’re still not sure which one is right for you, read on…

Level 1: Book (Cost: $30K)

This is a done-with-you group coaching program:

• Lock in your positioning, reader profile, and framework in days so you write the right book, not just any book.
• Produce a full first draft in under one week through a high-velocity capture process that pulls your best ideas fast.
• Finish with a publish-ready manuscript that captures your true voice and cements your authority.

Inquire Here

Level 2: Launch (Cost: $60K)

This is also a done-with-you group coaching program:

• Use our complete launch system to drive preorders, visibility, and real business results.
• Generate hundreds of preorders and convert readers into clients, speaking invitations, and press.
• Follow a clear week-by-week roadmap that turns your book into a momentum-building campaign.

Inquire Here

Level 3: Scale (Cost: $180K)

This is a private VIP program, intended for the following authors:

• Turn your book into a growth engine that fuels new leads, partnerships, and paid opportunities.
• Repurpose your content into keynotes, courses, consulting programs, and media that multiply your reach with minimal extra effort.
• Cement your reputation as the go-to expert in your space and build long-term brand equity.

Invite-Only, Inquire Here

Frequently Asked Questions

Apply to Join the Program

If you’re ready to go on this journey of turning your knowledge into a 5-star book, this is your opportunity to do it right.

Whether you're an established expert or an emerging thought leader, Author.Inc is your smoothest and most efficient pathway to successfully becoming an author.

Thanks for reading! :)

Play is essential for children to develop into healthy, empathetic, resilient adults.

And yet, so many parents do not enjoy playing with their kids. And there are many valid reasons for this.

Let’s face it: Playing with your kids can feel boring, overly demanding, and exhausting.

Or worse, play can feel very triggering for some parents.

Some parents never got to play with their parents when they were little, so the activity can feel foreign, anxiety-inducing, or depressing. Our kids just want to have fun, while we get flooded with reminders of what was missing in our own childhood.

Regardless of what you experience as a parent while playing with your kids, I believe it’s imperative for ALL adults to re-learn the joy of play.

Play is the language of children. It’s how they form bonds and connect with the people around them.

So if you don’t enjoy playing with your kids (but you really want to!), here are a few tips that have worked well for me.

1. Let them beat you up.

Rough-and-tumble play is one of the healthiest ways to connect with your kids.

Pretending to wrestle each other is fun for all parties, but the key is to LET THEM WIN.

You don’t have to pretend you’re weak; just pretend they are strong.

Kids are DELIGHTED to feel like they can overpower you. And it’s a lot of fun to pretend they’re powerful.

2. “Yes, and” all of their suggestions.

One of the most common mistakes I see parents making is shutting down their kids invitations to play.

You see it all the time. A kid will come up to their parent, barking and panting (pretending to be a dog).

How does the parent react? By shutting them down: “Umm what are you doing?”

Rejecting your kids invitations for play is like driving with the emergency brake on.

Whenever you notice they are playing, you follow it with an enthusiastic “Yes!” and then build on their suggestion with an idea of your own.

For example, if your kid comes up to you pretending they are a dog, you can say “Good doggie! You ready to play fetch? Okay, go get the ball!” And then pretend to throw a ball. Easy :)

3. Tell them a story you’re making up on the spot.

Making up a story is one of the most fun ways to play with your kids. And it’s really easy.

First, you ask them who the story should be about and what their name is.

Then, once you have the character’s name, tell them a story following this structure:

Once upon a time…

And every day…

Until one day…

And because of that…

And because of that…

And because of that…

Until finally…

And ever since that day…

Trust me, they will be ENRAPTURED.

I once told my daughter a story about a cupcake named ‘Coopaloo’ (her suggestion), who managed to get lost in a sewer, where he encountered a dog that became his best friend. For a solid week, she continued to ask me to tell more of the story. The adventures of this cupcake were totally absurd, but she loved every second of it.

4. Make their game into a story.

One of the simplest ways to make imaginative games more fun is to turn them into stories.

For instance, your kid might ask you to play with an action figure or a doll with them.

Instead of going through the motions or waiting for suggestions, put your character through an “Unfortunately” scenario, and then follow it up with a “Fortunately.”

In other words: Have a (slightly) bad thing happen, and then come up with a positive turn of events that fixes the problem.

Good games have drama. So don’t be afraid to turn your game into an emotional roller coaster.

5. Ask them to teach you.

Kids are happy to show you what they know.

Pretend you are their pupil, who doesn’t know how to play, and just let them guide you.

6. Do the activities YOU love to do, and invite them along.

Your kids are truly happy to be doing anything alongside you where YOU are happy.

Set yourself up for enjoyment! If you don’t enjoy kid games, then bring them into your world of fun.

7. Draw / Paint / Create at their level.

Imagine sitting down to paint next to Leonardo Da Vinci.

Or trying to shoot hoops with LeBron James.

You’d be intimidated, right?

Well, that’s how your kid feels when they play with you, and see that you’re 100X better than them.

Don’t show your kid up. Meet them where they are.

When I was 13 years old, I went to the weightroom with my dad to lift weights for the first time.

I could barely lift, and I felt embarrassed that I was the weakest person in the room.

You know what my dad did? He pretended that he was struggling with the weights I was lifting too, despite being much stronger than me.

That made me feel okay with where I was, and I’ve never forgotten that he did that.

Tone your skills down, so your kid can enjoy the activity with you.

8. Coach them through challenges.

Instead of letting your kid say “I can’t do it” or “This is too hard,” encourage them to say “I’m still learning.”

Struggle is part of the game. It’s what makes play fun.

So if you hear them verbally stopping themselves during play by judging their own abilities, coach them through it so they recognize that struggle is good!

9. SLOW DOWN.

Relax! Instead of living life 1 hour at a time, carve out four hours just to hang out at a park, with no agenda and no cell phone.

Let the play slowly unfold.

10. Never underestimate how simple play can be.

You can go for hours just hitting a balloon back-and-forth.

No need to make it complicated. No need to force anything fancy on them.

Remember: Take care of yourself!

Get good sleep, don’t drink much alcohol, don’t work too much, etc.

Basically, set yourself up to feel happy and healthy around your family.

Because if you’re not able to have fun, neither will they.

. . .

What tips have helped you play with your kids?

Let me know in the comments below.

We like to obsess over what we eat.

And we’re not wrong. Diet matters.

But I believe friendship and community are more important.

Take the Mediterranean diet, for example.

Some nutritionists call this “the ideal diet.” Lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans. Moderate amounts of meat.

What they usually neglect to mention is how people treat each other in the Mediterranean.

Men in Greece, for example, will have 2 hour lunches together. They’ll play chess, and talk about their feelings. They’ll talk about their families, their dreams, and their spiritual beliefs.

They argue. They laugh. They cry in front of each other. They even hold each other when they need support.

What they don’t do?

They don’t just talk about surface-level stuff like sports, or politics, or how to make more money.

They don’t live in pointless debates over matters they have no stake in.

Instead, they are real with each other.

Maybe you still think diet matters. And it does. But not as much as friendship and community.

Take the town of Roseto.

They didn’t care about diet. They fried their meat in lard. They smoked constantly. They got drunk constantly. The men worked in coal mines.

As a result, they had… the lowest rate of heart disease in America.

Because they were friends.

They were a community that supported each other.

Dinners weren’t about WHAT was on the table.

Dinners were about WHO was at the table.

Nearly every house in Roseto contained three generations of family members. They all belonged to social clubs, churches, and went to community festivals.

Roseto was all about community and connection.

What you eat matters. It matters a lot.

But what matters more is knowing you have people in your life who will support you when times are tough. That you can be fully open and honest with.

It’s why Mexicans tend to outlive whites and blacks in America. Scientists theorize that it’s because they eat less red meat or that they smoke less. That’s nonsense.

If you’ve ever spent any time with Hispanics, you know they are some of the most loving, supportive, and emotionally open people on the planet.

That’s what we can all aspire to. To be that social support for the people we care about, the people who matter to us. And to be more open and real, even when it’s ugly.

It’s definitely easier to focus on your diet. Just eat different things, see how you feel, and keep making adjustments. Obsessing over food is certainly less risky than making yourself vulnerable in front of someone you care about.

But we’re not here to eat the “right foods.”

We are here to connect with each other.

And what’s a good meal without someone to share it with?

Four years ago, I made a really good decision:

I created a Google calendar event for 2:30p on a Wednesday afternoon, to call my friend Jeff.

Then I set it to “Repeat weekly.”

Jeff lives in California and I live in Texas, so we rarely get to hang out. I hate email, he hates Facebook, so we rarely message each other. Phone calls were the way to go.

And for the past 4 years, nearly every single week, we’ve talked for an hour on the phone.

It’s changed my life for the better.

Most weeks, we chat about nothing in particular. We tell stories. We make jokes. There’s no small talk, we just go.

But there are some weeks that really stand out. Calls I still think about.

Jeff talked me through becoming a father, even though I didn’t feel ready and was scared we’d go broke.

He talked me through depression, when I couldn’t find reasons why I needed to be kind to myself.

I like to think I’ve done the same for him.

I know it might not sound like much, but what if we’d never had those calls?

We would have just been alone in our thoughts. And there were a few times when I felt like he pulled me out as I was drowning.

Those calls inspired me to set up another weekly call, with my dad.

Before, I had this fantasy that “one day, my dad and I are going to have this amazing close relationship.” We’ll travel around the U.S. and visit every baseball stadium in a camper! It will be great!

I had that idea in my head for years. I made no progress.

Then I began calling him, every week.

And it changed our relationship. He needed it, too.

His best friend passed away unexpectedly. That hour he used to have with him was gone, and it just automatically filled back up with work.

Because of the calls, we are closer, which is exactly what I’d hoped for. I believe he hoped for it, too.

Calling someone is a vulnerable act.

What if they don’t actually want to talk?

What if they just ignore me?

What if I say something a little too real, and they no longer want me in their life?

But the alternative is not having them in your life.

Loneliness is a problem we all struggle with. But I do not feel lonely when I have these calls.

It’s an hour away from work, but it’s a commitment to friendship.

And it’s made all the difference.