The 22 Lions Podcast: AI, Self-Publishing and Book Empire Secrets

Many authors treat narration as a checkbox — upload and hope — and lose thousands in unrealized audiobook revenue. This episode delivers a compact, actionable five-step process authors and small publishers can use to cast the right narrator, prepare a performance-ready script, run efficient direction sessions, QA the final files, and repurpose narration assets to boost discoverability. You’ll hear...

Stop hoping listeners will stumble from audio to purchase. This episode gives authors a concrete, 5-step micro-audio funnel you can build in a single afternoon to convert short narrated excerpts into email subscribers and measurable sales lift. You’ll get practical guidance on choosing high-conversion excerpt moments, editing for clarity and uplift, crafting a 15-second spoken CTA that compels act...

You launched a book and the numbers don’t match the effort. This episode gives a clear, repeatable 5-step postmortem to diagnose why a launch underperformed and what to fix first. I’ll walk you through goal alignment and metric mapping, a traffic-source audit, a conversion audit (cover, blurb, Look Inside), pricing and promotion review, and a 90-day income-recovery plan you can execute this week....

Pricing is one of the simplest levers most authors neglect — until sales plateau. In this episode Dan Desmarques walks you through a practical, ethical price-elasticity sprint you can run in two weeks to find the sweet spot between unit sales and net revenue across Kindle, print, and audio. You’ll get five clear steps: set measurable goals, design quick A/B price tests, run tests across formats an...

Many authors sit on backlists that sell sporadically while chasing new launches. This episode teaches a practical, publisher-grade playbook to convert one or more backlist titles into a paid subscription or membership that reliably generates recurring revenue and deeper reader relationships. In five clear steps you’ll audit which titles fit, structure tiered content (serial releases, exclusive aud...

Many indie authors have a ‘midlist’ of older titles that earn a trickle of royalties but never get the strategic attention a launch deserves. This episode walks through a compact, repeatable process for using AI to audit weak spots (cover signal, blurb, Look Inside, pricing, keywords), prioritize the highest-ROI fixes, and relaunch without alienating existing readers. In 480 seconds Leo and Aria e...

Many nonfiction authors publish a standalone book and leave easy revenue on the table. In this focused 8-minute episode you'll get a tight, actionable playbook to turn any nonfiction manuscript into a sellable companion workbook — without reinventing your content or adding months of work. I’ll walk through five clear steps: validate demand, design a practical workbook framework, speed-create conte...

Many authors spend months on cover and ads but lose readers in the first 10 pages or a weak blurb. This episode gives a compact, action-first system you can implement in a single afternoon: a five-step audit and rewrite sequence that improves clarity, strengthens the promise, and aligns the look-inside excerpt with buyer intent. You’ll get clear prompts to use with AI tools, a simple three-paragra...

Turn chapters into customers: this episode shows authors how to convert a few minutes of well-designed audio into a predictable sales funnel for audiobooks and book editions. You’ll get a clear five-step playbook—map your book into serial snippets, produce quick studio‑quality micro-audio, publish a short-form podcast series optimized for discovery, embed conversion-driven CTAs and lead magnets, t...

Struggling to turn one book into a steady, scalable author business? This episode walks through a five-step Series Sprint you can complete mentally in one sitting and start executing this week. I break down series strategy that prioritizes an easy entry point, a predictable cadence, and discoverability on Amazon—then show how to use AI to accelerate drafting without losing your voice. You’ll get s...

If your Amazon ads are burning budget without reliable winners, this episode gives a practical, repeatable sprint you can run in 48 hours to discover higher-converting creatives. I'll walk you through a five-step process: build crisp hypotheses, generate varied ad copy and creatives with AI, launch low-budget micro-tests on KDP/AMS, interpret the right metrics, and scale winners into full funnels....

Many authors treat international sales as accidental rather than intentional. This episode gives authors a practical, risk-aware five-step pathway to turn a single English title into paid translated editions and new revenue—without long lead times or legal headaches. You’ll get a fast rights audit, clear models for hiring translators or partnering with local publishers, distribution options that w...

Authors often treat books as endpoints instead of engines. In this episode Dan Desmarques walks you through a focused, five-step system to turn one title into a repeatable paid workshop that drives immediate revenue, grows your email list, and produces recordings you can repurpose into courses, audiobooks, or backlist offers. You’ll get a clear framework for identifying teachable frameworks inside...

This episode teaches indie authors how to extract short, high-converting audiobook teaser ads from their own narration (or a low-cost narrator) and use them across socials, podcasts, and ad platforms to boost launch discoverability and funnel listeners into KDP preorders and audiobook sales. In 8 minutes Dan and Aria break down the creative formula for attention-grabbing audio hooks, the technical...

Many authors skip preorders or set them up incorrectly, then wonder why launch traction stalls. This episode gives you a focused, five-step preorder formula that’s feasible for any indie author and tailored for KDP’s ecosystem. You’ll learn how to plan a realistic preorder timeline, optimize metadata and cover assets for discoverability, build a preorder landing funnel that converts email subscrib...

This episode teaches a three-step micro-launch you can run on a single backlist title in 30 days to generate renewed discoverability, email growth, and incremental royalties. In clear, actionable language Dan Desmarques walks through auditing the title's "discovery stack" (metadata, categories, keywords), repackaging content into three high-conversion promotional assets (lead magnet, short audiobo...

Too many authors treat metadata as a one-time chore. This episode flips that assumption: metadata is an ongoing experiment that can materially increase sales and findability without expensive ads. In five clear steps you’ll learn how to design single-variable split-tests on Amazon and off-platform, interpret the signals that actually matter (click-through, add-to-cart, purchases, read-through), an...

Many authors underprice opportunity by selling every title separately. This episode gives a practical, five-step playbook to create high-value book bundles that increase average order value, accelerate discoverability, and open new ad-friendly promo angles. You’ll get a precise checklist for choosing titles that complement each other, metadata and ASIN tactics that keep Amazon algorithms happy, pr...

Many authors sit on a backlist that sells slowly because small, fixable issues stack up: weak metadata, stale pricing, missing audio, and unmanaged cross-sells. This episode gives a clear, step-by-step catalog audit you can complete in an afternoon to surface high-impact fixes that convert browsers into buyers and listeners. You’ll get five numbered steps with exact actions (what to look for in KD...

Authors often sit on dozens of ready-made marketing assets inside their manuscripts. This episode walks you through a repeatable, 5-step Scene-to-Sales system to repurpose story scenes and nonfiction excerpts into high-converting marketing pieces: hook lines, short-form ads, email sequences, backmatter offers, and audiobook teasers. I break down how to select scenes that sell, use AI to format the...

Build a repeatable, multi-book launch engine that turns one manuscript into a scalable author business. In this episode Aria delivers a compact, eight-minute, five-step playbook authors can use to plan, write, and release a sequenced series or multi-title program that maximizes discoverability, cross-selling, and long-term royalties. You’ll get clear, actionable guidance on designing a sellable se...

This episode teaches a compact, testable audio-funnel authors can build in weeks: extract high-hook scenes from your book, produce 2–3 minute serialized audio episodes (AI narration + light human edit), and publish them as samples across Audible/Findaway clips, a short podcast feed, and social audio clips to pull listeners into your email funnel and preorder page. We break down rights and formats...

Struggling to negotiate fair splits with co-authors, ghostwriters, or contributors? In this focused 8-minute monologue Dan Desmarques lays out five actionable steps to create royalties and rights agreements that protect income and speed publication. You’ll get concrete definitions for rights vs. royalties, three split structures (flat fee, hybrid, tiered royalties) with use-cases, a simple payment...

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Most authors spend weeks on drafts, covers, and launches — then let their book’s backmatter underperform or go blank. In this 8-minute monologue Dan Desmarques and Aria Pride style the playbook authors can implement immediately: map the reader journey, design three high-converting backmatter assets (lead magnet, upsell, social proof), write conversion-focused microcopy, set up link infrastructure...