Write With Humility, Not Hype: False Authority

Home › Podcast › Episode 08

Write With Humility, Not Hype

Episode 08 of Calling Out the Shadows: A Clarity Over Comfort Podcast

By Neal Winsomer · Published June 18, 2026 · Roughly 4 minutes

Not Hype…Write With Humility

An opinion does not become a fact because it is printed in a book. In Episode 08, Write With Humility, Not Hype, Neal Winsomer makes the case for writing with humility and subjectivity over false authority, with a dual request to authors and to readers.

THE SHORT VERSION

An opinion does not become a fact because it is printed in a book. Being published is not proof.
A dual request: authors, write with humility and subjectivity; readers, dig deeper and check the background before you trust a claim.
Standing in subjectivity does not lessen your ability or your authority. It can strengthen them.

LISTEN

Listen and follow Calling Out the Shadows on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeart, Spreaker, YouTube, Pandora, and many other podcast platforms.

QUESTIONS THIS EPISODE ANSWERS

Does publishing something in a book make it true?

No. Being published is not proof. An opinion printed in a book is still an opinion. It does not become a fact because it appears in print.

Should an author write with authority or with humility?

Share opinions as opinions, with humility and subjectivity. You can be clear about what worked for you without claiming it works for everyone. Subjectivity does not lessen your authority and can strengthen it.

How do you vet an author before trusting their claims?

Look past the cover and the claim. Check the background and whether the person’s experience relates to your situation. Favor those who speak in subjectivity over those making absolute claims.

IN THIS CONVERSATION

Why putting an opinion in a book, then pointing to the book as proof, does not make the opinion true
The marketing-guru push to come off strong, dominant, and full of authority, and where that tips into deception
Questionable authority: one linear path sold as the answer for everyone
A dual request: to authors, write with humility and subjectivity; to readers, dig deeper and check the background
Why Neal makes no claim to be an expert on narcissism, and how he marked the subjective and the objective in his own book
How standing in subjectivity can strengthen, not weaken, your experience, ability, and authority

FULL TRANSCRIPT

For this short episode of Calling Out the Shadows podcast, I’m calling out the authors who have a lack of subjectivity, and an excess or a transformation of opinions into objectivity or trying to shift them into facts.

When opinions get shifted into facts

I know that many of these marketing gurus and many out there are saying, oh, you’ve got to come off strong. You’ve got to come off strong… come off dominant. You’ve got to come off with authority. But what if you’re sharing an opinion? What if it doesn’t apply to everyone? Isn’t that deception? And isn’t in the end that lying, if you’re making statements, if you’re making claims, if you’re shifting and altering your opinions into facts.

And then off of that, to then be able to quote, well, it’s in my book that this is that. What if I wrote a complete lie into a book? And then from there, I say, well, I’m an author, and I have it, and it’s published in a book. That doesn’t make it true. And yet at the same time, it’s almost like an expectation of certain authors and questionable authors with questionable authority, a lack of experience, and a serious lack of ability, and an excess of ego.

Questionable authority and the hype artist

Making these intense claims of this is this, or the hype artist, that. This is exactly how you do this. And yet, if you take the time to dig into them, you might notice, they’ve had a linear experience, or they might have an experience that relates in no way to your situation, your knowledge, your financial background, your network. And yet, because they did this one thing, this one way, they now claim they have the answer for everyone.

A dual request: write with humility

So it’s kind of a dual request. One, to the authors. Write, but write with a humility. Consider writing with a subjectivity. Have the ability to share your opinions and why they’re your opinions. You don’t have to lie and deceive and make something into a fact that isn’t. Because in fact, your opinions may end up being the truth for someone. Your method may work for someone, but it may not work for everyone. And by this expectation of this is how you do this, or here’s this, or here’s that, to me, that’s dangerous. It’s deceptive. And to me, it’s flat out lying.

So consider if you’re an author, if you’re a writer, step back, stand in subjectivity, stand in humility, showcase your experience. It doesn’t lessen who you are. This doesn’t take away from your experiences as a whole. It doesn’t take away from your ability as a whole. It doesn’t take away from your authority as a whole. And in many cases, it can actually amplify it and it can set you up for supporting it with somebody coming under the attack.

Like for instance, with my book, oh, so you’re an expert on narcissism? Not at all. My experiences came down to my experience with my ex-wife and from what I studied. And I state that on the back of the book, inside the book, and throughout it. This is what it appeared to be… what it seemed like. This is what it felt like. I was very careful in the differentiation of the objective and the subjective. So in that, it may relate to someone. Other people, they may have different experiences and different stories.

A note to readers: dig deeper

And that is just that much more true in a time of hype, in a time of false claims, in a time of deception. We can be a little more honest. We can walk through that. At the same time, to those that are readers, dig deeper. Check out the backgrounds of who you’re buying. Don’t buy it off of the cover. Don’t buy it off of the claim. Look to see where these people are coming from. Are they speaking in humility and subjectivity or are they making empty claims that came out of nowhere?

It came out of a linear experience, because some of them are causing danger in a way. If you all of a sudden buy the claim of the cover and you buy the hype that they’re stating but you don’t look into the background, and you decide to follow those methods that may not be for you, it’s on you for the mistakes that you made. So vet, dig deeper, look for those that have the humility and subjectivity over claims of objectivity of things that just aren’t actually true.

write-with-humility-not-hype-ep08-transcript Download

ABOUT THE HOST

Neal Winsomer is the author of Calling Out the Shadows: A Father’s Stand Against the Current, a memoir and practical guide, and the host of Calling Out the Shadows: A Clarity Over Comfort Podcast, which he narrates himself. He writes from lived experience inside high-conflict co-parenting, and is careful throughout his work to mark what is his subjective account and what is objective. He makes no claim to clinical expertise and offers no prescriptions. What you take from it is yours.

Published by Neal Winsomer Publishing LLC, an IBPA member (D-U-N-S 145038996), based in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Contact: hello@nealwinsomerpublishing.com.

RELATED EPISODES

Calling Out the Shadows: A Clarity Over Comfort Podcast is hosted by Neal Winsomer. The accompanying book Calling Out the Shadows: A Father’s Stand Against the Current is available now from Neal Winsomer Publishing LLC in paperback, hardcover, eBook, audiobook, large print, and a Skimmer’s Edition. See all formats.

Last updated June 18, 2026. Contact: hello@nealwinsomerpublishing.com

Write With Humility, Not Hype: Standing in Subjectivity Over False Authority