Publish & Prosper

Rebuilding After Amazon Bans Your Books

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt shine a light on a nightmare that keeps many indie authors awake at night: an unceremonious account suspension from Amazon.

What do you do when you’re forced to rebuild your author brand from the ground up? How will leaving Amazon impact your audience, your discoverability, and your promotional efforts? Is there anything you can do to safeguard yourself from unexpected excommunication?

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #16 | The Indie Author's Guide to Thriving Without Amazon
Ep #56 | The Indie Author's Guide to Going Wide With Your Book Distribution
Ep #118 | How to Get Your Readers to Sell Your Book for You
Ep #119 | Marketing Your Book to Humans by Optimizing for Robots

💡 Read These Blog Posts

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Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [7:59] “The unfortunate reality of this is that a lot of people are in that boat, and a lot of people don't learn that, to get out of that, that sinking ship until it's already halfway sunk.”

🎙️ [22:19] “It's unfortunate if you're in this situation and this was the catalyst or the spark that gets you to take action and start going wide, or finding new places to sell your content, or build that direct connection that you've been wanting to do for the last couple of years, and you know it's the right thing to do. But, I think the important thing here is that you, you get started.”

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Designing a Workflow to Support Your Growing Author Brand

Wed, 27 May 2026 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren reveal the workflows the Lulu team has been refining for years, built to grow, scale, and streamline content marketing. Whether you’re writing your next book, producing a podcast episode, or scheduling a simple social media post, reframing your approach makes your work easier and gives you back time to do more of what you love.

Listen as we break it down into these steps:

1️⃣ Creation

2️⃣ Production

3️⃣ Distribution

4️⃣ Marketing

5️⃣ Sales

6️⃣ Fulfillment

7️⃣ Insight

Or watch the episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #94 | Crafting a Content Strategy That Actually Works
Ep #107 | Scaling for Success with Automated Book Fulfillment Solutions
Ep #119 | Marketing Your Book to Humans by Optimizing for Robots

💡 Creator News Live with Zac Brown

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [2:23] “There's nothing worse than, like, getting into something because you love it. Whether it's writing or podcasting or blogging or creating Instagram content , whatever it is. You got into this because you genuinely love this and enjoy doing it. And somewhere along the line, you've made a business out of it. And now the thing that you originally loved doing, that got you here in the first place, is the thing that you have the least amount of time for, or it's become a chore.”

🎙️ [22:53] “These seven things, this is almost like basically, you could design a checklist of these seven things around each project, or each piece of content you're doing. And then, more importantly, you kind of frame your workweek around this.”

🎙️ [51:14] “Think about the thing that you just detest doing. That you, I mean, you create the biggest bottleneck for yourself because you don't want to do it. We all have that one thing… And that's probably where your biggest bottleneck is. So that's where I would start.”

Print Books Still Aren’t Dead

Wed, 20 May 2026 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt gleefully share data from a recent Pew Research Center report confirming what we already knew: print books are alive and well. We unpack the survey results and what they mean for us, indie authors, and the publishing industry as a whole.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Pew Research Center | Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions

💡 Print Still Owns the Room and Pew Research Agrees With [Matt]

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #109 | Choosing Your Direct Sales Strategy
Ep #110 | Why Print is the Missing Piece in Your Creator Ecosystem
Ep #118 | How to Get Your Readers to Sell Your Book for You

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [4:17] – “For all those that are continually beating that drum, or find it weird that I'm anti-ebook, in your face.”

🎙️ [16:32] – “I would hope by now anybody that's listened to more than a couple of these episodes, that you've understood that whether or not Lauren and I worked for Lulu, we would still be talking about books, print books, how authors can sell more books. Our whole existence at times, especially from a professional level, revolves around helping authors sell more books.”

🎙️ [35:16] – “You should be tapping into this market of print book readers and buyers. 100% if you're not already, you should. But more importantly, if you're not selling direct yet, that's really where all of this comes together. That's the four way stop, the convergence of where all of these things will meet in the middle and form, like the ultimate sort of book sales experience for you and your readers.”

Marketing Your Book to Humans by Optimizing for Robots

Wed, 13 May 2026 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren examine the ways book marketing has changed in an AI and algorithm-driven world. We identify a few of the biggest shifts we’ve seen, like prioritizing trust signals over keywords, and share our insights into:

😱 Common mistakes we see authors & creators making

🤩 Proactive moves we see authors & creators making

🤔 Things you can do right now to better position your strategy

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

Lulu Blog | Discoverability in the Age of AI Search

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [18:39] “The more evergreen content that you have out there, the more content that you put out there that will stand the test of time and again prove that you are human, that you write for humans, that your content speaks and relates to humans, the better off you're going to be.”

🎙️ [51:45] “We are not saying write content that is targeted towards the robots. We're saying write content that is targeted towards humans, because that's what the robots are looking for.”

How to Get Your Readers to Sell Your Book for You

Wed, 06 May 2026 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt share strategies for how to get your readers and fans to help sell your books for you! We break down the importance of building a dedicated audience around your brand, review the different ways authors and entrepreneurs mobilize their fans, and offer up tips for putting these ideas into action.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

Cosmopolitan | Bring Back Men Who Yearn
Lulu Blog | How to Turn Casual Followers into Dedicated Super Fans
Lulu U | How to Build a Community of True Fans

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #15 | Can You Really Support Your Business With Just 1,000 True Fans?
Ep #24 | How to Turn Your Casual Fans into Super Fans
Ep #86 | Maximizing Your First Impression in the Attention Economy

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [11:45] “But I think that all of that advice and all that strategy and all that how to, really actually just boils down to: you have to give your audience a reason to care about you and a reason to want to talk about you.”

🎙️ [31:20] “And that's where I think micro-influencers are really useful. Not in the traditional way that we think of influencer marketing, but that building relationships through relationships kind of marketing.”

🎙️ [55:32] “Building that ecosystem is extremely important. Nobody wants to do this on their own. It's not easy. And so when you can build yourself a little army, I think that just exponentially increases your success rate.”

The Anatomy of a Good Print Book

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren break down the elements of a print book. We review exterior and interior design choices, explain how different elements fit together, examine variance in print copies, and share tips for how to avoid confusion between your digital designs and print book.

Dive in from the beginning for a complete crash course in print book design, or skip ahead to learn about:

[7:00] – Exterior Book Design (Trim Size, Binding Type, Cover Finish)
[18:11] – Interior Book Design (Paper Types, Ink Types)
[26:01] – Print Variants
[33:08] – Fitting Design Elements Together
[37:49] – Designing for Print vs. Digital
[43:43] – Understanding Print Variance
[53:55] – Being Proactive with Your Book Design
[1:03:58] – Episode Wrap Up

To maximize your print book mastery, we recommend watching this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

Lulu’s Pricing Calculator
Check Out Matt’s Book!

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💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch The Life of a Book

Alchemising Traditional Publishing with Fanfiction

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren successfully cons Matt into talking about fanfiction again. This time we explore the recent shift in the way traditional publishing approaches fanfiction, and the new trend of openly acquiring popular fanfiction like Manacled and All the Young Dudes.

Learn more about the legality of publishing fanfiction, how these practices have changed in the last few years, and what we think this says about the future of the publishing industry.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

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Ep #65 | How to Copyright the Copy That You Wrote
Ep #77 | Lauren Finally Gets to Talk About Fanfiction
Ep #111 | Plot Twist: Indie Authors are Landing More Traditional Publishing Deals than Ever

💡 Read These Blog Posts

What Is Fanfiction and Why Does It Matter?

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [11:44] “Never have I wanted to jump out of this seat so badly in the two years that we've done this.” – Matt

🎙️ [39:55] “I just think it's all indicative of this bigger sign that, that publishing is moving in this direction of more and more – like, they're looking to indie creators for proven value, for proven audience, for like, we're not taking a risk on unknown, on people that don't have an audience base, people that don't have any kind of proof of concept whatsoever.” – Lauren

Hiring the Best Freelancers for Your Book

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren share strategies for how to find, research, and hire the best possible freelancers to help you bring your book to life. Whether you need help with editing, formatting, designing, or marketing, these guidelines can help you assemble your dream team for long-term publishing success!

We talk through steps like:

Understanding different types of freelancers
The three best places to start your search (and research)
Narrowing your pool of applicants to a shortlist of top candidates

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

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How Book Distribution Works

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 04:00:00 -0400

Whether you’re traditionally published or self-published, the mechanics behind distributing your book to online and brick-and-mortar bookstores are the same. But for indie authors doing it on their own, it’s imperative that you get the details just right.

So in this episode, Lauren & Matt embark on an exciting adventure through the retail distribution cycle! We talk through:

🔑 Understanding the key players in the distribution game

📚 The 4 most important stages from book publication to bookstore shelf

🎯 What indie authors need to do to set their book up for success

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #37 | How to Get Your Book Into Indie Bookstores
Ep #59 | Mastering Book Metadata to Maximize Market Reach
Ep #68 | Maximizing Your Chances of Discoverability in Generative AI Search
Ep #90 | How to Get Your Book Into Libraries

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Explore These Resources from the Lulu Knowledge Base

What Authors and Creators Can Learn From Each Other

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren reflect on their recent trips to two dramatically different events: London Book Fair and Sponsor Games.

One is an international event attended by over 33,000 publishing industry professionals from around the world; the other is an intimate, interactive gathering of content entrepreneurs dedicated to learning how to secure brand deals and sponsorships.

Attending these two events back-to-back highlighted the overlap and discrepancies between two types of creative audiences, so we’re asking the questions:

🤔 What can authors learn from content creators/entrepreneurs?

💡 What can content creators learn from authors?

🫱🏻‍🫲🏽 What does it look like when someone is taking the best from both worlds?

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Learn More About These Events

Publishers Weekly’s LBF Recap | A ‘Buzzy and Busy’ Fair
Sponsor Games
Momentum
IBPA Publishing University
Lulu’s 2026 Event Schedule

💡 Learn More About These Creators

The Maker’s Table with Jeff Sieh and Katie Fawkes
Katie Cross
Austin L. Church

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #63 | Beyond the Algorithm: Relationship Marketing for Authors & Publishers [Video: Live from London Book Fair 2025]
Ep #86 | Maximizing Your First Impression in the Attention Economy
Ep #111 | Plot Twist: Indie Authors are Landing More Traditional Publishing Deals than Ever

Rethinking Print and Fulfillment with Emily Bair

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt sits down with Emily Bair, Lulu’s VP of Business Development to explore how brands, publishers, and creators are using print products. Emily shares her insights on topics like:

Why more businesses are revisiting and rethinking print products
The “aha moments” when print-on-demand solutions click
What authors and creators can learn from these larger brands and businesses

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Connect with Emily on LinkedIn

💡 Learn more about Lulu’s Enterprise Business Solutions

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #80 | Scaling Up: What to Know About Bulk Book Printing
Ep #97 | How Print-On-Demand is Fueling the Resurgence of Magazines
Ep #102 | What the Publishing Industry Should Learn from Heated Rivalry

💡 Read These Blog Posts

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [6:00] “Some of these larger, like, Fortune 1000 companies, and some of the bigger brands, also are seeing a renaissance in print in and of itself… It's starting to become now one of like, the main channels that they're using to break the noise in the space as well.”

🎙️ [16:46] “Right now when it seems like AI, it's just accelerated everybody's path to market. If you're not, you know, a first mover in certain things, like, that can be a big deal. That can be a make or break moment for you. So having more speed and more flexibility, I think, is super important right now.”

🎙️[9:14] “It's funny, earlier you said, you know, this, this whole shift to digital, but it's, it's somewhat ironical that, you know, it's a shift to digital to go back to analog.”

💡 Ironical → The irony of pointing out someone else’s derivations while also making up your own words (as coined by Matt)

🎙️ [26:26] “We've also had larger organizations, like that do, like, electricianal... like recertifications and things like that.” “Electricianal. Is that a word now?” “I made it up.”

💡Electricianal → Of or relating to the work, practice, and training all electricians do (as coined by Emily)

Plot Twist: Indie Authors are Landing More Traditional Publishing Deals than Ever

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren explore the rapidly rising trend in indie authors signing major traditional publishing deals. The real plot twist? These days the authors are the ones with the negotiating power and leverage. We talk through:

🔮 How media influences publishing trends

💡 Outdated self-publishing stigmas (and what publishers are actually interested in)

🤔 Why indie authors would want to secure a publishing deal

And answer a few key questions to help indie authors interested in securing traditional publishing deals! Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube.

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #36 | The Indie Author’s Guide to Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing
Ep #65 | How to Copyright the Copy That You Wrote
Ep #71 | International Book Rights for Indie Authors

💡 Explore These Resources

Wall Street Journal (Paywalled) | Interview with Hugh Howey
- Wired (Archive) | Interview with Hugh Howey
Publishers Weekly | Book Deals Feed

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ “This is an opportunity for you to have a team of people that are helping you with your brand expansion, or with getting you in front of new audiences or licensing your, your foreign rights or your media rights and handling all that for you.”

🎙️ “The point is, you have leverage and you can use that to get a more flexible contract and something that works better for you.”

🎙️ “Anytime you can break norm, anytime you can affect, you know, some mundane, archaic practice that's been in place for hundreds of years? Do it. And this is just another example of that. And whether you want to chalk that up to they're just a business and they're following the dollars, who cares? There’s evolution happening.”

Why Print is the Missing Piece in Your Creator Ecosystem

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt have a conversation exploring why print needs to be part of your creator strategy. We consider the current state of digital content, influenced by algorithms and AI, and how content entrepreneurs can use print books to better establish their brand longevity and legacy (and, of course, to make money).

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #33 | Books You Can Create Using Your Existing Content
Ep #58 | Creative Ways to Use Print-On-Demand to Support Your Business
Ep #79 | How Justin Moore Sold Over 1,000 Books in 90 Days

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [8:34] “How do you make that content last? How do you make it tangible? And how do you use it to reach people in a way that isn't going to immediately disappear?”

🎙️ [33:47] “'I’ve yet to ever receive a book or a piece of printed content or something where I was as quick to toss it as I am 90% of the emails that come into my inbox every day.”

🎙️ [51:21] “I think, honestly, in an age where everybody's attached to devices, the obvious play is to do something different. And that's print.”

Choosing Your Direct Sales Strategy

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt & Lauren explore three different ways creators can get started selling direct, and the tools you’ll need along the way! Learn about:

💡 Using direct assisted platforms like Books.by to build a website for you

💰 Selling on marketplaces like Etsy for a hybrid sales approach

📚 Connecting Lulu Direct to your site for true direct-to-consumer sales

🧰 Stocking your toolkit with some of our favorite sales and marketing solutions

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

Learn More About Lulu Direct
Learn More About Books.by and Stck.me
Buy Matt’s Book Profit-on-Demand

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #31 | Your 7-Step Guide to Building an Online Bookstore
Ep #70 | How Does Selling Direct Actually Work?
Ep #96 | Building a Landing Page for Your Book

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Direct Sales Playlist
How to Get Started with Direct Sales

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [4:47] “So for those of you that are interested in selling direct, but you don't have the time or the experience, or you just want to give it a quick try and you don't want to invest too much in it… These direct assisted platforms, I think, are really great for that.”

🎙️ [23:41] “There's no better way to control the customer experience from beginning to end and grow your business and capture all that data.”

🎙️ [38:23] “If your goal is long term growth and scalability, that should be a factor that you consider while you're deciding on your solutions.”

Developing Publishing Technology with Lulu’s CTO Christoph Kepper

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren sits down with Lulu’s Chief Technology Officer Christoph Kepper! Christoph shares his insights into what makes Lulu a publishing technology powerhouse, and his vision of an accessible, sustainable future for publishing.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

Learn more about Wikimedia and Pedia Press
Learn more about Lulu’s Order Import tool

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [13:19] “I always say ideas are cheap, you know? Because having a good idea is not a problem. Executing and getting it to that stage where it's really working well takes so much more effort.”

🎙️ [17:03] “It's not the latest technology that Ingram uses. And I thought there were a few things that we could do better. And so we did them at Lulu."

🎙️ [35:32] “That's where also the notion of Lulu being a tech company is valid, because we are much less of a publishing company than traditional publishing companies or publishing companies at all. We are just providing some infrastructure for authors, for publishers, for whoever wants to use our services.”

Scaling for Success with Automated Book Fulfillment Solutions

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 04:00:00 -0500

Manual fulfillment works…until it doesn’t. In this episode, Matt & Lauren break down the risks and realities of manually packing and shipping orders, signs it’s time to update your existing solutions, and the backend automations that can help you successfully scale with your growing sales.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

Learn More About Lulu’s Sales & Fulfillment Options

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #32 | Your 7-Step Guide to Building an Online Bookstore
Ep #80 | Scaling Up: What to Know About Bulk Book Printing
Ep #106 | Building Your Book Business Using Lulu’s Print APIs

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [9:00] “You also want to be prepared for those one-off situations, I can handle this as is right now, but if there's any unexpected spike or roadblock that's going to throw off the whole system, you need to have a plan in place for how to manage that and how to handle that.”

🎙️ [31:20] “Small problems become big problems if you let them.”

🎙️ [44:01] “Being able to open up over 150 new markets, you know, overnight with virtually no money up front and just a little bit of your time? Like, that is – there's no faster way to scale a business like that.”

Building Your Book Business Using Lulu’s Print APIs

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren & Matt discuss how entrepreneurs are using Lulu’s suite of APIs to build brand-first book businesses. We break down how savvy creators can use API integrations to automate, personalize, and scale their printing and fulfillment, and why you may want to do the same.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

Learn More About Lulu’s APIs
Lulu’s API Knowledge Base
Developers Page
The Pathless Path by Paul Millard

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #61 | Creating a Custom Book Business Using Lulu's Print API
Ep #70 | How Does Selling Direct Actually Work?

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [2:58] “Right now, it's easier than ever to take something like our suite of APIs that are open to, you know, open source and create some really cool front end for like, personalized books. And then we just handle all of the fulfillment. It makes everything super easy.”

🎙️ [14:37] “We give you all the tools you need. You have to go build your sandcastle in the sandbox by yourself.”

🎙️ [37:24] “The APIs’ best and built for three things: automation, personalization, and scalability.”

Are You Selling Books or Selling with Books?

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 04:00:00 -0500

Books can be the product or the tool that helps sell the product…and sometimes even both. In this episode, Matt & Lauren explore how print-on-demand empowers creators and businesses to use books to build their business, earn revenue, generate leads, and fuel brand growth.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to These Episodes

💡 Read These Blog Posts

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Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [7:40] “Even people that I talk to that are enthusiastic about the idea of publishing a book…that are just like, yeah, I think it would be really valuable for me, for some reason or another, to publish a book with my content. But I'm not much of a writer, so I don't really know if I can. And I always push back on that.”

🎙️ [12:35] “If the concept will fall victim to technology or progress or AI, then that's going to happen regardless of the medium that you use to put the content out there.”

🎙️ [39:00] “How many of them are creating a custom piece of content and getting it into the mailbox of one of their prospective clients, versus you just landing another piece of white noise in their inbox? I'd rather be in the mailbox, not the inbox.”

Using Paid Ads to Drive More Book Sales

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren & Matt cover five different types of paid ads that can help you sell more books. We review the pros, cons, and best practices for:

🔍 Paid Search

🗣️ Paid Social Media Campaigns

📧 Email & Newsletter Sponsorships

🎙️ Pre-Roll & Mid-Roll Ads

📖 Trade Publication Print Ads

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #47 | Metrics That Matter: A Guide for Authors & Creators
Ep #76 | Making the Most of Partnerships to Grow Your Audience
Ep #96 | Building a Landing Page for Your Book

💡 Read These Blog Posts

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [12:34] “With paid search you don't need to be creating the coolest, greatest graphics and video content of all time. You can still do really effective things without a creative bone in your body.”

🎙️ [18:21] “One of the biggest mistakes people make too, in any type of paid ad scenario, is they drive everybody to Amazon to buy their book. Like, you're spending money to capture traffic, but then you're turning around and driving them right over to Amazon. It doesn't make any sense.”

🎙️ [41:04] “Just add value. That's all. If your content is valuable, if somebody finds value in it, whether the value is entertainment, education, whatever, it doesn't matter. If you're adding value, and they feel like it's worth their time to read it, it doesn't matter if it's a sponsored ad or not.”

How to Effectively Use Social Media to Sell More Books in 2026

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt & Lauren debate the merits of using social media as a book marketing tool in 2026. Short answer? Yes, social still plays an important role! Long answer? Listen to learn about:

Why social platforms should be used for discovery, not as the home base for your entire brand.
How to show up with content that adds value and supports your long-term goals.
Common mistakes that turn social media into a black hole time vortex.

Tune in now wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

Pew Research Center | Americans’ Social Media Use 2025
Katie Brinkley’s Podcast Episode on Instagram | Apple | Spotify
Adobe Express | Social Media Marketing Strategies: Complete 2025 Guide
Deloitte Digital | 2025 State of Social Research

💡 Listen to These Episodes

💡 Read the Social Media 101 Series on the Lulu Blog

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [3:39] “Chasing virality is an exhausting and never ending tactic that in the end, for most authors, small publishers, even the larger publishers, is just not a winning tactic.”

🎙️ [29:58] “If you don't bring anything to the table, don't expect to eat.”

🎙️ [44:53] “That's the difference between building on rented land and building on owned land. You're using your social media as a content delivery platform to get people interested in your content that you're creating. And then they're coming to those content channels from social media.”

What the Publishing Industry Should Learn from Heated Rivalry

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 04:00:00 -0500

In December 2025, a sports romance series off Harlequin’s backlist, with modest sales and a niche fanbase, exploded into an overnight international sensation when the first two episodes of Heated Rivalry aired on Crave and HBO Max. New fans scrambled to get their hands on copies of the six-book series and were quickly disappointed by the realization that the titles were sold out everywhere.

What could Harlequin have done to meet the unexpected demand and avoid unknown losses in book sales? What can other publishers and authors do to capitalize on the moment? To start, they can listen to Lauren & Matt explore solutions for publishers and authors facing unexpected virality and demand that outpaces inventory supply.

Tune in now wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

📚 Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

💡 Listen to These Episodes

💡 Read These Blog Posts

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [6:06] “As I was watching this unfold in real time, the whole time I was thinking, God, this would be a perfect opportunity to implement a hybrid solution here where a traditional publisher could supplement their inventory with print-on-demand books.”

🎙️ [19:27] “When you dig into the traditional publishing world and you look at where their revenues come from, most, if not all of them make more money off their backlist than they do their front lists. And not having these systems in place to protect yourself, to future proof your inventory when virality hits or some sort of marketing surge happens…it's just wild to me that every publisher doesn't have this stopgap in place these days.”

🎙️ [42:32] “Just because one book went viral doesn't mean everyone is going to go viral, but it still means that you have opportunities to seize that moment too.”

Where Does AI Belong in Publishing?

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt & Lauren explore four different ways publishers integrate AI tools to better support and streamline internal workflows. While we never advocate for using AI as a substitute for human creativity or editorial judgment, these tools can be a great way to help:

Clean up and optimize book metadata
Route and triage manuscript submissions
Track version changes and content updates
Track, plan, and modify production schedules

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Learn More About

IBPA | The Fast-Changing World of AI and Publishing
Publishers Weekly | When It Comes to AI, Adapt or Else, Says Keith Riegert

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #59 | Mastering Book Metadata to Maximize Market Reach
Ep #78 | How to Use Generative AI to Sell More Books
Ep #100 | Looking Ahead at Publishing Trends for 2026

💡 Read These Blog Posts

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [4:46] “The simple rule of thumb here is that AI can click, copy, sort, summarize. But humans should choose, shape, and approve.”

🎙️ [22:05] “I just think that any time you're dealing with multiple drafts of something and you're using an outdated tool and workflow and process, you're just bound for all kinds of heartache and trouble.”

🎙️ [45:34] “Use it as a tool to free up the creative people on your team, or yourself personally. So that you can devote more time to those creative pursuits, that creative work and the things that specifically need that human touch. Let it do the boring work so that you can do the fun stuff.”

Looking Ahead at Publishing Trends for 2026

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren & Matt peer into their crystal balls for a look into the future (or make some very sound projections grounded in knowledge and experience). We take turns sharing our insights and expectations for what’s to come in the publishing industry in 2026, including:

🔮 Print-on-demand will become as important to the publishing supply chain as other tech solutions over the years

🔮 Authors will explore more ways to build their brand by blending self-publishing and traditional publishing strategies

🔮 Traditional publishers will adopt direct sales practices, both to increase their profit margins and to build relationships with readers

But the real question is…was there confetti in Matt’s future? Watch the episode on YouTube to find out!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

Check out Matt’s book Profit On-Demand: The Creator’s Guide to Building a Profitable Business with Print-on-Demand
Lulu’s 2025 Books & Business Insights Report

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #78 | How to Use Generative AI to Sell More Books
Ep #97 | How Print-On-Demand is Fueling the Resurgence of Magazines
Ep #99 | 2025 Plot Twists in Publishing (That Everyone Saw Coming)

💡 Read These Blog Posts

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [5:58] “Print-on-demand models will become as important, I think, to the publishing supply chain as some of the other things that have surfaced over the years.”

🎙️ [29:23] “Anytime you can gain a full percentage point, multiple or even double digit percentage points, like that's an opportunity you want to jump at. So when you look at what direct sales affords you, when that's implemented properly, especially with a print-on-demand model, there's just no arguing with that.”

🎙️ [35:35] “I think if we…let's say six months from now, we talk about the trend of POD for new users coming into the ecosystem. Yeah, I bet it's more than an uptick.”

2025 Plot Twists in Publishing (That Everyone Saw Coming)

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt & Lauren look back on this year in publishing. We review some of our predictions from 2024 and how those trends impacted the industry in 2025, including:

How AI continued to dominate the conversation
Why more and more authors and publishers are exploring direct sales
How traditional publishers are adopting print-on-demand solutions
Why building community is more important than ever

Listen now, or watch the full episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

Lulu | 2025 Books & Business Insights Report
Kajabi | State of Creator Commerce Report 2025
Jane Friedman | The Key Book Publishing Paths: 2025–2026

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #52 | Did Indie Authors Publish and Prosper in 2024?
Ep #56 | The Indie Author's Guide to Going Wide With Your Book Distribution
Ep #68 | Maximizing Your Chances of Discoverability in Generative AI Search
Ep #96 | Building a Landing Page for Your Book

💡 Read These Blog Posts

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [18:20] “[Selling direct] has become so common and so easy that I think that not only will it continue, but I think you're really gonna start seeing a lot of major players adopting it now going into 2026.”

🎙️ [27:15] “I don't think we're gonna be living in a world much longer where it's an us versus them mentality, indie publishing versus traditional publishing.”

🎙️ [40:25] “I think that this year people really kind of had the reality check of, oh shit, we can't do it this way. I cannot put all of my eggs in this basket if I'm not the one holding the basket.”

Profit On-Demand: From Podcaster to Published Author

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren interviews everyone’s new favorite author…Matt Briel! Lauren & Matt talk through the experience of writing, editing, and publishing a book. Hear firsthand how Matt developed a writing practice that worked for him, what it was like working with a professional editor and beta readers, and where he found the motivation and inspiration to get his book published.

Check out Matt’s new book Profit On-Demand: The Creator’s Guide to Building a Profitable Business with Print-on-Demand.

Watch the video episode, streaming now on YouTube.

Dive Deeper

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Ep #53 | How to Create A Writing Habit That Actually Sticks
Ep #75 | 7 Steps to Publishing Your Book
Ep #93 | Tales from the Scrypt: Self-Publishing Horror Stories (and How to Survive Them)

💡 Read These Blog Posts

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Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [8:55] “When it comes to nonfiction book publishing you are inherently going to become even more of an expert in whatever it is you're talking about. Because you have to actually do research and process the thing that you're working on and become articulate about how to explain these things.”

🎙️ [24:01] “Making progress, I think, tangible progress that you feel good about really helps you stay locked in.”

🎙️ [41:50] “But you know, a lot of it is you're making these changes because if you have trust in your editor and you have a good editor, then I mean, that's the point. You should take those suggestions and make them.”

How Print-On-Demand is Fueling the Resurgence of Magazines

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt & Lauren explore one of our current favorite industry trends: the resurgence of print magazines! We talk through the many ways creators, entrepreneurs, and businesses are using print-on-demand, and:

Why print magazines are making a comeback
How creators are publishing, selling, and distributing magazines
Different types of magazine products

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Learn How to Create a Magazine with Lulu

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Lulu U | How to Launch a Print Subscription
Playlist | Content Monetization

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [8:32] “Magazines as traditionally or historically referenced, you would think of things like US Weekly, Time, People, Cosmopolitan, and some of the others. But what's happening in resurgence right now are more of the niche publications, things that focused on very specific topics - crafts, trades, collectibles, tech things.”

🎙️ [24:48] “It positions them as thought leaders in that space, as experts. And then secondarily acts as a lead magnet for them. So that when those businesses find themselves in the market, or have a need for what that brand offers, the first thing they're gonna think about is that brand. Because they're used to getting that content in the mail from them and looking at it as a very trusted resource.”

🎙️ [38:08] “Magazines, catalogs, things like that, they're not new, but the accessibility of them is. The idea that the average person could just print a magazine right now, that's still something that a lot of people haven't really had access to ever.”

Building a Landing Page for Your Book

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren & Matt simplify your website down to a single landing page with one goal in mind: selling your book. We talk through reasons why you may choose to build a landing page instead of a full website, what you need to consider before building out your page, and how to use different tools and platforms to build your custom page.

Tune in now wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the episode on YouTube.

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

Justin Moore’s Sponsor Magnet Landing Page
Books.by
Stck.me
Kit
Carrd
Make

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Lulu U Playlist | Selling Books Through Your Website
Lulu U Playlist | Direct Sales

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [14:40] “That's the beauty of a landing page, too. Oftentimes a website is really aimed at, kind of everybody, you know, you're just trying to attract everybody, to a degree. But landing pages, you can really sort of dig in at a per audience or per vertical level.”

🎙️ [45:34] “The main goal of selling direct is that you want access to your customer data. So the whole reason that you would, in theory, want to be doing this is so that you can be collecting your customer data, so that you can continue to build a relationship with them.”

How Podcasting Changed Our Game (and How it Can Change Yours Too)

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 04:00:00 -0400

Celebrate two years of Publishing & Prospering with us! In this episode, Matt & Lauren reflect on two years of podcasting, sharing what we’ve learned since the beginning, how podcasting has changed the way we create, share, and understand content, and where we see Publish & Prosper going next.

Whether you’re curious about how a podcast could impact your brand or just want to sneak a behind-the-scenes look at Publish & Prosper, this is for you! Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube.

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to Our Top 5 Episodes

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Crafting a Content Strategy That Actually Works

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren is joined by Lulu’s Senior Marketing Manager, Paul Hobday, for an inside look at content strategy with two content marketing nerds. We dive into:

🫱🏻‍🫲🏽 Understanding your different content channels and how they support each other

💡 How to build an effective content strategy (and why it’s essential that you do)

🧰 Making good use of the tools and resources at your disposal to design the best possible plan

And more! Listen now, or watch the full episode on YouTube.

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

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💡 Read These Blog Posts

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [3:17] “People who are naturally creative are more creative when there's constraints, because it forces you to work within a constraint. It really forces you to focus on your message or what you're trying to convey or whatever. So I like to think of strategy as self-imposed, but very thoughtful constraints.”

🎙️ [19:13] “It's easy to fall into the habit if you don't have a strategy in place of just posting whatever's top of mind.”

🎙️ [36:12] “The biggest thing your strategy should do is help relieve you of the stress so that you can actually enjoy creating the content, and enjoy getting to know your audience or capturing new email subscribers or whatever it is your goal is.”

Tales from the Scrypt: Self-Publishing Horror Stories (and How to Survive Them)

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren share three chilling scenarios bound to keep you up at night and our tips for surviving your worst book publishing nightmares! Hear the horrifying tales of:

🕸️ The Monstrous Cover Art Mockup

👻 The Proof Possessed by Problems

🔪 The Beta Reader Butcher

Listen now, or watch the full episode on YouTube…if you dare.

Dive Deeper

🕸️ Monstrous Cover Art Mockup

👻 Proof Possessed by Problems

🔪 The Beta Reader Butcher

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ “This episode is for you if you've ever woken up in a cold sweat from nightmares about a truly horrible cover design.”

[3:23] 🎙️ The Monstrous Cover Art Mockup → You get your cover art back from your designer and you absolutely hate it. Now you have to figure out how to share that feedback with your designer, and how to better make your dream cover a reality.

[16:18] 🎙️ The Proof Possessed by Problems → You order a print proof and it comes back riddled with cover or interior errors. Now you need to figure out where it all went wrong, and what you need to do in order to fix it.

[30:19] 🎙️ The Beta Reader Butcher → You asked a few friends to beta read your book and they tore it to shreds. Now you need to figure out how to process that critical feedback…and maybe how to save your friendship.

5 Customer Service Tips for Ecommerce Success

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt share their strategies for providing top tier support for your customers. Whether you’re taking preventative measures, planning a proactive approach, or providing solutions to unexpected problems, we’re here to help you help your customers.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #39 | Pain Point Solutions for Your Ecommerce Store
Ep #40 | Getting Your Bookstore Ready for the Holidays
Ep #70 | How Does Selling Direct Actually Work?

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [2:42] “I think these things will help anybody who is operating their own digital storefront and finds themselves in a situation where they are selling something to somebody else online.”

🎙️ [21:21] “We've gotten so Amazon lately where we just expect everything overnight and not even they can fulfill that half the time anymore. So putting a very human element to your product, the production time that it takes, that really helps temper people's expectations.”

🎙️ [35:07] “I think oftentimes as creators, solopreneurs, small business owners, we think we have to be everywhere at all times, not only for creating content, but also for supporting people. And that's just not true. It's not true. And it's not sustainable.”

Matt & Lauren Agree to Disagree

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren debate and discuss a variety of writing, publishing, editing, and marketing prompts. Hear their insights, opinions, and ideas on topics like:

Exclusively Selling Direct vs. Going Wide with Your Book Sales
Which Social Media Platform Would You Use to Promote a Book?
What Would You Use to Entice New Email Subscribers?

And, of course, a few tangents too. Listen now, or watch the full episode on our YouTube channel!

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to These Episodes

💡 Read These Blog Posts

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [9:16] “You cannot control that part of the customer experience if you're selling on a third party website, but you can if you're selling direct. And I think that's really neat.”

🎙️ [19:30] “It's such an important part of launching a book. I think, and the people that we've talked to that have made that part of their launch process, you know, their marketing plan, they tend to have really good success with it.”

🎙️ [36:59] “I think no matter what you write, whether it's fiction or nonfiction or how to manuals for lawnmowers, your goal shouldn't be transactions. It should be relationships.”

How to Get Your Book Into Libraries

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt want indie authors to see their books on library shelves! Whether you dream of your hardcover on display in your local public library or hope to find your ebook in digital catalogs nationwide, we’re here to help make it happen.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

OverDrive | Libraries Break Digital Lending Records in 2024
Library of Congress | About the CIP Program | Cataloging in Publication
Library of Congress | Understanding MARC Records
How To Get Your Self-Published Book Into Libraries

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #37 | How to Get Your Book Into Indie Bookstores
Ep #59 | Mastering Book Metadata to Maximize Market Reach
Ep #65 | How to Copyright the Copy That You Wrote

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [14:00] “The discoverability that we often talk about is lacking on so many other distribution or retail options is still very much active in libraries in both digital and physical libraries.”

🎙️ [27:09] “You need to be where librarians are going to be. Besides the library.”

🎙️ [45:30] “You’re fostering relationships in your local community, which can only ever be a good thing for your brand and your career.”

Inside the Inbox: How to Plan an Email Campaign Series

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 04:00:00 -0400

Tune in for another episode of The Email Marketing Podcast with Laurie & Lauren! In this episode, Laurie & Lauren walk through the steps to prepare for an important email marketing campaign series like holiday sales or a new book launch. We review:

Why you should plan ahead for an email campaign
Your pre-campaign planning timeline
How to monitor your campaign once it’s live
Wrapping up your campaign (and setting yourself up for success with the next one)

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #82 | The Email Marketing Podcast with Laurie & Lauren
Ep #86 | Maximizing Your First Impression in the Attention Economy
Ep #87 | Live From Content Entrepreneur Expo!

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Lulu University | Holiday Marketing Playlist

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [10:23] “If you're not clear with what your campaign is trying to achieve, your click through or your call to action is going to most likely be a little bit confusing for the recipient. Because if I'm just like, throwing a bunch of stuff in an email, the recipient is not going to know where to focus.”

🎙️ [36:09] “It is really important for email to provide that value so that people continue to open your emails.”

🎙️ [55:03] “Because email is always going to be one of your number one channels for success for a big launch. So take advantage of it.”

In the Limelight: Lynette Greenfield Shares Her Passion for Publishing

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren sit down with our friend Lynette Greenfield, author and founder of Limelight Publishing. Learn how Lynette turned her prolific writing career and passion for helping aspiring authors into a successful hybrid publishing company.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Meet Lynette & Learn More About Limelight

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💡 Read These Blog Posts

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How to Start Your Own Publishing Company Using Print-on-Demand

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [11:41] “Every time something stresses me out, I always automatically think to myself, it's okay, I've got writing.”

🎙️ [37:17] “I want to be transparent, I want to be honest. I don't ever want to say, I mean, this is the most incredible book. It's gonna sell, it's gonna – I won't do that. But at the same time, everybody's stories are amazing. Everybody's books are incredible.”

🎙️ [48:16] “That's what I want Limelight to be. I want it to be a place that people can go. It's not just about publishing. There are so many reasons why you can publish a book.”

Live From Content Entrepreneur Expo!

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt chat with old and new friends live from the show floor at Content Entrepreneur Expo! Tune in to hear from five industry experts about content creation and strategy, content entrepreneurship, book publishing, and most importantly, the great niche vs. niche debate.

3:42 → Austin L. Church on Writing a Book (and What He’ll Do Differently Next Time)
18:15 → Lou Mongello on the Value of Community and Authentic Relationships
24:41 → Julia Levine on Building Your Content Pillars
31:57 → Joe Pulizzi on Making Your Content Entrepreneur Goals a Reality
41:48 → Robbie Fitzwater on How to Use Customer Data (and How to Get Even More)

💡 Watch this episode on YouTube!

💡 Meet These Awesome Content Entrepreneurs

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Ep #53 | How to Create A Writing Habit That Actually Sticks
Ep #69 | We Love Content Entrepreneur Events So Much, We Bought One!
Ep #83 | Calendars Are Still Cool (We Can Prove It)

Maximizing Your First Impression in the Attention Economy

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 04:00:00 -0400

You only get one shot to make a first impression when inviting new guests into your brand–don’t scare them away before they even make it to the front door!

In this episode, Lauren & Matt share essential tips for capturing attention quickly, maximizing your ‘curb appeal,’ and making your first look count. We talk through nailing your elevator pitch, sprucing up your social media real estate, designing an inviting website, and delivering a warm welcome email.

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #25 | Author Branding 101: Building a Brand Beyond Your Books
Ep #31 | Your 7-Step Guide to Building an Online Bookstore
Ep #34 | Hooking New Readers With a Compelling Book Description

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [5:31] “We live in an attention economy. Everybody's vying for the same attention span that you are, and attention spans are short right now. It's uber important that your first impression hits.”

🎙️ [18:43] “Those posts that you're posting on social media that you're hoping the algorithm puts it on their for you page or on their feed, or a friend of theirs shares it and it shows up or whatever… That is your elevator pitch to get people to come check out your profile. So if you're putting all your work into crafting those posts and you're ignoring the profile part of it, you're losing people.”

🎙️ [27:38] “Websites are often now thought of as either A. SEO fuel or B. a place to sell your books, right? So a lot of people don't necessarily think of them as their first impression, their front door to their brand. But you should. You should still build your homepage, build your front page, as if that's the first impression somebody's going to get of you, or your brand, or your books.”

🎙️ [41:20] “There are three things you want from a fan, reader, follower, customer. You want their attention. You want their trust. You want their money. The first two are the ones you have to work the hardest for.”

Maintaining Momentum After Your Book Launch

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren share tips for making the most of your post-launch marketing and extending the sales cycle of your book. We talk through how to maintain the momentum of your brand growth, professional growth, and book sales by:

Exploring new ways to approach earned promo opportunities
Reinforcing your relationship with your existing readers or new audiences
Investing in yourself and your expertise as an author and as a brand
Updating your brand strategy with post-launch feedback

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #35 | Designing the Right Go-to-Market Strategy for Your Book
Ep #37 | How to Get Your Book Into Indie Bookstores
Ep #56 | The Indie Author's Guide to Going Wide With Your Book Distribution

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Understanding Your Audience with Reader Personas

Wed, 13 Aug 2025 04:00:00 -0400

Reader personas are a powerful tool for understanding your target audience! In this episode, Lauren & Matt explain the value of niching down into your target audience, how to create your ideal reader personas, and applying those to inform every step of your publishing journey. Whether you’re still drafting your first book or looking to inject new life into the end of a sales cycle, you have to understand who your readers are.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #35 | Designing the Right Go-to-Market Strategy for Your Book
Ep #51 | Finding Your Niche, Your Ideal Reader, and Your Target Audience
Ep #78 | How to Use Generative AI to Sell More Books [How to Use AI for Reader Personas]

💡 Read This Blog Post

Building Effective Reader Personas for Authors and Creators

💡 Watch These Videos

Lulu U Playlist | Audience Building
Why People Buy: Using Psychology to Sell More Books

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [10:22] “A reader persona, for all intents and purposes, is nothing different or short of what we would call a customer persona or a buyer persona in marketing and sales, right? Understanding who your ideal candidate is, who's the person that you're talking to within what would be a broader target audience.”

🎙️ [30:25] “I think that when you know who you're writing to and you know how to actually authentically connect with them, it does kind of subconsciously build that rapport already.”

🎙️ [44:43] “I think that's the key with post-launch, and persona updates as well, is that you really have to be able to get that data and that information. You can't go back and update a persona if you're not getting that real time information. The only way you're getting that real time information is through selling those titles direct, or having some other direct way to come in contact with the buyers of your book.”

Calendars Are Still Cool (We Can Prove It)

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In 2024, Lulu printed almost 57,000 calendars for creators and customers worldwide. In this episode, Matt & Lauren examine why wall calendars are so popular, the ROI on calendars, and different ways calendars can support your brand efforts. We also share calendar ideas for different types of creators, and our tips for making an awesome project.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Create Your Own Calendar Now!

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Ep 58 | Creative Ways to Use Print-On-Demand to Support Your Business
Ep 67 | Turning Your Blog Into A Book

💡 Read How to Make a Custom Calendar for Your Wall

💡 Watch These Videos

💡 Check Out These Creators

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [6:17] “Of all the things that you could create on Lulu, or other sites that involve printed materials like books and pamphlets and calendars and things. Calendars are probably the easiest thing to create.”

🎙️ [36:13] “I don't think there's any genre or area or vertical out there where we couldn't find helpful content that they could use for a calendar.”

The Email Marketing Podcast with Laurie & Lauren

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 22:00:00 -0400

In this episode Lauren is joined by Laurie Shipley, Lulu’s Email Marketing Manager, to explore the value of email marketing…beyond just newsletters! Laurie shares insights into growing and segmenting your email lists, using automated emails to increase revenue, and creating personal connections with your subscribers.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #11 | Email Marketing for Authors & Creators
Ep #22 | Using Customer Data to Grow Your Business

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [5:08] “So one thing that you want to do…is really to figure out like what's the goal of your email marketing? Ideally, you've got something to sell because, you know, you can have a newsletter all day long that you share your thoughts or give some tips, but you're never gonna really maximize your email marketing resources if you leave it to that.”

🎙️ [20:48] “I think some people are a little bit hesitant to send these types of emails. But someone subscribed, they want to hear from you, they're interested in your product. I mean, email marketing works.”

🎙️ [40:34] “That's part of the reason why I love email… It's very revenue driven for most companies, but it's also in my mind, extremely creative. And there's so many ways you can go about it. And it produces results, so it keeps you energized. And once you start doing it, you're like, I'm seeing the results of the work that I'm doing here.”

Printing Money: How to Turn Subscription Content into Books

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren review the power of print-on-demand books for subscription-based creators. Whether your content is behind a paywall, time-boxed, frequently updated, or even just spread out over multiple channels, print books can be a great way to support your fans, reach new subscribers, and further establish your expertise and authority.

Learn why we think POD print books are a great value add for your subscribers, different ways to monetize your printed content, and how to easily sell and distribute your new products.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Learn more about Lulu’s Order Import Tool

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #58 | Creative Ways to Use Print-On-Demand to Support Your Business
Ep #67 | Turning Your Blog Into A Book
Ep #75 | 7 Steps to Publishing Your Book

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [10:36] “For people who create content that is educational in nature, something somebody might want to use for reference later on, giving them a source that is easily reviewable, something that they can have on their desk or a bookshelf where they can just turn around and grab it… It's just much easier to access.”

🎙️ [24:47] “It's just a different way to show off your content. It's a different gateway to entry for people.”

🎙️ [38:07] “But I think as a content creator, as anybody listening that considers themselves a content creator or does a subscription service, there's just so many ways that you could create some sort of printed content that you can offer your readers, listeners, subscribers, whatever you want to call them, that really adds value to the chain and brings in some passive revenue for you.”

Scaling Up: What to Know About Bulk Book Printing

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 04:00:00 -0400

With print-on-demand, you can print just one copy of your book… But you can also print 100. Or 500. Or 1,000. Or 3,159. You do you.

In this episode, Lauren & Matt talk bulk book orders; when you need them, how they work with print-on-demand, and all the logistics (and discounts!) you should know about.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

Learn more about Lulu’s Bulk Printing
Check out Lulu’s Pricing Calculator

💡 Listen to These Episodes

💡 Read about Simplify Selling Books with Lulu’s Order Import Tool

💡 Watch The Life of a Book

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [10:35] “If you are not selling your books through Lulu, but you want to use us to order 500 copies of your print book without having your book for sale in the bookstore or using our Lulu Direct plugin, you can do that. We have plenty of customers that use Lulu exclusively as their just book printer.”

🎙️ [25:47] “The number one top priority is to make sure that you are planning ahead.”

🎙️ [37:37] “That's the beauty of ecommerce technology and print-on-demand technology having caught up to where they're at right now at this intersection of time.”

Book Launch Blueprint: How Justin Moore Sold Over 1,000 Books in 90 Days

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren break down one of Tilt Publishing's most successful book launches of the year. Meet Justin Moore, author of Sponsor Magnet and founder of Creator Wizard, and hear how he’s used proven strategies to successfully (and profitably) release his book.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Meet Justin Moore

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [1:56] “We wanted to use him as our first creator spotlight because Justin really has, I think, embodied all of the things that we've talked about in the last 78 episodes and just done it really, really well.”

🎙️ [6:30] “I just kept doing this, looking to different and new content formats to educate people. Really, it was all about kind of the North Star of impact and reaching people with the things that I believe.”

🎙️ [33:55] “He wanted to go as wide as possible. He wanted people to be able to find his book anywhere, but he still pushes all of his promotion to his website. Because there's a difference – and I think that's a really important distinction that we should all understand – there's a difference between going wide with your book sales and having your book available everywhere and going wide with your promotional efforts.”

How to Use Generative AI to Sell More Books

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt explore different ways generative AI tools like ChatGPT can help you sell more books (without creating any public-facing copy or content). We share so many tips for using AI, including ways to:

Help you brainstorm, refine, and execute marketing strategies.
Facilitate your market research to better position and promote your book.
Identify and target your ideal audience of readers or buyers based on your goals.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to These Episodes

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch This Video

How Authors Can Use AI

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [3:59] “We're talking about how to use it as a brainstorming tool, as an admin tool, as a market research tool. Basically ways to help you automate your operational tasks or at least support your operational tasks so that you can focus more of your efforts and energy on the actual content creation or the creative elements of your job.”

🎙️ [28:13] “One of the ways that we fight for attention is by being authentic and genuine. And I know that seems outrageous for me to say in an episode where we're talking about how to use AI. But that's my point. Use AI to help you…so then you can turn around and create authentic content.”

🎙️ [45:02] “Having that extra person on your staff, i.e. ChatGPT, that can analyze your data and help you make smart business decisions, is a huge game changer for people that figure out how to make that work.”

Lauren Finally Gets to Talk About Fanfiction

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren finally gets to explain the intricacies and impact of fanfiction to Matt. Listen now for a slightly chaotic dive into fanfiction origins, the evolution of fanfiction as we know it today, the legal gray area of transformative works, and how fanfiction has impacted modern publishing.

Watch this episode on YouTube.

Dive Deeper

💡 About the OTW | Organization for Transformative Works

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #33 | Books You Can Create Using Your Existing Content
Ep #65 | How to Copyright the Copy That You Wrote

💡 Read This Blog Post

What Is Fanfiction and Why Does It Matter?

🎙️[The Only Sound Bite That Matters] 🎙️

Lauren: It is absolutely an undeniable fact that fanfiction is having a direct influence and impact on modern publishing.
Matt: I agree with that.
Lauren: Whether that's trad pub or indie pub.
Matt: Yeah, I mean now, you know, after talking through this, I agree with that.

Making the Most of Partnerships to Grow Your Audience

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt explore how indie authors and content entrepreneurs can use partnerships and collaborations to grow their audience, establish authority, and build long-term relationships that outlast any algorithm. We break down strategies for how to identify the right partners, pitch yourself, and make the most of a mutually beneficial collaboration.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #13 | Earning Free Publicity for Your Book
Ep #46 | How to Maximize ROI on In-Person Events
Ep #68 | Maximizing Your Chances of Discoverability in Generative AI Search

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch This Webinar

How To Reach a Wider Audience By Working With Micro-Influencers

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [2:22] “I think it's even more critical right now that people understand the importance of them, but also how to do it. Because right now everything is white noise.”

🎙️ [10:10] “That level of authority and recognition, I think, is really important and that's a great benefit of collaborating with other creators and authors.”

🎙️️ [27:31] “Nothing can ruin a potential friendship or partnership a relationship faster than not delivering on something that the other deems important.”

7 Steps to Publishing Your Book

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren review how to publish your book in 7 steps! Check out these resources to help with each one:

💡 Step 1: Brainstorm Your Book Idea → [6:06]

Listen to: Ep #32 | 5 Things to Know Before You Start Publishing
Read: Turning Your Content Into a Book

💡 Step 2: Write & Organize Your Book → [9:46]

Listen to: Ep #38 | 5+ Tools to Help You Draft, Publish, and Sell Your Book
Listen to: Ep #67 | Turning Your Blog Into A Book

💡 Step 3: Edit & Revise Your Book → [18:33]

Listen to: Ep #20 | Do You Need to Hire Professional Editors for Your Book?
Read: EFA Editorial Guide

💡 Step 4: Format Your Book → [27:40]

Read: 5 Visual Indicators Your Book is Self-Published
Watch: Book Formatting Lulu U Playlist

💡 Step 5: Design Your Book Cover → [34:28]

Listen to: Ep #21 | Getting Your Book Design Right
Watch: Cover Design Lulu U Playlist

💡 Step 6: Proof & Prepare Your Book → [47:17]

Listen to: Ep #59 | Mastering Book Metadata to Maximize Market Reach
Read: Get a Proof Copy

💡 Step 7: Finalize & Publish Your Book → [50:00]

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Paul's Pod: Your Guide to Taking Your Writing Habit to the Next Level

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode Lauren is joined by Lulu’s Senior Marketing Manager, blog writer, and master of copy, Paul Hobday. Paul responds to episode #53, How to Create A Writing Habit That Actually Sticks, and offers practical advice for aspiring writers ready to level up their writing habit into a purposeful writing practice.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

Audible Expands Catalog with AI Narration and Translation for Publishers

💡 Listen to This Episode

Ep #53 | How to Create A Writing Habit That Actually Sticks

💡 Read These Blog Posts

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [6:05] “The way you structured the conversation that you had about habits was around planning, goal setting, timing, repetition. And while those are all things that you should be thinking about, the actual writing habit should start becoming thoughtless. And it just becomes a thing you do so that you can then have a bigger goal.”

🎙️ [18:37] “But my point with that is: editing is writing… Taking the words that you've already written and making them words that you actually want someone to read is still writing. And I think there's a lot of important value in that.”

🎙️ [39:06] “It's all about like, knowing yourself well enough to know what you need to control in order to create the environment that you need to get your writing done.”

Audiobooks 101 for Indie Authors & Creators

Wed, 28 May 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode Matt & Lauren debate the value and staying power of audiobooks, especially for indie authors. We take a look at market trends for audiobooks worldwide, different ways for authors and creators to produce and distribute their own audiobooks, and the pros and cons of creating audiobook versions of your books.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Data on Audiobooks

Audio Publishers Association | Research Surveys Press Release
Statista.com | Statista Market Forecast
Overdrive | Audiobook Stats That Speak Volumes

💡 Audiobook Distribution Platforms

💡 Audiobook Tools & News

[Announced After Recording]: Audible Expands Catalog with AI Narration and Translation for Publishers
Dave Chesson | Audiobook Narrators
Brandon Sanderson | Regarding Audible
Eleven Labs | AI Toolkit for Publishers

💡Listen to These Episodes

💡 Read This Blog Post

Why Multiple Book Formats Matter

Build Your Own Book: Design Choices for Print Books

Wed, 21 May 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode Lauren & Matt explore the design options available for print books. We review the distinctions between trim sizes, binding types, paper types, ink quality, and cover finish, and popular choices for different product types.

Watch the episode on YouTube for visual examples!

Dive Deeper

Watch The Life of a Book

💡 Explore These Resources

💡 Listen to These Episodes

💡 Read These Blog Posts

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [3:24] “The hope is that maybe after this episode, you'll be a much more educated person when it comes to the fundamentals of print and print books and print on demand.”

🎙️ [31:58] “Understanding those things, what value they might add to your end user, you know, in your project versus just satisfying your need to see something super crazy and frilly and whatever, that's really important before choosing what you ultimately go to market with.”

🎙️ [42:22] “So again, it all comes down to functionality and keeping in mind how you want your readers and buyers to use these things.”

International Book Rights for Indie Authors

Wed, 14 May 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren talk through what you need to know about licensing your book rights with foreign publishers. We debate the merit of reaching out to new markets, what that process looks like, and how to use an agency like DropCap to secure international rights deals.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

DropCap Marketplace
DropCap Blog
Jericho Writers | Book Translation Rights: Everything You Need To Know
Dave Chesson | How to Get Your Book Translated

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #56 | The Indie Author's Guide to Going Wide With Your Book Distribution
Ep #65 | How to Copyright the Copy That You Wrote

💡 Read These Blog Posts

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [6:31] “There are so many differences that we don't really think about domestically versus internationally in terms of what is trending in different markets.”

🎙️ [29:00] “They've really simplified, and I think made this accessible, to such a large group of people that otherwise, as we've just been talking about, would have some pretty daunting barriers to entry.”

🎙️ [38:43] “The end result is that you are essentially allowing, granting permission to foreign publishers and distributors the ability to publish and sell your book in different languages or versions in countries outside of your home country.”

How Does Selling Direct Actually Work?

Wed, 07 May 2025 04:00:00 -0400

We’ve mentioned, once or twice, the value of selling direct. But how does it actually work? In this episode, Lauren & Matt walk through the direct sales cycle and answer some common questions, including:

How do transactions work?
Who handles customer issues?
What am I supposed to do with my customer data?

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Check Out These Resources

Joanna Penn’s Store FAQs
Lulu Direct Knowledge Base
Lulu’s Pricing Calculator
Lulu Direct

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #22 | Using Customer Data to Grow Your Business
Ep #31 | Your 7-Step Guide to Building an Online Bookstore
Ep #39 | Pain Point Solutions for Your Ecommerce Store

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Webinar | Lulu Direct Best Practices + Q&A
Playlist | Selling Books Through Your Website
Shopify, WooCommerce, and Wix Playlists

🎙️ [30:59] “To me, there's only two reasons to sell direct. It's one, to maximize your profits. You're literally cutting out all the middlemen. And then number two is to grow a sustainable business. You can't do either of those when you're going through third party retailers as your only source of sales. If your only path to market is through a third party retail platform, you can't do either of those things. You're not gonna maximize your profits no matter what you do, and you're not going to be able to build up your own database of customers to grow and sustain your business.”

We Love Content Entrepreneur Events So Much, We Bought One!

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In 2023, Lulu bought Content Entrepreneur Expo, an event for content creators and content entrepreneurs. In this episode, Matt & Lauren share an inside look into why we got involved in CEX, what we’ve learned about events after owning one, and why we think content creators, entrepreneurs, and authors should join us in Cleveland this August!

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Learn More About The Tilt

💡 Check Out Content Marketing Institute

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #6 | Why We Love Attending Conferences (and Why You Should Too)
Ep #23 | How to Survive (and Thrive) at Conferences and Events
Ep #46 | How to Maximize ROI on In-Person Events

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [3:50] “I would say from the moment we got there…I think we just kind of knew like, oh, this is something really different and really cool. And this is where we need to be.”

🎙️ [11:12] “There's an identity of a creator. There's an identity of an entrepreneur. There's an identity of an author. In my head, they're all three the same. Or should be. And I think that's what we've been trying to do, now that we've come into this space, is show that there is…if there was a venn diagram of those three identities, there is overlap right in the middle. And I think that's content entrepreneur.”

🎙️ [49:13] “We want people who are leaving the event somewhat sad, but also somewhat excited to come back next year. Like sad that it's over, but can't wait for next year.”

Maximizing Your Chances of Discoverability in Generative AI Search

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt dig into what discoverability looks like in a world where generative AI is changing how readers find books online. We look at what generative AI looks at when choosing what to cite or recommend, and share practical tips to help authors & creators appear in AI search results and, more importantly, to build lasting audience connections.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

💡 Check Out These Resources

SparkToro | 2024 Zero-Click Search Study
Search Engine Journal | Meet the 7 Most Popular Search Engines in the World
Google’s Rich Results Test
Joe Lazer on Generative AI Hallucinations

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #59 | Mastering Book Metadata to Maximize Market Reach
Ep #60 | Book Publicity Simplified with Sarah Franklin
Ep #66 | How Authors Can Use Long-Form Video to Build Their Brand

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

How to Build a Community of True Fans
Playlist | Audience Building

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [8:00] “Hopefully we'll be able to help you understand a little bit better how these search results, these zero click search results, are being generated, how you can try and make sure that you're in there.”

🎙️ [17:39] “One thing that people should understand is that it still hallucinates pretty regularly… They can't all be right. They can’t all be accurate. And they can't all have good intentions.”

🎙️ [40:09] “If I’ve said it three times in this episode, then I still haven't said it enough: Your metadata is really important.”

Turning Your Blog Into A Book

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 04:00:00 -0400

Whether you’re a food blogger, travel blogger, business blogger, lifestyle blogger, finance blogger, or any kind of blogger, you all have one thing in common: your content would make a great book.

In this episode, Matt & Lauren explore the value of publishing your blog as a physical book. We also review the key steps to getting from blog to book, including how to choose the right content to include, outlining and formatting your manuscript, and what tools can help you along the way.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Content, Inc. Episode 61: Tilt to Blog to Book to Speaking

💡 Listen to These Episodes

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Playlist | Content Monetization
Webinar | Fun With Formatting
How to Use a Book for Lead Generation
The Content Entrepreneur's Guide to Book Publishing

How Authors Can Use Long-Form Video to Build Their Brand

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode of POD Pod, Lauren is joined by Lulu’s Education & Community Manager (and YouTube celebrity) Chelsea Bennett! Tune in for a conversation on the value of adding long-form video content to your marketing strategy, how authors can use video to connect with their audience, and getting comfortable on camera (and ignoring the haters).

Like & Subscribe, and watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Watch These Episodes

Ep #47 | Metrics That Matter: A Guide for Authors & Creators
Ep #55 | How to Hit Your Perfect Pitch for Speaking Engagements
Ep #60 | Book Publicity Simplified with Sarah Franklin

💡 Watch These Videos

How to Build a Community of True Fans
Stephanie Chandler Webinar | Speaking to Sell Books: Break into Professional Speaking to Reach More Readers
Fun With Formatting Webinar

💡 Read These Blog Posts

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [10:58] “I think it really just humanizes your brand. It allows people to connect with you on a more authentic level. And so I think that that's really the value add, is more and more with the world that we live in with AI and automation and all of these things, I think people are really hungry for authenticity.”

🎙️ [29:03] “You have to remember the shelf life of videos, if it's good, can be up forever.”

🎙️ [43:19] “Even if at the end of the day, you decide that's not for me, or it's not helping me reach my goals, you have a whole new skill set that you can pull from when you try the next thing.”

How to Copyright the Copy That You Wrote

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren–who are definitely not lawyers–take on copyright law. We talk through what indie authors need to know about copyrighting their books in the US, why and how authors should register their work for copyright, and how fanfiction and generative AI may impact copyright in the future.

Again: we are not attorneys.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Copyright Resources

Creative Commons
Register Your Work → How to Copyright Literary Works
Bowker | Must-Know Copyright Basics & FAQs
CopyrightsNow
What Writers Should Know About Copyright
Write Publish Sell | What Every Author Needs To Know About Copyright, ISBN, PCN and LCCN
Library of Congress | Artificial Intelligence Report

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #18 | How Writers Can Harness the Power of AI
Ep #59 | Mastering Book Metadata to Maximize Market Reach

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [11:41] “At the very least, we're going to give you the information that you need to look further into because it's hard to know what you don't know.”

🎙️ [20:00] “Which is also–does not mean that you've now copyrighted your work per se. Again, legally, technically, it is copyrighted because you created it, but you should still take the extra steps we're about to get into.”

🎙️ [46:16] “Endorsed by Lauren, who is not an attorney, by the way. But an elder emo. So she does carry some weight in some circles.”

Extend Your Books’ Shelf Life with Backlist Book Marketing

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren and Matt are ready to inject new life into your backlist book titles. We share ideas for using your backlist to experiment with new formats and distribution channels, turning your older books into lead magnets, and generating passive income from your content long after launch.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 BookFunnel

💡 BookBub

💡 Written Word Media | BookBub for Authors

💡 Listen to These Episodes

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch This Video

Distributing Your Book With Lulu: What You Need to Know

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [10:37] “Your backlist is a great resource for you if you want to experiment with either going wide with your book sales or moving your books onto a different ecommerce platform than what you're using right now.”

🎙️ [29:26] “Anything you can do, anything that doesn't affect the integrity of your content, your book to drive more sales of more of your backlist titles or titles in general then you should try it for sure.”

🎙️ [34:09] “Especially for some of these low lift versions of backlist book marketing where it's costing you little to nothing to do them. Ten new emails from something that cost you two hours of your time and zero dollars is a win.”

Beyond the Algorithm: Relationship Marketing for Authors & Publishers [Live From London Book Fair]

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 04:00:00 -0400

Recorded Live from London Book Fair!

In this episode, Matt & Lauren explore the value of relationship marketing (tailoring your efforts to connect with your audience) versus algorithm marketing (tailoring your efforts to satisfy algorithms). We debate the merits of both strategies and share actionable steps to use them together to grow your brand.

Dive Deeper

💡 Watch the Session on YouTube

💡 Learn More About Lulu Direct

💡 Check Out ReallyGoodEmails.com

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #24 | How to Turn Your Casual Fans into Super Fans
Ep #47 | Metrics That Matter: A Guide for Authors & Creators
Ep #59 | Mastering Book Metadata to Maximize Market Reach

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Lulu U Playlist | Direct Sales
Lulu U Playlist | Marketing Tips

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ “Human impressions over digital impressions. If you take nothing else away today, write that down. Human impressions over digital impressions. Every day, all day.”

Sustainability in Publishing: Reducing Waste One Print Book at a Time

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren take a critical look at wasteful practices in the publishing industry. We share insight into what it takes to become a certified B Corp (like Lulu!), how book printing creates both physical and carbon waste, and what we can all do to make publishing more sustainable.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Resources

→ Research: Consumers’ Sustainability Demands Are Rising

→ B Lab US & Canada

→ Book Sales: What that viral Substack post gets wrong.

→ No One Buys Books

→ Book Waste: The Dangers of Publishing and the Ethical Consumption of Books

💡 Listen to These Episodes

→ Ep #9 | Are Print Books Dead?

→ Ep #36 | The Indie Author’s Guide to Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing

→ Ep #49 | What Keeps Self-Published Books Off the New York Times Best-Seller Lists?

💡 Read What Being a B Corp Means to Us

💡 Watch These Videos

→ Why is Lulu a B Corp?

→ The Life of a Book

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [9:52] “We're making the argument that print-on-demand and using a print-on-demand company like Lulu is more environmentally friendly than traditional publishing. But B Corp isn't just about that.”

🎙️ [22:40] “I would much rather see a book that was well read and well loved and shows the signs of it than a book that was printed, never opened, never sold, and then just destroyed.”

🎙️ [32:45] “I think when you combine the world of digital and print and you encourage a digital-first strategy for how you're publishing and printing, I think that's when you really start to optimize the sustainability factor of what we're doing in the publishing industry.”

Creating a Custom Book Business Using Lulu's Print API

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren & Matt explore Lulu’s open source Print API. Don’t know what an API is? We’ve got you covered. We also talk through the value of personalized products and creative ways to use Lulu’s Print API to power your custom book business.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Learn more about Lulu’s Print API

💡 Sponsor Magnet by Justin Moore

💡 Listen to These Episodes

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Webinar | The Business of Books: How To Use Lulu's Print API To Scale Your Business
Lulu U | Selling Direct with a Print API

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [13:40] “This is not a new concept. What this is is a more evolved technology for how to create these kinds of products in a really cool way and also get even more personalized and even more creative with them.”

🎙️ [27:10] “You are trying to build personal relationships with your customers, with consumers. Consumers are more conscientious than they were in the past. They are looking for - whether they realize it or not - they are looking for a personalized relationship experience.”

Book Publicity Simplified with Sarah Franklin

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt & Lauren are joined by Sarah Franklin, Lulu’s Public Relations Manager and expert book publicist! Hear about book publicity simplified as Sarah answers questions like:

→ What’s the value in hiring a publicist vs. doing your own publicity?

→ What exactly is a publicist’s role in book marketing?

→ How do you make the most of earned publicity once you have it?

And more!

Watch this episode on YouTube.

Dive Deeper

💡 Featured

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #10 | Marketing Your Book Pre-Launch, At-Launch, and Post-Launch
Ep #13 | Earning Free Publicity for Your Book
Ep #57 | How to Use a Preorder Campaign to Boost Your Book Launch

💡 Read This Blog Post

How to Earn Media Attention: Essential PR Tips for Authors

💡 Watch These Videos

PR for Authors: Building Buzz Around Your Book

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [11:05] “Depending on the goals for your book, a publicist is one of those things where you absolutely should spend the money if you can afford it and some of your goals for this book align with the need for having a publicist, right?”

🎙️ [25:24] “You know, they can get you exposure, but your expertise in your book, that should be the moneymaker right there.”

🎙️ [41:01] “Something may come of it, nothing may come of it, but nothing's gonna happen if you don't do anything.”

Mastering Book Metadata to Maximize Market Reach

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren & Matt deep dive into book metadata and how it can better position your book in the market. Maximize your discoverability and reach with tips on choosing bookstore categories and BISAC codes, tools for keyword research, and best practices for making the most of your metadata.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Complete BISAC Subject Headings List

💡 Bublish's AI Author Toolkit

💡 Publisher Rocket

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #34 | Hooking New Readers With a Compelling Book Description
Ep #37 | How to Get Your Book Into Indie Bookstores
Ep #51 | Finding Your Niche, Your Ideal Reader, and Your Target Audience

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [3:02] “Your metadata is relevant to you if you're selling direct, if you're doing distribution, if you're sticking to a single ecommerce solution, whatever it is, no matter what you're doing, your metadata is relevant to your book.”

🎙️ [15:28] “I think you should be marketing to human beings and not to algorithms.”

🎙️ [32:21] “Understanding that to prepare yourself for a future where search looks different than it does now being as concise and specific with your keywords is going to be more important than ever.”

Creative Ways to Use Print-On-Demand to Support Your Business

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt & Lauren explore different ways print-on-demand technology can support your business. We share ideas for creating books for internal use, brand awareness and loyalty projects, and new product lines to consider.

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💡 Listen to These Episodes

Episode #22 | Using Customer Data to Grow Your Business
Episode #33 | Books You Can Create Using Your Existing Content
Episode #54 | Can Books Add Value to Your Business (Beyond Just Revenue)?

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

💡 Stephen Cabebe's book Disney Ready: Your Pain Free Parks Survival Guide

💡 How Armen Adamjan Uses Print-On-Demand To Turn Video Content Into Profitable Books

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [3:59] “This is not an episode about self-publishing a book to then use print-on-demand to then grow your business similar to some of the other episodes we've done, which are great. This is truly about the technology and functionality of print-on-demand in your business.”

🎙️ [22:23] “If you're listening to this and you're like, okay, but I already do that, but I just do it in like an email form or a PDF form or something like that. I'm like, just think about how much it's elevating the experience to get a physical printed copy of it.”

🎙️ [30:25] “I would rather win your mailbox than to compete against your inbox or struggle in your DMs.”

How to Use a Preorder Campaign to Boost Your Book Launch

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren & Matt make a case for why every indie author should try using a preorder campaign to support their prelaunch marketing efforts and boost their book sales. We talk through how preorder campaigns can help you reach your target audience, different kinds of campaigns, and ways to collect your preorders.

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💡 To Be Fair…

💡 BookBub | How Authors Use Preorders to Promote New Books in 2023

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Episode #10 | Marketing Your Book Pre-Launch, At-Launch, and Post-Launch
Episode #13 | Earning Free Publicity for Your Book
Episode #19 | Crowdfunding Your Self-Published Book With Kickstarter

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [4:34] “It is so much easier to market your book prelaunch. And the further out you start, for the most part, the easier it gets to market it.”

🎙️ [32:31] “Every time you do a preorder or a sales campaign or anything else where you're selling these things directly, that is an opportunity to gain more email addresses and customer contacts and build your own database.”

🎙️ [48:47] “I mean, you can do those things. But the point is you can go outside of the box and get more creative and drive more value and more urgency and incentive for people to want to be part of this preorder versus just picking up a copy afterwards.”

The Indie Author's Guide to Going Wide With Your Book Distribution

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 04:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt & Lauren answer questions about moving your books from Amazon to other ecommerce solutions, including global distribution and direct sales. Learn how to maximize your book’s availability, forge stronger connections with loyal readers, and grow your revenue when you go wide.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Wide for the Win Facebook Group

💡 The Truth On Selling Books Direct: Insights from 876 Authors

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #16 | The Indie Author's Guide to Thriving Without Amazon
Ep #25 | Author Branding 101: Building a Brand Beyond Your Books
Ep #31 | Your 7-Step Guide to Building an Online Bookstore

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [1:57] “Going wide, specifically, is more the idea of maximizing your reach and discoverability by having your book available in as many different marketplaces as possible.”

🎙️ [23:03] “Eyeballs are really hard to catch these days. Attention is so short. There's so much white noise out there. Don't put in all that hard work or money or both, and then just send them somewhere else to buy it.”

🎙️ [47:07] “This is not an overnight decision. This is not something that you should decide after listening to this episode, yeah, you guys are right. I'm definitely going to do this. And tonight you're going to go home and pull all your books.”
“We are right. They should do this.”

How to Hit Your Perfect Pitch for Speaking Engagements

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren & Matt share tips for aspiring public speakers. We talk through presenting your best pitch to event organizers, targeting your ideal audience with your session title and description, and representing yourself with your speaker bio.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Learn About CEX 2025

💡 Joe Pulizzi on LinkedIn

💡 Mic Drop Workshop

💡 Jeff Sieh

💡 Andrew Davis

💡 Mike Pacchione

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #13 | Earning Free Publicity for Your Book
Ep #34 | Hooking New Readers With a Compelling Book Description
Ep #46 | How to Maximize ROI on In-Person Events

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch This Video

Webinar with Stephanie Chandler | Speaking to Sell Books: Break into Professional Speaking to Reach More Readers

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [10:05] “When pitching yourself to an event, whether it's a big one or a small one, you got to remember that the point of pitching yourself or the point is to convince the event organizers why you specifically can add value to that event.”

🎙️ [36:36] “Even if your speaking track record is extremely light or zero, you should still be confident in sharing your qualifications as to who you are and why you bring relevance to the topic and the event.”

🎙️ [52:15] “If you're pitching yourself to the correct events, this is the most qualified audience that you are ever going to get yourself in front of."

Can Books Add Value to Your Business (Beyond Just Revenue)?

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt & Lauren tell you why publishing a book can do more for your business than just adding a new revenue stream.. Learn how books can establish your expert reputation, connect you with new audiences, and strengthen relationships with your existing fans.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 The Tilt Newsletter

💡 The Business Book ROI Study

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #22 | Using Customer Data to Grow Your Business
Ep #24 | How to Turn Your Casual Fans into Super Fans
Ep #33 | Books You Can Create Using Your Existing Content

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Webinar with Stephanie Chandler | Speaking to Sell Books: Break into Professional Speaking to Reach More Readers

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [7:36] “Throughout your entire business journey, there's always going to be a need in most cases to establish some authority in the area with which you actually do business, whether you sell physical products or services… One of the best ways to do that, obviously, is to have a book in hand, right?”

🎙️ [15:54] “So many people still to this day think that because they have a social media channel presence of whatever amount of followers, it doesn't matter that they're doing great, they're riding high and they've got a viable business. Wrong. 100% wrong. If that business is built on Instagram, then Instagram has a business and followers – you don't.”

🎙️ [25:38] “A book can be a great buy-in opportunity for customers to test the water with you, or for potential customers to test the water with you.”

How to Create A Writing Habit That Actually Sticks

Wed, 08 Jan 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Is this the year you’re finally going to publish that book? Or maybe you just want to write more than you did last year. In this episode Lauren & Matt share tips for building a writing habit in a way that works best for you… and set a few lofty goals of their own.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

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💡 Lulu Blog | Writing & Editing, Software Reviews

💡 Audrey Hughey | The Write Services

💡 Related Episodes

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Webinar | Create Your Ultimate Authorship Plan for 2024 with Audrey Hughey
Webinar | How To Write An Outline For A Nonfiction Book with Stefanie Newell
Lulu U | 6 Tips to Create a Writing Habit that Sticks

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [16:25] “A lot of people want to talk about the importance of writing every day. I think it is more important to set yourself consistent goals that are achievable for you.”

🎙️ [25:02] “There's nothing worse than when you're just looking at a blinking cursor on a blank word doc and you've suddenly forgot just like every word that exists in the English language.”

Did Indie Authors Publish and Prosper in 2024?

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode Matt & Lauren recap some of the hottest topics and trends in the publishing industry from 2024, and make a few predictions for 2025.

Thanks for a great year of publishing and prospering with us!

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Written Word Media | 2024 Indie Author Survey Results: Insights into Self Publishing for Authors

💡 Louis Grenier | $16k in 5 Days Book Launch Breakdown

💡 Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore

💡 Bublish’s AI Author Toolkit

💡 Listen to These Episodes

💡 Read These Blog Posts

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [9:06] “I think that that also explains that huge jump we saw in stores being created and active this year versus last year, because I do really think that this year, more than ever, it connected for people and they've started sort of piecing this puzzle together.”

🎙️ [29:01] “And the truth of the matter is nobody has any idea what AI in publishing looks like for next year… But we do know, and I think it will always be true, that it can't replace human creativity, human emotion. It can't elicit responses like a human can with their writing. So use AI for what it's good at, for productivity. Use it for the tools, and making your life easier.”

🎙️ [47:21] “I think these business savvy creators and content entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in general are going to be at the forefront of people saying like, we understand the value of selling direct. And if a traditional publisher isn't going to work with us on that, then that's okay. We'll just do it ourselves.”

Finding Your Niche, Your Ideal Reader, and Your Target Audience

Wed, 11 Dec 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode Lauren & Matt explore the journey to successful audience growth by finding your content niche, defining your ideal reader, and identifying your target audience. We also discuss the value of learning from other creators, ways to inject new life into your marketing efforts, and the correct way to pronounce niche, among other things.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Check Out SparkToro

💡 Read Written Word Media’s 2024 Indie Author Survey Results: Insights into Self Publishing for Authors

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #25 | Author Branding 101: Building a Brand Beyond Your Books
Ep #35 | Designing the Right Go-to-Market Strategy for Your Book
Ep #47 | Metrics That Matter: A Guide for Authors & Creators

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Webinar | How to Create a Multi-Million-Dollar Business From Your Business Book with Joe Pulizzi

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [10:07] “The start of that journey is understanding who your audience is, who you're creating content for, what is your niche topic or content area, and then understanding like, how do I create content for this audience, but more importantly, how do I market and sell it to this audience?”

🎙️ [23:01] “You should be updating your own understanding of who your readers are, who your audience is, who you're writing for, who you're writing to.”

🎙️ [39:14] “You have to understand that these things that you're doing, again, whether you want to agree to this or not, you're building a business. And so everything you do is a step towards sustainability long-term.”

Debunking Myths and Misconceptions About Self-Publishing

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt & Lauren tackle some of the most common misconceptions about self-publishing. We debunk myths like:

❌ You won’t make any money self-publishing
❌ You have to spend a lot of money to self-publish
❌ There’s no credibility in self-publishing

And most importantly: fake M&Ms are just as good as real M&Ms.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Ep #2 | Is Self-Publishing the Best Path for Today’s Creators?
Ep #8 | Self-Publishing is a Team Sport
Ep #20 | Do You Need to Hire Professional Editors for Your Book?
Ep #25 | Author Branding 101
Ep #36 | The Indie Author’s Guide to Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Lulu U | Start Here Playlist
The Life of a Book

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [4:29] “There's no guarantee you're going to make money one way or the other, it really boils down to effort. And that is also true across all of the publishing paths.”

🎙️ [25:37] “It's not a one size fits all thing in any way when it comes to how much you're going to spend on self-publishing. If you're operating under the assumption that you can only find success as a self-published author if you sink a lot of money into any part of it…that's just not true.”

🎙️ [36:32] “I think these days people want to be more in control of their content and their money and their life. And I think that they're able to do that through self-publishing.”

What Keeps Self-Published Books Off the New York Times Best-Seller Lists?

Wed, 27 Nov 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren & Matt discuss the New York Times Best Seller lists. Learn how the lists are decided, what disqualifies a book from being a potential NYT Best-Seller, and why self-published authors rarely make the cut.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 The New York Times | About the Best Sellers
💡 Novlr | The New York Times Bestseller Lists Explained
💡 Wikipedia | The New York Times Best-Seller List
💡 Jane Friedman | Self-Published Bestseller Lists

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [4:29] “What I mean when I say it doesn't matter is that you can still achieve incredible success as a self-published author without having your name on the New York Times best-seller list.”

🎙️ [12:15] “They were getting sued for not including a specific title on the list despite the sales. And the argument that they made was that it is not exclusively based on straight up math and sales numbers, but is more of an editorial product that is influenced by sales numbers, but also influenced by other things.”

🎙️ [34:35] “I'm going to make Matt's blood boil a little bit because I'm going to say that I think that for self-published authors… hitting the top of the Amazon charts is probably more important for your sales and discoverability than hit the New York Times list would be."

What Does Taylor Swift Know About Book Publishing?

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt & Lauren have a conversation about Taylor Swift’s upcoming book, talking through her decision to self-publish it, and what that says about the future of traditional publishing.

Disclaimer: This episode was Matt’s idea, not Lauren’s.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

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💡 Target Press Release

💡 Related Episodes

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [14:36] “Time and time again, we see plenty of people who have built an audience for themselves, regardless of size, but it works for them. There's high engagement. They know their audience better than anybody else, and they are able to self-publish content and reach their audience and achieve whatever their primary goals are.”

🎙️ [16:20] “I think as… this idea of creating and owning your content and the distribution methods to get it to market continues to increase, I think traditional publishing's value continues to decrease.”

🎙️ [41:24] “At the end of the day I never thought I would find inspiration in something Taylor Swift did, but here we are.”

Metrics That Matter: A Guide for Authors & Creators

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren & Matt review the important metrics you need to be tracking to boost your book sales, grow your brand, and connect with a loyal audience. We take a look at social media, email, website, and customer data and share valuable tools and tips to help you make the most of the data you collect.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Check Out These Resources

Shopify | Ecommerce Analytics Tools for Online Store Owners
SparkToro | https://sparktoro.com/
ManyChat | https://manychat.com/creators

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Episode #11 | Email Marketing for Authors & Creators
Episode #12 | Social Media Marketing for Authors & Creators
Episode #22 | Using Customer Data to Grow Your Business
Episode #31 | Your 7-Step Guide to Building an Online Bookstore

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [10:38] “A lot of these metrics are interconnected, and that's kind of the whole point in tracking them and in paying attention to them. And I know that's going to sound really overwhelming as we rattle off a bunch of different types of metrics that you should be looking at, but they really do inform each other in a lot of different ways.”

🎙️ [24:03] “If you're sending an email out once a week or once every two weeks or whatever, and you're asking people to buy your book and you're sending them to Amazon, you're not going to have the data as to whether or not they bought a book from that email.”

🎙️ [35:55] “All roads should lead to however you get somebody to purchase a book, wherever they do that. And primarily that should be on your website.”

How to Maximize ROI on In-Person Events

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt & Lauren share tips for maximizing your return on investment when you attend a conference. We have our top picks for note-taking, strategies for putting your ideas into action, and using your conference experience to establish yourself as a thought leader.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Otter.AI

💡 Ecamm Live

💡 Ann Handley’s Total Annarchy Newsletter

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Episode #23 | How to Survive (and Thrive) at Conferences and Events
Episode #29 | 3 Steps to Prep for an Author Event (and What to Do When You’re There)

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

An Author’s Guide to Attending Live Events

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [7:03] “You really should try to take down some sort of notes any way that you can. And we're going to talk about some ways to make it a lot easier for you to do that, especially if you're like me, where you're just terrible at it so you don't even bother. And you hope that all of the main points that are valuable will stick in your brain until you get home and they usually don't.” “How does that work out for you?” “It doesn't at all.”

🎙️ [17:02] “The most important part about these events is again, how you turn that into actionable takeaways that are going to further your business, your brand, your career, whatever it is you're trying to influence there.”

🎙️ [35:12] “Whatever it is, this is an opportunity for you to share something with your audience that further establishes you as somebody who knows what they're talking about.”

Ask Matt (and Lauren) Anything: Answering Your Questions

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 06:00:00 -0400

It’s officially been one year of Publish & Prosper! Join Lauren & Matt for a special Ask Us Anything episode, where we take listener questions about publishing, marketing, Lulu products, and - of course - Disney.

We answer questions like:

Do you start building your audience first and then write your book, or do you start writing your book first and then build your audience?
What trends have you seen from Lulu creators over the years in how they've adapted their businesses to sell more books?
When you mentioned releasing the right format in regards to the right go-to-market strategy, what do you mean?

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Episode #11 | Email Marketing for Authors & Creators
Episode #35 | Designing the Right Go-to-Market Strategy for Your Book

💡Katie Cross Books

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️[6:31] “I think a lot of people get wrapped up in this idea that it's too late, that even if I start working on my audience now I'm late to the game, so it's gonna take forever to build an audience. Or if I start writing a book now after I've waited all these years, it's too late… None of that is true. Do it now. Get started.”

🎙️[16:39] “It really comes down to people realizing and understanding that this is a long-term endeavor and not short-term flash in the pan kind of thing. Something trendy like social media, we've all seen the rise and fall of different social platforms so much in the last few years, and people are realizing more and more we need a long-term way to connect with our audience and to create these relationships that are going to last with our audience.”

How to Repurpose Your Book (and Other Content) for Social Media

Wed, 23 Oct 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren review the best ways to repurpose content for social media. They talk through reusing your existing social content, reposting other people’s social content, and repurposing your book material as social content.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Episode #12 | Social Media Marketing for Authors & Creators
Episode #25 | Author Branding 101: Building a Brand Beyond Your Books
Episode #33 | Books You Can Create Using Your Existing Content

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

💡 Check out These Resources

HootSuite | Create Engaging and Effective Social Media Content
Social Media Examiner | Social Content Repurposing
The Social Shift by Katie Brinkley
ManyChat for Instagram

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [27:07] “You never know where the content like this that you share and create is going to wind up… If you have this little like, bite-sized content that ties back to your book you don't know where it's going to go and it could serve as a lead magnet.”

🎙️ [33:05] “The riches are in the niches. So niche down as far as you can go to where you add maximum value and that's where you will see maximum engagement and revenue intake. And then if you want to scale up from there, you can.”

🎙️ [43:10] “Virality is not stability. Like, don't chase virality because you don't know how you're going to get it. And if you do happen to get lucky enough to have a viral post, you'll probably never get it again. You'll never know how or why you got it.”

Make Your Self-Published Books Stand Out with Custom Details

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Custom and special edition books are more popular than ever - and more accessible than ever. In this episode, Lauren & Matt explore how indie authors can create custom editions of their self-published books. We look at popular customizations like sprayed edges, embellished covers, specialty bindings, and more!

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Read How to Convince Readers to Buy Books Directly From You on the Lulu Blog

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Episode #19 → Crowdfunding Your Self-Published Book With Kickstarter
Episode #24 → How to Turn Casual Fans into Super Fans
Episode #29 → 3 Steps to Prep for an Author Event (and What to Do When You’re There)

💡 Learn more about Kingdom Covers for printed edge designs.

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️[8:39] “I think what you find is in the indie publishing world with self publishing, more often than not, it's not necessarily a sales tactic, but it's somebody saying, hey, I've put my heart and soul to this book. I also want it to look really cool. I want to create the best book that I can.”

🎙️ [19:58] “When you're creating books to sell to fans, followers, whoever, whether it's fiction or nonfiction, just remember that not everybody reads, writes, collects, distributes the same way that you do. Never really limit yourself just based on the fact that you might not want a really cool sprayed edge on your book.”

🎙️ [32:29] “If you're selling direct already or you're thinking about it, here's a great way to try it or start. To get people to buy direct from you, sometimes they need a little extra incentive… do a completely different cover and have it only be available if they buy that book from you directly off your site.”

“I would argue all of these that we're saying, you should be doing, this should be a motivation for people to buy them directly from you.”

Should Self-Published Authors Use Beta Readers and Sensitivity Readers?

Wed, 09 Oct 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren help you maximize your book’s potential with early readers like beta readers, sensitivity readers, and industry reviewers. We take a look at how and when to engage with them, how they can help your book, and what to offer them in return.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Check These Resources

The Editorial Freelancers Association Member Directory
Lulu’s Partners Page
Jane Friedman on Are Paid Book Reviews Worth It?
Blog | 7 Online Writing Communities for Authors
Webinar | PR for Authors: Building Buzz Around Your Book

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Episode #13 | Earning Free Promotion for Your Book
Episode #26 | Do Book Reviews Help You Sell More Books?
Episode #30 | Finding Your Place in Author & Reader Communities

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [21:12] “I think out of everything in this episode, we've probably referenced [beta readers] the most in the past. They are a great way to connect with other people in your industry, with other authors, with other peers in your specific genre that you're working on. It's a great way to create those relationships with people. And a great reason to definitely do that."

🎙️ [31:45] “A good editor… will point those things out to you, but it's not their job to make sure that you've done your due diligence. It's always on the author.”

🎙️ [38:19] “Most people that you ask for promotional reviews, testimonials, whatever, they will not provide a negative one. So you'll either get a positive one or you won't get one. If they don't have anything good to say about your book, they're just not going to talk about it.”

🎙️ [46:39] “The point is: connect with people. Share your book with readers before your actual readers get their hands on it. You don't have to reach out to all of the people that we've talked about in this episode. But none of them are going to hurt your content. They can only help. So why not?”

How to Drive Book Sales Without Offering Discounts

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt explore creative ways to boost book sales! Learn how limited editions, bundles, personalized products, and more can incentivize new and returning shoppers to buy directly from you - without resorting to discounts.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Dive Deeper

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

The Author’s Guide to Subscriptions

💡 Listen to Related Episodes

Episode #24 | How to Turn Your Casual Fans into Super Fans
Episode #30 | Finding Your Place in Author & Reader Communities
Episode #35 | Designing the Right Go-to-Market Strategy for Your Book

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [6:30] “I don't think you ever want to put yourself in a situation where that's the only way you're selling books is by discounting. If you get in that habit and people come to expect that from you, then that's the only time they're going to purchase, is when you're offering a discount. And you never want to be in that race to the bottom.”

🎙️ [26:42] “And it doesn't matter. Like, if you're a bookseller and writer or a musician or anybody else, if you've got fans, if you've got customers who have bought things from you, you need to acknowledge that is now a relationship that you can continue to foster.”

🎙️ [43:33] “That's a huge motivator for getting people to spend money with you is making them feel good in the process.”

Getting Your Bookstore Ready for the Holidays

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren tackle the upcoming holiday season. They’ll discuss best practices for getting your books ready, optimizing your site or bookstore, speaking to gift givers instead of your target audience, and reviewing your social media for book promo opportunities.

Dive Deeper

💡 Check These Resources

Make Books Make Bank PDF Download
McKinsey on US Holiday Shopping 2023
Forbes on 6 Trends From The 2023 Holiday Season That Can Shape 2024

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Webinar | Make Books, Make Bank: Your Guide To Holiday Success
Webinar | Boost Fall Book Sales With A Stellar Marketing Plan

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Episode #31 | Your 7-Step Guide to Building an Online Bookstore
Episode #11 | Email Marketing for Authors and Creators
Episode #13 | Earning Free Publicity for Your Book

Pain Point Solutions for Your Ecommerce Store

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt tackle some common pain points entrepreneurs and ecommerce store owners struggle with. We’ll talk through solutions and tips for collecting sales tax, setting up shipping and managing shipping issues, and providing proactive customer service for your shoppers.

Dive Deeper

💡 Sales Tax

Lulu Knowledge Base | How Do I Configure My Lulu Direct Products to Collect the Correct Taxes?
Spotify | How to Charge Sales Tax in the US
WooCommerce | Setting up Taxes in WooCommerce
Economic Nexus Threshold Map
TaxJar
Avalara

💡 Shipping

Lulu’s Pricing Calculator
Getting Your Ship Together in Lulu Direct (Shopify and WooCommerce)
International Book Shipping: A Guide for Self-Published Creators
Lulu U Tutorial | Setting Up Live Shipping Rates in Shopify
Lulu U Tutorial | Setting Up Shipping Rates Manually in Shopify
Lulu U Tutorial | Setting Up Shipping with Lulu Direct and WooCommerce
Lulu U Tutorial | Setting Up Shipping in Wix

💡 Customer Support

Jump Ahead to Learn About

🎙️ Understanding Sales Tax → 4:46

🎙️ All Things Shipping (Ship Mapping, Expenses, and Troubleshooting) → 16:51

🎙️ Proactive Customer Service Strategies → 28:43

From Manuscript to Market: 5+ Tools to Help You Draft, Publish, and Sell Your Book

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Self-publishing might be a DIY publishing model, but there are plenty of tools and resources to help you get your book from manuscript to market. In this episode, Matt & Lauren discuss a debatable number of tools to help you draft, edit, format, design, market, and ship your book.

Dive Deeper

💡 Learn More About

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Webinar with Fictionary | Editing Essentials: Edit Like a Developmental Story Editor
Webinar with Bublish | Boost Fall Book Sales With A Stellar Marketing Plan

Jump Ahead to Learn About

🎙️ Fictionary → 1:52
🎙️ Atticus & Vellum → 7:41
🎙️ Lulu’s Cover Design Tool → 15:53
🎙️ Bublish’s AI Author Toolkit → 22:23
🎙️ Lulu’s Order Import Tool → 27:58
🎙️ Written Word Media and BookFunnel → 37:19

How to Get Your Book Into Indie Bookstores

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt review strategies for getting your self-published book into indie bookstores, including participating in consignment programs, pitching yourself for author events, and making your book available through retail distribution.

Dive Deeper

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch How to Get Your Book into Bookstores

💡 Check your book’s global distribution eligibility with our Pricing Calculator

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [15:44] “These bookstores have a standard to uphold. Which is not to say that every traditionally published book and every book available in an indie bookstore or any bookstore is a good book. We all know that's not true. But at the very least, they want people to be able to look at your book and think it's a good book.”

🎙️ [25:34] “You're not just an author or creator, we've said this a thousand times. You're a business, and as such you need to be building trust and relationships with people.”

🎙️ [32:49] “It's important to understand that your book can be available to be bought from an indie bookstore or a bookstore in general if you are in distribution, it just won't be sitting on the shelves as ready inventory.”

The Indie Author’s Guide to Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt and Lauren take listeners on a journey through self-publishing and traditional publishing. We’ll look at where those paths overlap, where they diverge, and what to expect on your publishing adventure.

Dive Deeper

💡 Jane Friedman’s The Key Book Publishing Paths

💡 Listen to These Episodes:

Episode #2 → Is Self-Publishing the Best Path for Today's Creators?
Episode #8 → Self-Publishing is a Team Sport
Episode #20 → Do You Need to Hire Professional Editors for Your Book?
Episode #10 → Marketing Your Book Pre-Launch, At-Launch, and Post-Launch

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch This Video

Webinar | Which Publishing Path is Right for You?

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [10:17] “It used to be that if you said your book was self-published, or if people knew your book was self-published, they were just like, oh, that's got to be garbage. They did it themselves. It can't be a good book. These days, obviously nothing's further from the truth than that statement.”

🎙️ [23:10] “But the point is you don't have any control over that in traditional publishing, and in self-publishing you have total control over that.”

🎙️ [45:14] “All of this is only relevant in so much as what your goals are for the book itself.”

Designing the Right Go-to-Market Strategy for Your Book

Wed, 24 Jul 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt dive into what makes a successful go-to-market strategy for your book. Learn how to pick the right launch date and products, choose the best sales and distribution platforms, and craft effective pre-launch and post-launch sales strategies.

Have a question about self-publishing, selling direct, Lulu, or any of the weird tangents Matt & Lauren like to meander through? Email us at podcast@lulu.com to submit your question for our upcoming AMA episode!

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to These Episodes to Learn More About…

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [12:35] “Don't get too married to all this stuff in the beginning. When you're able to step back from this go-to-market plan and really take a look at it holistically, you might see some areas where you need to go back in and change a few things so that everything kind of works seamlessly and harmoniously together.”

🎙️ [29:04] “Having that sales and distribution and strategy laid out and understanding where and when each format and variation of that book is going to be released and sold is really important. And it'll extend the sales lifecycle of that book as long as possible.”

🎙️ [42:01] “Regardless of whether or not you're selling direct, no matter which sales and distribution platforms you're going to move forward with: customer data is invaluable. Whatever kind of customer data you have access to from these different sales and distribution channels, you're going to want some way to track it.”

Hooking New Readers With a Compelling Book Description

Wed, 17 Jul 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren attempts to convince Matt (and the listeners) of the power of a well-written book description. Listen in to learn how to craft a compelling book description that will help you hook new readers.

Dive Deeper

💡 Listen to Episode #13 | Earning Free Publicity for Your Book

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Lulu U | How to Write a Book Description That Sells
Webinar | PR for Authors: Building Buzz Around Your Book

💡 Check Out the Books

Masters of Death by Olivie Blake
My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [11:14] “To Matt's point that you could use ChatGPT to write your book description for you if you want to. I'm going to say that you could, but you still need to know what to tell ChatGPT to use to write the book description.”

🎙️ [24:12] “It's a really succinct way to tell me who the book is for, what they're going to get out of it, and what goals you're going to achieve by doing it or by reading it, but without actually giving any of the information away. So I have to keep reading to learn more about what I'm actually going to get out of this book.”

🎙️ [34:15] “If people are like at a bookstore where you're not there, or online, they're browsing and they see your book the thing that's gonna catch their eye first is the cover. Your elevator pitch is what you're gonna do when you're talking to somebody in person.”

Books You Can Create Using Your Existing Content

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt share ideas for repurposing your existing content. Hint: it's by turning that content into a book. We share ideas for both nonfiction and fiction book projects, including options that require little to no new writing.

Dive Deeper

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

What Should I Publish? 10 Ideas Using Content You Already Have
Lulu University playlist on Content Monetization

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [3:51] “One of the best ways to identify what aspect or which topic of your content would necessarily lend itself best to a book, or a book project, would be to just go back and look at your metrics, right? Figure out which of your blog posts or podcasts or YouTube videos or whatever got the most views and the most engagement.”

🎙️ [14:58] “Presentations can be very one-sided where it's literally just the speaker speaking at an audience of people… this is a great way to turn that one time event attendee into somebody who's going to continue to come back to you, continue to participate in the conversation and continue to think of you when they're thinking about the subject matter that you were presenting on."

🎙️ [25:55] “If you are a digital first fiction author and you're publishing your ebooks, whether it's on Kindle Unlimited, you're doing serial fiction on something like Kindle Vella, BookFunnel, whatever platform that you're using, why are you not selling print editions of your books? If you are, great, love you for it. If you're not, please do.”

5 Things to Know Before You Start Publishing

Wed, 03 Jul 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren review five things you’ll need to know before you start on your publishing journey! We share insights about knowing your content, knowing your goals, knowing your limits, knowing your audience, and knowing your publisher.

Also featuring a meandering detour into graphic novels and an ongoing discussion about crying (now or later).

Dive Deeper

💡 Check Out Jane Friedman’s Key Book Publishing Paths

💡 Watch our Start Here! Playlist

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Listen to These Episodes

Your 7-Step Guide to Building an Online Bookstore

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode Lauren & Matt talk through the 7 essential steps to building your own online bookstore. From choosing the right platform to launching your site, we’ll cover everything you need to know to sell your self-published books directly to your readers.

Dive Deeper

💡 Step 1:

Shopify
- Learn More About Selling Your Book With Shopify and Lulu Direct
WooCommerce
- Learn More About Selling Your Book With WooCommerce and Lulu Direct
Wix
- Learn More About Selling Your Book With Wix and Lulu Direct
Squarespace

💡 Step 2:

Shopify | How to Choose the Best Domain Name in 2024

💡 Step 3:

Lulu Blog | What Is an Author Brand and Why Does It Matter?

💡 Step 4:

Lulu Blog | Customer Service and Your Ecommerce Business

💡 Step 6:

Lulu U Playlist | Lulu Direct for Shopify
Lulu U Playlist | Lulu Direct for WooCommerce
Lulu U Playlist | Lulu Direct for Wix
Influencer Marketing Hub | Top 14 eCommerce Plugins to Power Your eCommerce Site in 2024

💡 Step 7:

Lulu Blog | Can’t-Miss Tips for Building a Better Ecommerce Store
Lulu Blog | Optimized for Mobile: The Future of Bookselling

Finding Your Place in Author & Reader Communities

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren debate the distinctions between author and reader communities, discuss the value of participating in either, and share some suggestions for how to bridge the gap between them.

Dive Deeper

💡 Check Out These Online Communities

Meet the Nonfiction Authors Association
Learn More About Novelists, Inc.
Explore Inkers Con
Listen to the State of the Nation podcast episode on Story Wars at Author Nation

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [9:36] “I think that they're also like, as we're talking about the distinctions between them, I think that they are inherently different in that author communities tend to be more focused on… craft and education, and this is a learning experience for me, how do I do this? Crowdsourcing how to do things, whether it's how to write, how to publish, how to get an agent, whatever. Reader communities tend to be echo chambers of opinions.”

🎙️ [27:45] “If you're looking for a way to be a part of an author community or a writer community or something like that, there are plenty of opportunities out there to find them, whether they are big nationwide communities or small local bookstore, coffee shop, library, independent groups.”

🎙️ [42:45] “And that's really what this podcast is, is us talking in circles around the very clear, like one sentence that we could have said.”

3 Steps to Prep for an Author Event (and What to Do When You’re There)

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt share their insights from attending dozens of author events to set you up for success. Hear tips for preparing sales strategies and inventory, promoting the event to your fans, and maximizing your presence at the event.

Dive Deeper

💡 Learn More About These Events

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [7:29] “Anytime you can get in front of people and speak, regardless of the topic, that is some of the best publicity and advertising you could get for yourself.”

🎙️ [15:25] “Underestimating your audience is the worst thing you could do. And underestimating what they'll purchase or where they'll go to see you, or even how much they like you, you're only going to hurt yourself.”

🎙️ [34:30] “This is your opportunity to make a really good in person impression on fans, followers, readers and potential new readers. Let's not just show up, throw a few books on the table and sit down and wait for them all to come because it's not going to happen.”

In the Studio with Author Nation’s Joe Solari

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren is joined by Joe Solari, Managing Director of Author Nation, for our first-ever Publish & Prosper interview!

Get excited for the Author Nation event coming to Las Vegas this November, take an inside look at CEX 2024, and hear Joe’s thoughts on the future of indie publishing.

Dive Deeper

💡 Learn more about Author Nation

💡 Listen to Author Nation’s State of the Nation podcast

💡 Catch what you missed at CEX 2024 with our Digital Pass

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [10:29] “That's part of the journey is doing all that to have that ownership and to know that while it might not be a fast path, everything there is yours.”

🎙️ [15:07] “This whole thing about going direct and doing things that this way isn't about what I think people think it's about. I think it's a bigger… a bigger, more strategic plan to make sure your business is hardened against what might be a really logical decision for Amazon and its shareholders.”

🎙️ [27:41] “So as a person that creates content, it's not just about what you can do today. It's about what we're going to be able to do in the future.”

Determining the Right Retail Price for Your Book

Wed, 29 May 2024 06:00:00 -0400

There’s a fine line to balance when you’re setting the retail price for your book! Too high, and you might discourage potential new readers. Too low, and readers might question the value of your content - or worse, you wind up losing money on every sale.

In this episode Matt & Lauren discuss how to determine the optimal list price for your book and what factors to consider.

Dive Deeper

💡 Lulu’s Pricing Calculator

💡 How Do I Set the Retail Price for My Print Book? from the Lulu Knowledge Base

💡 Breaking Down Print Costs for Authors from the Lulu Blog

💡 School Library Journal’s 2023 Average Book Prices Chart

💡 Self-Publishing School on How to Price Your Book: Balancing Sales and Profit

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [18:32] “If you don't care about the why and you don't care about all the mechanics behind everything and you just want the quick TL;DR answer to how do I figure out how to price my book correctly? The answer is do your market research.”

🎙️ [24:20] “And that's kind of the point of this episode too, is to help people better understand the economics of books so that they're not out there pricing things based on just seeing something on Amazon and going well, I have to do it this way. Like, I have to try and compete with that price. You may not be able to.”

🎙️ [32:12] “There's definitely some psychology behind that, some consumer and behavioral psychology around how you price things. It's not a bad idea to pick up a book or two about this and learn more about it.”

Do Book Reviews Help You Sell More Books?

Wed, 22 May 2024 06:00:00 -0400

As authors, writers, and creative types, it’s easy to get caught up in the perceived importance of customer reviews. But do those reviews actually help you sell more books? In this episode, Lauren & Matt debate the value of book reviews for increasing your sales, boosting your book’s discoverability, and providing social proof for new readers.

Dive Deeper

💡 Barnes & Noble Press Blog on The Power and Importance of Book Reviews

💡 HubSpot on The Psychology of Social Proof

💡 Trustpilot on Social Proof: What is it, and why is it important for eCommerce?

💡 Jane Friedman on Are Paid Book Reviews Worth It?

💡 Statista data on Online Fake Reviews Removed in 2021

💡 Customer Review Plugins Loox, TrustReviews, and Trustify

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [17:22] “You as a writer or a creator or anybody else for that matter, who's trying to placate or play up to the algorithms, it's a lost cause right now. The best thing you can do is just forget about that. Keep trying to create good, valuable content.”

🎙️ [22:36] “I don't know about you, but I don't think one single review has ever been the thing that made me decide to buy a product. But I can tell you for sure that one single review has been enough to make me not buy something.”

🎙️ [35:55] “And then the credibility and trust thing, again. Underneath it all, that's what a review is for… It's the whole reason why some people even publish a book, is to get some credibility and authority and trust. And so the reviews can help to further solidify what that book was even created for in the first place.”

Author Branding 101: Building a Brand Beyond Your Books

Wed, 15 May 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren explore author brands. Listen now to discover the power of your author identity, why it is so important, and how to create and maintain a brand for your long-term marketing and sales success.

Dive Deeper

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch Lulu University’s Author Branding Playlist

💡 Learn more about Why Authors Shouldn’t be Hiding Behind Their Books: What it Means to Build an Author Brand from Written Word Media

💡 Check out Armen Adamjan and Creative Explained

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [2:46] “I think a lot of the time a lot of the issues that authors run up against when it comes to long-term marketing can be boiled down to they haven't done the groundwork with their author branding and developing their brand.”

🎙️ [16:19] “What you really need to remember is that whatever you do, whatever branding you apply, whatever name you choose, you need to be consistent across all channels, including when we talk about things like pay and organic search and stuff like that, so that you continue to build brand recognition, which is what fuels the machine for you to sustain that business long-term, regardless of what that business might be.”

🎙️ [36:05] “I think the key is to just - you have to recognize that and you have to understand that if, if this is something you want to do long-term as a career, whether you've already started down that path or not, you have to have this component. You have to have some branding in order to sustain a long-term trajectory.”

How to Turn Your Casual Fans into Super Fans

Wed, 08 May 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Super fans! We know them, we love them, we want them for our own. But how do you turn your casual fans into loyal, dedicated super fans? In this episode, Lauren & Matt discuss strategies like diversifying your products, demonstrating the value of your content, and creating a community for your fans.

Dive Deeper

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

💡 Read These Articles

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [7:38] “I think that in talking about how you might want to go about turning fans and followers into super fans, you do need to look at and think about things like an expanded product portfolio… to create a super fan, you're going to need more than one thing.”

🎙️ [19:47] “Having that opportunity to connect with your fans is one of the ways that you're going to be able to take casual one-time purchasers that came to your website, bought your book, and then left, turn them into loyal, true super fans of yours.”

🎙️ [31:24] “The best marketing values human impressions over digital impressions. We talk about this all the time. And so while the digital stuff can help and these tools can help by automating certain things, nothing will ever garner as much results and success as taking a more human approach to the way that you market and interact with your fan base.”

How to Survive (and Thrive) at Conferences and Events

Wed, 01 May 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren share their favorite survival tips for attending author and creator conferences! From packing essential supplies to putting your health first, hear our team’s must-haves and must-dos for anyone trying to maximize their time at a conference.

Dive Deeper

💡 Watch Sessions from CEX 2023

💡 Learn More About Some Events We’ll Be Attending in 2024

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [8:23] “You should always go as yourself and be comfortable. But again, if yourself is a blazer, a t-shirt, jeans, and some tennis shoes, then you should take a hard look in the mirror.”

🎙️ [26:22] “We've talked about one of the benefits of attending events is networking and having those networking and connecting opportunities. And if that's something that, like me, you dread the idea of doing that, having the chance to schedule networking opportunities ahead of time kind of takes some of that pressure off of just approaching strangers.”

🎙️ [38:38] “What are your goals for attending this event? Don't lose sight of that. It's easy to get to an event, especially if you've never been to it before, and it turns out to be a really cool one. You kind of lose sight of why you're there and you get sidetracked with a lot of things and just try to remember why you're there, what you're hoping to get out of it.”

Using Customer Data to Grow Your Business

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren discuss the most valuable tool in any creator’s arsenal: customer data. Whether you’re tracking book sales and behavioral data, collecting customer information through direct sales, or reviewing your key social media and email marketing metrics, understanding your customer data is essential for long-term brand success.

Dive Deeper

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch This Video on Leveraging Customer Data For Your Ecommerce Business

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [10:31] “Gathering customer data and using the customer data that you have access to regardless of whether you're selling direct, selling third party or whatever, however you're gathering this customer data, whatever you have available to you, it is unilaterally useful for any type of author or content creator.”

🎙️ [20:34] “Having your own data to compare against what is being put out there in the world about your industry or your genre is extremely helpful because without it, you're just gonna take some of those people at their word. You're just gonna look at their data, which represents maybe a large group as a whole, but doesn't represent you as an individual creator or author. And you may just take that as gospel because you don't have your own data to compare it to.”

🎙️ [41:43] “Never bring an opinion to a data fight.”

Cover to Cover: Getting Your Book Design Right

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt take a look at best practices for book design. We’ll review key design elements that often get overlooked on book covers, what to include inside your book, and whether or not we think it’s worth the cost to pay for book cover and interior design.

Dive Deeper

💡 Download Lulu’s Free Guides & Templates

💡 Check Out the Professional Designers on Our Hire A Pro Page

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch This Book Formatting Playlist on YouTube

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [10:15] “I do think that if you're a very creative individual and you're using a tool that doesn't have a steep learning curve, you could probably create a cover that's good enough. But again, if this is something that you've put a lot of time and effort into chances are you don't want something that's just good enough.”

🎙️ [26:09] "Something to keep in mind as you're figuring out your cover design and figuring out what you want to do with that, consider how it's going to look with the rest of your books and consider how it's going to look with your own professional branding."

🎙️ [35:27] “I think one of the most important things you can include, especially for those of you who have not been listening to us, or everybody else out there right now, about trying to sell direct. Back matter is the perfect place to try and drive people to your author platform, to sign up for your email newsletters or whatever that might be.”

Do You Need to Hire Professional Editors for Your Book?

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode Matt & Lauren take a look at the different types of editing your manuscript might need, debate which ones they think are most valuable, and share a few of their tips for making sure your book editing is done right.

Dive Deeper

💡 Find Freelance Editors and Hybrid Publishers on Lulu’s Hire A Pro Page
💡 Browse Fiverr for Freelance Editors
💡 Check out the Editorial Freelancers Association and their 2024 Editorial Rates Chart

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Read These Editorial Software Reviews

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [10:14] “I think a hybrid publishing company kind of gives you the best of both worlds between full on self publishing and then, you know, a bit of traditional publishing to a degree. Because for a lot of people these days, you often have more money than time or ability.”

🎙️ [30:42] “Which is another great argument in favor of doing some self-editing before you contract out… If you want to try to keep those costs down as much as possible, the more editing that you do on your own ahead of time, the less professional editing the less professional editing - in theory, hopefully - the less professional editing you'll need to pay for.”

🎙️ [35:34] “A good cover is what's going to sell your book. A good story, a well-written book is what's going to bring them back to buy more from you.”

Crowdfunding Your Self-Published Book With Kickstarter

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode Lauren & Matt discuss the whys and hows of using Kickstarter to crowdfund your book. Learn why we think Kickstarter is a great option for self-published authors, what you need to know to get your campaign started, and how successful authors are crushing it with crowdfunding.

Dive Deeper

💡 Learn More About Kickstarter

💡 Check Out Some of Our Favorite Kickstarter Campaigns

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [8:57] “Having a thousand people like your LinkedIn post that says that you're going to write a book and that you're thinking about turning your content into a book, that's cool. That's really cool, to have a thousand people see your post. But to have a hundred people pledge $25 towards actually getting a copy of your book that you said you were going to write and publish? That's even cooler.”

🎙️ [15:53] “With any good book campaign, whether it's a crowdfunding campaign or you're promoting your book pre-launch or even post-launch, you should be able to answer the questions of: why are you writing this book? Why will it help people? Why should people want to buy it and read it? Why should they choose your book over something else?”

🎙️ [22:12] “It doesn't have to be this insane number of people backing your campaign or pledging to your campaign, especially when you get creative with those different reward tiers and stuff like that.”

How Writers Can Harness the Power of AI

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren take another look at generative AI and how it can be a powerful tool to help authors and content creators. Hear some of our favorite tips for using ChatGPT as a sounding board, a hammer against writer’s block, and an expert ally on your writing journey.

Dive Deeper

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

How to Create a Multi-Million-Dollar Business From Your Business Book | Webinar with Joe Pulizzi
How Content Creators Are Using ChatGPT and 10 Other AI Tools | CEX 2023 Session Recording with Marketing AI Institute
AI for Authors - How Can We Use It? | Write Publish Sell Webinar

💡 Learn more about the Marketing AI Institute AI for Writers Summit

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [8:35] “You need to get involved. You need to check this stuff out. You need to get your hands on it. You need to understand what it is.”

🎙️ [17:48] “Given the nature of what ChatGPT is and some of these other tools, from what we've seen and even from how I use it now versus how I started using it and just, you know, every best practice you'll see out there, you really should talk to it like it's a human.”

🎙️ [39:29] “If you're afraid to try it out still, you're missing a boat on some pretty creative things that could help you free up a lot of important time in your day to be used towards more creative activities or other things you'd like to be doing. The amount of time that these tools can save you as a writer and creator is immense.”

An Inside Look at London Book Fair 2024

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Matt & Lauren recap their time at London Book Fair 2024, one of the biggest publishing conferences in the world. Get the lowdown on hot topics from the conference, an insider's look at the event, and a special peek into what it’s like to travel with Team Lulu.

Dive Deeper

💡 Learn how (and why) Lulu is a Certified B Corp

💡 Watch this video on 5 Things to Know Before You Publish

💡 Check out Bublish’s new AI Author Toolkit

💡 Hear more about creating audiobooks with DeepZen

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [15:08] “But I think this year because that's being accelerated in our industry in terms of the heightened awareness around indie creators and just what's happening here with direct sales and AI and all these other things, it did feel like, you know, we were all speaking the same language for once in terms of what the hot topics were.”

🎙️ [17:21] “I think it was that where it was last year we were doing the work of explaining to people what selling direct was. And this year, somewhere between last year and this year, that kind of sunk in. And now it was more along the lines of how can we help you do that?”

🎙️ [28:10] “There's always a moment where it clicks for people that they don't have to choose one or the other. And that to me is one of the light bulb moments that I love… whether it's talking about selling direct versus having your content in global distribution, you can do both of those things… The same is true for choosing between self-publishing and traditional publishing. You don't have to choose between self-publishing and traditional publishing.”

The Indie Author’s Guide to Thriving Without Amazon

Wed, 13 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt & Lauren explain why indie authors need to stop relying on Amazon as their primary sales channel. Listen now to hear why we feel so strongly about it, what alternatives we suggest, and how to get your readers on the same page.

Dive Deeper

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch our webinar Is Selling On Amazon Enough?

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [9:06] “We talked in the last episode about the thousand true fans theory and this idea of connecting directly with your fans and building these true fans that are gonna buy anything from you. You can't do that if you're exclusively selling to people on Amazon. If your fan base exists on Amazon, you have no way to foster those relationships and connect with those creators and those readers.”

🎙️ [25:18] “How do you convince people that have never heard of you before that are potential new readers and buyers to buy directly from you? ... The easy solution there is to make sure that your website with your bookstore on it is the primary link that you're using at every available opportunity.”

🎙️ [41:24] “All of this is part and parcel of the fact that when you're selling direct, when you're owning kind of that relationship between you and your fans and readers, you are in fact in control of the entire customer journey.”

Can You Really Support Your Business With Just 1,000 True Fans?

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode Lauren and Matt discuss Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 True Fans theory, what it means to be a true fan (or super fan), and a few unique ways small business owners and content creators have turned casual buyers into true fans.

Dive Deeper

💡 Read the Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 True Fans essay

💡 Read The 1,000 True Fan Theory: Sustainable Income for Creators on the Lulu blog

💡 Watch Joe Pulizzi’s webinar on Creating a Multi-Million-Dollar Business From Your Book

💡 Get inspired by Audrey Hughey’s author planners

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [16:39] “It's actually one of the things I love about social media…you can find that there's always at least somebody else in the world that shares your thoughts or shares your opinion or shares your interests or anything like that…no matter how niche your content is or how niche your book is or whatever, you will find fans for it. You will find people that will be a dedicated audience.”

🎙️ [26:16] “If we were giving those numbers back at the beginning and you were hearing like $100 of profit per year from every individual fan, I'm only publishing one book a year. Like, how am I supposed to make $100 off of a single book? This is how you do that, is by creating these supplemental products that go along with those books.”

🎙️ [33:13] “This idea that you might struggle for content or run out of things to do or ways to monetize. I don't think that's going to happen. I think once you get started doing this and understanding the model and figuring out what your fans want, what they will buy from you. You're not gonna have any shortage of products.”

An Introduction to Paid Book Promotion

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode Matt & Lauren explore paid book promotion. We review our favorite sponsorship opportunities, take a brief look at different types of book promo ads and paid social media ads, and debate the value of influencer marketing.

Dive Deeper

💡 Check out Written Word Media

💡 Check out BookFunnel

💡 Learn how to set up BookBub Ads

💡 Read Social Media 101: Facebook, Instagram, and X

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [10:00] “I think that it's one of the best ways to have authentic sponsorship while still paying for it. Because I think that newsletters, at least, you're still at that point where you're reaching an audience of people that have already said that they like the content creator enough to subscribe to their email newsletter list. You're speaking to an already interested and engaged audience when you're included in somebody's newsletter.”

🎙️ [27:45] “So nonfiction creators, they are creating these pieces of content. In many cases, that's not the main draw for them. That's just a lead magnet. So they give those books out in the hopes that they land more consulting contracts or things like that.”

🎙️ [45:14] “I think that influencers kind of had their peak time to shine and now people are looking much more towards targeted advertising and not just casting a wide net with an influencer.”

Earning Free Publicity for Your Book

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt & Lauren debate earned promotion, PR and publicity efforts, and creator collaborations. Learn how to promote your book with earned media opportunities, book signings, public speaking, and collaboration with fellow creators.

Dive Deeper

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [8:01] “This idea of pitching yourself is not the easiest thing for a lot of people. It's hard for us to talk about ourselves sometimes in that sort of salesy kind of way to a degree. But I think if you do it the way we've talked about doing other activities on social media, by just showing up and being sincere and genuine and yourself and, most of all, respectful, I think you'll get a couple of yeses amongst all the nos.”

🎙️ [15:56] “Be intentional with your pitch. So, like [Lauren] said, make sure that you really try to understand who you're pitching to, what their audience is, and why they should care about your book or whatever it is you're trying to pitch to them. And again, don't just copy and paste the same pitch to every person on your list. Try to really get a better understanding of why they might be interested and what angle you should take with them.”

🎙️ [37:25] “You need to be sure that you're providing equal value to the person that you're trying to collaborate with. If your content and your brand isn't a good fit for their audience and vice versa, then it's not gonna be worth either of your time to do this kind of collaboration. So do your research, look for people that are a good fit for your brand.”

Social Media Marketing for Authors & Creators

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren & Matt talk about using valuable and authentic social media engagement to find new readers, ideas for promoting your books, and a few of their favorite social media dos and biggest don’ts.

Dive Deeper

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [13:20] “You are the brand. Your book is a product of your brand. Your books, plural, hopefully, are products of your brand and anything else that you create. But you are the brand. And so many authors and creators don't see it that way or don't wanna see it that way or can't see it that way. But if you're serious about making a living, small or large, at what you're doing, you have to see it that way.”

🎙️ [19:16] “Once again, we are not just shouting into the void and running away from it. You can't just schedule all these posts and then walk away and never look at them again. You definitely want to go back and see if people are engaging and responding to your content. You want to respond to them. And you also want to see how those kinds of posts are performing.”

🎙️ [30:27] “There's a lot of things you can't control on social media. Most things, really. You can't control virality. You never know which one of your posts is going to go viral in a good way or a bad way. But what you can control is how you show up and the content that you bring to that channel. And if you're bringing content of value that you truly find valuable, that doesn't mean everybody will. But if you truly find some value in it and you're being genuine with why you're posting it, then you can't go wrong. You will continue to build an audience, word of mouth will spread, as your content gets more popular and people are engaging with it, the algorithms will pay attention. Show up authentically, consistently.”

Email Marketing for Authors & Creators

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt & Lauren discuss one of the most successful marketing strategies, share ideas and tips for building your email list, and review best practices for keeping those subscribers engaged.

Dive Deeper

💡 Check Out These Reports

Lulu & The Tilt’s Creator Insights Report
Email marketing stats from HubSpot’s State of Marketing in 2024 report
Written Word Media’s 2023 The State of Indie Authorship report

💡 Read These Blog Posts

Email Marketing for Authors
How to Build an Author Email List
Email Marketing for Ecommerce from Mktg Rhythm
Email List Management Best Practices from Campaign Monitor
5 Ideas To Acquire Email Addresses From Your Social Media Audience from The Tilt
The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing for Authors from ConvertKit

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [4:49] “The other thing that's great about email marketing though, and I think that is probably the most important thing to touch on, is that email marketing is pretty much the only channel or marketing tactic where you can pretty much own your audience and it doesn't necessarily belong to somebody else. And that's really important these days when you're trying to not only build [an] audience, but build a business over time.”

🎙️ [15:01] “A lot of people will say to us, well, that's all fine and good, but how do I get them to go from my social media account, following me on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok, over to my email list? Lauren just laid it out for you, like one of the best and easiest and most beneficial ways to do that. You have to give them a reason to.”

🎙️ [33:18] “If they don't click through, then what's the point? And they're not going to click through if the subject line doesn't convey the reason why they should.”

Marketing Your Book Pre-Launch, At-Launch, and Post-Launch

Wed, 31 Jan 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren & Matt explore the three stages of promoting your book—pre-launch marketing, at-launch marketing, and post-launch marketing.

Download your free book marketing checklist to help you stay on track.

Dive Deeper

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [22:51] “Marketing is just making friends. If you're doing it right, that's all it is. And whatever your way of making friends is, that should be your way of marketing…if your way of making friends is to go to in-person events or to see people in person, then that's how you should market. You should focus on those types of activities. But if your way of making friends is online, then focus on that.”

🎙️ [38:48] “If you've done all of the pre-launch marketing that you should, the best practices and the things that we talk about, launch day is infinitely easier. But if you don't do any pre-launch marketing, you can imagine how complicated launch day marketing is going to be.”

🎙️ [43:19] “One of my favorite things in the post-launch marketing bucket is the fact that now you can really start leaning into a lot of those opportunities that you were hopefully lining up in your pre-launch marketing, like interviews on podcasts or signings at your local bookstore at schools, depending on what your content is and all of those things.”

Are Print Books Dead?

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt & Lauren discuss some of the most important questions asked by authors and creators - is it worth it to publish my books in print? Are readers still buying print books, or is print dead?

Dive Deeper

💡Review the Data

Overall book sales & revenue statistics, reported by Words Rated
How print book sales in 2023 compared to previous years, reported by Publishers Weekly
An overview of the state of the book retail market, reported by Statista
Print book sales by year, reported by Statista

💡 Learn More About

How to Crowdfund Your Book With Kickstarter
The 1,000 True Fans Theory
Lorenzo Etherington’s record-breaking crowdfunded book series

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [16:35] “I just assumed people really kind of understood the statistics and metrics around print books and the popularity of it. And the fact is that's not true. A lot of people don't realize that print books are still so popular that they consistently outsell ebooks and audiobooks.”

🎙️ [24:39] “Most people when asked would prefer to buy directly from their creator of choice, whether that is an online course or a book, they would prefer to buy directly from the creator and support the creator and their efforts.”

🎙️ [32:46] “At the end of the day, I think as a creator who is creating content for others to consume, that should be your goal. Maximizing not only the channels to which you get your content to market, but you know, really turning followers into fans and then fans into super fans. And the only way to do that is to offer them more of your content, whether that means more content, or more formats of that same content, or special editions.”

Self-Publishing is a Team Sport

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren & Matt discuss the publishing, design, and marketing experts that you may want to help you self-publish your book.

We take a look at hybrid publishers, different types of editors, and interior versus exterior designers. Plus, hear our thoughts on which services are a must-do and which we think you can DIY to help keep costs low, a few suggestions for tools designed to help you with different publishing steps, and some of our favorite self-editing tips.

Dive Deeper

💡 Browse our list of publishing pros

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Learn more about Types of Book Editing and How to Get Them Done
See how Fiverr can connect you with publishing pros

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [13:43] “When it comes to having a really great cover versus having a well-edited book, if you're going to pay for just one of these services. I've had plenty of examples where my friends will say, ‘hey, I know the cover on this book is like absolute garbage, but the book itself is so good. So just, like, ignore the cover and just go dive right into the book’…No one has ever said to me ‘the writing is trash, but the cover is pretty. So you should read it.’”

🎙️ [29:58] “I'm sure I've said this before, and I know I'll say it again. If you wait until the day you publish your book to start promoting your book, you have already missed the boat entirely.”

🎙️ [31:59] “I just don't think it's worth it to pay, you know, an agency or anybody else to really help you with the marketing of a book…we haven't seen many cases where the amount of money exchanged, especially for newer authors, really comes back as a viable return in the way of getting book sales, I think people really are able to make a good go of it themselves these days.”

What is Print-on-Demand?

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0500

Lulu.com is a print-on-demand self-publishing company. But what exactly is print-on-demand? And why is it such a popular business model?

In this episode, Matt & Lauren explore the environmentally-friendly, budget-conscious benefits of print-on-demand. We also answer a few FAQs about POD, including why it takes a little extra time to receive your book, what you can expect from the book’s production quality, and whether or not print-on-demand is more expensive than offset printing. Listen now to discover why print-on-demand is the future of publishing!

Dive Deeper

💡Watch These Videos

💡 Read These Blog Posts

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [13:56] “But at the end of the day, when you factor all your costs in, your time spent doing things, what you have to put out upfront versus what you can pay on the back end later, and some of that other math, when you start adding those things up, in most cases, for most people, self-publishing with print on demand is usually the more budget-friendly and cost-conscious way to go.”

🎙️ [22:12] “Most places that utilize a print on demand process, digital printing of some sort, can provide you, upon request in most cases, a lot of the different things they do that contribute to a much better, and much more sustainable carbon footprint…I think when we talk about us as creators making conscious decisions to do certain things on certain processes, we really should think about that.”

🎙️ [32:38] “There is a reversal of that quality spectrum that's been happening over the last eight to ten years…I would definitely say that the quality of print on demand books is lightyears better now than it was ten to fifteen years ago.”

Why We Love Attending Conferences (and Why You Should Too)

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt and Lauren expound on the many reasons we’re passionate about sponsoring and attending in-person events. We talk about why we love meeting new people (even as a pair of introverts), the educational and inspirational benefits, networking and community-building opportunities, and more!

Matt’s Famous Vegas Out-of-Office:

I am out of the office Monday, November 6th, through Friday, November 10th. While dodging casino zombies and buffet browsers, my team and I will be attending The 20Books author conference in Las Vegas. I don't drink, smoke, or gamble, so you can imagine how excited I am to spend a week in a hazmat suit every time I step out of my hotel room. I will do my best to reply to your email, but please cut me some slack if it takes a few days. If it takes more than 3 days, please notify the Las Vegas PD that I may have fallen victim to the aforementioned zombies.

Dive Deeper

💡 Sign up for Ann Handley’s Total Annarchy Newsletter
💡 Learn about Content Entrepreneur Expo or CEX

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

CEX 2023 Video Playlist

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️[15:46] “The difference between hearing from a speaker that you could also just listen to their podcast, or read their blog. or whatever, and attending an in-person event is the other attendees there with you.”

🎙️[26:14] “This is an environment where people are intentionally open to fostering connections with new people, which definitely takes some of the pressure off of networking and having those conversations…The type of networking that happens when you're there, in person, at an event is just different than what's going on on the internet.”

🎙️[37:49] “Find other ways to make the trip more beneficial for you as well in terms of an ROI. Maybe there's some people you can set up meetings with while you're there that can help further along some of the objectives you might have for the year, content exchanges, things like that.”

The Robot in the Room: AI for Authors & Content Creators

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0500

In this episode Lauren and Matt address the robot in the room – artificial intelligence! We share a few of our favorite ways to use AI and generative AI tools to help streamline content creation. Learn how we use AI as a research and analytics aid, to help with drafting and outlining content, to come up with variations on email subject lines and titles, and more!

Dive Deeper

💡Curious about any of the AI or resources we referenced in the episode? Check them out:

💡Read Think Outside The Bot: How AI Can Help Content Creators and Using Custom AIs to Grow Your Content Business on the Lulu Blog

💡Watch Ann Handley’s CEX 2023 Keynote on How to Write Like a Robot Can't: Finding Your Writing Voice in an AI World

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [11:47] “I think the main way, right now, that most people are using it with any sort of success rate and efficiency rate is using it to buy back time in your day.”

🎙️ [15:38] ““Asking ChatGPT ‘can you break this down and explain it in a way that a room full of high school students, or take it deeper and say a room full of fifth graders, would understand,’ you'd be amazed at what you get back.””

🎙️ [41:39] “For whatever you're doing with it right now, whether that's not using it and being afraid of it, or whether that's starting to experiment with it and getting over your fears, or whether you consider yourself an expert in it right now…this is still the dumbest version of it you'll ever use, because it's changing every single day. So if you're finding value in it today, or you're gonna take some of these things we talked about back to your desk and try to make use of them, imagine if it's even the least bit helpful today, imagine how helpful it can be in your life six months from now, a year from now.”

Can You Really Make Money Selling Books?

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Matt and Lauren tackle the question on every author and creator’s mind – can you actually make money from books? We share our favorite tactics for maximizing your book’s earning potential, including doing your market research, selling direct, making effective use of all your content, and more. Plus, we share some Lulu authors & creators who are doing it right!

Dive Deeper

💡 Learn more about Katie Cross
💡 Learn more about Scarred for Life
💡 Learn more about Daren Smith
💡 Learn more about Limelight Publishing
💡 Learn more about Creative Explained

💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [11:04] “If you start your marketing efforts for your book the day that the book goes on sale, you're already too late.”

🎙️ [23:27] “The ecommerce landscape is shifting. It's evolving quickly, but it's also shifting to where we're not just talking about website driven sales anymore. We're talking about the integration of ecommerce into social media channels…So as a book creator and seller, you need to be aware of those things and understand, again, what channels are your potential buyers hanging out, you know, your potential readers and new fans, where are they hanging out and you really should get yourself familiarized with the way that you can sell on those channels.”

🎙️ [30:00] “Monetizing your content with a book is great, but also using it as a way to establish yourself as a thought leader or an expert in your industry, using it to foster new connections, network, collaborate with your peers, open up new opportunities for something like a speaking engagement, guest podcast appearances. These are all ways that you're going to hopefully generate revenue and generate more business for yourself, and the book has helped you to do that.”

4 Reasons Creators Don’t Sell Direct (and Why You Should)

Wed, 08 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0500

In this episode, Lauren & Matt tackle some common myths, misconceptions, and hesitations creators often share about selling direct!

We debunk concerns like, “I don’t know how to build my own website,” “I don’t have what it takes to run a business,” and “I rely on third-party platforms for discoverability.” Plus, we share why selling direct is the future of book publishing, and why we think it’s worth investing the time now to help your business flourish long-term.

Dive Deeper

💡 Learn how Lulu Direct can help your business grow.
💡 Read These Blog Posts

💡 Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [8:14] “At the end of the day, that's what you are. You're a small business owner. And so finding ways to push through and treat this as a business, it's something you have to do. If this is what you're going to do long-term, if you're in this for the long haul and you're trying to build a sustainable business from your writing or content creation efforts, you have to do this.”

🎙️ [34:04] “The work that you put in now to do things like access your customer data by selling direct and being able to remarket to them because you have all that information, that will help you later. That work that you're doing now is going to help you continue to grow your business in hopefully years to come.”

Is Self-Publishing the Best Path for Today’s Creators?

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 17:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Lauren & Matt explore traditional, hybrid, and self-publishing, and make a case for why self-publishing is the best path for today’s creators.

Whether you're looking to grow your brand, make money, share your story, or establish yourself as an expert, there’s a publishing path for you. Discover the benefits of self-publishing, including complete creative control, faster time to market, and the opportunity to build a loyal fanbase. Plus, we take a look at how self-publishing could be your ticket to maximizing profits and achieving your brand goals.

Dive Deeper

💡Download your free copy of our Publishing for Growth ebook
💡Find out what creators like you are doing to grow their content business in our Creator Insights report.
💡Check out Jane Friedman’s Key Book Publishing Paths
💡Read These Blog Posts

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [15:06] “These days one of our biggest goals as creators is to grow an audience, and more importantly, you know, to turn that audience into what we would consider fans, or super fans, right? People who are going to give you money for your content at some point or some stage in that journey.”

🎙️ [18:20] “If that's something that's important to you, if growing your brand and owning your content is important to you, self-publishing is absolutely the correct path for you because you want to own the rights to your own content.”

🎙️ [21:52] “When you take on the responsibility of owning your content and selling it directly to your fans in your community through using self-publishing and direct sales tactics, you're the one collecting [customer] data. You know exactly how many people have bought your book or books, you have their names, their email addresses, and any other piece of information that comes through on that transaction on your platform, and you can use that data to remarket...When it comes to building a community and a brand and building up a dedicated audience of loyal fans, it starts with owning that data, and you can't do that if you're traditionally published.”

Publishing for Growth: How a Book Can Level Up Your Brand

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 17:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Matt and Lauren discuss how publishing a book can help you establish yourself as an expert or thought leader in your industry.

Your book can serve as a business card or lead magnet, as the foundation for a community of fans, and as a networking key to unlock doors to speaking engagements, guest appearances, collaborations, and more. Plus, a book will generate passive revenue for your business, supplement your existing products, courses, or services, and help you connect directly with your audience.

Dive Deeper:

💡Learn more about growing your brand or business with a book when you Publish for Growth.
💡Download our Publishing for Growth ebook.
💡Find out what creators like you are doing to grow their content business in our Creator Insights report.

💡Read These Blog Posts

💡Watch These Videos

Sound Bites From This Episode:

🎙️ [1:38] “When we talk to people about using a book to grow your business…it always starts with positioning yourself as somebody that others would want to look to as the expert.”

🎙️[9:38] “[Publishing a book] gives you a reason to talk to people, which I think is for those of us that are more introverted, or even just for those of us that aren't great at…just walking up to somebody cold turkey and going like, ‘Hi, let me tell you all about me, myself, and I and my business,’ this is your reason.”

🎙️[30:25] “If you want to put your stuff on Amazon or Target.com or, you know, any other third-party retail platform or aggregator or distributor, do so, but do that in the sense that you're going to rely on them for discoverability…Don't ever direct the fans and followers and customers that you've already built up to some other third party when you could actually potentially sell that content directly to them, keep that customer data, keep those profit margins higher.”

Introducing Publish & Prosper

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 16:00:00 -0400

Meet Matt Briel and Lauren Vassallo, hosts of Publish & Prosper, a new podcast where publishing, ecommerce, and marketing collide! Join us for a quick introductory episode where we talk about who we are, our experience in the self-publishing industry, and what you can expect from future Publish & Prosper episodes.