Most authors can tell you their royalties but not their net profit per book. They spend money on ads, see sales come in, and assume things are fine. But are they? Sales and profit are not the same thing.

How can you find out if you’re making money or just making sales?

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear from Eiri Theodorou, founder of Publisher Champ, an analytics platform used by over 25,000 authors.

You’ll learn

• How one of Amazon’s metrics is somewhat misleading (and how to find the truth)
• How you can track real-world marketing (like speaking and interviews) in a dashboard
• How to find out if your best-selling book is masking problems with your other books.

If you want to stop guessing about your profitability, listen in or read the blog version. You’ll be able to invest in marketing with more certainty and become truly profitable.

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There’s a culture shift underway that most authors aren’t seeing. Even traditional publishers can’t figure out why their titles are resonating. If your book isn’t selling, it could be a cover or craft problem, but it might be a zeitgeist problem.  

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear from fantasy and LitRPG author Seth Ring. We discuss the biggest cultural shift in storytelling in two decades and what it means for your books.

You’ll discover

• What’s become of the morally conflicted anti-hero trope
• What readers are tired of and hungry for
• A sure-fire way to write a story that resonates for this new zeitgeist

This cultural shift puts authors in a uniquely strategic place. If you want to make an impact with your writing and bring hope and change to the world through stories, it’s your time to shine. Listen in or read the blog version to find out how.

Blog Link: https://www.authormedia.com/the-cultural-zeitgeist-shift-thats-making-indie-authors-rich/

AuthorMedia.social link:  https://authormedia.social/c/novel-marketing/the-cultural-zeitgeist-shift-that-s-making-indie-authors-rich

YouTube Link:
https://youtu.be/zVz0pd-P3TU

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I bought and tested Apple's cheapest laptop so you don't have to.

I stress-tested the MacBook Neo with a 250,000-word document, ran every major writing app, and pushed the machine to its limits. Whether the Neo is right for you depends on what you use your computer to do, because authors do more than just type words into a word processor.

In this week's episode of Novel Marketing, you’ll learn

• What you should look for (and ignore) when buying a laptop in 2026
• Which laptops I recommend for authors, podcasters, and PC users
• Whether the MacBook Neo is the right choice for you as an author
• Which laptop I will not recommend in 2026

Listen in or read the blog version to find out which machine is the best bang for your buck and your use cases as an author.

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Your author friends are lying to you about your book cover.

Well, not on purpose. They can’t help it.

When authors are trying to pick a book cover, they often ask their friends which cover they like best. But that strategy doesn’t work because your friends look too closely. They think about your feelings. They vote based on which cover has more votes.

But your cover isn’t for your friends.

It’s for strangers.

In this week’s episode, we unpack why beautiful covers, which are loved by your friends, fail to help your book sell. You’ll hear how one author made his losing ads profitable without rewriting a single word of his book.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn

• What makes a cover “good”
• How you can get accurate data on what will make readers click to buy
• How much you’ll need to spend to get a cover that sells

If your ads aren’t working, it may be time to examine the elements of your cover. Listen in or read the blog version to find out how.  

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Many authors say reader magnets don’t work anymore. But when done right, a good reader magnet can grow your email list from zero to thousands of subscribers before your first book even launches.

In this episode, you’ll hear from author, podcaster, and producer of the Novel Marketing podcast, Laurie Christine, who built an email list of thousands using various reader magnet strategies, all while writing for Christian moms and middle-grade boys.

You’ll discover:

• How many reader magnets you actually need
• The surprising promotion strategy that yielded more than 500 solid subscribers
• How to create reader magnets that attract buyers, not just freebie seekers
• A tool to help you discover which reader magnets may work for you

You’ll also learn how you can use reader magnets to refine your message, craft, and audience before publishing your first book.

Listen in or read the blog version to learn techniques for building (or growing) an email list regardless of where you are in your writing journey.

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Do you ever wish you had a team of writing, publishing, or marketing professionals to consult? Do you wish you had an assistant to help with the business and marketing side of writing?

What if you could have both for less than the cost of a couple of lattes?

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear about the newest additions to the Novel Marketing Patron Toolbox, a growing suite of practical tools designed specifically for authors like you.

Inside this episode, you’ll discover:

• New editing tools that can help you at each stage of the editing process
• New business tools to help you create an overall strategy and analyze results
• New book promotion tools to help you connect with new readers
• And many more

Whether you’re producing an audiobook, building a fictional world, planning classroom resources, or have questions for an agent or a CPA, these tools are designed to save you time, sharpen your strategy, and give you a head start before working with real human professionals.

Listen in or read the blog version to learn more.

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Is your writing a hobby or a profession? The answer to that question changes everything.

Many authors claim to be professionals but act like hobbyists. They write what they want instead of what readers will pay for. They try to fit a finished book into a genre instead of studying the genre first. They publish without a marketing plan or budget and are shocked by low sales and few reviews.

They expect professional results from a hobbyist approach.

If that sounds familiar, there’s good news. You can choose the professional path.

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear from author and podcaster Joanna Penn, who hosts the longest-running indie publishing podcast.

You’ll discover:

• How to build a sustainable author career in an era of AI
• Which marketing activities you should choose and which to ignore
• Business principles that apply to your writing career
• How to use AI to do the business tasks you dislike so you have more time for creativity and storytelling

To learn how to build a sustainable author business in an era of rapid change, listen in or read the blog version.

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If your book isn’t selling, it may not be your writing.

It may be your metadata.

In this week’s episode of the Novel Marketing Podcast, you’ll hear from Dave Chesson, creator of Publisher Rocket, and learn about the hidden engine behind book sales on Amazon.

Even if your book is well-written and professionally edited, Amazon doesn’t read your book. It reads your metadata. And if your metadata is unclear, inconsistent, or confusing, Amazon won’t show your book to readers, even if it’s amazing.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• What your book’s metadata is
• Where you can manage it (and make it most effective!)
• How to include the most effective elements and language in your metadata
• And common metadata mistakes to avoid

If you want your book to show up in search results, convert better when readers click, and avoid the dark recesses of the “miscellaneous shelf,” listen in or read the blog version.

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Many authors assume book formatting is complicated, expensive, or something only professionals can handle.

In ​this week’s episode​, I talk with Bryan Canter about why that assumption is outdated, and how tools like Vellum have changed what authors can do. If you’ve ever wondered whether you need to pay a pro or learn to format your book’s interior yourself, this conversation will give you clarity.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• When you should format the book or reader magnet and when you should hire a pro
• How Vellum can prevent common design mistakes
• How you can update back matter, fix typos, add reader magnets as needed

​Listen to the episode​ or ​read the blog version​ to see how Vellum can save you money, time, and headache when formatting your next book or reader magnet.

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American Taxes, pay too little and you go to jail. Pay too much and you lose the money you need to reach more readers with advertising and promotion.  If your records feel like a mess of Amazon deposits, Ingram payments, Kickstarter funds, affiliate income, coaching fees and dozens of random expenses you’re not alone. 

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear from a CPA who works specifically with authors, about how to handle bookkeeping and taxes with confidence. Seth Norris welcome to the Novel Marketing Podcast!

• You’ll learn:
  A simple bookkeeping rhythm that prevents tax-time chaos.
  How the IRS decides if your writing is a business or a hobby.
  The most common mistake that costs authors the most money.

Discover how to simplify your approach and how to avoid paying more taxes than you actually owe.

If you want to keep more money for advertising, marketing, or feeding your family, stop treating taxes like a deadline of doom. Instead, listen in or read the blog version.

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Do you ever feel like your book is taking forever to write?

Maybe you’ve been working on the same manuscript for years, and then you look up and see other authors publishing a book a year, or more. How do they do it?

In this week’s episode, I ask Jerry B. Jenkins that very question. He has sold more than 73 million books, including his mega-bestselling Left Behind series, and he breaks down the habits and mindset that helped him produce quality work on deadline for decades.

You’ll discover:

• A practical way to establish a writing schedule
• The counterintuitive way to combat procrastination
• One way to silence your inner editor without eliminating it completely

If you’re ready to get out of your own way, build a sustainable writing rhythm, and finish what you start, you’ll want to hear this one.

Listen in or read the blog version to discover how you can finish your book and write better books for the rest of your writing career.

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