Publish & Prosper
Where publishing, technology, and marketing collide. Brought to you by Lulu.com.
Episodes
In this episode, Lauren is joined by Lulu’s Education & Community Manager and YouTube expert, Chelsea Bennett! We sit down for a deep dive conversation about using YouTube to connect with your audience and support your brand, talking through ideas like:
▶️ Why and how we approach YouTube as its own channel
▶️ Using video to set audience expectations and build trust
▶️ Recognizing the long-term value of video content
In this episode, Matt & Lauren continue the conversation they started in Episode #128 and dig into the cost involved in selling direct. Learn more about what expenses you should account for as you launch, maintain, and grow your ecommerce store, including:
💰 Annual subscriptions for your domain name and ecommerce solutions
🛒 Transaction, fulfillment, and operational plugins
📈 Brand growth and store maintenance tools
In this episode, Lauren & Matt explore the top five most popular ecommerce platforms in the market today. We review Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, Squarespace, and BigCommerce, taking a look at:
🤩 What makes these platforms so popular
⚖️ The pros and cons of each platform
👍🏼 Which platforms are the best fit for different authors, creators, and entrepreneurs
Listen now, or watch the video episode on YouTube, to learn more...
In this episode, Matt & Lauren explore two different methods of bringing your books to life: traditional offset publishing and modern digital printing. We break down:
💡 How each printing process works
🔑 Key distinctions between the two
⚖️ Different reasons you’d choose one over the other
🫱🏻🫲🏽 When we see both solutions working together
And more! Tune in wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the episode on YouTu...
In this episode, Lauren gives a crash course in marketing strategies used by one of the most successful marketers of our generation: Taylor Swift.
Matt’s here too.
Tune in for 13 lessons on audience building, pre-launch marketing, product marketing, and repeatability, straight from the mastermind’s playbook! Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video episode on YouTube.
Dive Deepe...
In this episode, Matt & Lauren look to the past to see if they were right about the future!
Way back in December 2025 we suggested 6 trends we expected to see in the publishing industry this year… 6 months later, we’re checking in to see whether or not our visions are manifesting into reality.
🎱 Are more publishers seeing print-on-demand as a competitive advantage?
🔮 Are more authors investing in brand...
In this episode, Lauren & Matt explore how authors can use AI to buy back their most valuable resource: time. Generative AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity can’t replace human creativity, but they can give you more time to be creative by helping you streamline your…
🧰 Operations
🧲 Marketing
💰 Sales
⚙️ Production
Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the episode on YouTube!
...
In this episode, Lauren and guest host Paul, Lulu’s Sr. Marketing Manager, examine an often overlooked element of indie publishing: making your book accessible to all potential readers.
Accessibility isn’t just a performative buzzword; it’s a smart strategy to help you reach new readers, connect with existing fans, increase your discoverability, and future-proof your content.
Listen, watch, or read along with the ep...
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?&...
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 Creat...
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 digit...
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
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 ...
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 D...
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 futur...
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 s...
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 ...
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 highligh...
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
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
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