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

• Ep #21 | Cover to Cover: Getting Your Book Design Right
• The Secret to Cover Design Success
• Webinar | What Makes a Good Book Cover with Bailey Designs Books

👻 Proof Possessed by Problems

• 5 Visual Indicators Your Book Is Self-Published
• Blog Posts on Book Formatting
• Videos on Book Formatting
• Lulu’s Free Publishing Resources

🔪 The Beta Reader Butcher

• Ep #20 | Do You Need to Hire Professional Editors for Your Book?
• 10 Errors Writers Make That Editors Hate
• Types of Book Editing and How to Get Them Done
  
  

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.

💀 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 podcast@lulu.com
💀 Sign up for our mailing list.

One of the biggest benefits of selling direct is having complete control over your fans’ customer experience, but even the best entrepreneurs out there sometimes find themselves facing a tricky customer service issue.

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.

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

• Preparing Your Site for Holiday Book Sales
• Joanna Penn’s Bookstore FAQ Page

💡 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

• Customer Service and Your Ecommerce Business
• 5 Ways to Get Your Lulu Direct Store Ready for the Holidays
• Direct Sales Basics for Selling Your Book with Lulu

💡 Watch These Videos

• Customer Service Tips for Your Ecommerce Business
• Onboarding Customers for Your Ecommerce Business
• The Life of a Book

Sound Bites From This Episode

🎙️ [2:42] “Whether or not you've had any customer service experience in your life, in terms of a role, 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.”

💀 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 podcast@lulu.com
💀 Sign up for our mailing list.

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

• Ep #56 | The Indie Author's Guide to Going Wide With Your Book Distribution
• Ep #74 | Paul's Pod: Your Guide to Taking Your Writing Habit to the Next Level
• Ep #82 | The Email Marketing Podcast with Laurie & Lauren

💡 Read These Blog Posts

• Editing Best Practices
• Social Media Marketing 101
• The Publishing Journey: Traditional Publishing vs. Self-Publishing
  
  

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.”

💀 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 podcast@lulu.com
💀 Sign up for our mailing list.

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.

Dive Deeper

💡 Explore These Resources

• OverDrive | Libraries Break Digital Lending Records in 2024 with Over 739 million Checkouts
• 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 by Eric Otis Simmons and Joanna Penn
• Booklife by Publishers Weekly

💡 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

• How to Get Your Book Into Libraries
• Selling Your Book on Consignment with Indie Bookstores
• 5 Visual Indicators Your Book is Self-Published

💡 Watch These Videos

• Distributing Your Book With Lulu: What You Need to Know
• What the Hell is Book Metadata?
• What is an ISBN? (And When You Need One)
  
  

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.”

💀 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 podcast@lulu.com
💀 Sign up for our mailing list.

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)
  
  
  

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

• What Is an Author Brand and Why Does It Matter?
• Mastering Email Marketing for Authors

💡 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.”

💀 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 podcast@lulu.com
💀 Sign up for our mailing list.

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.

Dive Deeper

💡 Meet Lynette & Learn More About Limelight

• Write Publish Repeat
• Lynette Greenfield Author Spotlight
• Limelight Publishing

💡 Listen to These Episodes

• Ep #53 | How to Create A Writing Habit That Actually Sticks
• Ep #79 | Book Launch Blueprint: How Justin Moore Sold Over 1,000 Books in 90 Days

💡 Read These Blog Posts

• Raising Eyebrows
• It Is Just as Important to Be Noticed as It Is to Be Remembered

💡 Watch These Videos

• 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.”

💀 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 podcast@lulu.com
💀 Sign up for our mailing list.

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)

💡 Meet These Awesome Content Entrepreneurs

• Austin L. Church
• Lou Mongello
• Julia Levine
• Joe Pulizzi
• Robbie Fitzwater

💡 Listen to These Episodes

• 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)

💀 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 podcast@lulu.com
💀 Sign up for our mailing list.

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

• Basic Book Promotion on Social Media
• Mastering Email Marketing for Authors: A Comprehensive Guide
• 6 Author Website Tips for Success

💡 Watch These Videos

• Playlist | Author Branding
• How to Use Social Media to Grow Your Author Brand
  
  

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.”

💀 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 podcast@lulu.com
💀 Sign up for our mailing list.