Before The Bestseller

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Before The Bestseller

Alex Strathdee

201 episodes

1 day ago

Today we have a very special guest, and not the kind of guest we usually feature. Tom O’Neill is an investigative journalist who never set out to write a book at all. But what began as a short magazine assignment about the Manson murders turned into a 20-year obsession that became his bestselling book Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties. Tom is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in Premiere, New York, The Village Voice, and Details. With Chao...

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Today we have a very special guest, and not the kind of guest we usually feature. Tom O’Neill is an investigative journalist who never set out to write a book at all. But what began as a short magazine assignment about the Manson murders turned into a 20-year obsession that became his bestselling book Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties. Tom is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in Premiere, New York, The Village Voice, and Details. With Chao...

Show more...

Episodes (20/201)

Before The Bestseller

BTB149: 75,000 Books Sold by Process! Author Mike Paton Through Giving, Leveraging, and Building Readers

We are back with Mike Paton, co-author of Process! and Get a Grip in the Traction Library. Mike has spent over 15 years helping leadership teams run stronger, more efficient businesses through the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). Alongside Gino Wickman and Lisa González, his books have reached tens of thousands of readers worldwide. Process! alone has 75,000 to 85,000 copies in the wild. In this episode, Paton breaks down how he took Process! from first release to widespread readership...

6 days ago

15 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB148: Process! | Mike Paton

What does it really take to build a business that runs without you? In today’s episode, we sit down with Mike Paton, EOS expert, speaker, and co-author of Process!, to unpack the systems behind sustainable growth. Mike Paton is the co-author of Get a Grip and Process!, two cornerstone titles in the Traction Library that help entrepreneurial teams simplify and scale through systems. Beyond his writing, Paton has spent the last 17 years guiding leaders around the world as an EOS Implementer®, k...

1 week ago

37 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB147: Mastering Executive Transitions: Leadership, LinkedIn, and the $1M Book with Navid Nazemian

Today we're excited to welcome Navid Nazemian, best-selling author of Mastering Executive Transitions: The Definitive Guide. He is a speaker on leadership and career topics, and an executive coach affiliated with groups like 100 Coaches Agency and Hult Ashridge. Navid draws on 25+ years of global leadership to help executives navigate high-stakes transitions and deliver lasting impact. Recognized as the world’s #1 Coach by CEO Today for three consecutive years, he has supported senior leaders...

2 weeks ago

39 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB146: From 9,000 Copies in 15 Years to 100,000 in One Week: The NFL Playoff Moment That Rewarded a Lifetime of Obsession with Jim Murphy

We’re back with bestselling author Jim Murphy, author of Inner Excellence and The Best Possible Life. As a high-performance coach to world champions, CEOs, and elite athletes, Jim brings over 15 years of experience helping people live and lead with purpose. His book Inner Excellence, now translated into 27 languages, has quietly become a global success, rooted in years of research, real-world coaching, and a relentless commitment to inner growth. In this episode, Jim shares the full story beh...

3 weeks ago

15 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB145: Inner Excellence | Jim Murphy

Today’s guest is someone who’s helped some of the world’s top performers not just succeed, but grow into stronger, more grounded people. Jim Murphy is the author of the best-selling book Inner Excellence, a mindset and system he’s shared with professional athletes, CEOs, and world champions around the globe. His work is all about training the heart for peak performance under pressure and finding deep joy, peace, and purpose in the process. A former professional baseball player turned high-per...

1 month ago

27 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB144: Brendan Kane on Giving Away 100,000 Books, Smarter Funnels, and Launching on His Terms

It’s our pleasure to welcome back Brendan Kane, bestselling author of 1 Million Followers, Hook Point, and now The Guide to Going Viral. Brendan has worked with some of the biggest names in entertainment and business, including Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Katie Couric, MTV, Paramount, and IKEA. But his strategies aren’t just for celebrities or major companies. He’s also helped everyday creators, entrepreneurs, and authors grow real audiences from the ground up, including those starting with no soc...

1 month ago

18 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB143: The Guide to Going Viral | Brendan Kane

What does it really take to go viral? In this episode, we’re joined by Brendan Kane, bestselling author of One Million Followers, The Hook Point, and now The Guide to Going Viral. Brendan is the behind-the-scenes strategist for some of the world’s biggest brands and celebrities, including Taylor Swift, Rihanna, IKEA, Vice, and Sketchers. He once gained over one million followers in 100 countries in just 30 days and has helped clients turn zero visibility into global attention. In this convers...

1 month ago

39 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB142 | Book Series Episode 18: Creating an Executable Strategy

Today marks the final episode of Before the Bestseller, our 18-part series where we’ve broken down the entire audiobook into focused, actionable chapters for nonfiction authors. If you've made it this far, you're not just dreaming about sharing your book with the world—you’re committed to doing it right. This final chapter is all about turning everything you’ve learned into a clear, personalized book marketing blueprint. We’ll walk you through how to take inventory of your assets, set realist...

1 month ago

28 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB141 | Book Series Episode 17: PR and Making Lists

We’re down to the final stretch. In episode 17 of our 18-part series, Before the Bestseller, we’re diving into two topics that get a lot of attention in the publishing world: traditional PR and what it really means to make a bestseller list. As we near the end of this audiobook journey, this chapter pulls back the curtain on some of the final, more public-facing tools authors often consider. Some authors found their way into media coverage by paying attention to what was already being talked ...

1 month ago

16 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB140 | Book Series Episode 16: Your Launch Team

We’re back with episode 16 of our 18-part series, where we're putting the entire book Before the Bestseller up on our podcast for you to listen to. We’re just a couple of episodes away from the final chapter, and we hope you’ve been making great progress since you first started listening. In this episode, we’re talking about building a launch team for your book. This is the part where we start figuring out what that process actually looks like and how to make it work. Putting together a launc...

2 months ago

9 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB139 | Book Series Episode 15: Gatekeepers

Today we’re on Episode 15 of our 18-part series Before the Bestseller, and we’re digging into a topic that can quietly make or break your book’s reach: gatekeepers. These are the people your readers already trust—think podcasters, bloggers, authors, and professionals—and earning their support can take your book much further than trying to do it all yourself. This episode unpacks what it really takes to connect with the right people—without spamming or cold pitching. We explore ways to build g...

2 months ago

10 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB138 | Book Series Episode 14: Moonshots & Turning Speaking Into Events

We’re back with episode 14 of our Before the Bestseller book series, where we dive into one of the most creative parts of the book, the section where we talk about bold, outside-the-box marketing moves. This is for the moments when standard strategies just don’t cut it and you're ready to try something a little more daring. We’ll explore how some bestselling authors turned unexpected tactics into powerful book-selling engines, marketing ideas that don’t follow traditional book promotion paths...

2 months ago

9 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB137 | Book Series Episode 13: Ratings and Reviews

Today, we’re diving into episode 13 of our 18-part series Before the Bestseller, where we’re putting the entire audiobook up on our podcast for the dedicated listeners who make this possible. This episode focuses on one of the hardest things for authors to gather over time: ratings and reviews. We dive deep into the practical details of why Amazon ratings matter so much, the difference between star ratings, written reviews, and editorial reviews, and debunk the myth of the “magic 100 ratings....

2 months ago

18 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB136 | Book Series Episode 12: One by One & Corporate Bulk Buy

Welcome back to the Bite-Sized Book Marketing Masterclass — a special 18-episode series where I break down the key insights from my latest book! We’re now on Episode 12, which covers Chapters 33 and 34 of Before the Bestseller. Some authors build launch plans. Others just start handing out books. In this episode, we look at two very different approaches that helped nonfiction authors gain serious traction without relying on ads, algorithms, or a massive platform. You’ll hear stories from auth...

2 months ago

9 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB135 | Book Series Episode 11: Podcast Guesting

What happens when your podcast interviews actually move the needle on book sales? In episode 11 of our 18-part book series, we dig into how to land better podcast guest spots and make them count. From targeting the right shows to crafting a pitch that actually gets noticed, you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at how authors can turn interviews into real traction. You’ll also hear how to avoid wasting time on the wrong podcasts, why host credibility matters more than audience size, and how bei...

2 months ago

20 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB134 | Book Series Episode 10: Organic Social Media

We’re in the second half of the book series and continue our journey through Before the Bestseller, focusing on one of the trickier parts of book marketing: organic social media. In this episode, we explore how several nonfiction authors have approached social media in very different ways. These are real case studies—authors who built audiences without running ads, chasing trends, or turning into full-time creators. Each found a method that matched their voice, bandwidth, and goals. One autho...

2 months ago

10 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB133 | Book Series Episode 9: Additional Pay-to-Play Strategies

Welcome back to Chapter 30 and Episode 9 of the book, Before the Bestseller, where we break down the audiobook and dive deeper into what it takes to successfully launch a nonfiction book. From high-visibility platforms to behind-the-scenes approaches, this episode opens the door to tactics beyond the basics and paid methods that could truly make a difference. In this episode, we unpack a handful of lesser-discussed strategies nonfiction authors use to get their books seen, shared,...

2 months ago

14 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB132 | Book Series Episode 8: Meta Ads

In Episode 8 of the Before the Bestseller book series, we dive deep into Chapter 29—your go-to blueprint for running high-performing Meta (Facebook) ads for nonfiction authors. Despite big shifts in privacy policies and targeting limitations, Meta ads remain a powerful force for book marketing—when used strategically. This episode distills insights from our own chief marketing scientist, Laura Russom (formerly head of paid media at a major publishing house), to help you cut through the noise....

2 months ago

16 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB131 | Book Series Episode 7: Amazon and Amazon Ads

Amazon is where nonfiction books break out, take off, or quietly disappear—and understanding why can give your book a serious edge. In this episode, we go deep into the world of Amazon ads and unpack the invisible mechanics behind one of the most powerful discovery tools in publishing. What actually happens when someone searches for a book like yours? How does Amazon decide whose book to show, and what role do things like keywords, past sales, and even off-Amazon traffic play in that decision...

3 months ago

16 minutes

Before The Bestseller

BTB130 | Book Series Episode 6: FREE Reader Seeding

Most authors try to sell their book from day one. But what if the smartest move you could make was giving it away—for free? In this episode of Before the Bestseller Book Series, we explore one of the most underused and misunderstood tools in the book marketing playbook: free reader seeding. This isn’t about mass giveaways with no purpose—it’s about getting your book into the hands of real readers, inside real communities, and building organic momentum from the ground up. I share the sto...

3 months ago

9 minutes