Your ears do not deceive—I actually put a man on my show.

Former chemist and Wall Street analyst, Amran brought his insider knowledge of the financial industry's wildest excesses to his satirical thriller Leverage, published by Atria Books in August 2025. It’s a fun, fast, biting read about Ali Jafar (yes, two names from Aladdin), a hedge fund analyst who loses $300 million in a single day and must find increasingly unethical ways to make it back.

In what is my most No BS conversation yet, Amran breaks down the economics of why debut novels fail, how the “1,000 true fans” model is BS, and why we should stop with the false humility and own the arrogance of being a writer.

And he used to lift!

Just some of the juicy tidbits we lay bare:

• Getting ghosted by your publisher happens more than you think

• Why both Amran and I are the Dogecoin of traditional publishing—“to the moon!”

• Amran’s catastrophic BookScan data

• Rich authors buying their own books to hit bestseller lists

• Why traditional publishing is "one big tiger mom"

• The "debut flop" is now the industry norm

• Why Amran still believes in traditional publishing

• The GOOD news we can take from this—and some inspiring words for all writers

Top quotes:

"It would take me 200 years to earn back my advance at the rate the books are selling."

"There's about 100 authors that make a ton of money. And then there's about 25,000 other authors that make no money. You are the 25,000."

"It's good to have realistic expectations and know exactly the business you're in, because otherwise you can psych yourself out and then find yourself asking, ‘Do I even do art at all?’ And that's a really unfortunate place to end up because you should make art because you're an artist at the end of the day."

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Amran, my DEI guest

01:09 Do you even lift, bro?

02:50 The Asian Squat: key to longevity?

03:18 White like Obama

03:59 Was Sophia an investment banker?!

04:46 What illegal activities has Amran seen?

06:09 Cali, the richest country in America

06:58 Naming Ali Jafar after Aladdin

08:39 The High-achieving Losers Club

09:32 Ghosted by your publisher: Impact of Sales on Future Book Deals

16:39 Should we write to market?

19:55 Is Traditional Publishing Still Worth It?

26:33 You are the 25,000

27:57 The arrogance of writing a book, the futility of selling it

30:23 Is 1,000 True Fans BS?

33:58 The False Humility BS

36:51 The Creative Process and Artistic Integrity

Find Amran

• Website & Newsletter: amrangowani.com

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amrangowani/

Buy his book: Leverage

Hardcover https://amzn.to/4nph1kM

Ebook https://amzn.to/4hzLrzE

Audible (you can use your credit) https://amzn.to/43GRPzc

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Sophia’s Website⁠

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