Publish & Prosper

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.  

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💡 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."

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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.

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💡 Target Press Release

💡 Related Episodes

• Ep #2 | Is Self-Publishing the Best Path for Today's Creators?
• Ep #16 | The Indie Author's Guide to Thriving Without Amazon
• Ep #36 | The Indie Author’s Guide to Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing
  
  

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.”

💀 Can’t wait for our next episode? Check out our Resources page for links to our blog, our YouTube channel, and more.
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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. 

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💡 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

• Unlock Your Content Business Potential With User Data
• Tracking Your Marketing Efforts With UTM Tags
• Complete Tech Stack for Publishing

💡 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.”

💀 Can’t wait for our next episode? Check out our Resources page for links to our blog, our YouTube channel, and more.
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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. 

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💡 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

• How to Grow Your Author Network
• Maximize Your Time at In-Person Events
• Why Creator Events Are a Must for Creators & Entrepreneurs
  
  

💡 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.”

💀 Can’t wait for our next episode? Check out our Resources page for links to our blog, our YouTube channel, and more.
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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?

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💡 Read These Blog Posts

• 10 Ways Modern Authors Can Build an Audience
• How to Find Your Target Audience

💡 Watch These Videos

• The Confetti Video
• The Life of a Book
• Playlist | Audience Building

💡 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.”

💀 Can’t wait for our next episode? Check out our Resources page for links to our blog, our YouTube channel, and more.
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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. 

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💡 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

• Social Media Content Ideas for Authors
• Social Media 101 for Authors

💡 Watch These Videos

• Lulu U | How to Use Social Media to Grow Your Author Brand
• Webinar | Before Social Media: The Marketing Elements You Need Before You Post with Annie Schiffmann

💡 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.”

💀 Can’t wait for our next episode? Check out our Resources page for links to our blog, our YouTube channel, and more.
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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! 

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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.”

💀 Can’t wait for our next episode? Check out our Resources page for links to our blog, our YouTube channel, and more.
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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.

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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?”

💀 Can’t wait for our next episode? Check out our Resources page for links to our blog, our YouTube channel, and more.
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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. 

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💡 Read These Blog Posts

• What Are Product Variants & Why Do Authors Need Them?
• How to Turn Casual Followers into Dedicated Super Fans
• Bookshop.org: Your Local, Online Bookseller

💡 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.”

💀 Can’t wait for our next episode? Check out our Resources page for links to our blog, our YouTube channel, and more.
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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.  


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💡 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

• Sell More Books With A Holiday Social Media Strategy
• Discounting Best Practices and Biggest Blunders
• Black Friday & Cyber Monday Holiday Sales Planning
• 9-Point Book Sales Checklist For Holiday
• 5 Ways To Get Your Lulu Direct Shopify Store Ready For The Holidays

💡 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

💀 Can’t wait for our next episode? Check out our Resources page for links to our blog, our YouTube channel, and more.
💀 Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at luludotcom!
💀 Email us at [email protected]
💀 Sign up for our mailing list.