From Working in Publishing to Entrepreneur (and Author!) with Panio Gianopoulos

·31 min·3 clips

Panio Gianopoulos lost investors' money on media startups but discovered Kate McKinnon before she joined SNL.

Zibby Owens hosts Panio Gianopoulos on Totally Booked, focusing on his dual roles as author and publishing entrepreneur. Panio begins by tracing his career from assistant editor at Crown/Penguin Random House to editor at Bloomsbury, then to Stanford Business School, which led to entrepreneurial media ventures. He recounts failed startups that lost investor money but discovered talent like Kate McKinnon before her SNL fame. This experience led him to co-found The Next Big Idea Club, a nonfiction subscription book club, where he has worked for nine to ten years. Panio discusses his short story collection, 'How to Get Into Our House and Where We Keep the Money,' explaining how stories often stem from personal impulses, such as trying to befriend a crow or feeling jealous of a nephew's coolness. He delves into the moral complexity of his fiction, contrasting it with 'fantasy' fiction that portrays an idealized world. The conversation shifts to his novel-in-progress, which is heavily autobiographical, based on his mother's traumatic brain injury from a fall and his father's subsequent suicide. Panio describes the eight-year writing process as emotionally devastating, involving multiple drafts to distance himself from the raw trauma. He notes how writing has altered his memories of real events, like his mother waking from a coma. Throughout, Panio reflects on the isolation of writing, the need for feedback, and his Author Insider newsletter for building community among writers. The episode blends career anecdotes, craft discussions, and personal narrative, highlighting Panio's journey through publishing, entrepreneurship, and literary creation.

As heard by us

A clear-eyed episode about publishing, authorship, and making creative ambition work inside real life.

Panio Gianopoulos's move from publishing into authorship gives the episode a grounded frame for creative risk, professional limits, and the stubborn question of what can actually be completed.

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Why you'd press play

Press play for the career math behind becoming an author when your weekends are doing most of the work.

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