"Instagram and Contrast Therapy May Be the Keys to My Success" with Anna David

Anna David is the New York Times bestselling author of two novels and six non-fiction books. She’s been published in the New York Times, Time, LA Times, Vanity Fair, Playboy, Vice, Cosmo, The Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, and Salon, among many others, written about in Forbes, Martha Stewart Living, Entrepreneur, Allure, and Women’s Health and has appeared repeatedly on Today, The Talk, Good Morning America, and numerous other programs. She’s been a featured speaker at three different TedX events and her company, Legacy Launch Pad, writes and publishes books for thought leaders. Legacy Launch Pad recently re-launched David’s first book, Party Girl, which is being developed into a movie by an Oscar-winning producing team.

Can you tell our readers about your background? 

I come from the traditional publishing world, having written six books published by HarperCollins and one by Simon & Schuster. I was a freelance writer for magazines like Details, Cosmo, and Playboy and I was also an on-air TV person, speaking about everything from celebrity lifestyle to addiction and recovery to relationships on shows like Today, The Talk, and Good Morning America. But when the traditional publishing world fell apart—around 2010—and the TV appearances went from paid to promotional (code for not paid), I realized I needed another plan.  

What inspired you to start your business?  

Writing is all I ever wanted to do. I cried when I was seven and discovered that the youngest author was six so I couldn’t set the record. I still have my first rejection letter, from when I was 10. I worked at magazines right out of college and once I was writing for places like Details, Cosmo, and Playboy, I wrote my first book. I published four with HarperCollins, one with Simon & Schuster that became an NYT bestseller and I was broke; I somehow thought the cliché that writers don’t make money didn’t apply to me. I realized, in my mid-thirties, that even though I was a writer, I was also an entrepreneur since I was constantly having to sell myself and my books. And I thought: why don’t I try NOT to be a broke entrepreneur?!

I started studying marketing, got a mentor (Joe Polish), and had several epiphanies: one, that entrepreneurship combined my two passions (words and psychology) just as much as the writing; two, that making money wasn’t a bad thing and three, that the world may not value writers per se but it values writing skills.

I also discovered something my publishers never told me: while few make money from book sales, many make money from the businesses they build on the backs of their books. After my first book, Party Girl, was released I was thrust into the role of “addiction expert,” and started going on TV every week to talk about addiction, doing TEDx talks on the topic, and being interviewed for magazines and websites. This didn’t do anything for me, per se, because I didn’t have a business but I saw that if the attention a book gave you did support a business, it could really help it grow. But I didn’t want an addiction business because that would mean going into the morally corrupt world of rehabs. So, I thought, what business did I want to build with my books?

I decided I didn’t want anyone to be in the situation I’d been in throwing everything into a book and discovering that you couldn’t survive on book sales. So it became my passion to create books for entrepreneurs and then show them how to use those books to build their careers and leave a legacy.

Where is your business based?

Hollywood, California.  

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took? 

My business started me. Because one of my books was a NYT bestseller, many people approached me about writing their books. I always said no because it just wasn’t something I wanted to do. But one person, a sports agent named Darren Prince, was particularly insistent—so insistent that I finally said to him, “Look, I won’t write your book but I can find someone who will, and then I can edit it. Can that work?” He said yes so I got someone else to write it and when I was finished editing, Darren said, “Cool. Now I need you to publish it.” I explained that I didn’t know how to publish books and he essentially said, “No worries, I’ll pay you to learn.” So I figured it out and when his book came out, I watched him use it to get on every TV show known to man, to land spokesperson gigs, and to launch a huge speaking career. He taught me what a book could do for an entrepreneur’s business. That was in 2017. Since then, I’ve built a team of roughly five people and we’ve published dozens of books.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Surprisingly, I think it’s Instagram. It’s kind of crazy since my company offers an extremely high-end service. You might think, would people really pay that much money for a service they found out about on a social media app? But Darren actually told me he first discovered me through a hashtag. Countless people have hired my company because they found me in that way. And even clients who haven’t found me that way have found the fact that I have a big, interactive social media following something that makes me more credible.

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

Probably it was when my first team member ended up accusing me of stealing her IP. It was the craziest situation: someone I’d paid enough money to buy a house was suddenly coming at me. Unfortunately, I’d paid her in advance for books and so I had to get a lawyer to retrieve the material I’d paid for years earlier. It really taught me about trust. People asked me after, “Didn’t you see the red flags? Looking back, couldn’t you tell she couldn’t be trusted?” And the answer is, not at all. I’d known her for over a decade. I’d let her stay in my guestroom, introduced her to countless friends and clients, and had been to her kid’s birthday party a few months before this happened. I hate to say that this experience taught me not to trust people, but it did teach me that untrustworthy people aren’t always waving red flags. Sometimes they’re pink or even white.

How do you stay focused?

I’m one of those people mildly afflicted with ADD who can somehow use that to focus all the more. I could work in the middle of Grand Central Station. When I’m home, I don’t get distracted by YouTube or cleaning or anything else. I think I was just sort of born focused. You could also call it “obsessive.”

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

We’re quite “boutique” when compared to the other elite publishing companies out there. Many of the other companies who do what we do are more factory-like, where they follow a formula so they can launch thousands of books. I don’t want that. What we do is such a hands-on service and you end up working so closely with clients that they become like family. That wouldn’t be possible if we had hundreds of clients. Also, we’re in Hollywood so we offer things like meetings with Hollywood producers to discuss making books into movies and TV shows and also do things like throw Hollywood VIP premieres for book releases. 

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?  

Getting out there—hosting a podcast, going on other people’s podcasts, going to business conferences, going on TV, speaking at masterminds, and things like that. It may sound obvious but for people to hire you, they have to know who you are. I think a lot of people today think that deciding on a “brand” and then promoting it on Instagram is the way to build a business but really that’s something you do when you already have a business. And you get a business by offering something people will pay money for and then getting in front of those people. 

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

Find a mentor and help them. Occasionally people will reach out to me and say, “Hey, will you be my mentor?” And not to sound like a horrible person but I have a list of 99 things to do every day so helping a stranger probably won’t be added as the 100th. And yet I’ve helped dozens and dozens of people over the years, none of whom approached me and asked me to be my mentor. What they did is they got my attention. Maybe they emailed me or posted about me or joined my membership group or wrote a review for one of my books or podcast. I appreciated it and we began a relationship from there. So I say find a mentor, help them and learn everything you can from them. You’ll be amazed at how much they then want to help you.

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

Favorite app is Pocket; it’s an AI tool that reads your stories. Every day I stumble across at least five stories online I want to read and don’t have time. So I put the link in Pocket and the lovely computerized voice reads it to me while I’m cleaning or driving or whatever. In terms of blogs, I love ones that focus on publishing, like Jane Friedman’s and also one that focuses on marketing, written by podcast producer Jeremy Enns. Favorite book is tough. Fiction book is a toss-up between Money by Martin Amis and American Pastoral by Philip Roth. Favorite business books are ones written by Russell Brunson, Alan Weiss, and Robert Cialdini.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

I love Kajabi. It’s where I have my company website, my courses, and my products. It’s also where I do all my email marketing. All hail Kajabi! I also love Libsyn for podcast hosting.

Who is your business role model? Why?

Joe Polish. He’s mentored me for the past few years and has one of the most giving hearts I’ve encountered. He absolutely loves connecting with people and doesn’t have a malicious bone in his body. He created the first high-end mastermind and it attracts some of the most amazing and inspiring people I’ve ever met. And he knows how to take time off and still make his career work. He’s been on sabbatical all of 2020 and his company, Genius Network, is thriving.

How do you balance work and life?

I don’t ever work after 7 pm. I’m someone who LOVES to work so I force myself to leave in the middle of the day to go on walks or run errands or meet friends. I’ve discovered an amazing walk to the Hollywood sign that I do every few days. I make an effort not to work on weekends. 

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Massages. Baths. Walks. Acupuncture. Meditation. And I’ve recently gotten into something called contrast therapy, where you go from a sauna to a freezing cold bath and back again.

What do you have planned for the next six months?

My boyfriend of three years is moving in with me next month. So that’s the big thing on a personal level. Professionally, I’m re-releasing my first book, Party Girl, on September 15th and am going to be doing a mini-book tour, to Reno and Vegas, and Phoenix. Then in October, I’m speaking at a mastermind in Tulum and an EO event in Detroit. Beyond that, I just plan to continue to grow my business. 

How can our readers connect with you? 

I’m on all the social media platforms with the username @annabdavid. My company website is www.launchpadpub.com. And information about the re-release of Party Girl is all available on www.partygirlrelaunch.com.