

Self Publishing Insiders
Draft2Digital, Mark Leslie Lefebvre, Jim Azevedo, Lexi Greene
Brought to you from the indie author experts at Draft2Digital! Each week, Self Publishing Insiders features an interview with a new guest, covering self-publishing topics from writing and craft to marketing and promoting your books, and anything that can help you build and grow your author career.
Learn about new tools, new software, new markets—and of course, all the inside information that D2D can provide!
This show features interviews taken from our live D2D Spotlight, available on YouTube and Facebook. Join us, and get your questions answered during the live broadcast, when you visit D2DLive.com!
Learn about new tools, new software, new markets—and of course, all the inside information that D2D can provide!
This show features interviews taken from our live D2D Spotlight, available on YouTube and Facebook. Join us, and get your questions answered during the live broadcast, when you visit D2DLive.com!
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 8, 2026 • 55min
Setting Up an Author Newsletter
In the current attention economy, it's important to be on your readers' radars. Keeping in touch with your readers by offering them content between releases can turn readers into devoted fans.
Our own Nick Thacker joins us to walk authors through setting up their newsletter.
We'll dsicuss:
• The benefits of maintaining an author newsletter
• How to get a newsletter started from scratch
• Best practices to ensure you find success with your newsletter//Draft2Digital is where you grow your Indie Author Career// Looking for your path to self-publishing success? Draft2Digital is the leading ebook publisher and distributor worldwide. We’ll convert your manuscript, distribute it online, and support you the whole way.• Get started now: https://draft2digital.com/• Learn the ins, the outs, and the all-arounds of indie publishing from the industry experts on the D2D Blog: https://Draft2Digital.com/blog • Promote your books with our Universal Book Links from Books2Read: https://books2read.com Make sure you bookmark https://D2DLive.com for links to live events, and to catch back episodes of the Self Publishing Insiders Podcast.

Oct 1, 2026 • 50min
Author Training in the Age of AI
Publisher of Indie Author Magazine and Founder of Indie Author Training, Chelle Honiker's a passionate advocate for the success of Indie Authors. She's taking that passion into a new author education venture with indieauthortraining.com.
We'll learn:
• How training and education in the indie publishing space is changing
• What sets Indie Author Training apart from other education platforms
• How AI has made action and implementation the new metric of success //Draft2Digital is where you grow your Indie Author Career// Looking for your path to self-publishing success? Draft2Digital is the leading ebook publisher and distributor worldwide. We’ll convert your manuscript, distribute it online, and support you the whole way.• Get started now: https://draft2digital.com/• Learn the ins, the outs, and the all-arounds of indie publishing from the industry experts on the D2D Blog: https://Draft2Digital.com/blog • Promote your books with our Universal Book Links from Books2Read: https://books2read.com Make sure you bookmark https://D2DLive.com for links to live events, and to catch back episodes of the Self Publishing Insiders Podcast.

Sep 24, 2026 • 46min
Developing Iconic Character Dynamics
Claire Taylor is a humor and mystery author and the mind behind The Liberated Writer. As a certified Enneagram practitioner and a long-time editor and story consultant, Claire helps authors understand themselves and their characters more deeply to tell iconic stories.
In this episode, you'll learn:
· What readers want out of character relationships
· How the Enneagram framework can help you create memorable characters
· How to use the personalities of your characters to create convincing relationships//Draft2Digital is where you grow your Indie Author Career// Looking for your path to self-publishing success? Draft2Digital is the leading ebook publisher and distributor worldwide. We’ll convert your manuscript, distribute it online, and support you the whole way.• Get started now: https://draft2digital.com/• Learn the ins, the outs, and the all-arounds of indie publishing from the industry experts on the D2D Blog: https://Draft2Digital.com/blog • Promote your books with our Universal Book Links from Books2Read: https://books2read.com Make sure you bookmark https://D2DLive.com for links to live events, and to catch back episodes of the Self Publishing Insiders Podcast.

Sep 17, 2026 • 54min
Earning Five Figures as a Debut Author — Without KU!
Ashli O’Connell is the author of the historical novel Emmaline. As a debut author, she earned five figures of royalties in ten weeks— all without having her book in Kindle Unlimited.
Ashli joins us to share insights into her author debut and lessons learned from her successful book launch.//Draft2Digital is where you grow your Indie Author Career// Looking for your path to self-publishing success? Draft2Digital is the leading ebook publisher and distributor worldwide. We’ll convert your manuscript, distribute it online, and support you the whole way.• Get started now: https://draft2digital.com/• Learn the ins, the outs, and the all-arounds of indie publishing from the industry experts on the D2D Blog: https://Draft2Digital.com/blog • Promote your books with our Universal Book Links from Books2Read: https://books2read.com Make sure you bookmark https://D2DLive.com for links to live events, and to catch back episodes of the Self Publishing Insiders Podcast.

Sep 10, 2026 • 52min
YouTube for Authors with Dale L. Roberts
Dale L. Roberts, an indie author, publishing educator, and creator of the Self-Publishing with Dale YouTube channel, shares how writers can use video to grow their platforms. They explore defining a channel’s purpose, creating content for ideal readers, choosing tools and video formats, building authentic engagement, and getting started before the space becomes even more competitive.

Sep 3, 2026 • 55min
Serialization Before Publication: Building an Author-Reader Journey
Before a novel hits shelves, some authors are inviting readers into the process—one chapter at a time. This episode explores pre-publication serialization with novelist Matty Dalrymple, who's serialized her twelfth and latest novel to subscribers.
We dig into:
· For authors: real-time reader feedback, revision insight, and built-in pre-launch buzz
· For readers: early access, behind-the-scenes author notes, and a voice in shaping the story
· Why it builds loyalty: daily engagement, milestone rewards, and a shared sense of journey between author and audience
//Draft2Digital is where you grow your Indie Author Career//
Looking for your path to self-publishing success? Draft2Digital is the leading ebook publisher and distributor worldwide. We’ll convert your manuscript, distribute it online, and support you the whole way.
• Get started now: https://draft2digital.com/
• Learn the ins, the outs, and the all-arounds of indie publishing from the industry experts on the D2D Blog: https://Draft2Digital.com/blog
• Promote your books with our Universal Book Links from Books2Read: https://books2read.com
Make sure you bookmark https://D2DLive.com for links to live events, and to catch back episodes of the Self Publishing Insiders Podcast.

Aug 27, 2026 • 51min
Ask Us Anything: Mythbusting Author Questions
Tara from Author Support joins the D2D Team to answer author questions and bust common myths about publishing with Draft2Digital.
//Draft2Digital is where you grow your Indie Author Career//
Looking for your path to self-publishing success? Draft2Digital is the leading ebook publisher and distributor worldwide. We’ll convert your manuscript, distribute it online, and support you the whole way.
• Get started now: https://draft2digital.com/
• Learn the ins, the outs, and the all-arounds of indie publishing from the industry experts on the D2D Blog: https://Draft2Digital.com/blog
• Promote your books with our Universal Book Links from Books2Read: https://books2read.com
Make sure you bookmark https://D2DLive.com for links to live events, and to catch back episodes of the Self Publishing Insiders Podcast.

Aug 20, 2026 • 51min
AI Narration vs. Human Narration
In this episode, we delve into new data from Edison Research that found U.S. fiction audiobook listeners prefer Spoken’s multi-cast AI narration to that of human narrators. The study surveyed over 1,000 fiction audiobook listeners who blind-tested human narration against Spoken's Multi-Cast™ AI narration.
To help us understand the data, we’re joined by Phil Marshall, founder of Spoken, and Megan Lazovick, vice president at Edison Research.
In this episode we discuss:
• The methodology behind the research
• The key results — favorability, engagement, and listener sentiment before and after
• Whether listener willingness to try AI narration was measurably impacted
• When to consider human narration vs. AI narration
• What this means for authors and publishers considering AI narration
//Draft2Digital is where you grow your Indie Author Career//
Looking for your path to self-publishing success? Draft2Digital is the leading ebook publisher and distributor worldwide. We’ll convert your manuscript, distribute it online, and support you the whole way.
• Get started now: https://draft2digital.com/
• Learn the ins, the outs, and the all-arounds of indie publishing from the industry experts on the D2D Blog: https://Draft2Digital.com/blog
• Promote your books with our Universal Book Links from Books2Read: https://books2read.com
Make sure you bookmark https://D2DLive.com for links to live events, and to catch back episodes of the Self Publishing Insiders Podcast.

Aug 13, 2026 • 47min
Outlining for Novelists Who Don't Outline
Sometimes discovery writing leads to dead ends, character inconsistency, or stories that wander off track. USA TODAY Bestselling Author Paul Austin Ardoin joins us with tips to help pantsers looking for practical tools to strengthen their stories without losing what makes them discovery writers.
//Draft2Digital is where you grow your Indie Author Career//
Looking for your path to self-publishing success? Draft2Digital is the leading ebook publisher and distributor worldwide. We’ll convert your manuscript, distribute it online, and support you the whole way.
• Get started now: https://draft2digital.com/
• Learn the ins, the outs, and the all-arounds of indie publishing from the industry experts on the D2D Blog: https://Draft2Digital.com/blog
• Promote your books with our Universal Book Links from Books2Read: https://books2read.com
Make sure you bookmark https://D2DLive.com for links to live events, and to catch back episodes of the Self Publishing Insiders Podcast.

Aug 6, 2026 • 49min
The Author Nation Community
Author Nation is the world’s largest indie author conference, built around a simple belief: successful authors are built through community, strategy, and consistent action.
But Author Nation is more than a four-day Vegas Convention; it's a community meant to help authors build sustainable, prosperous creative careers in the golden age of content creation.
In this episode, you'll learn:
• The mission and philosophy behind Author Nation
• The importance in community building for authors
• What makes Author Nation stand out from other author conventions
//Draft2Digital is where you grow your Indie Author Career//
Looking for your path to self-publishing success? Draft2Digital is the leading ebook publisher and distributor worldwide. We’ll convert your manuscript, distribute it online, and support you the whole way.
• Get started now: https://draft2digital.com/
• Learn the ins, the outs, and the all-arounds of indie publishing from the industry experts on the D2D Blog: https://Draft2Digital.com/blog
• Promote your books with our Universal Book Links from Books2Read: https://books2read.com
Make sure you bookmark https://D2DLive.com for links to live events, and to catch back episodes of the Self Publishing Insiders Podcast.


