> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.revenuerulebreaker.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # New ways indie authors sell books: Fireside chat with Matt Briel, CMO of Lulu - URL: https://www.revenuerulebreaker.com/new-ways-indie-authors-sell-books-fireside-chat-with-matt-briel-cmo-of-lulu-recap/ - Published: 2026-10-29T17:10:46.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-29T17:13:43.000Z - Description: Watch our conversation about why authors are selling their books direct to their readers and how you can start doing that too - Author: Lex Roman - Tags: Page Earner, Community Events You've got a book or you're thinking of publishing one and you're wondering where you should sell it. You know Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, and Bookshop. How are today's creators and brands rethinking book fulfillment to eliminate upfront costs? And what if I told you there's a way you can know exactly who is buying your book? ​We tackled these questions with the help of [Lulu's CMO Matt Briel](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-briel/?ref=revenuerulebreaker.com). Matt and his team have helped millions of authors publish, print and distribute their books. Indie authors can do so much more than just getting a book into major retail channels. In this session, Matt explains why selling direct to your audience is a catalyst for your success. Watch our conversation or read the recap below! ***β€‹πŸ“šοΈ This event was held in partnership with*** [***Lulu***](https://lexroman.com/lulu?ref=revenuerulebreaker.com)***: Sell your books worldwide with their scalable tools for indie publishers.*** [Check out Lulu](https://lexroman.com/lulu?ref=revenuerulebreaker.com) (This is my affiliate link but there's no additional cost to use it) ### In this video: - Why selling direct lets you own your customer data - How to use that data to keep readers coming back - The four ways to sell direct with Lulu - A simple setup for your first book - How to avoid the three-month sales cliff ### Highlights from the session ​**What are you missing if you only sell through major retailers?** Matt said you're "missing out on remarketing opportunities and the ability to continue building the audience that they're already working hard to build." The only way to get customer data is to "own the transaction," which means selling direct. ​**What should you do with that reader customer data?** "Having it is one thing. Doing something with it is actually the most important thing." He suggested segmenting your list and sending things like birthday emails or postcards, as romance authors do with Valentine's postcards. ​**Where can you sell?** Amazon is for discoverability only: "make Amazon earn its share." Ingram gets you into libraries and Barnes & Noble. Selling direct is the third route. ​**What are the ways to sell direct with** [**Lulu**](https://lexroman.com/lulu?ref=revenuerulebreaker.com)**?** - ​**Direct buy button:** a code snippet you can drop into a newsletter or social post, with taxes and shipping handled for you. - ​**Plugins:** Shopify, Wix and WooCommerce, if you want a storefront. - ​**Order import tool:** upload a CSV of orders and Lulu prints and ships them. - ​**API:** the most advanced option, with full control. ​Between them, "you can sell anywhere and everywhere that your little heart desires." ​**What is the** [**Lulu API**](https://lexroman.com/lulu?ref=revenuerulebreaker.com)**?** It's "basically a direct connection into our backend or our global print network." Because you send the print file with every order, you can personalize each copy, for example a custom page for the 400 books an event hands out. He said it's literally like 12 lines of code. ​**Who is the merchant of record if you sell with Lulu?** With the buy button, technically Lulu is because you're on a Stripe sub-account, but you still get the customer data and keep the profit. With plugins and the API, you are. ​**Why use a buy button if you already have Shopify?** It takes the tax and shipping worries off you. But "would I do it for an extended period of time? Probably not." If you've mastered Shopify, you'd be going backwards. ​**What should your first-book selling setup be?** Put it on Amazon and Ingram with QR codes in the book, then on the Lulu bookstore, where print earns you 80% and ebooks 90%. Within 30 days, start experimenting with the direct buy button in your newsletter or social channel. ​**Where do you build a direct audience?** You still use social media and marketplaces, but "you've got to drive people over to the space that you own." You wouldn't "rent a piece of property from somebody and then build a house on it." Send people to your site and your newsletter from your platforms. ​**Where should your call to action go?** For fiction, "almost always in the back." For nonfiction, it can appear multiple times, "in the least intrusive and annoying way possible." Integrate it into your chapters in relevant ways. ​**Do reviews matter?** Matt's answer: "I don't give a shit about reviews." What matters is word of mouth and user-generated content. He said Justin "would rather have one video from \[a reader\] than 5,000 reviews on Amazon." ​**Can you publish on Amazon, Ingram and Lulu at once?** Yes, 100%. The caveat is Amazon's exclusive program: you give up some pricing control with them, and you can't price lower elsewhere. ​**Why do sales drop off 3 to 6 months after launch?** "They simply stop marketing their book." There's "a visible cliff" around the three-month mark. Justin Moore (author of Sponsor Magnet) avoids it because "he has not stopped talking about his book since before he published it." ​**How can fiction authors earn beyond book sales?** "The number one way is to write more books." Beyond that, he pointed to merch (stickers, mugs, shirts), book clubs, and offering multiple formats (print editions, ebooks and audiobooks) ​**How do you sell a business anthology as a co-author?** Use the tried-and-true strategies and "make your content relevant to something that's going on this week or next week or next quarter." ​**What is one thing that most authors aren’t doing, but should be, to build loyalty with their readers?** Start with owning some customer data and use it to build relationships with your readers. Then build a welcome series: "If you don't have a rock solid welcome series, what are you even doing?" Consider adding automated birthday emails, and get to one or two in-person events a year. ### ​Recommended Publish & Prosper episodes ​[How Justin Moore Sold Over 10,000 Books](https://www.publishprosperpodcast.com/2247307/episodes/19923080-how-justin-moore-sold-over-10-000-books?utm%5Fsource=luma) We talked a lot about Justin today and Matt and Lauren recently had him on to talk more about how he's kept momentum 2 years post-publish ​[Building Excitement Before Your Book Launch](https://www.publishprosperpodcast.com/2247307/episodes/19664655-building-excitement-before-your-book-launch?utm%5Fsource=luma) If you're publishing a book soon, this episode is for you. Matt and Lauren talk about hyping up what you're about to publish and find the audience that's ready to read it. ### About Matt Briel, **VP and CMO of Lulu** ​[Matt Briel](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-briel/?ref=revenuerulebreaker.com) brings nearly two decades of experience in the Media & Publishing space and excels at transforming ideas into action (and coffee into strategy). A creative entrepreneur at heart, Matt defies corporate norms, ditching the blazer and tie aesthetic for tattoos and Disney fanaticism. When he’s not obsessing over work, he spends his time with family and watching 80s movies. [Check out Lulu](https://lexroman.com/lulu?ref=revenuerulebreaker.com)