How to Write and Actually Ship Your First Book (No Publisher)
episode
Creator News Live: Discussing the latest tools, tips, and tactics with industry experts, innovators, creators, and storytellers
58 min
3 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What inspired Lisa to quit her corporate job and write a Run Disney guide?
Howdy, my friend. Really quick, I want to talk to you about something new we're doing here at Creator News Live. It's called the Cheat Sheet Club. Every week, we take the best ideas from the episode and boil it down into a downloadable cheat sheet. The key takeaways, the tactics, the tools our guests actually use so you get the good stuff without having to re-listen or furiously try to take notes during the episode. Ever try to take notes while walking on a treadmill? Completely impossible. Don't ask me how I know. It's free, so go grab it at jeffc.com forward slash cheat sheet. That's J-E-F-F, S as in Sam, I-E-H.com forward slash cheat sheet. All right, let's get into today's episode.
I don't owe anybody any part of that process. I own and now understand every step from the writing to the ISBN, to the copyright page, to the editing process. I owned every aspect of it and kind of learned everything along the way. And what came out of it is this baby that I created that is all mine. And yeah, I would absolutely do it that way again. And I think like we're so lucky to live in a time where that's kind of the obvious option, you know, where you're not having to, you know, write the book and then, you know, give it to somebody else for approval or disapproval or whether or not it's worthy of their investment or, you know, you can just kind of put it out into the world and like trust the universe and your community just to decide those things for you.
Hello, folks. Welcome to Creator News Live.
I'm Jeff See, and you're not. And I'm Zach Brown, and this is the show that keeps you up to date on the creator economy and so much more.
You've been telling yourself for years that you are going to write that book, maybe build the course, ship the thing, and it's still sitting in a folder. Do you have real expertise but keep waiting maybe for somebody more qualified to come along and validate it? Maybe you've wondered how anyone pays for a project like this before it makes a single dollar. If that sounds like you, you are in the right place.
Our guest today is Lisa Denodo-Glassner, the founder of The Castle Run and a Harvard-educated former corporate attorney who left big law behind to build a business around what she actually loves. Her first book comes out next week, 17 chapters and about 250 pages. Published under her own company, funded by partners, she brought in herself with a whole ecosystem built behind it. Today, she is showing us how a real book actually gets written, paid for, published, and launched.
So sit back, clear schedule, clear mind to get ready for this week's episode of Creator News Live.
There you go, folks.
Lisa, I think this is the first time you've been on since we do in custom songs for people. So now you've experienced it. So there you go.
I love it, and the animation and everything. It was great.
Yeah, I appreciate it. So this is going to be fun. We've had Lisa on before. She's an amazing entrepreneur, done all sorts of things. But today we're talking about her new book, which comes out next week. And I want to make sure at the top of the show that I tell you guys where you can find it. So if you go to thecastlerun.com book, that's where you can sign up to get all that information about when it launches, where to pick it up, all the things. So thecastlerun.com forward slash book. And also I want to make a shout out to our sponsors of the show, the amazing folks over at Ecamm. You can find out more about them at ecamm.com forward slash Jeff. Use the code Jeff15 to save 15% on your first purchase.
And they also have the amazing camp coming up. Creator Camp is coming up September 28th through 30th. I will be there speaking with a lot of other cool people like Pat Flynn, Michael Hyatt, the Ecamm team, so many people. You can find out more about that at ecamm.com forward slash camp. I would love, love, love to see you there. All right, we are going to just jump right into this because this is going to be so much fun. Once again, folks, ask your questions wherever you are watching from, and it's going to be a rough one.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What inspired Lisa to quit her corporate job and write a Run Disney guide?
0:02–7:50
2
How can your own experience and repeated practice become the credentials you need to write a book?
7:50–15:14
3
Why is creating a detailed outline the first concrete step to turning a book idea into a finished manuscript?
15:14–21:31
4
What are the essential steps of self‑publishing—from ISBN to editing—to keep full control of your book?
21:31–28:24
5
How did Lisa fund her book with flat‑fee brand partnerships instead of traditional advances?
28:24–37:22
6
What legal safeguards (fair use, trademarks, disclosures) should a creator use when writing about a brand they don’t own?
37:22–43:56
7
What launch‑day tactics and ecosystem (companion hub, QR codes, email list) does Lisa use to maximize reach and sales?
43:56–51:17
8
What final advice does Lisa give to creators who are stuck between “I’ll write it someday” and actually shipping a book?
51:17–57:57
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Creator News Live: Discussing the latest tools, tips, and tactics with industry experts, innovators, creators, and storytellers
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