Since so many people refer to their books as a baby, I'm going to lean into the metaphor for today's message.

It is certainly 9+ months to write and edit a great book, just like it is to create life. But when we give birth to our children, we don't walk out of the hospital empty handed and declare "Whelp, that was tough–hope that baby will be okay" and then continue on with our life.

No! We have to raise the baby!

The same goes for books. The job is JUST beginning when you finish writing it–now it's time to market that thing! This is part of why I always remind people that to be an author these days is to be an entrepreneur. There's no hiding behind the keyboard and just hoping people will find it. You have to do the work.

Unfortunately, a lot of authors feel deeply uncomfortable promoting their books and, even worse, they don't know where to begin.

Enter: This week's podcast guest! Joining me this week on Bound & Determined is Aryn Van Dyke of Book Rockstar. Aryn is a book marketing consultant and author coach who has worked on hundreds of book launches, including multiple New York Times bestsellers, spanning across multiple nonfiction genres. After getting her start at HarperCollins, Aryn founded Book Rockstar in 2019 to make book marketing strategy more accessible to all authors.

If even thinking about marketing your book gives you hives–listen to this episode.

If marketing doesn't scare you–tune in to hear what's working in the current climate.

We're just back from a week in Montauk where the agenda was quite literally no agenda. We lounged like beach bums under an umbrella and watched the waves dance in and out. As I soaked in the sun, I thought to myself: this is the real prize. The real winning at life. The real freedom. Using your time well. Because I'm the person who could easily talk myself out of taking the time–too busy, not enough money, all the what ifs. But these are the moments that make life worth living. As cliché as that sounds.

This week on the Bound & Determined podcast, I'm talking about just this. I sat down with Brian Herriot, author of Time Freedom: Rethink Your Work and Money to Create a Life You Love Now (out Sept. 15!), speaker, financial advisor, and entrepreneurship coach. He offers a new and different take on wealth-building, lifestyle design, and retirement, building customized, comprehensive Time Freedom Forecasts for his clients in just one day. Brian is working toward a world where everyone has the time and support to define what success means to them and focus on building character over building resumes.

The conversation left me thinking deeply about how I define success, what I want to do with my time, and even how I think about retirement savings. And we are NOT talking about "work-life balance" or even "financial independence"... it's far more nuanced than that.

If you're ready for some inspiration around a different way of living (one that aligns more with your values), this episode is NOT to be missed.

Let's talk about that stubborn little voice that pops up right when you're deep in a chapter revision or staring down a proposal section, whispering this isn't quite right or wait, actually, THIS is the thing. We've all been there.

Most of us have been trained to override it. To defer to a coach like me, an agent, the editor, the comp titles, the "what's selling right now." And look — data and outside perspective matter. Decades of expertise count for something.

But the truth is, every single decision comes down to a judgment call only you can make. And if you've spent years talking yourself out of your own instincts, that moment gets a lot harder.

Which brings me to this week's pod guest, Denise Soler Cox.

Her new book, What Will They Say?, is literally built around this tension — the voice in your head asking "what will they say?", versus the truth you actually need to tell.

She spent years drawing out the cultural patterns that keep women — especially Latinas — quietly sabotaging their own success by staying small, staying silent, staying safe.

Writing What Will They Say required her to trust her gut enough to say the unsayable thing, on the page, in public, forever. And she listened to her gut relentlessly, even when a book deal was on the table, she moved in a different direction.

Many authors I've worked with hit the point where the outside advice and the gut-check don't agree — and the ones who finish, who publish something true, are the ones who learn to trust the gut and take the advice in stride.

Denise is a sought-after voice on culture, identity, and belonging. She has spoken on over 400 stages, including two TEDx talks and SXSW 2026. She has partnered with Ralph Lauren, Amazon, Microsoft, and L'Oréal, among others — and in 2020, Apple Podcasts North America recognized her podcast The Self-ish Latina as both a Featured Podcast and Featured Host, with listeners in 32 countries. She has appeared as a culture expert on NBC Nightly News, and her work has been featured in Forbes, CNN and PBS.

I sat down with Denise for this week's episode of Bound & Determined and we got into all of it — the fear, the family stuff, the moment she decided her story was worth telling anyway. If you've ever felt that tug-of-war between your gut and everyone else's opinion, you need to hear this one.

Memorable speeches stay with us. They hit us in the gut. They hit us in the heart. They make a call for us to activate.

But, writing a speech that delivers is an art.

When was the last time you heard a talk or keynote where you felt seen, where you carried it with you, where you took action from its contents? It's probably been a while.

If you're looking to write a book, it's likely you're also looking to get on stages–they go hand in hand. But, they're two very different skill sets.

This week on Bound & Determined, I'm chatting with THE expert on effective keynotes, Brian Miller. Brian is a message design consultant whose TEDx talk, "How to Magically Connect with Anyone," has surpassed 3.7 million views. He is the founder of Clarity Up Consulting, a boutique firm specializing in core messaging and message design for experts, leaders, and founders. Brian is one of five co-founders of core messaging as a formal discipline and has consulted on more than 45 TEDx talks with a combined 20 million views across 30+ subject areas and 11 distinct industries. He is also the author of The One-Page Keynote (Rethink Press, 2026)

In this episode, you'll learn about how authenticity and presence require actual preparation, and why half the struggle of writing a good speech is understanding your audience.

We had a ton of laughs on this episode and I just know you'll love it!

Music has always been in the background of my life. That's why I'm thrilled to share this week's episode of the Bound & Determined pod!

This week I'm chatting with Alan Light, an Emmy Award-winning music journalist, a bestselling author, and the co-host of the music news podcast "Sound Up! With Mark Goodman and Alan Light." He's also the former Editor-in-Chief of Spin and Vibe magazines, and a former Senior Writer at Rolling Stone.

Alan is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Esquire, among other publications. His latest book is DON'T STOP: WHY WE (STILL) LOVE FLEETWOOD MAC'S RUMOURS, and his previous titles include THE HOLY OR THE BROKEN, about the song "Hallelujah" (which was adapted into an acclaimed documentary), as well as biographies of Prince, Nina Simone, and Johnny Cash.

If you're a music lover like me, or you're interested in the intersection of art, culture, money and career–this will be an absolute treat!

You set out to write a book. You worked your tush off (and probably still are)...but somewhere along the way, without anyone warning you, you also became an entrepreneur.

That's the part nobody talks about when it comes to authorship. And it's SUPER important to know what is ahead.

You can nail your idea, land the agent, even get the deal — and still hit publication day and think: okay, now what?

Who's actually going to buy this?

How do I build an audience around it?

How does this thing make me money beyond the advance?

And all those answers come back to your community. Your platform.

That's exactly what I'm digging into on this week's Bound + Determined pod. My guest is Lindsay Ratowsky, founder of Nicely Done — an agency that helps creative thinkers grow and monetize their platforms with integrity. Before starting Nicely Done, Lindsay spent over 15 years as the right hand to some of the best-known names in thought leadership, including co-founding Esther Perel Global Media, where she helped build a content and digital product ecosystem that generated hundreds of thousands of new subscribers and millions in revenue.

In other words: she's spent her whole career doing the thing most authors don't realize they need until it's too late — turning expertise into something sustainable.

You don't want to miss this episode…

I'm excited to bring you this episode—it's a great overview of all the thoughts authors sit with before taking the plunge.

After, frankly, an unplanned pause on the podcast in order to get my book out the door, I'm thrilled to say we're back this week with a new episode!

This one's a bit different. My pal and Book to Brand co-host Farnoosh Torabi invited me on her award-winning pod So Money, for a collab conversation around books, AI in publishing, the ROI of books, and alllll the dirty details about THE LIST…you know the one. (Ahem, NYT, Ahem)

I'm excited to bring this episode to you as the first one back because it's such a great overview of all the thoughts authors sit with before taking the plunge.

Head over and listen now!

In a world where we're overly connected to technology, which should, in theory, make community stronger, we are actually the loneliest we've ever been.

Dr. Sylvia was a Book Proposal Blueprint student of mine several years ago. About to leave a hospital therapeutic practice, she was in that "what's next" moment we all find ourselves in at one point or another.

So she began to listen.

Listen deeply, for themes coming up in her patients. From youth to folks in their golden years, much of what her patients were struggling with could be reduced down to disconnection, abandonment and loneliness.

And there she had her next call to service.

She joined my program and we developed the book that hits shelves THIS WEEK! Lonely AF: A Therapist's No BS Guide to Feeling Less Alone (Wiley)

Join Dr. Sylvia and me on this week's episode of Bound & Determined, where we deep dive into her process for real connection, and she breaks down the journey of bringing this incredible book to life.