Bookworm · Mike Schmitz and Cory Hixson

232: Published by Chandler Bolt

September 26, 2025·1 hr 34 min·5 clips

A reader told him the self-published book he considered a failure stopped them from committing suicide.

1. Bookworm episode 232 reviews Chandler Bolt's 'Published: The Proven Path from Blank Page to 10,000 Copies Sold,' a guide to writing and publishing a book. 2. The two hosts, one of whom is named Mike, co-review the book together, drawing on their own experience self-publishing books and running content businesses. 3. The episode asks what it actually takes to go from a blank page to a published, revenue-generating book, and whether self-publishing or traditional publishing is the better path. 4. The book, originally published in 2016 and re-released in 2021, is 27 chapters divided into seven sections, and the hosts read the 2021 edition. 5. Bolt frames publishing as impacting three groups — readers, friends and family, and one person whose life is radically changed — and one host connects this to an email he received saying his own self-published book stopped a reader from committing suicide. 6. Bolt defines four reasons people write books: a passion project, a shared experience, becoming a full-time author, or business growth, with the 'authorpreneur' category covering people who use a book to grow a separate business. 7. The hosts compare traditional, hybrid, and self-publishing: traditional publishers take the largest royalty cut but offer connections like copy editors, hybrid publishers offer better rates but include some 'scam artists,' and self-publishing can pay three to seven times more in royalties but requires the most personal work. 8. Bolt's writing method starts with mind mapping (chapter five) before moving to outlining (chapter six), and one host describes creating an outline as long as 21 pages from an initial unstructured mind map. 9. Chapter four covers choosing what to write about, including two rules — never edit while drafting, and never write more than one book at once — and three questions for picking a first book: fastest to finish, most likely to get finished, and happiest-making. 10. Mike applies those three questions to his own competing book ideas — a personal retreat concept, a 'life theme' book, a creativity flywheel framework, and a PKM stack book — and concludes the personal retreat idea wins on two of the three criteria. 11. One host recounts a day-long recording disaster on a different show, where a broken internet connection killed a 9:30 a.m. attempt and an afternoon retry, forcing him to finish recording at 10:30 p.m. the night before his co-host left on vacation. 12. He reframes the ordeal through a 'what would an optimist think' lens, noting the silver lining was learning to record from a backup desk using a Rodecaster Video interface. 13. Before the book discussion begins, one host announces a new physical 'personal retreat planner' built with New Year's calendar maker Jesse, priced at $29 with a subscription discount bringing a year's worth under $100. 14. He also describes releasing a pay-what-you-want product containing his full library of 217 book notes from an Obsidian vault, stripped of pre-made links so buyers build their own connections between ideas. 15. A separate announcement covers a video course the host has spent two years co-producing with author Chris Bailey, described by TED as 'the most productive man you'd ever hope to meet,' covering procrastination and launching September 16th with 60 videos. 16. The hosts note that Bolt promotes self-publishing.com dozens of times throughout the book, but conclude the plugs feel earned because each one points to a genuinely useful resource rather than a repeated pitch for a single lead magnet. 17. The tone is conversational and personal, mixing candid updates about the hosts' own projects and struggles with a structured, section-by-section walkthrough of the book. 18. Both hosts speak from direct self-publishing experience, giving the review a practitioner's rather than purely critical perspective. 19. Aspiring authors weighing self-publishing versus traditional publishing routes. 20. Listeners uninterested in publishing mechanics or writer productivity systems.

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