Ryan Holiday Reveals How Much Best Selling Authors Make, Crazy Peter Thiel Stories & More (#370)

About this video

Ryan Holiday discusses his book publishing business, the economics of authorship, and content creation strategy. He explores how successful authors like Mark Manson and himself generate revenue across multiple formats, explains the quirks of bestseller lists, and shares insights on building a prolific output system with a small team. The conversation also covers his investment in Cerro Gordo ghost town and lessons learned from meeting high-achieving people like Manu Ginóbili.

Key takeaways

• Ryan claims successful authors can earn substantial income through books—he notes Mark Manson likely sold 10-15 million copies of ‘Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***’ at ~$20 each, generating significant gross revenue despite publisher cuts, wholesale discounts, and international sales complexities where payment is often reduced or nonexistent
• Ryan argues quality and quantity are not opposed; he maintains a production system with ~10 employees where he pre-writes content in batches (scheduling Daily Stoic and Daily Dad emails months in advance, maintaining a backlog of recorded YouTube videos) to sustain multiple platforms without sacrificing quality
• Bestseller list status matters less than Ryan initially thought—he’s decided not to pursue New York Times or Wall Street Journal rankings because his own bookstore sales are excluded from these lists, and he believes actual sales and audience reach are more meaningful measures of success than status recognition
• Ryan distinguishes between people who achieve greatness through fundamental life imbalance (like Tom Brady) versus those like Manu Ginóbili who remain grounded, normal, and present despite elite success—he increasingly admires the latter and questions whether extreme sacrifice is actually necessary for achievement
• The ‘manifest cowboy’ mentality of bending reality to one’s will, while intoxicating and useful for entrepreneurship, can become dangerous; Ryan observed mentors like Doug Charney self-destruct when they stopped accepting any external input or constraint, illustrating how the confidence required to create something from nothing can metastasize into destructive narcissism

Episode details: published October 4, 2022 · 36K views · 1:13:31 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. The business ideas, figures and results discussed are the hosts’ and guests’ own claims, shared as brainstorming and entertainment — not verified facts and not investment advice.

← Previous: Controversial Business Lessons From Napoleon, Edison, & Hitler (#369) · Next: Asking A Billionaire Investor How To Prepare For The Economic Collapse (#371) →

All My First Million videos · My First Million profile · My First Million (official site)