If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life.

In 2023 I opened my book On Good Authority by saying AI wasn't going to replace writers.

Three years later, I still believe that. But so much that I thought about publishing in 2023 has shifted that I'm re-releasing the book—two new chapters, an updated audiobook and a free upgrade for anyone who bought the original. Because the gap between what was true then and what's true now is the whole story.

There are three main things that made me feel like a new edition was necessary.

First, AI went from a hallucinating curiosity to a tool I use all day every day—not to write books, but for design, for thinking partner work, for the personal-relationship triage I sometimes do when I'm about to send an email I shouldn't. I would argue that AI has made it so that mediocre writing has become more irrelevant, not less, since anyone can prompt their way to passable now.

Also a 2026 study finally proved what I've been saying for years: entrepreneurs with books charge 37% more than competitors without one.

But the point I want to land hardest in this version is one I couldn't fully prove in 2023 and now can: book sales matter less than they ever have. A New York Times bestselling author profiled in New York Magazine this March makes $49,000 a year, and that figure includes retreats and recording the audiobook.

A writer I follow sold 150,000 copies of her book and made $87,000 over six years after subtracting for editor, publicist and agent fees. My own New York Times bestseller didn't cover the cab fare to the launch party.

So it’s even more true now that the book isn’t the product but what makes everything else possible.

This new version also gets into AI discoverability, why your website needs to speak to robots as much as humans, why Wikipedia and Reddit and GoodReads matter more than they did three years ago, the LLM test I run on my own company every month and the niche-audience playbook my clients are using to land $20,000 speaking gigs. Which makes the new edition of On Good Authority the field guide for the season I've been running on the future of publishing.

P.S. — If you bought the 2023 edition, email assistant@annadavid.com to get the 2026 version on Anna.

Other links I promised:

The Ask Me Anything page where you can indeed ask me anything about On Good Authority: www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/book

The general book information page with links to where you can purchase: www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/good-authority-book

Want to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com

Curious how entrepreneurs use books to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/7-figures

Interested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/apply

Want to get my book that breaks down 30 years of experience and hundreds of interviews with publishing experts and authors—newly updated for 2026? (You can even ask the book questions. [Really!]) 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/good-authority-book

And if you just want to know more about me, 👉 www.annadavid.com

Remember, if there's anyone in your life whose wisdom you deeply admire, or who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them.

If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life.

Steve Sarner spent eight years at Amazon and was VP of sales at Goodreads, which means he understands something most authors don’t:

Book sales are not the point.

What Steve focuses on now is something I think more people should be talking about: not selling books, but seeding them—that is, getting them into the hands of the exact people who can turn them into something bigger.

This, you could say, is my obsession.

We get into:

• How many books you actually need “out in the wild” before anything starts working
• Why giving your book away can be more valuable than selling it
• How books turn into $10,000+ clients (and the rough math behind that)
• The surprising places he’s putting books—from niche events to inside massive companies
• Why reviews matter…even though getting them is borderline impossible

There’s also a story about someone finding their company through AI, requesting the book, reading it and becoming a client—which is basically the entire thesis in action.

Find out more about the company where Steve works, ShelfLife, here.

Sign up for ShelfLife’s 3-2-1 newsletter here.

Want to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com

Curious how entrepreneurs use books to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/7-figures

Interested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/apply

Want to get my book that breaks down 30 years of experience and hundreds of interviews with publishing experts and authors—newly updated for 2026? (You can even ask the book questions. [Really!]) 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/good-authority-book

And if you just want to know more about me, 👉 www.annadavid.com

Remember, if there's anyone in your life whose wisdom you deeply admire, or who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them.

If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life.

Rex Sorgatz is one of those people who has been early to everything—blogging, digital media, startups—and now AI storytelling.

We go way back to Lower East Side readings, when I quickly discovered that he was surrounded by people building the future before I really understood what that meant.

This conversation is about AI and publishing, but not in the way people usually talk about it. Not “AI will write your book” or “everything is over.” More like: what actually changes when technology shifts how we interact with ideas.

We also get into:

• Why most “AI writing” isn’t writing at all
• How he actually uses AI (and why most people are using it wrong)
• Why talking to your computer might be inevitable, even if you hate the idea
• The product he built to remember everything he’s ever read—and why 100,000 people built the same thing a day later

Also: a brief detour into an erotica reading I made him do years ago that I’m still not sure I should have been responsible for.

Check out the AI company Rex co-founded here.

Want to know more about my company? Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is a boutique hybrid publisher for entrepreneurs and established founders. We help clients create books that build authority, attract opportunities and grow businesses. More info 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com

Curious how entrepreneurs use books to generate seven-figure returns, speaking opportunities and high-value clients? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/7-figures

Interested in working with a selective hybrid publisher that focuses on strategy, authority and long-term business growth—not just publishing a book? 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/apply

Want to get my book that breaks down 30 years of experience and hundreds of interviews with publishing experts and authors—newly updated for 2026? (You can even ask the book questions. [Really!]) 👉 https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/good-authority-book

And if you just want to know more about me, 👉 www.annadavid.com

Remember, if there's anyone in your life whose wisdom you deeply admire, or who you know could be considered an authority in their field if they were better known, share this show with them.