Write With Impact With Glenn Leibowitz

Today I’m pleased to share a conversation I had recently with Syd Goldsmith. Syd is the author of the new book, Hong Kong on the Brink: An American Diplomat Relives 1967's Darkest Days, published by Blacksmith Books. In 1967, Syd was stationed in the American Consulate General in Hong Kong, still a British colony at the time. This was an extraordinary moment in history: China was in the grips of the Cultural Revolution, which was rapidly spilling over into Hong Kong. In his book, Syd gives us an armchair view of his life and work as a diplomat at the very center of a dangerous political storm. The South China Morning Post calls it “an informative, engaging read filled with vivid historical detail.” This is Syd’s third book and his first memoir. His previous two books were novels, one of which was a finalist for the Lupton New Voices in Literature Award. Two of his three books have been acquired by traditional publishers. While he currently lives in Taipei, Taiwan, Syd continues to maintain active ties to the

I had the great pleasure to chat once again with Mark Vanhoenacker. Mark is a Senior First Officer for British Airways. He flies the Boeing 747 to major cities around the world. When he’s not hurtling through the air 35,000 feet above the earth, Mark writes for The New York Times, the Financial Times, Wired, and the Guardian. He’s also the author of the critically-acclaimed book, Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot, which he published three years ago. A huge international bestseller, the book has been translated into a dozen languages. I interviewed Mark back in 2015 shortly after his book was released. I would encourage you to go back and listen to that episode over at writewithimpact.com/episode23. In this conversation, I chat with Mark about his new book, How to Land a Plane. It’s a very different book from Skyfaring, which was a poetic meditation on the wonders of flying. In just 58 pages, How to Land a Plane teaches you the essentials of landing just about any type of aircraft. With his signature humor and

Mei Fong is a journalist with more than a decade of reporting in Asia, most recently as China correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, which is where she was working when I met her several years ago in Beijing. Her stories on China’s transformative process in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics formed part of the package that won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, an honor she shared with her colleagues at the Journal. Her work has also won awards from Amnesty International, New York’s Society of Professional Journalists, and the Society of Publishers in Asia. Mei appears regularly as a China commentator on NPR, CBS, CNN, and PBS. She has taught at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism and at Shantou University in China.  And she is currently the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fellow at New America, a think-tank in Washington, DC. Last year she published her first book, One Child: The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment. The book recoun

Two years ago, I interviewed bestselling author Jeff Goins on my podcast about a book he had just published then, The Art of Work. That book was about finding your calling and figuring out how to pursue it, and it went on to become a USA Today bestseller. I invited Jeff back on the show to talk about his latest book, Real Artists Don’t Starve: Timeless Strategies for Thriving in the New Creative Age, which recently hit The Wall Street Journal bestseller list. In our conversation, Jeff shares a few of the practical and time-tested strategies that writers, artists, and other creative professionals can use to earn a living while pursuing their art. Jeff also dives deep into the exact process he followed when he wrote the book, from crafting the big question he wanted to answer, to conducting extensive research into the lives of some of the most successful artists of the past 500 years, like Michelangelo and Van Gogh. To buy Jeff’s book just head over to writewithimpact.com/artist. That will take you to Jeff's Am

Robin Rice has been an online teacher for more than a decade. She’s an internationally published author of both fiction and non-fiction. And she has created social change projects that have been covered by media around the world. She’s also a professional thinking partner to leaders. In my conversation with Robin, we talk about how you can find your writing voice, a challenge that I had a few years ago when I just started to blog, and a challenge I see many others have as well.  What does it take to break-through the fears and mental blocks holding you back from sharing your writing with the world?  And what should you even write about? These and many other questions Robin addresses and helps you tackle in a new writing program she’s launching on Monday, May 1st. She calls it “Speaking Your Sage; Writing Your Wise.” It’s 28 days of writing and speaking practice and mentoring. Each day, you'll get a short mentoring video, a writing prompt that is paired with a professional photograph, and a range of opportunit

I'm very pleased to introduce Laura Brown back to the show. Laura was my very first guest on the podcast two years ago. She had just published her encyclopaedic book on writing, How to Write Anything. You can listen to that first conversation over at writewithimpact.com/episode1. Please be kind when listening, that was my first episode after all! Two years after that first foray into the world of podcasting, Laura has returned to the show to share some good news: she just sold her second book about writing to her publisher, W.W. Norton.  I asked her to share everything she knows about how to write a book proposal that will make a publisher want to buy your book. While we talk a lot about how to sell your book to a traditional publisher, the practical tips she shares are useful for anyone planning to self-publish their book.  You can find the show notes with links to Laura’s first book and her website over at writewithimpact.com/episode59 Like Write With Impact on Facebook Follow Write With Impact on Twitter S

Just a quick thank you to everyone who read, liked, or shared my articles on LinkedIn over the past year. It’s because of your interest and support that I was recently named — for the second year in a row — a LinkedIn Top Voice in marketing and social media. You can find my articles on LinkedIn over at writewithimpact.com/linkedin. Please reach out and connect with me there. I’m very pleased to introduce my guest today, Professor Joshua Spodek, an Adjunct Professor of leadership at New York University.  Professor Spodek is a leadership expert and executive coach, an astrophysicist who built a satellite for NASA, an inventor with several patents to his name, and an entrepreneur. Professor Spodek is also a prolific writer and blogger, and he was recently named by medium.com as a Top Writer in three categories: leadership, inspiration, and self improvement.  He’s pulled together what he knows and teaches about becoming an exceptional leader into a new book, Leadership Step by Step: Become the Person Others Follo

Tom Morkes is a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point, and served as an officer in the US Army in Iraq. After retiring from the military, he decided to pursue his passion for publishing and digital marketing. Today, Tom is the CEO of Insurgent Publishing, a book publishing and marketing company he founded a few years ago. In addition to having published half a dozen books, he provides book marketing services for authors. He recently worked with Neil Patel and his two co-authors on the marketing of their new book, Hustle, which hit the New York Times bestseller list. You might recall my recent conversation with Neil back on episode 54. In this episode of Write With Impact, Tom dives deep into some of the strategies you can use to build an audience of what he calls “superfans” for your book, and the approach you can use to reach out to influencers and persuade them to become ambassadors for your book. Whether you’re self-publishing or releasing your book with a traditional publisher, you’ll get some

Clay Collins is Co-Founder and CEO of Leadpages, a powerful and easy-to-use software tool that allows marketers to build customized landing pages and opt-in forms to capture email addresses. Leadpages also lets you collect emails through email links and text messages. Clay shares the incredible story of how his lifestyle blog eventually turned into Leadpages, which has become a fast-growing, multi-million-dollar business with 46,000 customers and $38 million in venture financing. In our conversation, Clay explains why you should focus on first building what he calls a “Minimum Viable Audience” before you start to build a “Minimum Viable Product.” He also shares practical strategies you can use for building your email list. These are the same strategies his marketing team at Leadpages uses to build their massive email list. Clay also gives us a peek behind the doors of Leadpages, and he talks about how he runs one of the fastest-growing marketing software businesses around. Clay explains why Leadpages recently

Chris Fox is a bestselling novelist who quit his job as an iOS app developer earlier this year to write full-time. In addition to writing thriller and science fiction novels, Chris has published several excellent writing guides, a few of which I’ve discussed with him on earlier episodes of this podcast. In our conversation, Chris shares some of the practical tactics for developing a daily—and eventually lifelong—writing habit that he covers in his book, Lifelong Writing Habit: The Secret to Writing Every Day. He also tells the story of how he has reprogrammed his own writing habits to become the prolific, bestselling author that he is today. Find out more about Chris at writewithimpact.com/episode55 If you enjoyed this episode (or other episodes of this podcast), I'd be grateful if you shared a positive review on iTunes. And don't forget to subscribe!

Neil Patel is a legend in the digital marketing space. He’s a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded companies like Crazy Egg, Hello Bar and KISSmetrics. He also helps major companies like Amazon, NBC, GM, HP and Viacom grow their revenue.  The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web, Forbes says he’s one of the top 10 online marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies in the world.  Neil was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and he was named one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 35 by the United Nations. He writes frequently for publications such as inc.com, and his new book, Hustle: The Power to Charge Your Life with Money, Meaning, and Momentum, landed on the New York Times Bestseller list.  Neil packs a lot of great tips into this episode. In our conversation, Neil shares some of his tips for formatting and writing a great blog post. He talks about some of the strategies he uses to maxi

I’ve invited Chris Fox back on the show again. Chris is a novelist who has published several thriller novels. He’s also published several writing craft books, including the bestselling 5,000 Words Per Hour, and Write to Market. In 5,000 Words Per Hour, which I discussed with him back in episode 29, Chris explained the exact process he developed for writing incredibly fast. And in Write to Market, which we discussed on episode 42, he explained how he researches categories on Amazon to identify potential markets for his books. Back in February, Chris decided to write a novel using the methodologies he laid out in both of these books. He called it the 21-Day Novel Writing Challenge. That’s right: He decided to write, edit, and publish to Amazon a complete novel. And he documented the entire process by producing and uploading a video to Youtube every day. The book— Destroyer — went on to sell more than 5,000 copies in the first month after publication, and then another 5,000 copies since then.  It quickly rose to

I just hit publish on my 100th blog post on LinkedIn. When I started writing on LinkedIn nearly two and a half years ago, I wasn’t sure about what I would even write about. I just knew I wanted to write. After a few posts that attracted only a few hundred views, I struck LinkedIn gold with my first viral post: A personal account about how my parents spent a good chunk of their savings to buy my first computer, an Apple II+. The response that post generated was overwhelming. It attracted over 34,000 views, more than 580 likes and over 160 comments from readers around the world. It quickly rose to become the third most popular post on LinkedIn Pulse. I was hooked. Read the rest of this post on Inc.com Listen to an audio version of this article on iTunes Download a free ebook with some of my writing tips

Today I’ve invited a guest back onto the show: Aaron Pierson. Aaron was on this podcast back in episode 15 last year, where we talked about how to create a killer brand strategy. In this episode, we dive deep into the strategies he used to launch his first book, Brand Dominance: How to Create a Disruptive Social Brand. In our conversation, Aaron shares the exact steps he took to make his book quickly hit the bestseller lists on Amazon. Some of the strategies you might already be familiar with, but to hear Aaron talk about his story of how he took his very first book and made it an Amazon bestseller is inspiring. Aaron also has some contrarian advice about email, which is powerful he admits, but has its limitations. He talks about Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat, and the relative impact of each social media media platform on his book launch. And he offers some really practical, roll-up-your-sleeves tips for what you can do to get people excited about buying, reading, and reviewing your book. Links Aaron Pierso

Today I’ve got a really special guest on the show. Aaron Dowd is a podcasting expert who has been editing podcasts for over 5 years now.  He edits all of the podcasts for the very popular Seanwes podcast, as well as several other shows in the Seanwes podcast network. Last year, he launched his own podcast called The Podcast Dude, where he shares everything he knows about podcasting. I’m a fan of his podcast and I’ve watched over the past year how Aaron has grown his audience and his reputation as an expert podcaster through his podcast. It’s an excellent example of how, through high quality content and excellent production values, you can rapidly build your reputation as an authority in your field. Of course, as a podcaster myself, podcasting is a topic I enjoy reading about, and, occasionally, I like to write about it. And I thought, given how much is changing--and changing fast--in this emerging industry, it’s worth a conversation on the topic. And who better to talk about podcasting than The Podcast Dude h

Download a free ebook with writing tips and subscribe to my newsletter at writewithimpact.com/episode49 Brian Clark is a legendary figure in the content marketing space. He’s the founder of Copyblogger, the world’s most widely followed website on all things content marketing. He’s also the CEO of Rainmaker Digital, the company he formed through the merger of several successful companies he had built over the years. Their Rainmaker Platform is an integrated content management system that digital entrepreneurs can use to build their businesses without having to worry about getting their hands dirty with code and other technical aspects of building and maintaining a website. Brian also hosts Unemployable, a podcast where he interviews freelancers and digital entrepreneurs who share their stories and strategies for building profitable businesses while doing what they love. And most recently, Brian launched a personal development newsletter called Further, in which he curates articles and other content from around

Read the show notes to this episode and get a free ebook with writing strategies at writewithimpact.com/episode48 Pamela Wilson is Executive Vice President of Educational Content at Rainmaker Digital. There she manages, among other things, their flagship website, Copyblogger, which is one of the most widely followed websites in the world, where you can learn all you need to know about content marketing. Pamela is a long-time blogger for Copyblogger. And while she’s written a lot of blog posts, she has yet to write a book. She’s setting out to change that with her first book which will be about content marketing, a topic she’s a deep expert in, and a topic that she has been blogging about for many years now. What’s unusual, and I think incredibly fascinating, is the process she’s going through as she writes her book. Earlier this year, she launched a podcast called “Zero to Book” with Jeff Goins, the bestselling author and blogger, where she discusses the process she’s going through as she writes and self-publ

My guest today is Jennifer Keishin Armstrong. Jennifer is a pop culture writer who writes for BBC Culture, The New York Times Book Review, Fast Company and many more publications. She’s also the author of four books, her latest being about Seinfeld, the wildly popular TV show that became a cultural phenomenon in the US. Her book is due out this coming July, and it’s being published by Simon & Schuster. In our conversation, Jennifer talks about how she fell in love with writing — freelance writing, specifically — at the ripe young age of 8, and how she turned her obsession with pop culture into a full-time job at Entertainment Weekly, where she worked for a decade.   She also shares the process she went through to research and write her upcoming book about Seinfeld. And in the last part of our conversation she walks me through the 5-part process for writing a great blog post, a technique she teaches her students at Gotham Writers Workshop, where she teaches blog writing. You can find the show notes to this

Today I’m talking once again to Chris Fox. Chris was on episode 42 of this podcast when we talked about his new book which he had just published, “Write to Market“. He also discussed his 21-day writing challenge in which he wrote and published “Destroyer“, his first science fiction title, which has gone on to become a bestseller on Amazon. This time, we spoke about a fun topic: Dungeons & Dragons, or D&D as it’s known to those who play it. Created by Gary Gygax in the 1970s, Dungeons & Dragons rapidly became massively popular. The game triggered several copycats and inspired the explosion in role-playing video games that continues to this day. I haven’t played D&D since I was a young teen — that was a long time ago. But in the past couple of years, I’ve noticed a revival of interest in the game. There have also been several articles in mainstream publications, and blog posts that have discussed the influence of the game on the writing careers of many well-regarded authors. It’s a connection I

Today I’m very pleased to introduce Kirun Kapur. Kirun is a poet whose first book, “Visiting Indira Gandhi's Palmist”, was awarded the 2013 Antivenom Poetry Award and was published in January 2015 by Elixir Press. In addition to writing poetry, Kirun also teaches poetry and creative writing at Brandeis University in Boston. Kirun is the Poetry Editor for The Drum Literary Magazine, which publishes short fiction, poetry, and essays exclusively in audio form. Last year, NBC News named her to their list of Asian-American Poets to Watch. Several themes run through Kirun’s collection of poetry, including the partition of India in 1947 and the mass migration of people between India and the newly-created Pakistan. She also touches on themes around family that are featured in the book of Genesis in the Bible.  In our conversation, Kirun talks about how she approaches the reading, writing, and teaching of poetry. She explains how to tell a story through poetry, and how to create music through a poem.  Kirun also expla