1. Learn why every nonfiction book needs a proposal—whether you self-publish or go the traditional route.
2. Discover how to overcome decision paralysis and move from stuck to confident.
3. Get a simple yet powerful free action that clears mental clutter and helps you focus.
4. Find out how an accountability buddy can transform your productivity.
5. Access free resources from Amy to take the next step in your writing journey.

Amy's Valuable Free Resource (VFR):

https://www.amygoldmacher.com/freebies

In this episode, nonfiction book coach Amy Goldmacher reveals how aspiring authors can turn ideas into book deals. She tackles decision paralysis, shares a simple action to boost clarity, and explains how accountability can drive productivity. Tune in for practical advice, valuable free resources, and insights to help you get unstuck and write with confidence.

02:20 Ideal Client:
Aspiring nonfiction authors looking to get traditionally published or self-publish with clarity.
03:30 Problem Solved:
Helps writers overcome overwhelm, make confident decisions, and craft compelling book proposals.
04: 35 Valuable Free Action (VFA):
Take 10 minutes to brain-dump all your worries onto a page—prioritize later!
06:30 Valuable Productive Action (VPA):
Know yourself! Identify your best working conditions, whether it’s time of day, location, or work style.
08:03 Bonus Material
11:40 Valuable Free Resource (VFR):
Free downloads and insights at amygoldmacher.com/freebies

(Note, this was transcribed using transcription software and may not fully reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Welcome to the Goalbusters Expert Peak Productivity Tips podcast, where top business experts get just seven minutes to answer five rapid fire questions about what they do and how they stay productive.

Each episode is packed with actionable insights to help boost your efficiency and achieve your goals. Let's dive in and unlock the secrets to peak performance.

00:22 ROBIN

Well, hello, everyone. My name is Robin J. Emdon, and I'm the creator and author of the GetResultsology system and a dedicated accountability coach. My mission is to empower solopreneurs to unlock their true potential, boost their income, and achieve extraordinary success by maximizing productivity, streamlining their businesses, and aligning their goals with their authentic vision and purpose.

If you're ready to turn ambition into action and transform your goals into reality, you're in exactly the right place.

Today, I'm really excited to welcome Amy Goldmacher.

Amy is an anthropologist, writer, and certified nonfiction book coach who helps writers turn ideas into book deals.

Her work has appeared in the New York Times, johnfriedeman.com, and more. And her experimental new book, a glossary form memoir called terms and conditions will be published in the fall of 2026.

Originally from New York, Amy has lived in 23 cities and now calls South Florida home. Whether coaching authors or traveling with her husband, she's always exploring new ideas.

Amy, welcome to Goalbusters.

AMY
Thanks, Robin. I'm super excited to be here.

ROBIN
I'm super excited to have you and your cat with us as well. So whereabouts are you in South Florida?

AMY
I'm in Fort Lauderdale, which is about an hour north of Miami. So we're almost at the very tip of South Florida.

ROBIN
Oh, wonderful. That sounds lovely. And I have been to Florida. I know what a beautiful state it is. Alright then. So shall we get straight into the questions?

AMY
Yes. Let's do it.

ROBIN
Alright. We will start the clock.

And there it goes. Amy, let's talk about what you do. Who is your ideal client, please?

02:20 AMY – Ideal Client
Sure. So the big picture is I help aspiring nonfiction authors who dream of publishing a book transform their idea into a killer proposal that attracts agents and publishers.

And the thing is not every author knows that in order to have a nonfiction book traditionally published, you need a book proposal first. So sometimes there's a bit of education required about the publishing industry and the process of writing a book for traditional publication.

And I believe that even if you wanna self-publish a book, a book proposal will help you because you through the process of developing the book proposal, you solve a lot of the challenges in writing and publishing a book, such as articulating who the audience is and knowing where to find them and getting crystal clear on what your book is about.

And underneath that, I help those who feel stuck to make confident, values aligned, and intentional goals and decisions.

Because both writers and, those who have solo coaching businesses like book coaches, they feel stuck and overwhelmed. And I am really good at helping people, figure out what they wanna do and feel confident that they know how to do it.

ROBIN
Okay. So you've really kind of answered the second question as well. That's two for the price of one. Are there any other problems that you solve or have you pretty much covered it there?

03:30 AMY – Problem Solved
Well, I think the thing is that people get overwhelmed when they have big goals or tasks such as writing a book or marketing your book coaching business.

There's a lot of decisions to be made, and it's hard to sort through the big issues, and prioritize, you know, what needs to be done when… and figuring out the strategy and the tactics for getting to the goal. And I think that's common to writers and people who have independent coaching businesses. I think they think, you know, they get stuck, and this is true for myself too. They get stuck in the loops of should I do this or should I do that? They don't know what to do, and they're afraid of doing it wrong, So they don't do anything. So that's where I come in.

So I like to say I help people go from I feel stuck to I'm excited and confident. I know what I want to do and how to do it.

ROBIN
Absolutely. Yeah. Afraid of doing anything in case you get it wrong it’s such a big problem. And anybody that helps, people go overcome that in especially in a specialty like yours is a really, really valuable resource to have. Thank you for sharing that with us. Talking of valuable free resources, actually, what is a free action that your audience could implement that would help them solve that problem today?

04: 35 AMY – Valuable Free Action (VFA)
Well, I'll give you an example. So my mother will be eighty this year, and she lives in Michigan. And I left Michigan a couple of years ago, to move to Florida, and my brother, who also lives in Michigan, is planning to move to Florida this year. So my mom will be moving to be close to us, but she absolutely does not wanna move, and she feels overwhelmed by the thought of it.

She knows she's gonna have to get her house ready to sell and figure out, new doctors in Florida and how is she gonna transport her two cats and how is she gonna make new friends. So, like, all of these things are just you know, they're just so present. And so I told her, just get everything you're worried about on the page, and we'll sort it out later.

So when you get things out of your head, it kind of breaks down the task. Like, if you're worried about how am I gonna get my house ready to sell, there's a bunch of little tasks associated with it. So first, just get all the worries out of your head.

That's the first step. Clear the decks, and doing that brain dump is the way to do that. So I tell people the action is take ten minutes and just dump everything you're worried about on the page, everything in your head. Don't worry about the order, or how you'll do it. Focus on the what. I like to say, what before how.

So you can think about what's on your mind, what are you worried about, what do you think you wanna do. If you have trouble getting it out, ask yourself a question, like, what's bothering me? What's on my mind? Or why am I having a hard time with X? And X could be your writing or your marketing or thinking about a big life event.

ROBIN
Excellent. I like to think of it in terms of, like, getting the chewing gum out of your head.

AMY
Yeah. That's a great way of putting it.

Yeah. Yeah. And you've explained it extremely well. Thank you, Amy. That was great.

So now we know a little bit more about what you do. Let's talk about goal busting, our podcast. Meaning, how do you make the best use of your own productive time, Amy, to achieve your own business goals? So can you share any tips or advice for someone looking to improve their productivity habits?

06:30 AMY – Valuable Productive Action (VPA)
And as you're dealing with authors, I imagine that's a company that comes up a lot.

Yeah. I think, the answer is know yourself. So if you know your own preferences and conditions that set you up for success, you can replicate those. So the way to do that is to kind of reflect on, what has made you successful in the past.

So what conditions need to be in place that will increase the likelihood of success? Are you more productive in the mornings or afternoons or evenings? Do you work best in a coffee shop with lots of background noise, or do you need to be in a quiet space with no interruptions? Can you do that in your home, or do you need to leave to do that?

Do you work best in big chunks of time, or do you need little fifteen minute sprints to help you get stuff done? So the only right answer is the one that works for you, and experimenting is part of that process.

I think a lot of people put the pressure on themselves to, you know, I'm gonna write from, you know, an hour a day from five to six AM Monday through Friday, but that might not be the best thing to do. So feel free to experiment and figure out, what's gonna make you most successful.

ROBIN
Yeah. Fantastic. So many good points in there. All of them valid and all about experimenting with what works best for you.

This is why there is no… I often say there's no one size fits all. You've got to find out what works best for you. And it and there's no point in saying to other people, try this. It worked for me because it may not work for them.
Yeah. Absolutely.

AMY
A hundred percent.

ROBIN
Brilliant. So for my final question to you, Amy, because and I always like this because it's freewheeling and it brings a lot of variety and got some very interesting replies. What should I have asked you today, Amy, that I didn't? And, of course, your answer, please.

08:03 – AMY Bonus material
Well, I'm not sure what the question is, but I think the answer is take the pressure off yourself. I think, as writers and professionals and humans, we feel the pressure to do the right thing and do it fast, and that can be paralyzing. So I know that's true for me as a writer and a coach. I'm always in a hurry to write the thing and get it out there, but it's okay and it's normal to know that publishing a book takes years.

Writing a book takes years. It always takes longer than we want it to. So if you focus on the process rather than the destination, it's a lot more rewarding. You'll get to your destination, but you figure everything out while you're on the journey.

ROBIN
Yeah. I completely relate to that. My book that's coming out soon… it took me three months to write in my imagination. In reality, it was three years!

AMY
Yep. Yep.

So That sounds right. Yeah. That sounds normal.

ROBIN
That's normal. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It's alright. So I learned that one the hard way. But as and it proves your point.

It's very solid advice there and take the pressure off. Completely agree with you. Amy, that's fantastic. And we did that in exactly seven minutes as well.

That's brilliant. Yeah. Excellent.

AMY
We skipped a question, and I would love to share it.

ROBIN
We skipped a question?

AMY
Yes. The, how do you make best use of your productive time to achieve your own business goals?

ROBIN
Yeah. Okay. You're technically correct. We did skip a question, but it's not one of the five. So what happens there is I'm explaining that question four is about that….

Yeah. I'm all ears…

AMY
Okay. Well, I think, I really liked that it was like, the question was like, how do I make the best productive use of my time? And then question four was about, you know, here give me another free tip. So the thing I said in that spot was, the best thing that I've done recently is, partnering with another book coach, to meet on Zoom for an hour where we each work on our own marketing stuff because that's the hardest.

Like, we both had the challenge of, having something to do but keeping to put it off, you know, keep kicking it down the road, making it next week's thing. And so we thought, well, let's just do it do the hard things while we're in company with each other. So we don't talk. We just do our work for the day, and then we sign off and we meet for the next hour on the next time.

So I think that if people are struggling with, getting something challenging done, sometimes it's called body doubling or co-working or accountability sessions, and there's lots of free ways to find someone to be accountable to. If you don't have anyone in your network, you can set a time to meet on camera or in person. You can try London Writer Salon for writers. They have many times during the day where you just jump in and you're in company with others.

Or there's also Focusmate where you've, you know, somebody random on the Internet is there live with you online and you get your stuff done.

ROBIN
Excellent. Thank you. Yeah. Absolutely. Accountability buddy, I call it. That's what you're describing. It doesn't really matter what it's called.
It has the same effect. It's holding each other accountable, which is a highly motivational force. It's what it's what I do for a living. And one of the things I say, over and over to people is you don't need to pay someone to do it.

You know, if you can get a good accountability buddy, the payment is the you're doing for them what they're doing for you. And that can be very, very beneficial.

It's very interesting what you do. How do people get in touch with you? And also, is there, like, a valuable free resource they can get from you to find out more about what you do and also to help them with the problems that you've talked about today?

11:40 AMY – Valuable Free Resource (VFR)
Yes. I have a website. It's my name, amygoldmacher.com. And, there is a spot for freebies, but the direct link is amygoldmacher.com/freebies. I've got a couple of free downloads there. There's also my social media links because I'm always posting, content, trying to help people as much as I can. So I'd love it if people came to the website and got something that was helpful to them.

ROBIN
I'd love that too. I think it sounds fascinating and very useful.

Thank you so much.

Amy, it's been an absolute joy and a pleasure. I've learned so much in just a very short space of time. I could sit here and pick your brain for hours. So, Amy, I'm gonna say thank you again, for doing this today.

AMY
Thank you for having me. I love talking about this stuff, so I really appreciate it.

ROBIN
It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you, and bye bye.

AMY
Bye.

OUTRO
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And if you're ready to boost your online profits, skyrocket your productivity, crush procrastination, and see a positive change in your bank balance all within just thirty days, this is your opportunity

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Robin J. Emdon is an accountability coach and creator of the GetResultsology® System, a comprehensive guide designed to help people overcome procrastination and achieve their goals.

Robin’s journey started in his family’s retail business, but he soon realised his true passion was empowering others. In 2001, he trained as a life coach in the U.S., which led him to specialise in accountability coaching and eventually create the GetResultsology® System.

During the 2020 pandemic, Robin faced his own challenge with procrastination. Despite years of coaching experience, he still struggled with distractions. Determined to find a solid, permanent solution, he developed the GetResultsology® System to help others and himself boost productivity.

Based in South Devon, England, Robin helps clients all over the world boost their income and profits by achieving extraordinary results through accountability coaching. In his spare time, he enjoys sharing his passion for local history.

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