Lauren: Okay, so you want to get started with our very first episode? 

Matt: Doing a social media post. Yes. Oh, are you recording? 

Lauren: Yes. 

Matt: Okay. 

Lauren: But that's fine. You can also do your social media. 

Matt: I'll post later. 

Lauren: That's fair. 

Matt: Be my guest. 

Lauren: I mean, hey…is it for your professional Instagram or your personal one?

Matt: It is for my pinsta and potentially LinkedIn. We'll see. 

Lauren: Okay, so it sounds like you're doing it for the cause. 

Matt: Indeed, always for the cause 

Lauren: Then I'll allow it 

[1:07]

Lauren: So we should probably get started and introduce ourselves and talk a little bit more about Publish & Prosper. 

Matt: Yes, we should.

Lauren: Do you want to get started, or do you want me to go first? 

Matt: Sure. I am Matt Briel, I am the VP of Marketing & Communications at Lulu. I've been with the company for about seven and a half years now. 

Lauren: I am Lauren Vassallo. I am the Content & Community Manager here at Lulu. I've been with the company for about four and a half years, a little more, formerly as the Social Media Manager. 

Matt: That's right. What brought you to Lulu? 

Lauren: That's a great question. I moved here from New York, and I thought that I was leaving publishing behind because, you know, back in 2018, 2019, when I was moving, publishing was very much based out of New York City. And it was very much not a remote experience. So if you weren't living there, you weren't working in publishing, which is what my background is in. And so I chose to leave and I chose to move down to Raleigh. And the first job that I applied to and interviewed for was this self publishing company called Lulu.com. And here I am. 

Matt: Well, glad we got you. 

Lauren: Yeah, me too. What about you? You've been here longer than I have. You hired me. Thanks for that. What set that up? 

Matt: So far I stand by my decision to hire you. 

Lauren: That's very reassuring. 

Matt: We'll see after about 10 episodes of this podcast. 

Lauren: Also fair. 

Matt: I started out wanting to be in publishing, so I got a college degree in English creative writing, literature. Very quickly found out that I did not want to be in the traditional publishing world. So I did not for a while. When the opportunity came up to come and work for Lulu, when it was put in front of me, I jumped at it. So my background is in media sales, digital marketing. So for, you know, the last almost two decades or so, that's what I've been doing. And what they were hiring for was at the time what they were calling a growth hacker. Which basically was somebody who could come in and take a holistic look at the marketing efforts and find quicker, maybe low cost ways to gain ground on a lot of the marketing efforts. And then I just kind of worked my way up from there. So yeah. 

Lauren: Yeah, that makes sense. I'm right there with you in terms of wanting to stay in an industry or come back to an industry that we feel passionate about. That was, you know, for me, I thought that was a sacrifice I was making in leaving New York, because I wasn't gonna get to work in publishing anymore. So as soon as I found out that Lulu was a local company, I was like, oh, this has to be it. 

Matt: Luck

Lauren: Very lucky and very grateful that it worked out the way that it did. 

[03:54]

Matt: So clearly we're both passionate about books and publishing and reading and writing, although I don't write much at all. You write quite a bit. But what people may not know, if they don't know us, is that we're both equally as passionate about Disney, Disney culture, and specifically things like the Haunted Mansion, and some of the other aspects of Disney. And while we won't spend a lot of time talking about that, if any right now, what are some of the other things that you might be passionate about? And don't say Taylor Swift, or do say Taylor Swift, whatever. 

Lauren: He says, looking me in the eye while I'm wearing a Taylor Swift sweatshirt. It's fine. You know, there's a lot that I'm passionate about. Definitely Disney and all of the history and culture and, I guess, impact that it has on, on us as people. I am going to Disney in two days. So that is the light at the end of the tunnel of this week right now. Um, I think it's unlikely that we'll get through a single episode of this podcast without bringing it up at some point there or another. But - and yes, Taylor Swift. But, you know, beyond that, I'm…I am really passionate about books. I am really passionate about reading books and also collecting books, because those are very much different hobbies. And I'm just really like always invested in and interested in any kind of thing that is a creative or passion project. I love creativity in all its forms. I'm a big fan of music, not just Taylor Swift, but music in general. My whole family is very into going to concerts. So I grew up in that kind of life and appreciating art and music and stuff like that. I always love seeing what other people are feeling creative and passionate about and what they're sharing. Like some of my favorite podcasts that I listened to, like I'll open up the new episode of the week and it'll be something that I have absolutely no idea what the subject is or, you know, possibly don't care about it. But I am excited to listen to a two hour long episode that is a deep dive into The Beach Boys. Because why not? Like, because it's even if it's just like a fun opportunity to hear somebody else talk about something that they care so much about for two hours. Like, cool. That's great. I'm gonna learn something new today. 

Matt: Well, I don't know about two hours on The Beach Boys, but I get where you're coming from. Yes. 

Lauren: What about a different band? 

Matt: Absolutely. 

Lauren: That's fair. So what about you other than Disney and tattoos and books? 

Matt: Yeah. The tattoos I didn't say you brought that up, so I'm gonna…I'm gonna gloss right over that. But anybody out there that knows me knows what she's talking about. I grew up around a lot of small business owners. I grew up and had friends who started businesses, things like that. And one way or another, I was always either sort of tangentially involved or you know, just on the peripheral of these types of activities. And I grew to love that. But more importantly, what I really liked was being kind of at the genesis, you know, the start of something and that whole creative process that happens when you start talking about taking something from an idea to a business or to something of that nature that really just excited me and always has like all of my life. So I really enjoy doing those things. And ultimately, you know, when they lead to something, you know, a little more formal being created like...a business that goes on to be acquired or successful in one way or another. To me, that's very exciting. And then as I, as I started to be able to adapt that to what I do here at Lulu, I found that it was very exciting to work with individual creators and authors as they, you know, sort of take their content and try to turn that into a business, whether that's somebody who's just a fiction author who really wants to grow their catalog and their community and their revenue streams, or it's somebody who's creating nonfiction content for the purpose of their own business or brand or other businesses and wanting to take that to another level. To me, that's very exciting. And so fortunately, I think I'm in a very good position to take advantage of all that. And I think that's what really helps me enjoy my day to day work at Lulu. So I'm very passionate about that. Yeah. 

Lauren: Yeah, I think there's something really exciting and satisfying about getting to be a part of somebody's journey and seeing them succeed. 

Matt: Yep. 

Lauren: You know, whether it's someone you're close to or someone professionally or even yourself, like whatever the case may be, like it's always just there's like that extra little level of like, oh, I've been here through this experience and I've seen this and there was. One time, like a year ago, I was in a bookstore in Charleston, South Carolina, and saw a Lulu book, like an author. One of our authors had their book on display in the bookstore, and it was an author that we've partnered with for something in the past and a book that I've championed on our social media channels before and I was so excited to see it. Like I had no idea. Just like wandered in. It was like, oh, my God, that's the book. That's, that's great. That is so…and like, it was just such, like, an exciting moment to be like, this is awesome. I've seen this book like since it was published and now to, like, walk into a really cute little bookstore in the middle of Charleston and see it. 

Matt: Yeah. You get some of that success runoff, right? Like, you know, when the success hits them a little bit that runs off and you get that feeling like I helped them do that. It feels really good. Or there's an old saying, it's like, you don't have to be the sunshine every day. You can be the mirror that reflects the rays of that sunshine. 

Lauren: Love that

Matt: And I think we're mirrors. I think we do the best that we can to really help our authors and creators be more successful in their content business. And so I think, yeah, I agree with that. It's really exciting to watch that happen and be a part of it. 

Lauren: Yeah, for sure. 

Matt: Yeah. 

[10:06] 

Lauren: Of course, being passionate about what we do and the people that we work with is great. But it's also not the end all be all of something. We need more than just enthusiasm to have a. successful podcast, successful content creation, successful run as employees at Lulu. 

Matt: That's true. 

Lauren: So, you know, other than our passion for it, what do you think makes both of us kind of qualified to sit here and talk about self-publishing and the creator economy and stuff like that?

Matt: Yeah, I think we've touched on that a little bit already, but I think again, you know, for me, I've spent almost the last two decades you know, doing this, working in media and publishing and specifically in marketing and sales and communications. And all of that culminates into again, you know, how I approach every day is taking that experience and what I've learned and what's worked and try to sort of tailor that to whoever I'm working with that day or what audience we might be focusing on for the month, or if we are preparing to go to an event, you know, how are we going to take this experience? How am I going to convey, you know, some of these tactics or what's going on in the market right now? and really apply that to the audience that we're about to get in front of to help them take their content business to another level and whether that's, you know, they want to be able to successfully promote their back catalog of 30 romance novels and turn that into a more profitable revenue stream for them or again somebody who's publishing their first non-fiction book on, you know, the benefits of using AI to write real estate blurbs. Either way, I'm excited to get in front of them and I'm excited to bring, you know, again, that experience with me. I think the most gratifying part is when you get to see some of the results like we talked about earlier where you know that's turned into a direct revenue stream for that creator and they're able to skirt some of the traditional retail channels to market and really start capturing You know a true audience and building up that customer database on their own and keeping all their profits and all the other great Things that go along with it. 

Lauren: Yeah, I think that's all very fair. 

Matt: What about you? 

Lauren: Well, you mentioned going to events and stuff like that. And I think that both of us have spent a lot of our time here at Lulu kind of immersing ourselves in any opportunity to connect directly with the industry and with the creators and the audiences that we're trying to help and support. We go to a lot of events, Matt, more so than me. At least once a month, I think you're probably somewhere. 

Matt: Yeah

Lauren: But we do go to a lot of events and we spend a lot of time, like, trying to connect directly with people and learn as much as possible. You know, like a lot of the events that we go to, whether they're publishing focused or creator economy focused or marketing focused and whether we're there as vendors or as attendees, like I think we really go and try to, you know, absorb as much as we can and learn as much as we can. And We're constantly, I mean, I know I'm constantly learning. I'm constantly getting like newsletters from all different types of industry experts and attending webinars and watching video content on YouTube or even TikTok or whatever, you know, obviously when I was focusing on social media, those are a little bit more the resources that you need, but we've spent a lot of time currently, presently immersing ourselves in this kind of content. And, you know, we've both mentioned that we have backgrounds in this kind of stuff too. I mean, I mentioned a little bit earlier that I worked in publishing when I was in New York, I worked for a publisher where I worked kind of directly with digital-first authors. So I've had experience working with, you know, not New York Times bestselling authors, but people that are kind of in that in-between phase where they're not self published, but they're not the big name on a marquee for one of the big six, or I guess big five now. 

Matt: Yeah. 

Lauren: I also before that, I worked at an indie bookstore where I had a lot of experience working with, you know, the end result process of, like, the sales and the economics of any kind of book sales or anything like that. But I also as a part of that job was the person that organized events for self published authors that wanted to come in and have book signings. So have all these little like background experiences that have kind of all culminated in where I am now. 

Matt: Yeah. 

Lauren: So a lot of different opportunities and experiences to bring to the table, I guess.

Matt: A lot of different perspectives, I think, are really helpful there, yeah. 

Lauren: Oh, absolutely. And I think that's one of the things that makes our team so, I don't want to say strong, but intelligent, maybe, in general, is that we are all bringing such different experience and perspectives to the table. And doing everything that we can to share those with each other and with our audiences. 

[15:12]

Matt: Yep. So what do you think are some of the things we're gonna want to talk about over the next 5, 10, 15, 20 episodes? 

Lauren: Ooh, that's a great question. 

Matt: I'm being very optimistic here too. 

Lauren: That's very fair. I just saw the next year of my life flash before my eyes. So, let's see. I know that I want to talk more about in-person events. I think we've been to a lot and we have a lot more coming and I, you know, always get the question from people of like, are they worth it? Is it what value do they add to it? Or to like to me and my experience, what can I get out of it? How do I make the most out of my time there? So I'm excited to talk about that. 

Matt: I think we'll be talking about a number of things, but some of the other things I think we'll be excited to bring to this podcast or You know, further shedding light on self-publishing, why we think it's probably the best path for today's creators and what some of the benefits are, including the ability to sell direct to your customers and fans in a much easier way than you could five years ago, even three years ago. You know, there's a really big trend right now of people dropping the term AI, just to draw more eyes and more ears, but you know, I think we'll spend a sufficient amount of time breaking down, you know, some of this and how. how helpful it can be for authors and creators, but also what are some of the pitfalls and the dangers and maybe even some of the tools that you should and should not be using, and maybe even talk about some of the business behind AI, which I think we spend a lot of time looking at as well. You know, and anything else that might bring some clarity on how to make more money from your books and build your business using books. 

Lauren: Yeah, for sure. You know, I mean, we will probably spend a lot of time just answering the question in general of can you actually make money selling books? And is this actually something that is, you know, worth my time and effort and what I'm going to put into this? 

Matt: Spoiler alert, you can make a lot of money from your books. You just got to know how to do it. 

Lauren: Absolutely. You can, you know, and we'll also probably spend some time working to convince people that books are actually like an incredible tool for. helping to grow your business or your brand or whatever you're trying to do. I know for a lot of people that we talk to at like, in our creator and creator economy audiences are kind of like really a book, like that's, you know? So I always love getting to kind of see the light go off and people when they're like, oh yeah, actually, I see how that could make a lot of sense for my particular brand. Like… 

Matt: Yeah
Lauren: You don't have to write the Next Great American novel to publish a book, there are plenty of really great opportunities to use a book to help grow your business. And I know we'll be talking more about that. 

Matt: Yeah, on the flip side of that, there's been some recent studies done. And one of the more recent creator surveys that was done when asked to list, you know, some of the things that creators are using to make money and fund their businesses, books were in the top three. So it was books, online courses and something else. I don't remember. But so, you know, the awareness is there for some. And for others, hopefully we're bringing more of it to them. 

Lauren: I think it was consulting and coaching was the other one. 

Matt: Sounds about right. 

Lauren: Yeah, which and if you think about it, both of those other two options are also great avenues to tie a book in as well. So realistically, there's a lot of opportunity in those top three. 

Matt: Did we just start episode two? 

Lauren: Yeah. Yes, you did. Spoiler alert, Matt has jumped ahead in my outline to the next episode will be recording. It's fine, we're doing great. Anything else you think that you're excited to talk about in the near future? 

Matt: Probably not, and it's getting close to lunchtime, so you know how my body shuts down. 

Lauren: Do you wanna talk about lunch? No, not to these people. 

Lauren: Okay, that's fair. Well, that is Publish and Prosper. We're hoping to bring a lot of information, a lot of personality, in case you can't tell. and hopefully a lot of inspiration in our next few episodes and beyond that. 

Lauren: And thanks for listening. 

Matt: Thank you.