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Space Coast Podcast Network
Unveiling the Secrets Behind Successful Authorship and Book Marketing with Peter Lopez
Embark on an illuminating journey with the indomitable Peter Lopez, as he dissects the art of personal branding within the literary cosmos. Prepare to have misconceptions challenged and be armed with the unvarnished truth about the publishing industry. In today's narrative, it's not just about penning a story; it's a grand ballet of authenticity, self-belief, and strategic positioning that makes an author's name resonate as loudly as their words. Grasp the essence of standing out in a saturated market, where authors must become the embodiment of their work and utilize social media's prowess to shape their image.
Wander through the storied path of a tech innovator's ascension from the gritty South Bronx to the echelons of the publishing world, as Peter shares the poignant tale of digital media's genesis and its stalwarts. It's a saga of tenacity and the alchemy of relationships that transform every written dream into a tangible reality for readers. This episode dissects the intricacies of publishing – from the behemoth traditional deals where giants stake claims on creative assets, to the co-investment camaraderie of hybrid publishing and the empowering autonomy of self-publishing. Moreover, we unveil the often-overlooked linchpins of the craft: the ghostwriters, developmental editors, and the indispensable rigor of quality editing.
As we continue to dismantle the complexities of the industry, we confront the burgeoning realms of NFTs, AI, and their intertwining with the literary sphere. Anticipate a discourse that demystifies the role of NFTs in author royalties and the contentious rise of AI-generated content. Picture a future where publishing houses may be obsolete, supplanted by shrewd self-publishers who navigate rights ownership and foster communities through the written word. Our conversation culminates with a candid reflection on the journey of entrepreneurship – the bittersweet dance of support and betrayal, and the enduring power of authenticity. Peter's parting wisdom illuminates the path to becoming a local celebrity and the transformative impact of a well-crafted personal brand.
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Speaker 2:Yeah, so yeah, I like that audio for concept right now.
Speaker 1:You know we'll talk about it in the show too. Yeah, let's talk about it. Are we recording? Okay, we have Peter Lopez. You are a two time publisher of the year winner here in Brevard, but you've also published a thousand plus books. You're a ghost writer, an audiobook publishing genius, and you also, you know, you're a mint maker, your founder of Mint Maker and a no Excuses podcast. So, you are a brand of your own.
Speaker 2:You know, I think when it comes to branding right, the person has to be the face before they introduce their product.
Speaker 2:So I've always been very. You know, I have an awesome partner, Mimi, and she runs pretty much we've started a public fire, but she likes to be in the background and operate everything. So I'm like the front person. So when you think about Eli Musk, you think about Tesla. When you look at Steve Jobs, you think about Apple and when you look at Bill Gates, you think about Microsoft. So if you're looking to establish a brand, people still buy from people, People still trust people. So that is very important. When I'm talking to local celebrities artists, you know, entrepreneurs your face has to be out there Of course.
Speaker 1:So do you think you kind of dabble in like branding too?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have to because, being in the book industry, right, we've I would say I managed to work for a major publisher over 10 years We've had I mean collectively we've done two, three thousand books. We always tell the author it's important that your face is out there to tell the story. Right, there are pen names. There are authors that have pen names, which means they don't want to give their real identity that you can understand, so that we have to market it. But it's important for you to have that brand awareness of, like, my face has to be out there, I have to talk about it and then people familiarize themselves with you know absolutely.
Speaker 2:The hard part is you know if you're a jerk. It comes out of your face. It comes out like social media will expose who you really are Like yeah, like I turn or no filter. Exactly, exactly. Yeah. The funniest thing, jesse, about filters and some people like they look like Janet Jackson on social media and you meet them and like Tito Jackson, yeah like it's all good and nice when you're filtered out, but like it's the horror of seeing someone in person and then yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm looking at you and being like yeah, what that was 20 years ago I, you took that picture. So it's another thing. Update, it's a constant update. So people feel like, well, I don't like the way I look, I don't like the way I feel. You know what, man? And that doesn't matter. If you, if you exude confidence, if you believe in yourself, that's the key, like the belief system, if you believe in yourself, you believe in your brand, that will come out.
Speaker 1:I agree. Yeah, we're all in meat suits, but it just matters what's inside and and anybody can get past the visuals. Is there something interesting and important coming out of their mouth. Did you say meat suits?
Speaker 2:Meat suits. That's like the best. That is like. I've never heard that. You know like we.
Speaker 1:We don't get to choose right, but we're all like spirit. I was not going to let that pass.
Speaker 2:She said I love that, me too. Can I use that? Is that like coined phrase? No, okay, take meat suits, all right, you exclusively in the local bravado. I love it. Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:I want to know how you got into publishing, because you don't really run into many publishers, especially here in Brevard. You don't If publishing.
Speaker 2:listen to this right, and I always say this it's like uh, 89% of people want to write books. New York Times wrote a report. If you follow me, it's like I'm 89% of people want to write a book. 89. 1% actually publishes. People say everybody's publishing. I'm like, please shut up. Nobody there's. You know seven, eight million people in the world. Only two, three million books have been published. What?
Speaker 1:is that.
Speaker 2:Like point 1%.
Speaker 1:Well, nobody really knows how to do it so. I was hoping you would shed some light on that subject.
Speaker 2:I'm going to give you the secret sauce. Guys, have you listening right now? Grab a pen, grab a paper. I give my stuff away and I'm going to tell you why. Okay, one, how I got into the, the, the publishing, and then, two, I'll tell you why I give it away.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I have been part of the technology sector for a lot of years. Like I, was one of the first um um companies to introduce DVD technology Jesse, we're talking about that earlier. It's called digital versatile disc and my uh chairman at the time who became a mentor the uh Sprague family, but his name was Nolan Bush now. Have you heard of Nolan Bush now? No, I haven't. Have you heard of Chuck E Cheese Of course have you heard of Atari.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, my parents used to work for Atari. Get out of here, yeah.
Speaker 2:Nolan Bush now is the creative Atari and then he birthed Chuck E Cheese to have, you know, people playing the thing. So Nolan Bush knows the king of Pong, the most iconic map Were you out in California.
Speaker 2:Cupertino, san Jose. Yeah, yeah, I was. I was supposed to be that 9 11 plane, but that's a whole other book. So I was I mean, I would travel a lot and I got into technology doing DVD and and we couldn't. We had a great at that time, a great CEO, but a poor CFO. And that's when everybody was going public. Jesse's like we, we, we, that's the dot com era. Yeah, like a 90. Oh, yeah, like like 90, that early nineties, yeah, you know, I would, you know I. The story would go we all drove in with Hondas and came back with Ferrari and then left with you know, datsuns, like it was. You know, we, we took a company from like $3 a share to $49 and it dropped out of you know three pennies. But that was technology. So we launched that. And then there was an employee that worked with with, with Nolan Bush. Now, every rebellious employee had his own rules. His name was Steve Jobs.
Speaker 1:Oh, Steve.
Speaker 2:Jobs worked with with Nolan Bush now. He worked with Atari, and, and he branched off and he created another technology and part of the knowledge that we worked with was called small self merchandising object. What is that? You take a. We would take a video game and chop it up into pieces. So instead of selling you a $99 video game, we'll sell it to you in increments, and that is what we call iTunes today. So you know, I could have been a trillionaire, but the cards are different.
Speaker 2:So it was a technology and then, from technology, I started working for you know, different financial things software and I ended up moving to Florida and a company. I worked a lot of years in the radio industry.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I even helped buy and sell radio stations. You remember, back then it was like. Am and then you flip up into FM and then you flip up into satellite.
Speaker 2:So flipping radio stations were very big back then yeah, yeah, it was huge Like and so that company had a, a, a publishing company, and I was like, man, I've been wanting to publish a book for a long time and without listening to me, okay, nico and Jesse, I have the worst grandma. I got ADD, I can't spell to save my life. But I didn't look at my limitations Right and I was like, started working in this company the first year, the first year.
Speaker 1:They just transferred you over.
Speaker 2:Yep, Yep. There's like hey, just try it.
Speaker 1:I mean you have.
Speaker 2:It's all about relationships, right. Like sales is a transfer of emotions.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And if you, if you believe someone? So writing a book is about, you know, pushing your dreams across. So I'm good at that. I tell people, I'll throw you off the cliff. You can learn how to fly.
Speaker 1:How are you so good at that? Like you say you come, like I saw that you say you come from poverty. I, I grew up in the South Bronx. You did, I grew up in the South Bronx.
Speaker 2:So I grew up in, like I told them about the ghetto, south Bronx, right Like I what? We was standing in the line in the line for free cheese. You know, um, you know, uh, st Anne's Brook Avenue yeah, shout out to my man, larry Law and pistol Pete. So it's like like we was. It was, it was gang life, but my dad was a minister, very strict, very, very like you better go to church, you know.
Speaker 1:Do you think that's where you got like your?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah definitely got that discipline, but you still had to fight. You still had to hustle Like Jesse. It was like someone hits you, you don't hit back, you in trouble, they'll punk you. So you grew up in that, in that, like that that state of fight or flight?
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly, but I found out I had no flight and I know flight I mean. So you gotta fight. So then people start respecting you and got like I'll come. I used to work at city bank and I'll be like two in the morning with a book bag in a suit going into like the projects, and nobody bothered me. But that gave me that unstoppable mentality Like I'm not gonna go to Wall Street, I'm not gonna be bullied by nobody If I survive this. You know it's no way some executive is gonna tell me it can't be done.
Speaker 1:Do you still keep in touch with some of the kids like that were kind of that you grew up with. Maybe I don't know, didn't have that mentality?
Speaker 2:I would say 80% of them are dead in jail. I grew up during the crack epidemic A lot of them. I saw girls that were beautiful. I mean, look like beauty pageants. You know that you were like in high school like wow, she's so beautiful and then, like three years later, they like withered away. So crack killed a lot of people. Aids came in, killed a lot of friends and family, so it's literally like a genocide.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I knew, escaped at all.
Speaker 2:Escaped at all, you know, and I still. I'm still close to family, I still got friends, but it's not like it's a handful of people. And I remember I went back to the Bronx and a lot of people are still stuck in the past. The worst thing you can do is dwelling, and two things will keep you stuck dwelling in the past and then dwelling in the future. Not knowing so, you gotta live in the present moment. I like looking at the future.
Speaker 2:staying in the past could keep you there, so I go there and I still see some people living in the past.
Speaker 1:Do you think that's your number one problem for not like doing what you did, getting out of it?
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, a lot of people. Well, they're product of their environment. A lot of times, of course Listen to me, man it's like I like the secret and I like you know you gotta think and grow rich and you gotta speak life. But there's some people in a certain environment, no matter what happens, they're gonna be stuck there. So I think some of them are product of that and, no matter what happens, it's hard to get them out there.
Speaker 2:So there's just a few of us like the last of the Mohicans that we could just crawl out of there, and my job is to try to get back there, and I'm actually doing a lot of books for the culture, a lot of books for the hip hop culture, a lot of books for people that have been marginalized and been treating a part.
Speaker 2:The publishing industry is like the mafia it is a trillion, not a billion, a trillion dollar industry. If you add, like Marvel Universe, google, facebook they're all publishers. Publishing is the tip of the scale. The richest company in the world is a publishing company. You know it's Amazon. Started selling books out of there, yeah, so if you understand publishing as an artist, as a brand even Jesse has what you're doing with the audio books if you understand that part of publishing, then you can own all your assets because eventually, everything on the internet is public domain. It's fair use. Like, I can write a book right now on Jay-Z, I can write a book on Warren Buffett I don't need their permission Because now I cannot write what they're saying today, but being that it was published before, so it's important for you to own your publishing assets so no one pirates your stuff.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, but, like you said, 80% of the public wants to write a book. We all have that dream. How does that come to realization? How much does it cost? Because I know you said you know to make money you have to give some of your money up front.
Speaker 2:So there's three ways of publishing right, and it's funny, I think, the perception people still call like well, do I get an advance? I'm like no. You think you could, but it's okay. So the 89% people want to write books. 1% does right. It's hard to publish a book. People think it's easy. A lot of people go the self-publishing route and then God bless them.
Speaker 2:It's easy, it's free, but you kind of go into some mistakes and I'll tell you what that is. The first part of publishing is what we call traditional publishing, the hybrid. I mean, that's the tradition. It was the Penguin, the Harper Collins. You know the Mafia, you know the anti-crisis. No, they're a good company. I love them, they're awesome. But they're very important. They maneuver and own. They're the ones that give you a 360 deal and it's like a slave contract. They will own all your assets. They will give you an upfront. They will give you like a little upfront, you know one of my friends.
Speaker 2:They own Imperperatuity, your image and likeness your name. You think it's funny like people think, like they're like no, no, you're not that important. Maybe Trump, obama, oprah, you know, those people will get an exclusive admin distribution deal.
Speaker 2:Sure but not in the US there's like point, point point zero, one of those people that gets some of that. Everybody else has to give up pretty much a 360 deal. If you say they don't, I call them a liar. Don Robinson from Invogue we talked about doing her book at one point like she lost all her assets, right. Dave Chappelle at one point didn't even own Dave Chappelle. So it's like I love this world of like no publishing owns everything. So that deal. You have to give up a 360 deal. You mean everything like a brand. Oh, my God, I had a my's vote.
Speaker 2:She's like one of the most iconic YouTubers and podcasts. Max Maxwell was like one of the biggest developers. He's doing some killer stuff at Dubai to do speed at his wife. She's got three million followers and it was like the publisher wanted to even own some of her TikToks and all that. Publishers would do that. You need to do these. Many TikToks about her. She needs yeah, so you're working for them when you already have a brand Right. So they'll do that. They'll own everything and you'll get, if you're lucky, a six to 8% royalty deal. Ryan Holiday has sold tens of millions of books, ryan Holiday, and he has said in his podcast he's finally recouped the $250,000 that he got from his publisher 10 years ago.
Speaker 1:He don't Okay, but how are you doing it?
Speaker 2:Because I grew up in the South Bronx and I'm not scared of those guys. I've gotten ceaseless. This is that is from them, so that that deal happens.
Speaker 2:It's not if someone's going to give you an advance, they're going to own your assets. The second one, where I've become very important in the field, is called hybrid publishing. Hybrid publishing is not self publishing, is we create some type of joint venture partnership. Sometimes I'll take 30% of your rights, 30% of your royalties, you get 70%, and then I can shop. I can shop you foreign rights. We have great relationships with awesome managers, awesome people that can get you in front of celebrities, get you in front of podcasts, get you in front of Netflix. Now you got to have a good story. You just can't be some guy off the street, but there are some great writers out there, so you find that talent. We create some type of partnership. I'll put some money in it, you'll put some money in it and we'll create some type of hybrid publishing where it's not looks self, it's not. You know we create, so it's like a deal.
Speaker 1:it's like a partnership, A partnership deal. And what does that look like? Give me like a ballpark figure of if someone's really serious about writing their story and you agree with it you think it's there. You know, you think it's gonna work.
Speaker 2:The most important part, the biggest expense in doing those deals, is editing. Right, Like Stephen King, right? Maybe the best writer we had since Ernest Hemingway. I'm not into his books, but he's the best conversational writer that's ever lived. Right, he will write a story and put you in the story right. So I mean, if you wanna know about editing and writing, Stephen King's book on writing is the best. I don't really care for Stephen King's movies, but I'm more of a CS Lewis guy, or you know.
Speaker 1:But the cost of editing that trumps the cost of printing, that costs the Trump of everything.
Speaker 2:So, you have to pay a lot of money for editing. You cannot just edit your book once. Don't trust your own editing. Don't trust your sister that has a master's. Don't trust your friend that's a professor. Editing is a gift. Okay, People, you know, when you give it to people that are smarter than you and they're perfect, they're just gonna correct you for grammar, punctuation, capitalization.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:There's a flow to write. So a lot of times you're telling the story and you don't understand it. So these ghost writers, these developmental editors, will put you in that story, make you sound real and make it flow. You're also a ghost writer. Yes, are you an editor too? I well, lord help me If I edit your book.
Speaker 1:It would look like they'd be like three, three comments per person. So publishing and editing and ghost writing are three different things. You dabble in two of them.
Speaker 2:Ghost writing is helping develop your story, developing your arc, developing what is your brand, coming up with story lines.
Speaker 1:Oh really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So it's like, a lot of times, ghost writers ghost writers do two things Okay, A real ghost writer is not even. You don't even see their names in the book. Yeah right, Some ghost writers get a percentage but their names are not on the book. But they definitely do the writing. They do a lot of the writing, Okay. Or they have a team of writers Okay, team of writers. Yeah so it's like, okay, tell me about the book because I can't write, but I could. I could definitely develop your story.
Speaker 2:Yeah if I talk to you, we have a one-hour meeting. I'm like this is what your story is. This is how to come out.
Speaker 1:You know how to extract Information and then the the person tells some the writers and the writers write it out exactly then the writers.
Speaker 2:So you want to go from your story right, getting your story written so that say it's got to be developed right. So developmental editing is super important. After that, 95% of books need a line editing. Substantive, like awkward word sentences, active passive words you know what you, which is that we know which is the most misused word what was really? Was it past tense or was it present state of mind? So I don't know how to write that. Well, yeah, so when I say was, was I there or was I there now? Was I there yesterday? And a lot of times when we write that, it becomes very awkward. So, and it's funny, like I talk, I Talk like I know these things. I just been doing these for 10 years, but what I do is I connect you with an expert. Guys, true wisdom is knowing your limitations. There's like 1.0, point point one, people that make money writing.
Speaker 1:But yeah, yeah, there's. I've actually gone the self-publishing route. I helped my daughter publish like a cookbook and we wrote it through like chat GPT, so I just wanted to get a sort of awareness of how it works. Yeah, do you want to talk about?
Speaker 2:Yes, there's. There's a war going on with the robots tell me.
Speaker 1:I know I don't, I mean I don't know. I know what I hear, but I'm like how bad can this get?
Speaker 2:so let's so you go from editing. I would say a good hybrid contract. Yeah should be about. It should be between 20 and 40 thousand okay you know Scribe media when they did the deal with with David Goggins. You've scribe media is very similar to us. Okay they've gone through ups and downs, like everybody. But they kind of gave a deal and they shared on the royalties and there was some upfront cost. But David Goggins owns everything. David Goggins is gonna get 250,000 dollars from a major publisher. They would have owned everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so.
Speaker 2:Millions of promise. So he's a great and we talked about him. Okay, so you get that. You get it published hybrid. The third one is self-publishing. Guys, who cares, get your book done. You're part of the one percent. Right, you got a book done for your daughter, you know. Awesome, that is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know. See, for the next, it almost feels like, since everybody can do it, though it's no longer special, like unless you do have that penguin, or yeah, like I don't think people really know, I don't know and. I'm glad you're here educating when you go that route.
Speaker 2:You know it's always good to like have someone give you some advice how to do it, but you got it out, who cares? Okay right, who like it's like? You got a prop that I'm proud of. You Look for your daughter. You know how cool that is. I know my mom did a book together, so self-publishing is a route.
Speaker 1:But you're not gonna see the return. No can you guarantee the return, or Maybe not guarantee, but can you be confident that?
Speaker 2:if someone yeah Like you won't make the deal unless you're confident that this book will two things happen when you write a book One, you have to invest a lot of money to make a lot of money back. Yep, okay, marketing Branding is important. Marketing does not equate to sales. It equates to expertise and exposure. But there's like funnels and ways of going around Amazon. Because Amazon is 80 5% of the buying habits, so people gonna buy your book on Amazon. The problem is, yeah, amazon won't give you nobody's email, nobody's phone. So let's say, a thousand people buy your book on Amazon Great, you might make two dollars.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Cool your best seller, but you own no data. I rather, a hundred people buy my book directly from me. Yeah then a thousand people buy the book on Amazon.
Speaker 1:Right, why? Cuz I don't. Yeah, I'll know the date, yeah data is gold.
Speaker 2:Yeah so if I have a hundred emails of their name, their phone number, that's what they all want my month.
Speaker 2:My shout out to my monthly millionaire guys Like it's $16, like an email's a dollar, a phone is A five dollars and addresses ten dollars. Wow, that's, that's the return you get. Yeah, so let's say you blasting emails, I'm gonna be at a book signing, I'm giving away this. You have that data. Guys Work on your email list like like it's the old people still do that I hear this all the time, but we're so bad at it, yeah so, so that that becomes so.
Speaker 2:Self-publishing is another route that you can take and, and a lot of times it you know, nico, I'll tell them we're not the company for you out. Yeah, I have never. I'm not that important, I'm not that type of guy like. I feel like you, you, you, you good to people, you bless people. I'll come back to you. So I'm like do this right, but do it this way, don't go that way and I'm gonna self-publish, do this, and then you give him advice.
Speaker 2:But you know, you know what I've learned, jesse, this is the coolest part. It's DIY to D I FM. I tell everybody how to do it. You know what they tell me. Now you need to do it for me, because I People say they don't got money. Oh no, no, no, no, no. You got money. You just don't got money to invest in your dreams because, dreams cost a lot of money.
Speaker 2:You know you got money to go on a $5,000 out of vacation. You got money to buy Starbucks every day. If I got a cup and you add that was that 2,500. So they got. They got money until they have to invest. So I tell them invest this way and do that. So I think it gets real for people. They get scared. The best investment you can make is in yourself. Yeah, that's it. That's the biggest ROI you'll get.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you make an investment in yourself, it's the best ROI you get. People are like investing on other people Every time. Now, like I use my own brand. I'm not spending money on Gucci or Nike. I buy my own t-shirts with my own name on it. I'm the brand right. So when you see me Like what's that? And it's like I'll be the billboard, I'm not gonna advertise, it's funny like people got these, these fendi bags and all that, but it don't matter.
Speaker 1:Like it's nothing like having your own brand, right, right and and where we live in a world where, like now, you, you almost have to brand yourself. If you're gonna put yourself out there, you can't do it so frivolously. I mean, of course, you can, but like if you're taking the time out to, whether it's educate people or give them a freaking makeup tutorial. Yeah you have to show up.
Speaker 2:Right, you have to show up.
Speaker 1:I like that, I like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you guys want to talk about AI.
Speaker 1:Yes, let's talk about that Any questions about AI, so go ahead. Well, I was like I know you did the NFT stuff yeah.
Speaker 2:NFTs. We went to podcasts like two years ago. I'll talk about that.
Speaker 1:I feel like it went this and then, and then it stopped.
Speaker 2:NFT, let me, let me, let me explain this. Everybody started hanging out with the gorillas and monkeys and apes. Yeah, yeah it's like a circus and I think that was what confused people paying like what is it?
Speaker 1:a million dollars for a monkey, yeah, that I can screenshot and also hang up on my wall, like I think people didn't really that.
Speaker 2:Well, that's the concept.
Speaker 1:Yeah, people didn't understand owning something digitally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's still important. Nfts and if you understand the back end software Value to it, it's still going to be a game changer. I said something on one of my my, my, my, my um Posts it once. Once people understand NFT and AI it'll be the best integration, because NFTs is a digital form of authenticity. It's like a stamp that says it's you okay and it's and it's there forever.
Speaker 1:But I think people like me have trouble valuing that. Yeah, like, what's the value in a, in a, in a digital fingerprint, right?
Speaker 2:Okay. So let's good question. Let's say, some of your daughter's Cookbook, right? Yeah? Somebody says, hey, I want to buy a recipe. Right, how would they buy a recipe? They have to like, try to contact you. They can't buy it from your book, you know, do you? Do you have a QR code? Right, that NFT, you can literally like Figure it out that they could buy it and there's a subscription base and they'll get, like, the recipe in their house. They might even get the plate, but why, not just buy the book.
Speaker 2:Be oh no, you could buy the book, but within the book you can sell Seven, eight different variations of the book. So think about this when you buy one book, you get one royalty. If you create an NFT I can't be up to about NFTs, but it's important. It's a software. If you buy one, if you create an NFT, it's about the software, not NFTs. That it is. It could be perpetual. So one you could have one book that'll give you seven, eight different type of royalties, because every time that book is sold to somebody else you get a cut of that.
Speaker 2:So the thing with AI right now, so NFTs, right. So I I'm still dabbling in that, but you know you have to pivot and we saw AI become like huge and I saw that from the from AI has been around a long time, jasper, people are getting to know that yeah, ai has been around for years, years right now, but Because of Eli Moss that found the chat GPT and then, of course, I think, sold his options to Microsoft.
Speaker 2:Now Microsoft is owns chat GPT and then Bard owns Google. That's gonna be like like an Armageddon wall, like on data right. Yeah once Google Figures it out, everyone's in trouble, okay.
Speaker 1:They haven't yet I thought they did come up with something.
Speaker 2:They did, they came out with um oh bark. But it's, you know it's, it's it's chat. Gpt is so big right now.
Speaker 1:It's yeah, it's the brand awareness right.
Speaker 2:Yeah um, but this is the problem Amazon is undefeated. Right there are people that are creating AI generated books. So far, there has been tens of thousands of books that have been kicked out of Amazon.
Speaker 1:Wait what? Because they're GPT.
Speaker 2:AI. It's called plagiarism. It's you're pulling from data that's already published. So every time, like Mimi, my partner, she uploads a book on Amazon. It says did you use AI to?
Speaker 1:do this, but then you can check off.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, and you, if you think you're smart, right, you think you're smart, you like? No, I didn't, well, one, you're lying. Yeah you don't want to lie. Two they're going to find you out. Three they're going to kick you out.
Speaker 1:Wait, I didn't know that you can't write a book with chat GPT and publish it on Amazon, because I mean, that's what we did for the cookbook.
Speaker 2:You did, I did, but eventually there'll be a war and and they're going to start disbanding a lot. They've been doing it lately. Chat, I think chat GPT wrote a contract with Politico, because anything, anything that that you buy right from chat GPT, it's from a source that's already taken. So that's that's copyright infringements, trademark infringement, plagiarism infringement.
Speaker 1:But it's all. I mean. You could ask chat GPT to rewrite it in a more casual style, or you know, whatever it is, it's newly generated. I mean, that's just like saying that you're plagiarizing by looking at an encyclopedia, which is how we used to write reports, Exactly. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2:People, people forgot about those days. There is a psychopath Britannica or something. So I'm not against chat GPT. I'm telling people you have to know how to use it right.
Speaker 2:Of course because if you're using chat GPT to publish books and I'll tell you they're all out there, people publishing books they're going to start being chopped down. I've been in the publishing industry for many years. The Google is not going to support chat GPT books. Amazon is not going to support. Like there's going to be. Like there's going to be like. We're going to be the first to mark.
Speaker 1:How are they going to be able to know? Is it like written in the code, like how will they know?
Speaker 2:They're going to know. How will they know? They're going to know. There's OK, we, I, I use chat GPT for research. Right, I'm writing a book, right, I'm, I'm, I'm talking to the ghost writer and I talk about this awesome. His name is James, you know, when he was four years old, his father passed away and I'm like, first of all, what is it to be four years old? So I asked chat GPT, how is it? What are the emotions of a four year old? How does a four year old act? I've had I got three boys. Yeah, you, I totally forgot what they were for. Right, you know what I mean? I home so and it's like, oh, a four year old does this. He starts to understand his emotions, he starts to understand sound, and you want to incorporate that in the book, but we did not copy and paste that into the document.
Speaker 1:No, you use that as a reason so research and a resource like encyclopedia Britannica.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know the lexicon or whatever you you use.
Speaker 1:You're not taking the words. Verbatim is what you're saying.
Speaker 2:You use the word verbatim Then is words have been used before and they've been published before. Chad GPT is only pooling data that's already been published. It is not creating new data. It's taking data that's already been written. So even music people that are using Chad GPT to mix music that that's been like. A lot of those, those, those things are taken away. So I'm telling people use it for research. You publish a book with that GPT Cool, you're right, but there's, I don't, don't, don't get it wrong.
Speaker 2:No they're going to go against the big guys, right, the big publishers that are doing that there's. I mean we, we.
Speaker 1:I mean, I don't think you could actually chat. Gpt is good for generating quick things, but but, like you said, you have to edit and re-edit, and re-edit. There's no way that it's going to spit out what you really. Yeah, oh, no, no, no, no, first round anyway.
Speaker 2:There. There are like words that Chad GPT uses. Like it's funny, they'll find I. There's so many I could say and I don't want to sound like like I'm I understand AI, I have it on my phone and it's not just chat GPT, there's so many other AI softwares that are way better. There are AI softwares that humanize your voice. But it's just what do you mean? Humanize your voice? They take your, they take what's written on chat, gpt, and they re-edit and say make it sound human, but it's.
Speaker 2:I tell people you have to say yes, and if you say no, so that means they will. So when you uploaded your book, did it save? Was it AI generated, I think?
Speaker 1:I remember clicking that and I actually even credited the chat GPT bot. I even asked the chat GPT bot you know I'm going to credit you what do you want to be named?
Speaker 2:And he told me what was his name? Anti Christ.
Speaker 1:No, just get out the Terminator. No, I'm just kidding, right, I forget.
Speaker 2:But I use chat GPT for research, like I use, like I use data like you know, newspaper, but I don't use it to publish because, people, you will never replicate the human voice to human experience. Oh yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:But with you. I mean, I got away with it because I was looking for recipes childlike recipes.
Speaker 2:That was awesome. We put it on.
Speaker 1:Canva and we made it look all kid. Like you know, I asked for her advice because she I wanted something for her.
Speaker 2:That is no, I don't. That is awesome, Like I just wanted to play with all the elements. And the chat GPT, having this chat GPT rat with you has done a deal, with you doing the. No, I don't feel that way either. I'm just like oh my gosh yeah no, I didn't know but B.
Speaker 1:I do remember checking the box.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But it makes sense. It makes sense because we could all get carried away with this. Ai thing outside of writing. What do you make of it?
Speaker 2:AI yeah Data. It gives me the best information quick.
Speaker 1:Are you on the 4.0? Do you like pay for it? Okay?
Speaker 2:It's better than it's better than Google search engine. It gives me so much more information it's eventually just going to pull. You know, the two biggest search engines in the world is Google and YouTube.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Of course, they're owned by Alphabet. Alphabet owns both of them. Eventually, you know when you understand how data is used. As much as chat GPT wants and they're going they're using, is it Explorer? Which is the other browser being, or I don't know which? Their own browser? Right, microsoft? Whatever? That's like 3% of people. Everyone's still on Google, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, chrome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like so. So Google is going to be like oh, you want our data, Well, you're not going to get it. Or they're going to talk like it's going to be something like you can't pull data from Google If you're using chat.
Speaker 1:There's going to be but right now is chat GPT pulling from everything that is everything out there on your computer's Internet.
Speaker 2:Period Yep.
Speaker 1:Google and then Google. You know, they filter for their own good.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right. If you pay them money, they will put your website on the top hits or whatever Exactly Right.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's funny, like I did a thing about making sure you're verified on Google. Your business is verifying Google and that's helped us out. Like we've been last like 10 deals I think five are just local, organic people, like I don't know whether, like hey, you're here and we're a grand swell and they show up in the office.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's because we're prevalent on Google making sure our reviews are right. We keep our data up Like Google is, like the new shopping mall, Like it's a new office right. Back then it's like oh, there's the mall, there's your store, oh there's there's the, I could go to your office. That's like them going to your office.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's important.
Speaker 2:So I think chat, gpt and AI, it's not going anywhere. If you learn how to use it right, you're going to do well. If you learn how to use it wrong, you're going to get in trouble. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course. What is your affiliation with grounds?
Speaker 2:Well grounds. Well, it is one of the coolest incubators that I've ever seen. We're actually doing a lot more connections with them. We're just a publishing company.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:They're a technology driver. Like a lot of great companies are coming out of there. Yeah, they're like a nonprofit.
Speaker 1:So they help with, business them, and I investigated what exactly they do over there, so I have a good understanding. Are you, are you part of the grounds? Well, I'm not part of them but?
Speaker 2:but we're meeting about trying to get their, their awareness out more. Yeah, Because that's what we do we give, we make brands, we give expertise to brands.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So so we're meeting with them, I think coming up Friday to make sure they're visible in Brevard, Like Brevard needs more groundswells, more incubators that are serious, that are invested, that are really helping local companies succeed. So they help you do everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they do they. They're very big. Shout out to them. They have a lot of tools and the prototype lab there.
Speaker 2:Like it's kind of amazing the way that there's like a hundred businesses there and it's such a great place to hang out at and speak to. I'm just are you going?
Speaker 1:in there and speaking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I've done a lot. A lot of events there.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And at the end of the day, let me tell you something Publishing books is the greatest technology ever invented. Like I don't care what books are the tip of the iceberg, and these people still need books to do everything. So that's where it's important for us to be there. And then also publishing right. So publishing rights are the most important rights in the world Publishing rights- you got to send the right contract.
Speaker 2:Not copyright, not trademark, not you know not not NDAs. The biggest, most important rights are publishing rights. If you understand what publishing rights are and you as a person understand that, then you own every asset that belongs to you. So that's where companies need to do that. I even tell companies create your own publishing house and everything you publish, all your articles, all your research, is under your own publishing house. It's like things they got to understand.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because people think publishing, they just think books, yes, but you, you are, your publishing blogs, you're publishing.
Speaker 2:YouTube. You're publishing data posts even interest. Everybody that's here now should just create a little publishing company together LLC, put it under there. Even your audiobook company, right, it's a publishing company and I'm an audiobook publisher. You know, I'm Nico the celebrity. You know mom book you know, doing great things and I have my own publishing company. When you, when you went on Kindle, did you create your own publishing house or you went under Kindle?
Speaker 1:Um, I don't really know yeah.
Speaker 2:Good advice in the future Anyone doing self publishing Create your own publishing house and don't just upload it on Kindle. Upload it through your publishing house.
Speaker 1:I think people get overwhelmed you know, especially when you're like you've got to even me, like I've been telling my husband, we got to create an LLC to like umbrella what we do. But here we are.
Speaker 2:It's crazy Like your son business is a hundred dollars, a hundred, yeah, to do an LLC. But people pay like, if you don't know, you pay more, right? Yeah, I, I Can change that my own, all you in my car. But do I want to do that? Do I want to go on YouTube and try to change the all you in my car? No, I pay someone $50 to do it. Yeah, yeah. So you got to pay the expert because if not, it'll cost you more.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So some people will go on these legal zoom and pay $500 when you can literally just do it for 100 bucks. Get your LLC and get your EIN for free, but it's like no one knows no one, and you know. This is the thing people are selfish with data and information like I give it away and People eventually trust me and pay me for her.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I mean yeah, I would trust you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a good guide.
Speaker 1:That's it. You know what you're doing. I Saw this guy on your feed who actually branded his book in a shoebox. Listen.
Speaker 2:It's called, I think, free Sneaker book, comm Tommy.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Tommy is I gotta make sure I got the right link. Maybe we'll put it on the thing. Yeah he's giving away a free book. Yes, tommy, urban D is one of the most I've worked with a bunch of authors Okay, he's one of the most creative, innovative Authors I've ever worked with. We've done a lot of projects together. He's all about a book in the box.
Speaker 2:He's all about the brand. So if you see the Emmy, if you put the link up, he did a book about sneaker culture, right and, and so he did a sneaker box.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he put the shoe in the box, even got the little tissue.
Speaker 2:It's, and so now when you buy the book, you actually buy the box. It's like a sneaker box. Then he also sells custom sneakers, so he'll still have maybe a dozen people by the free book under the thousand. Like you know, I want the sneaker. That's this. It's just. His branding is on a thousand. Yeah you know I'm very good in books, but I've learned a lot from him, so we've done a lot of projects. That's why I give him a lot. I mean shout out to Urban D Tommy is an awesome dude.
Speaker 1:So where are these authors at? Are they here in Brevard, or are you catching them from all you know what?
Speaker 2:crazy. We just got inducted to the Hall of Fame in Brevard. Yes, three time. Three time now, three time, not what, I don't even know who nominated us, but we like to serve the community. Yeah we're finally like usually, our authors are all around the world, you know, maybe Tampa okay. Georgia, california. I was not. I don't think I've published a Melbourne author, brevard author it, but the last few years we've been getting a lot of them.
Speaker 1:And what do you look for it in an author? Authenticity, I think a lot of people that are listening now, you know, might be asking themselves that question, you know.
Speaker 2:And don't don't act too important. Okay, when I get an author Hello, please, guys. Okay, stop this, stop, stop. When I get an author that tells me you need to sign an NDA To read my book, my book is super important. I don't know when to steal it. I'm like, please. You did not write war and peace, you know. You know there's that whatever you're gonna write has been written before. If you have a humble approach to your book, you want to tell your story to change lives.
Speaker 2:Yeah worth it. But when I get people saying, no, this book is and and don't steal my title, first of all, titles are a copy written.
Speaker 1:Right, so if you have a title, I can use it, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, my book is called excuses, excuses. The book was done 10 years ago and there's a hundred titles of excuses. Use it. So you know, when they act like super important, like that, I'm like man You're. If you're a diva now, you're gonna be worse deal with you.
Speaker 2:Just be humble. It's your story. You want to change lives. If you want to write a book to impact lives, you write a book to build your brand. 25% of companies have seen a uptick in business because they wrote a book. Books established who you are. You could be smarter than the dumbest person next to you, but if he writes a book, he's the expert right.
Speaker 1:Is that crazy?
Speaker 2:So a lot of that stuff. I try to tell people you know, write the book. Sometimes you don't make a lot of money with the book, but listen, maybe I've sold 10, 15, 20 thousand selling books but it opened up a hundred thousand dollars worth of speaking engagements and a birthday. That's what books do, okay, they kind of build like like, if you want to get rich, just selling books, no people not wanting to buy the book, they want to buy the experience, they want to buy the story, they want to buy everything around right and a lot of people say, hey, write the book, establish your brand, show who your company is and now use that book as the ultimate calling card, the ultimate.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because once you do have the book, you will get the, the right, the speaking engagements and.
Speaker 2:Very interesting, pretty, so yeah, so we've been getting a lot of local authors.
Speaker 1:Do they come with you with a book or with an idea?
Speaker 2:I 90% of our authors come with an idea. Not it, not anything right about it. I mean, if we, if they like David Bernard, we're doing a book with him is called kidnapping Jesus about the shroud, it's pretty cool. It's like how they steal the Shroud whatever, it's pretty cool. I can I don't even have pronounced the way, but and it's like a you know uh.
Speaker 1:Then they do a DNA and we yeah, the one where they there's like radio. Yeah, yeah, of his body.
Speaker 2:That's gonna be a great story that's coming.
Speaker 1:He's a local Entrepreneur.
Speaker 2:I think they own a turbine company. Nephi Moffitt, you know Like a well top football players for FSU Coach the Palm Bay heritage. His book came out.
Speaker 1:Do you stick to just like motivational books, or do you do like?
Speaker 2:fiction. I would say 70% of my books are self-help, self-help.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what people write.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, um, okay, self-help books, but we do fiction, nonfiction, children's books, religious books, political books. I don't choose preferences, I don't choose sides, I don't care, I publish your book.
Speaker 1:How long does it take you to know whether or not you want to hook up with this client?
Speaker 2:Like the first five minutes. The first five it's I, I, just, I just that BS meter comes quick right, yeah, like oh god, because if they're listen, listen, listen, cheap is expensive. The authors I deal with that is like, oh no, that's too much. Or they, the ones that pay more, demand less.
Speaker 1:The ones that pay less demand more, yep, yeah is that what weird like?
Speaker 2:And I treat you all the same, but it's like well, you give me this much and you call me every day and then the ones that give me a lot more I I gotta find them. So I think, if you invest and it's not about the money is just who you are and how much you're willing to invest in your brand.
Speaker 1:Right, and if you believe in your formula, because it seems like you do have one. Yeah you've developed it? How long have you been in this industry?
Speaker 2:Good Lord, over 12 plus years. Yeah to die on self. Be true, like now, with the focus of who you are. Like I tell people I'm Confident when I suit, when I see you on Instagram. Who are you? Who's your brand?
Speaker 1:Yeah, all over the place, yeah not not you.
Speaker 2:I'm saying people. It's like you follow me. You know I do publishing. That's it. I like to motivate. I like to be real. I'll speak on technology. Ai is becoming very huge, so I'm getting invited on a lot of, because there's gonna be a lot of books are gonna be disbanded. Amazon sent out a press release like if your book is on AI, we're gonna start taking it down. That's what they you gotta say you did yeah.
Speaker 2:So there's gonna be a lot of. There's a lot of these goos like a do a book in ten minutes. If you could really write a book in ten minutes, then then it's probably not worth reading right before. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Let's see, do you have any advice? I mean you, you're full of advice Beyond publishing. I mean, that's what the I'm full I.
Speaker 2:You know I'm full of advice because I'm full of failures, you know, I think, I think failures are the best indicator. Wisdom and if you don't learn from your failures, you're bound to repeat them. So I think a lot of times people see they think they have this success, but there's a lot of mistakes. You made a lot of bad decisions, but you built from them. So I think true wisdom comes from that, you know.
Speaker 1:I like that, yeah, like do you ever let your mistakes haunt you a little bit though.
Speaker 2:You know, do you beat yourself. I don't dwell, I'm super positive, but yeah, I'm a human.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know but um, but it's gotten to you where you are. Don't take advice from people that haven't done it. It's funny like people want to give you advice. I got people while I give me advice on what I should do on my brand and but they don't do anything on their brand. I'm like whoa, I can't get it, like, yeah, well, you need to do this, what are you like? I like to take, not to be disrespectful. I like to take advice from up, not down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that makes I like to take advice for people that know more than me. Right now, don't get it twisted. There are people that know less than you. But to give you some word of wisdom at that moment, yeah, that you have to take like their children.
Speaker 2:I learned from right, but it's like when it comes. So I think just motivating people is like I. I, I said it on my I wanted my the Larry Lawton shout out to Lila podcast, like my teacher told me, man, mr Bucci, and I love her man, you, you terrible at writing. You can't spell. I mean I, I say I got ADHD. I've never been a Like those, but I just know me. I'm like a. Let's go. You talked to me. I just forget. So I just. But I've published books.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I didn't know. Now my limitations, like, don't let anyone tell you can't be done, people will try. Let me tell you family members, we'll try. To the first. People, if you write a book, are gonna want to freeze your family. You got no problem spending ten dollars at Starbucks buying a latte and a pastry, but you want me to give you a book for free to ten dollars. That cost me thousands of dollars. So, or like when I go to a friend's restaurant, I don't want your food for free, right?
Speaker 1:I'm gonna go to.
Speaker 2:Carabas and pay them. Let me support you. So you know it's a problem with with with people. They don't support their own people a lot of times, and that's that's the problem, right, they want it for free. They want you know what, man? I rather just focus on people. That that Most. It's funny. Like most of my, my shine comes from people I don't know.
Speaker 1:No, I don't know me. Yeah, it's crazy, so it's crazy, yeah, it's crazy. You know, with success you get the haters if they listen, man.
Speaker 2:Betrayal happens, only happens people that know you.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I can't betray you, I don't know you right so it's like. But it's a best teacher, you know and it's good when they betray you early, because now you know who they are.
Speaker 1:Right, but family members, I could stay it happens, fam.
Speaker 2:I love my family. Yeah you know, and, and I'm loyal to my boys, you know, and, but you know, a family is Rough to you know, but it is what it is.
Speaker 1:It is. You know what, you know what.
Speaker 2:No, it's perfect. We've made mistakes. Yeah, I must have done some bad decisions. I must have hurt people, so it's a it's a typical vicious cycle.
Speaker 1:Are you on your podcast regularly?
Speaker 2:my, I made the biggest mistake. You don't talk about mistakes my podcast hit top 50, top 150 it. It is called the Peter Lopez no excuses podcast. I haven't done one in a while. I wanted to own my data at the time. Yeah, so I'm gonna. I have to relaunch. It became like my podcast was a 10-minute Rent on whatever I wanted to.
Speaker 1:I like that increment of time and and I think that would work for you because, I don't know, you just have so many little nuggets of.
Speaker 2:Even now, the podcast that I haven't revived is still like well, I feel like you're making content.
Speaker 1:Anyway, whether you're sitting in front of a microphone or just at your office, you're, your page is full of good advice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my pivot now is to take all my Podcasts turning into YouTube shorts. I mean, I'm verified on YouTube and I haven't been honest, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pivot. You know, I, if you want to become an expert writer book and I'm an expert because I wrote a book on excuses but I still make excuses. It's like, you know, my mind is like you got to get your podcast back up and but it's a lot like, it's a lot of energy and the thing is I don't want to be. I thought at one point I was just forcing it.
Speaker 2:Authenticity wasn't coming out like and if I don't do that, I don't want.
Speaker 1:I'm not gonna do anything I'm not forced to do.
Speaker 2:I know is an answer. No one is gonna tell me.
Speaker 1:I'm learning that this year no, no, no no, I'm not doing it. You know cuz I know yet now?
Speaker 2:Yes, I should, and I have to for my brand because I noticed, the more visible I am, the more helps our company. Yeah so that's that's, that's that's it.
Speaker 1:Crazy. I want to ask you one more thing. You know you've come across the best of the best in Brevard, I'm sure who would you nominate to come on this show? I?
Speaker 2:There's a few. There's the lady Georgia. She's a Grammy winner. I mean Grammy nominee. She lost to Elmo. Get out of town she has like little Elmo thing, everyone kicks around great story. She wrote a composer story about her sister that passed away. When she plays that piano Tears and then David Bernard his book is coming out. He's pretty cool guy, you know there's there's a, but like Niefi Moffitt is pretty cool. He wrote a book about parenting Called Niefi isms. Yes they're all from.
Speaker 2:From Mimi my business partner. She hates to be in the limelight. I tell her she's got to be more public like she's a strong, strong leader. Strong a businesswoman.
Speaker 1:But it sounds like you guys have a good yeah, yeah, and Yang that's right. You need somebody like that behind you and she needs you in front of. It was so nice meeting you. Can you tell us where we can find you?
Speaker 2:you can find me. So XP Lopez Jr. There's a bunch of ones, but this one is, you'll see, the verify one. Yeah, it's my youth of Instagram and LinkedIn. I'm very big. If you want to really establish a brand, you. Linkedin is huge. I get most. I'm not on Facebook a lot, but Peter Lopez on LinkedIn and then Public five press calm or Peter Lopez junior calm. You'll find me through all those. Mean is send me an email today. If you guys like anyone sends us an email that they heard me on the show, I'll send them a free like template on how to get their book done.
Speaker 1:All right authors out there. We got somebody in town that could help us our local celebrity, peter Lopez. Thank you so much for being here and educating us Hope to have you back.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, we'll come back when the robots take over.
Speaker 1:The world and we have to hide. Thank you so much. Thank you the pleasure, pleasure To be a sponsor or nominate a guest. Hit us up on Instagram at local underscore celebrity underscore bravard. Until next time, goodbye.
