If I'm Being Honest: Straight Talk About Book Publishing & Promotion

About If I'm Being Honest: Straight Talk About Book Publishing & Promotion

If I’m Being Honest is a straight-talk podcast about self-publishing and book marketing—created for authors who want realistic expectations and practical advice. Hosted by Joel Pitney and Sayde Walker, the show explores what it actually takes to publish, promote, and sell books in today’s crowded marketplace. Featuring interviews with successful authors and industry experts, we dig into the wins, the missteps, the numbers, and the uncomfortable truths that rarely get discussed. If you’re a first-time author (or feeling stuck after publishing), this podcast is here to help you move forward with clarity, confidence, and honesty.

Publisher

Launch My Book

Category

arts · business · education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

3 Mar 2026

Latest episode

8 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

25 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   8 Oct 2026

   Why Publishing A Book Takes Longer Than You Think

   You can do everything “right” and still miss your dream launch date and it has nothing to do with motivation. We’re talking about time, the sneakiest force in book publishing, and why writers routinely underestimate how long self-publishing actually takes. From the outside, editing, cover design, interior formatting, and uploading to Amazon KDP can look like a simple checklist. In real life, each step includes review cycles, waiting in someone else’s queue, and tiny changes that quietly snowb...

2. 

   1 Oct 2026

   Choosing the Right Publishing Path

   “What publishing pathway should I use?” sounds like a simple question, until you realize every option changes who pays, who owns the ISBN, who controls the accounts, and how much visibility you get into sales. We walk through the three common routes authors consider: traditional publishing, pure self-publishing, and hybrid publishing, and we translate the jargon into a practical decision you can actually make. We break down what “publisher investment” really means in traditional publishing: ...

3. 

   24 Sept 2026

   How to Be a More Productive Writer

   The fastest way to stop writing is trying to write perfectly. In this week's episode, Joel and Sayde get real about the gap between the beautiful book in your head and the rough draft you have to put on the page, and why “writing badly” is often the only way to finish a manuscript. We talk through the habits Joel relies on as a professional ghostwriter working on real deadlines: protecting long writing blocks, setting concrete goals like a chapter a week, and separating research and outlinin...

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.