TDC 060: Inside a Room With 40+ Million-Copy Bestselling Authors

TDC 060: Inside a Room With 40+ Million-Copy Bestselling Authors

Seven powerful lessons from the literary equivalent of the NBA All-Star team.

Episode Summary

In this episode of The Digital Contrarian, host Ryan Levesque shares profound insights from his private gathering with 40+ million-copy bestselling authors including James Clear, Jamie Kern-Lima, and Hal Elrod.

You'll discover why good enough isn't good enough for books, learn the secret to short-form content success, and understand why there's no single "right way" to achieve massive success.

Question of the Day 🗣️

Which of the seven quotes hit you the hardest? Leave a comment to let me know!

Key Take-aways

• There are many things where good enough is good enough, but writing a book isn't one of them
• The secret to short-form video is using series, not just stories
• You're robbing the world of yourself if you pretend to be someone else
• Every person has 5-7 defining pivot points—pick one to start your story
• Above all else, optimize for transformation in your work

Timestamped Outline ⏱️

00:00 – My invitation to the literary "Dream Team"
 01:39 – The standing ovation keynote (and plaid shirt controversy)
 02:27 – James Clear on writing excellence
 02:43 – Pat Flynn's secret to short-form content
 02:58 – Dr. Mike Bechtel on authentic living
 03:06 – Don Yeager's storytelling framework
 03:20 – Hal Elrod's powerful health decision
 04:00 – Alex Witkowski on what makes books readable
 04:16 – Joseph Wynn on optimizing for transformation
 04:38 – The surprising truth about million-copy success
 05:30 – What this means for your path forward

Links & Resources 🔗

• Get on the waitlist for Return to Real book → https://ryanlevesque.net/return-to-real-book/
• Books mentioned: Atomic Habits, Worthy, Building a Story Brand, Launch, Profit First, Two Weeks Notice, Limitless, Don't Believe Everything You Think, The Miracle Morning

Connect & CTA 🎯
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🎁 Join 100 000+ digital entrepreneurs who get Ryan's "Strategic Insights for Digital Entrepreneurs Who Think Differently" every weekend: https://ryanlevesque.net/join-the-digital-contrarian/

Credits
Host: Ryan Levesque
© 2025 RL & Associates LLC. All rights reserved.

Transcript

Seven lessons learned from 40 million copy best-selling authors. So this week I spent two days in a room with over 40 best-selling authors, each of whom has sold over a million copies of their book or books, and it felt like what I can only imagine it feels like being a player at the NBA all-star game. It was the equivalent of being in a room with the 1992 Olympic Dream Team, i.e. Jordan, Magic, and Bird, and the 2012 Olympic team featuring Kobe, and LeBron, and Durant, except that in this case the players were the authors in the room.

The group included authors like James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, Jamie Kern-Lima, author of Worthy, authors like Donald Miller, Building a Story Brand, Jeff Walker, Launch, Mike Michalowicz, Profit First, Amy Porterfield, Two Weeks Notice, Jim Quick, who wrote Limitless, Joseph Nguyen, who wrote a book, Don't Believe Everything You Think, Danielle Lepore, Tiffany Aliche, Hal Elrod, author of The Miracle Morning, Dori Clark, Ramit Sethi, and the list goes on and on and on. So you might be wondering, how did I get invited to be part of this group? Well, that's a story for another day. But first I'll say that one of the biggest honors was not only being invited to become a member and part of this group, but being asked to deliver a keynote to the group around the central thesis of my forthcoming book, Return to Real, which, by the way, you've been instrumental in helping me continue to refine, to adapt, to update with all your amazing feedback, the email replies that you've offered, and your offers of support. 

So I just want to take a moment to say thank you. Now, by the way, with this keynote, in typical Ryan fashion, I was up at 3.30 a.m. on the morning of the presentation, finishing my slides like a crazy person. But incredibly, the talk received a standing ovation. 

And I'll just say the farmer plaid shirt I was wearing got mixed reviews. But that's all just backdrop for what I really want to talk about here today, what I really want to share with you, which is this. While it would be impossible for me to distill all the wisdom and insights and inspiration and ideas from the 21 pages of handwritten notes that I have in this notebook that you see right here, some of which, by the way, I've been sworn to secrecy on, I wanted to share with you seven quotes and lessons learned that I cannot stop thinking about. 

Beginning with number one. This one's from James Clear on writing. James said in his talk, there are many things in life where good enough is good enough. 

But writing a book is not one of those things. Or this one from Pat Flynn on YouTube. Pat shared the secret to long form video is using stories. 

But the secret to short form video is using series. Or this one from Dr. Mike Bechtel on living life. You're robbing the world of yourself if you pretend to be someone else. 

Or this one from Don Yeager on storytelling. Every person has five to seven defining pivot points in their life. Pick one of these to start your story.

Or this one from Hal Alrod on what matters most. I made a decision. Nothing goes into my body unless it first comes straight from the earth. 

And in case you're not familiar with Hal's story, it's an incredible story. He was hit by a drunk driver when he was 17 years old, pronounced dead and somehow survived. He was, I think, brain dead for a period of minutes. 

Fast forward, over a decade later, he contracts a rare form of cancer, has less than a 30% chance of winning. And in fighting his cancer battle, he made a decision to completely reengineer his life, which is what that comes from. And he's healthy and with us here today. 

Or this one from Alex Witkowski on reading books. Alex shared with us, the harder it was to write the book for the author, the easier it is to read it for the reader. And Alex is a creator of over 500 five-minute book summaries. 

Or this one from Joseph Wynn on transformation. Joseph shared, above all else, optimize for transformation. If the reader of your book feels transformed by your book, they will tell the world about their experience. 

Now, these all have had a profound impact on my thinking and are still rattling in my brain right now. But my biggest takeaway of the event was this. In a room with 40 plus authors who have each sold over a million copies of their books, what was crazy was that there were no two authors who followed the same approach.

For example, one author focused on getting into Costco. Another author posted pages of his book on TikTok and went viral. Another focused on reaching out one-on-one to influencers on Instagram with cold DMs and offered to send them a copy of his book. 

Another focused on a big full day virtual launch event and sold a metric ton of copies in a single day on the day of her launch. Every author's approach was unique. Just like there are a million ways to make a million dollars, there are a million ways to sell a million copies of your book. 

And the right way is the one that plays to your strengths, to your values, and to your audience. And that's at the core of return to real. The fact that success comes from aligning with what's real for you, not chasing a so-called proven formula that's someone else's truth. 

So something to consider here today. All right, I'll leave you with that for now. Remember, as always, to hug the ones you love. 

Have a great rest of your day. And until next week, I wish you all my best. Oh, by the way, one last thing.

I'm curious. Which of the seven quotes hit you the hardest? Leave a comment to let me know. I'm finally caught up on replies, and I'd love to hear from you. 

All right, take care, and we'll talk soon.