Write With Impact With Glenn Leibowitz

I was recently in Hong Kong for a tech conference where I met Matt Mullenweg. For those of you who don’t know who Matt is, Matt took a piece of open source blogging software 12 years ago and started modifying it and improving it, and eventually turned it into WordPress, the content management software which powers 24% of all websites on the internet today.   Matt is the CEO of Automattic, which is the company that manages wordpress.com and offers a range of products and services that are part of the WordPress ecosystem.  Automattic today is valued at over a billion dollars.    Matt runs a very different company, and that’s something I go into with him in this conversation. For the most part, nobody needs to go into an office. Their 400 employees work at home or in shared offices in dozens of countries around the world. Matt hopes to scale that up to 4,000 someday.     They also rarely use email and instead use an internal blogging platform they created called P2 which they use to communicate.   In the first h

Mark Vanhoenacker is a Senior First Officer for British Airways who flies cross-continental routes on 747s.  He writes about flying for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Slate, and other publications. He’s the author of the recent book, Skyfaring: A Journey With a Pilot, which was published by Knopf. The book has received glowing reviews from The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, Conde Nast Traveler, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and many more. I enjoyed the book for the beautiful, poetic descriptions of flying and aircraft, and for how the author takes very complex concepts from the world of aviation and translates them for lay readers like you and me. I fly quite a lot each year for my job as a communications professional, and I have to admit the experience of flying has lost a lot of its cache over the years. I don’t enjoy many aspects of flying, especially what I have to go through on the ground before and after I’m on the plane. But this book has renewed my fascination and appr

Shane Snow is the bestselling author of Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success. He’s also the Chief Creative Officer of Contently, a technology company he co-founded in 2010 with the mission to create a better media world.   An alumnus of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Shane's writing has appeared in Wired Magazine, The New Yorker, Fast Company, Mashable, Gizmodo, The Washington Post, Business Insider, and The Huffington Post.   Shane has been named one of Forbes's "30 Under 30 Media Innovators," Inc.'s "30 Under 30 Entrepreneurs," and Business Insider's "100 Coolest People in Tech”.    I spoke to Shane about the elements that make a good story. He also talks bout how to apply storytelling techniques to shorter form content like social media posts, or blog posts on LinkedIn, where he’s one of the first Influencers on that platform.    He also had some interesting things to say about how artificial intelligence might be changing the way stories are being written

In 2008, Joanna Penn was a highly paid but unhappy management consultant who felt the pull from her creative side. So she started a blog, a podcast, and then published her first non-fiction book about changing careers. She quickly moved into writing fiction and published her first novel a year later. In 2011, she quit her day job to devote herself full-time to her new career as an author-entrepreneur. And she has never looked back. Today, Joanna is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her tenth novel, Deviance, was just published last week. And she recently released a new book on how to make a living as a writer. Joanna is also a prolific blogger, podcaster, speaker, instructor, social media maven, and self-professed travel junkie. I spoke to Joanna about how she made the transition from consultant to full-time author, how she loves to travel to conduct research for her novels, the rigorous scheduling system she uses to plan her work months or even years in advance, the process she uses to get i

Kevin Kruse is a New York Times bestselling author who decided to leave his 9-to-5 job this past January so he could devote himself full-time to his passion: writing and publishing books.   He’s been blogging about the experience and sharing all of his strategies and even income reports on his blog. And just last week, he announced he hit his goal of earning $100,000 from his publishing and speaking engagements.    In our conversation, Kevin shares some of the strategies he uses to plan and write his books, his email marketing strategies, how he leverages his books into lucrative speaking engagements, and how he uses social media.   And, speaking of email marketing, I’d like to share an announcement: there’s a free email marketing course available from the folks at Leadpages!   They’ve put together a 9-part video course that walks you step-by-step through everything you need to know to grow your email list, and turn subscribers into customers. And best of all, it’s completely free!   Click here for your free

I’ve read many books about the storytelling craft, almost all of which focus on writing fiction. And while I’m not a fiction author, I’ve found that these books provide the best sources of strategies and techniques for planning, writing, and editing nonfiction stories of the kind that I create.   One such book that I recently discovered offers the most systematic and comprehensive methodology for analyzing and improving stories that I’ve ever seen. It’s called, The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know, and it’s by Shawn Coyne, a 25-year veteran of the publishing industry who has worked with hundreds of authors as editor, co-author, publisher, or agent.    In The Story Grid, Coyne has codified everything he knows about writing and editing great stories. He’s used his methodology — which he developed over the course of his career — to take hundreds of raw manuscripts to A-level published fiction and nonfiction. Books that he has edited and published have generated more than $150 million in sales in North America

Oliver Burkeman is a journalist with The Guardian where he writes a popular column about self-help culture, productivity and the science of happiness.   He’s also the author of an excellent book that has taken the self-help industry by storm: The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking.    I spoke with Oliver about his column and how he planned, researched and wrote his book. We also talked about many aspects of his writing process, like:   The power of Morning Pages, a journaling technique that was developed and popularized by the creativity coach and writer Julia Cameron, and how he uses it to tackle difficult issues. How he battles what Steven Pressfield has called “The Resistance” by focusing on getting down to work each morning, regardless of how he feels at the moment, or whether he feels particularly inspired. How, through his writing, he enjoys having clearly conveyed very complex ideas to non-experts, whom he calls “intelligent generalists”.  You can find the show notes

Professor Daniel Oppenheimer holds joint positions in marketing and psychology at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Previously he was a Professor at Princeton University for 8 years, where he held a joint appointment in psychology and public affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He joined the faculty of Princeton after receiving his PhD from Stanford. Professor Oppenheimer has received several prestigious awards for his research, which focuses on human decision making. His work has also been featured in top-tier media. He’s the co-author of the book, Democracy Despite Itself: Why a System That Shouldn't Work at All Works So Well. And recently, he was named as one of the Best 40 Professors under 40 by Poets and Quants, a widely read blog about MBA programs. In this episode, Professor Oppenheimer talks about research he conducted with his graduate assistant Pam Mueller when he was at Princeton. They studied the impact of taking notes by hand versus laptop on the retenti

Paul Jarvis is a successful digital entrepreneur who publishes best-selling books on writing, publishing, and digital marketing. He’s also a web designer who has helped some of the biggest names in the online space like Marie Forleo. And, he creates online courses where he shares everything he knows about building a successful business as a creative freelancer. I’ve been reading Paul’s weekly newsletter, the Sunday Dispatches, for the past year now, and I’m an avid listener of his podcast, Invisible Office Hours, which he co-hosts with Jason Zook. In this episode, Paul shares a ton of insights into how he creates so much high quality content across so many different platforms: He shares his technique for writing best-selling books. He talks about how focusing on a single project and shutting down all other distractions like social media helps him to maximize his productivity. He talks about the innovative way that he and Jason used to successfully monetize their podcast without sponsorship or advertising of

Today I’ve decided to take a break from talking about writing. Instead, we’re going to dive into a topic that is something I’ve been doing for several decades now through my work as a communications and branding professional, and something that I believe is incredibly relevant to all of you writers out there: branding!   That’s right. We’re going to put our pens down and close our Moleskin notebooks and Macbook Pros and listen to Aaron Pierson talk about how to create a brand strategy that will help you get noticed.   Aaron is an experienced brand strategist and designer who has worked with several leading digital marketers and major consumer and B2B companies.   At the end of our conversation he talks a little about his new Activator digital brand strategy course which you can find right here.     I worked with Aaron on the branding for this podcast and the Write With Impact website, so I know what it’s like firsthand to get his expert guidance on brand development.    I think you’re going to enjoy this conv

Today I’m very pleased to welcome Jeff Goins on the show. Jeff is the author of four books, including the national best-seller, "The Art of Work". He’s also a full-time blogger, speaker, and entrepreneur. Jeff’s award-winning blog, GoinsWriter.com, has been visited by over four million people from around the world, and his work has been featured in the Washington Post, USA Today, Entrepreneur, Forbes, and Psychology Today.  In this episode, Jeff dives deep into a number of topics, such as how he found his calling as a writer, and how his new book is motivating people around the world to discover — and pursue — their calling in life. Jeff also offers some practical advice for writers trying to hone their craft and build their platform.  He also breaks down the innovative strategy he used to successfully launch his new book, "The Art of Work", which hit several best-seller lists and sold over 20,000 copies in just the first month after publication.  He covers so much more in this conversation, and I’m sure you’

Leah Bell is the author of the brand new book, The Angry Grad. It’s a book for students and recent college graduates who might be facing a mountain of debt and uncertain job prospects. In her book, she shares some hard-nosed facts and advice about college and the working world, and then offers practical ideas and asks questions that can help the reader think through his or her options after graduation. In my conversation with Leah, she talks about why she wrote this book, who it’s aimed at, and what they can expect to get out of it. She also talks about how she wrote it, and what she plans to do to market it. If you haven’t already noticed from my previous episodes, I’m a champion for the self-publishers out there, and I have invited several authors who have self-published their work on Amazon and have done quite well at it. This is Leah’s first book, and I thought her story would provide inspiration to all of you who are working on your first book, or thinking about writing one. I think you’ll enjoy this con

Charlotte Eriksson, known as The Glass Child by her fans, is a 24-year-old singer-songwriter and author who has single-handedly built her own music and book publishing business on the back of her tremendous talent and her ability to create a global following of fans who love her, and love her music and writing.   I invited her on the show because she writes in so many different genres - from music to books to social media posts -  and publishes her work on so many different platforms. I also wanted to find out how she uses social media to build relationships with her fans, and how she manages to make a living from her self-publishing efforts.   Hers is an inspiring story for anyone trying to build their own platform and publish their first or second book or album.   And if you listen all the way to the end, you’ll get to hear one of her latest songs.   So get comfortable, make yourself a cup of coffee or tea, and enjoy…   You can find the show notes to this episode with links to Charlotte’s websites, Amazon a

Today I’m going to talk about how to break through what I call “blogger’s block.” Yeah, you know what I mean. When you run into that wall and just can’t seem to find something to write about. You might have too much to choose from and suffer from the “curse of choice." Or perhaps you feel you have nothing to share at all. Or maybe you’re just having a hard time getting started on that idea you’ve been chewing on for a while. When I first started blogging on LinkedIn and on my personal blog, I struggled with what I should write about. I think this is a common problem that all new bloggers face. In fact, it’s probably one of the main reasons why many people still haven’t even begun to blog. They think — mistakenly — they either have nothing to write about, or that what they do want to write about won’t find an audience. By committing to posting on a weekly basis, I was able to slowly build a repertoire of posts — a body of work — that proved to myself, at least, that I did have something to write about. And jud

Monica is a novelist who writes across several different genres, including romance, young adult, and science fiction.    In this episode of Write With Impact, Monica shares the process she developed that enables her to write more than 3,500 words per hour. She covers the exact framework that she explains in her new book, "Write Better, Faster: How To Triple Your Writing Speed and Write More Every Day."   It’s a fascinating conversation, and I’m sure you’ll get a ton of valuable strategies and tips on how to substantially boost your own writing speed.     You can find links to her blog, where she shares a ton of free insights into her writing process, as well as links to her books on Amazon over at writewithimpact.com/episode10   To get the latest episode of Write With Impact, subscribe on iTunes at www.writewithimpact.com/itunes or on Stitcher at writewithimpact.com/stitcher  

It’s impossible to put a single label on Robin Rice. She does so many things.   She’s a storyteller and author whose writing has been translated into several languages.   Robin is also a social change artist who has launched several creative, high impact social media campaigns that have transformed the lives of women and men around the world.    And, Robin is a spiritual teacher and mentor to world leaders from the political, NGO, entrepreneurial and arts communities.   We discussed how she uses writing in all aspects of her work, whether it be writing books, blog posts, creating apps, filming videos, or launching viral social media campaigns that change lives.   And she offers practical advice for people trying discover their calling in life, and how writing can be a powerful tool that can help people through their personal journeys.     You can find more information about Robin including links to her websites and books over at writewithimpact.com/episode9   

Yesterday, I awoke to the sad news that William Zinsser, the writer, teacher, and author of "On Writing Well" and many other books about writing, had passed away. I wrote about Zinsser in a blog post earlier this year, but in the past 24 hours, I’ve had time to reflect again on what I’ve learned from him. I thought I’d share a few of these thoughts here as my brief tribute to the man who has had a profound impact on my writing. Read the full text of this episode here: www.writewithimpact.com/william-zinsser

More than 50,000 blog posts are published on LinkedIn every week. How do you get your post noticed? What are LinkedIn readers looking for? How long should posts be, and what are the best topics to write about?   To answer these questions, I invited LinkedIn Senior Editor Isabelle Roughol to join me on Write With Impact.  She offers several tips to writers seeking to attract more views, likes and social shares of their posts.   Download a free 14-point checklist that you can refer to when writing your next (or first) post on LinkedIn, at www.writewithimpact.com/episode7

Today I’m going to mix it up a bit and do what I call a “coffeecast.” It’s just going to be me and the microphone.    I thought I’d talk about a topic that is not exactly about writing, but is definitely relevant to writing.   Reading!   Yes, reading. Reading is so important to becoming a good writer.   I was reminded of this yesterday when I read an interview in the latest issue of TIME magazine with Harold Bloom, a Yale professor and literary scholar recognized as one of the foremost experts on Shakespeare.    Something he said about the importance of reading struck me as being so important and so true.  Here’s what he said:   “Writers are, in the first place, readers. I tell every writer I’ve ever known, either they are deep readers or they cannot become real writers. Read only the best and most challenging and traditional. And reread it.”   One of the questions I like to ask all of my guests on this podcast is what book  - or author - influenced them the most. The answers are always illuminating, because

Steve Scott has built a highly successful business by self-publishing Kindle books on Amazon. Starting from literally zero just a few years ago, today he’s earning anywhere from $20,000 to upwards of $60,000 a month publishing books on a range of highly practical topics, with a focus most recently on personal productivity and developing good habits.   In this episode of Write With Impact, Steve goes into detail on the marketing strategies he uses to promote his books, his writing process, and some of his near-term plans for expanding his book-based business. He also offers advice for first-time authors hoping to self-publish their books on Amazon.    For the complete show notes to this episode, click here: www.writewithimpact.com/episode5