517 episodes
How to Turn Readers Into Collectors Using the Diderot Effect (Marketing Psychology)
04/11/2026 | 32 mins.Little Golden Books have sold billions of copies with almost no advertising.
You might guess it's the cute animals or the cheap price. But plenty of books try that and fail.
The real reason is a piece of marketing psychology so powerful it works on babies who can't read yet. It works even better on adults. It's called the Diderot Effect, and most authors have never heard of it.
In this week's episode of Novel Marketing, you'll discover:
The one detail on the back of a Little Golden Book that almost every other publisher gets wrong, even the ones who copy the idea
The "boring" production choice that decides whether readers finish buying your series or stop halfway
The one-sentence email that turns a single limited-edition buyer into a collector for life
Listen in or read the blog version to discover how it works and how it can help you sell any kind of book, and every book that comes after it.
Blog link: https://www.authormedia.com/how-to-turn-readers-into-collectors-using-the-diderot-effect-marketing-psychology/
YouTube Link:
https://youtu.be/iDL0xot34TE
Support the show- In my recent episode The Shopify Trap, I explained why selling direct doesn’t always pay off for authors. When you’re selling dozens of books instead of thousands, monthly fees and sales tax paperwork can eat your profits. Meanwhile, Amazon takes a substantial cut of every sale.
So, is there a better way to sell directly to readers without giving up your margins or adding another monthly bill?
I asked Greg Keogh, co-founder of Curios, a direct-sales platform used by thousands of authors. Greg and his team built Curios to handle the headaches that often come with selling direct, from sales tax to customer service.
In this week’s episode, you’ll learn
Three advantages you have over Amazon if you’re selling direct
One Curios data feature that no other platform is giving authors
How Curios saves you from having to be a tax expert and tech support (two things authors generally despise!)
Listen to the full episode or read the blog version to discover whether selling direct makes sense for you and the many features and benefits Curios offers authors.
Blog link: https://www.authormedia.com/is-curios-the-shopify-killer-for-authors/
Author media social link:
Youtube link: https://youtu.be/G_1qrunlZkg
Support the show - Most authors know only one kind of Kickstarter campaign, and for many of them, it isn't the best one.
This week on Novel Marketing, you’ll hear from Russell Nohelty, a USA Today bestselling author of over 70 books who has run dozens of successful Kickstarter campaigns. Russell wrote the book on the subject, How to Launch Your Book on Kickstarter, and he didn't hold back, even when he disagreed with me.
In this week’s episode, you’ll learn
Five different types of Kickstarter campaigns you can run
Which campaign work best for your career stage and situation
The Kickstarter reward you should never offer
The right Kickstarter campaign will give you far more information about your readers and launch than your readers can even articulate to you. Listen in or read the blog version so you don't pick the wrong kind of Kickstarter for your book.
Blog link: https://www.authormedia.com/the-5-kinds-of-kickstarter-campaigns-for-authors/
Guest: Russell Nohelty Topic: The five kinds of author Kickstarter campaigns, and how to pick the one that fits your career
YT Link: https://youtu.be/TzyWQdmR1P8
Support the show - The chatbot told him his manuscript was brilliant. The humans gave his manuscript a C.
That's what happened to one author who trusted AI as his editor. If you use AI to help with your editing, it's probably lying to you too, and not just once in a while.
In this week’s episode, I talked with Matthew Bowman, a freelance science fiction and fantasy editor who has worked with authors for 16 years and runs the Novel Ninja blog. Matthew helped me develop many of the anti-flattery techniques behind the Patron Toolbox, and he's spent the past year testing which prompts actually get AI to tell the truth.
Here's some of what we cover.
What happens when you tell the AI someone else wrote your chapter?
Which two-word phrase flips every major AI into a mode where it tells the truth?
What's the one small fib that makes an AI ruthlessly critical of the work you show it?
Listen in or read the blog post before your next draft goes out, so your first honest feedback doesn't come from a one-star review.
Blog link: https://www.authormedia.com/ai-is-lying-to-you-about-your-book/
Authormedia.social link:
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/htdXu0-xjR0
Support the show - Your book may not be dead. As Miracle Max would say, it might only be mostly dead. A book that flopped three years ago could sell better today than it did on launch day, but only if you fix what actually broke.
This week, I talked with Julie Broad, founder of Book Launchers and host of BookLaunchers.TV. Julie is a #1 Amazon bestselling author, and her team has helped more than 400 authors write, publish, and market their books. When her clients publish second editions, her team moves their reviews over all the time.
In this episode, you'll discover
Whether a book that sold well at launch is a candidate for relaunch.
The review pattern that tells you if a relaunch will waste your money.
The one change that makes it impossible to keep your reviews when you relaunch.
Listen in or read the blog version before you spend a dime on a new cover, so your relaunch doesn't repeat the mistakes that stalled your book the first time.
Blog link: https://www.authormedia.com/how-to-relaunch-your-book/
Authormedia.social link
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/0CjW9JmGAxI
Support the show
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About Novel Marketing
The longest-running book marketing podcast in the world. This is the show for writers who want to build their platform, sell more books, and change the world with writing worth talking about. Whether you self publish or are with a traditional house, this podcast will make book promotion fun and easy. Thomas Umstattd Jr. interviews publishers, indie authors, and bestselling traditional authors about how to get published and sell more books.
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