In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews James Ransom, a book coach, editor, and ghostwriter known as the "master wordsmith." Ransom shares a personal narrative that frames his core message: every failure he experienced—from studying music performance, to arts management, to working for an opera company, to a cross‑country road‑trip learning editing, to becoming a Wall Street Journal bestselling editor—ultimately led to a better, more aligned path. He offers industry‑specific advice for self‑published authors, emphasizing that writing a good book is the foundation; all other aspects (speed, cost, marketing) follow from quality. His broader business counsel is to learn from many sources but use that knowledge to improve one’s authentic self rather than imitate others. When reflecting on advice he would give his younger self, he warns against equating spending money with building a business and against assuming sellers care about his success. Ransom defines the key to happiness as accepting that constant happiness is impossible, then focusing on moments that maximize joy while tolerating manageable unhappiness. He cites Cal Newport’s Deep Work as the best recent book, highlighting the productivity boost from limiting internet use to a few hours daily. His favorite quote—"Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight. You've got to kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight"—originates from Barenaked Ladies and serves as a personal mantra for perseverance. The episode concludes with his website (jamesransom.com) and mentions of his recent book Buy Once Cry Once and an upcoming title.
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Alright everyone, welcome back to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner and today I have James Ransom with us. He is the master wordsmith. He's also a book coach, editor, and ghostwriter for entrepreneurs. And welcome James, glad to have you on.
Thanks man, really great to be here.
Alright, the first question I have for you is what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
So I'm actually going to give you the message first and wrap the story around it. The message is that whatever it is you're doing, even if it completely falls on its face, is going to lead to something better than whatever it was that you were doing before that fell on its face. And the story is basically what I've been doing the last, you know, 10, 15 years, going from studying music performance in college, to arts management in graduate school, to working for an opera company in Western Florida, to being on a road trip around the United States while I'm learning how to be a professional editor and writer, to becoming a Wall Street Journal bestselling editor, and all these other things, every one of those either began or ended or both with a failure, with something completely not working, but each one of those things that didn't work led to something that was better than what I've been doing and that was closer to what I really wanted to be doing.
I love that. The next question is, what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
So my industry is self-published books, and the most valuable piece of information I have for that industry is write a good book. If all somebody is talking about as far as writing a book is writing it quickly, writing it cheaply, or writing it as easily as possible, they're probably trying to sell you something and they don't really care about you writing a good book. Start with quality, everything else follows from there.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice?
Well, other than start with quality and everything else follows from there, because I think that's broadly applicable as well, I would say for business advice, learn everything you can from everyone you can and then use all of the things you learn from everyone else to get better at being yourself. Don't try to be them. Use what you learn from them to be better at being you.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Again, other than that last one, don't confuse spending money with building a business and don't confuse being sold something with someone caring about your success. Those are not the same thing and one does not lead to the other.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
It's a little bit counterintuitive. The key to happiness that I understand is to understand and accept that you're not actually going to be happy 100% of the time. Once you understand that, you can start asking yourself questions like, okay, in the times that I am happy, what makes me the happiest? And in the times when I'm not happy, what is the kind of unhappiness that I am most willing to put up with in order to get the types of happiness moments that I want? When you're able to ask yourself questions like that, you can start moving closer to a life where you're happier more often than not, and that also is more meaningful and more fulfilling than if you're just trying to be happy 100% of the time.
And what's the best book you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from it?
Okay, that is an impossible question to ask an editor, but I will say the best book I've read recently is Deep Work by Cal Newport. And the number one thing I learned from that is The more time you spend on the internet, the less productive you're actually going to be. And what I've actually been able to start implementing in my life is only being on the internet for a couple hours a day, and I have already started doing a lot more work and being a lot more productive on my writing and my client work than I was before.
And what's your favorite quote and why? Maybe another tough one for an editor.
It is a tough one. I've got like a gigantic Evernote document full of quotes. But I think the one that I have to go with is the one that I actually have tattooed on my shoulders. "Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight. You've got to kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight." And that is from "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" by the band Barenaked Ladies.
And so, and what does that quote mean to you? So why is that your favorite one?
That is my favorite one partially because it helped me get through some tough times in high school and college. But it basically means, that it's a combination of whatever you're going through is going to be worth it as long as you keep fighting, as long as you keep persevering. And that's what I love about the second line of it in particular, "Kick at the darkness until it bleeds daylight." Take it into your own hands, keep moving forward, don't give up.
Well, thank you for coming on, James. We really appreciate it. The last question I have for you is where's the best place for people to find you online and to connect with you.
Absolutely. So my website is jamesransom.com. I'm happy to connect with people there. You can also check out my most recent book, Buy Once Cry Once: How Shortcuts Cost You in the Long Run, on Amazon and give that a look. I do have another book coming out later this year, and I'm sure I'll talk to you about that again soon.
Awesome. Thanks again for coming on, James.
My pleasure. Take care.
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