About this episode

Karen Salmansohn discusses her career journey, including her encounter with Madonna and insights on writing and publishing.

Season 4, episode 9 is here! Karen Salmansohn has sold two million books, been blessed by Madonna, and built a career entirely on the principle of doing something a little extra every single time. This one was a lot of fun! What we covered: - Why Karen left a senior VP creative director role in her twenties and what she told her parents when they said she was crazy to do it. - The story of how she got her first novel in front of publishers in a way that got an offer within days of sending it out. - How she walked up to Madonna in a hotel restaurant, got her to read a book title, and turned the whole encounter into a press story. - What her bucket list from hell period actually was and how she turned the worst year of her life into one of her most successful books. - The writing mistake she sees constantly on Substack that she thinks most people assume they’re getting away with. - Why she believes memoir-style headlines consistently outperform advice-style headlines, and how she tested that on her own publication. - The new business she’s just launched and what the top regrets of the dying had to do with building it. You can find Karen at The Stand Up Philosopher: Weighty Musings…

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