Author Hour

Eric Jorgenson, Travis Stoliker, Lex Statzer
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Books
  • Updated Weekly

Do you wish you could quickly get the best ideas from new books? That's what Author Hour is all about. Each week, we give you the best ideas and stories from a new book, through an in-depth conversation with the author. We cover all types of non-fiction: business, fitness, investing, self-help, and more. Listeners will get an entertaining and useful summary of each book, in a fraction of the time. A must listen for avid readers and aspiring authors.

  1. 5d ago

    Lies, Damn Lies, and Marketing: Atul Minocha on Fake ROI & the Book That Paid for Itself in 6 Months

    Atul Minocha joins Travis Stoliker to talk about Lies, Damn Lies, and Marketing — the book an engineer wrote to fix marketing's trust problem. Atul explains the idea that became the seed of the whole project: "Fake ROI," the chapter (number 14) that argues that demanding an ironclad return on every marketing dollar can actually force good marketers to "make up some numbers" to get funded. From there he unpacks the framework at the book's core — "big M" marketing (strategy, positioning, messaging, pricing) versus "small M" marketing (the logos, ads, trade shows, and podcasts) — and why doing the big M first is what keeps your small M spend from going to waste. He and Travis get into vanity metrics versus action metrics, why Apple's Route 101 billboards make sense even though no one can attribute a single iPhone sale to them, and the timely case for human quality in the age of AI: "there is so much AI slop that it doesn't take much to stand out by just staying away from the AI slop… quality always trumps quantity." Then there's the part every author wants to hear. Atul went into COVID assuming his business would crater — and instead it exploded, the book took off, Forbes and Inc. came calling, and the ~$60,000 he'd budgeted to recover over three to five years came back in six months. "I would have been happy with three to five years," he says, "but… I've stopped doing the math." He's candid, too, about why he chose Scribe, the single piece of positioning advice that stuck with him ("think of one real person, and use that person's real name"), and the encouragement he'd give anyone who's been sitting on a book idea for years: "you just have to sort of get over the hump to get going." For more information on Atul Minocha, visit https://scribemedia.com/authors/atul-minocha For more information on Lies, Damn Lies, and Marketing, visit https://scribemedia.com/published-books/lies-damned-lies-and-marketing

  2. 6d ago

    The Black Sheep Advantage: Dr. Thom LeBeau on Writing the Book You've Put Off for 20 Years

    Dr. Thom LeBeau joins Eric Jorgenson to talk about The Black Sheep Advantage — a book he'd been "talking about for 20 years" before he finally sat down to write it. A practicing physician seeing 250 patients a week, Thom describes the very ordinary reason the book kept not happening ("I would start and I would stop") and the very human thing that finally made it happen: a team he didn't want to disappoint, and a standing Friday afternoon he set aside to do the work. Along the way Thom talks about the idea at the book's core — that going against the crowd, being the "black sheep," is an advantage, not a liability — a lesson crystallized in his mid-30s when Domino's founder Tom Monaghan told him to keep doing what he was doing and stop worrying about everyone else. He's candid about the parts that surprised him: that the book has become a "conversation starter" reaching audiences he never intended (his niece wants to use it with neurodivergent patients), that finishing it was "cheaper than therapy" and taught him something about himself, and that publishing has opened a whole "third third" of life — more books, public speaking, a workbook, and an online course. For anyone sitting on a book they've been meaning to write, Thom's advice is simple and hard-won: "just start," get "the right team," and treat it as a step-by-step climb rather than an insurmountable mountain. Or, as he puts it about working with Scribe: "This is what I need — something to help me hold my hand along the way." For more information on Dr. Thom LeBeau, visit https://scribemedia.com/authors/thom-lebeau For more information on The Black Sheep Advantage, visit https://scribemedia.com/published-books/the-black-sheep-advantage

  3. 6d ago

    Must: Dr. Stephen Rue on Turning Your Pain Into Purpose

    Dr. Stephen Rue joins Travis Stoliker to talk about Must: Becoming the Person You're Meant to Be — a personal-development book born from profound loss and built around a single idea: that each of us has a "must," a non-negotiable purpose, and that most people stay stuck simply because they don't know where to begin. Stephen opens with the story at the heart of the book — his stepfather's suicide, his mother kneeling on the closet carpet telling an 11-year-old boy, "Stephen, I will never let something like this happen to you again," and the decades of sacrifice that followed. From there the conversation moves through the ideas Must is built on: how the bad things that happen to us don't have to become our identity, why "we choose the level of our suffering from our past," how our blessings sit simultaneously with our moments of suffering, and why fear at the edge of your comfort zone is actually a "clarion call" that you've entered your "must zone." He's candid, too, about the book itself. Asked point-blank about his return on investment with Scribe, Stephen doesn't hedge: "It's a spectacular investment. It's an investment in myself. And it's an investment in my legacy." He describes Scribe as "a team... a family" that "legitimately care," and closes with the clearest advice in the episode for anyone sitting on a book they're afraid to start: go into a room alone, write imperfectly, sign a contract with yourself, "and then contact someone like Scribe" — and start today, not tomorrow. (Note: this episode includes frank discussion of suicide, grief, and childhood trauma; see the sensitive-content flags above before excerpting.) For more information on Dr. Stephen Rue, visit https://scribemedia.com/authors/stephen-rue For more information on Must: Becoming the Person You're Meant to Be, visit https://scribemedia.com/published-books/must

  4. 6d ago

    The Brooklyn Paramount Theatre: Michael Hittman on the Shrine Everyone Walked Past

    Dr. Michael Hittman joins Eric Jorgenson to tell the story behind The Brooklyn Paramount Theatre: An Intimate Portrait — and it is unlike most Author Hour conversations. Michael is an anthropologist who spent 46 years teaching at Long Island University, played pickup basketball for half a century in the Paramount's auditorium (the Guinness people once called to confirm it), and hosted 174 jazz radio shows — all, he admits, while barely paying attention to the "shrine" next door. This episode is the story of how he finally saw it. Michael traces the book from its unlikely origins — his anthropological idea that "wisdom sits in places," borrowed from Native American thought — to the library research that "absolutely blew my mind," when he discovered that nearly every major jazz musician in history had played the Brooklyn Paramount. He explains the theater's four faces (film, vaudeville, jazz, rock and roll), the Adolph Zukor empire that built it, the Sonny Rollins bridge that runs through his own family history, and the discoveries that turned a tribute into an investigation: a possible art heist, a point-shaving scandal, and his contrarian theory that Tommy "Jive" Smalls — not Alan Freed — fathered rock and roll. Along the way he's candid about why he wrote it at all: "Nobody put a gun to my head… I just decided I wanted to do a book on the Brooklyn Paramount since it was so neglected." He dedicates the book to his late friend and collaborator, photographer Stuart Fischelson. As Eric puts it, this is exactly "what Scribe lives to do" — help someone who has gone deep down a passionate rabbit hole get a book into the world that says things other books haven't. (Note: this episode contains frank historical discussion, mild profanity, and some pointed personal opinions; see the sensitive-content flags above before excerpting.) For more information on Dr. Michael Hittman, visit https://scribemedia.com/authors/michael-hittman For more information on The Brooklyn Paramount Theatre: An Intimate Portrait, visit https://scribemedia.com/published-books/the-brooklyn-paramount-theatre

  5. Aug 31

    Sex, Drugs, and Soul: Kristin Birdwell on Writing Through Fear and What a Memoir Sets in Motion

    Kristin Birdwell joins Travis Stoliker to talk about Sex, Drugs, and Soul — the memoir she wrote through COVID and published in 2022 — and everything it has set in motion since. Kristin traces the book from its first spark ("I always knew I was going to write a book"), through the writing-coach-and-accountability decision in 2019, to the emotional work of putting grief, abuse, and self-discovery on the page. She's candid about the fear: how she kept going by believing "all things work out for good," by holding onto "the impact that it could potentially have on others," and by being gentle with herself — "gave myself space, ate a lot of dark chocolate." She explains why she chose Scribe over querying agents ("I want this thing... out yesterday") and over DIY uploads she could always spot, and why owning her creative rights mattered with a TV show already in her sights. Then she walks through the unexpected second life of the book: an Amazon bestseller launch, a podcast that grew from "an exercise to use my voice" into 120 episodes, a storytelling-mentor role at South by Southwest, a TV pilot now getting industry advisement, and the messages that mean the most — readers who write to say "I feel like you wrote this for me and my journey with grief." Her advice to anyone sitting where she sat in 2019: "if you have that inkling or desire, it's kind of like our future self whispering to us in the present moment," and "who are you to not share your gifts or story in the world?" For more information on Kristin Birdwell, visit https://scribemedia.com/authors/kristin-birdwell For more information on Sex, Drugs, and Soul, visit https://scribemedia.com/published-books/sex-drugs-soul

  6. Aug 20

    Brand Currency: Steve Susi on Taste, Time, and Why a Human Should Write the Book

    Steve Susi joins Travis Stoliker to talk about Brand Currency — the 2019 book that grew out of his years as an executive creative director at Amazon — and where its four currencies stand now that AI has rewritten the rules. Steve traces the thesis back to a standing ovation in Tokyo, where he realized "there's something universal here... What matters most to all people? Money, information, loyalty, and time," and thought, "So let me write a book." He talks about the book's unexpected second life: it launched just before COVID, "actually sold pretty well," drew fan mail he never anticipated, and got picked up for Korean translation — proof that "we're not so different around the world." Then the conversation turns to the question every author is now asking. Steve uses AI every day as a thought partner, but is adamant it "is simply not going to write my book," because "without... enterprise-level instruction, it does not come with encoded discernment, judgment, or taste." He explains why "Taste is the New Oil," how AI "didn't add a fifth currency — it just compressed the original four into a moment," and why, even in a world of instant answers, "you're going to see flesh tone and fingerprints on things more than you ever have." He closes on why the physical book endures: when someone "sees a bookcase full of books, it says, I've invested in this piece of physical matter because it really matters... it's going to be hard to kill. We love touching things." For more information on Steve Susi, visit https://scribemedia.com/authors/steve-susi For more information on Brand Currency: A Former Amazon Exec on Money, Information, Loyalty, and Time, visit https://scribemedia.com/published-books/brand-currency

  7. Aug 19

    Invest Like the Best: Chris Belchamber on The Low-Risk Road to High Returns

    Five years after his first Author Hour appearance, Chris Belchamber returns to talk with Travis Stoliker about what has and hasn't changed since he wrote Invest Like the Best — and what he's learned watching the market since. Chris walks through the case for compounding over chasing returns, tells the story of turning down a seat at Long-Term Capital Management in the 1990s, and lays out why he believes gold, not passive equity indexing, has quietly outperformed the S&P 500 since 2000. He also gets candid about Bitcoin, the state of the fiat currency system, and why he believes the average investor is dramatically underserved by the financial industry. Along the way, Chris reflects on what writing Invest Like the Best gave him that he didn't expect: a "lighthouse" that draws in exactly the right clients, and a level of clarity about his own thinking that's only grown more valuable with time. For more information on Chris Belchamber, visit https://scribemedia.com/authors/chris-belchamber For more information on Invest Like the Best: The Low-Risk Road to High Returns, visit https://scribemedia.com/published-books/invest-like-the-best

  8. Aug 13

    Best Team Ever: David Burkus on Turning a Book Into a Speaking Business

    David Burkus joins Eric Jorgenson to talk about Best Team Ever: The Surprising Science of High-Performing Teams — his fifth book, and the first he published professionally after four traditional deals. David lays out the math he gives every author weighing the two paths: still write the proposal, and if the traditional offer comes in between $75,000 and $100,000, take the money — but if it’s “20, 25 grand,” that’s not enough to deal with the hassles of signing away your IP. He explains why a traditional proposal is written “for an audience of one,” how his publisher’s push to make his networking book a career book earned him exactly two speaking gigs in the book’s entire history, and why the timeline sealed it: guided author in June 2022, on Amazon everywhere by May 2023. Then he opens up the speaking machine itself — lanes and problems, the caveman test that named Best Team Ever, micro videos that get found, the bureau secret of bringing agents in on deals you already have — and the production system behind five books: six months of research in piles on the floor, 500 to 750 words a day, and “when you write nonfiction, there’s no such thing as writer’s block. There’s just you haven’t researched it enough.” Plus the LinkedIn message from a Lithuanian event planner that turned a book into a homecoming. For more information on David Burkus, visit https://scribemedia.com/authors/david-burkus For more information on Best Team Ever: The Surprising Science of High-Performing Teams, visit https://scribemedia.com/published-books/best-team-ever

See All (334)

About

Do you wish you could quickly get the best ideas from new books? That's what Author Hour is all about. Each week, we give you the best ideas and stories from a new book, through an in-depth conversation with the author. We cover all types of non-fiction: business, fitness, investing, self-help, and more. Listeners will get an entertaining and useful summary of each book, in a fraction of the time. A must listen for avid readers and aspiring authors.

Information

  • Creator
    Eric Jorgenson, Travis Stoliker, Lex Statzer
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    334
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Eric Jorgenson, Travis Stoliker, Lex Statzer
  • Show Website
    Author Hour

You Might Also Like