Bo Bennett Unveils Archieboy Holdings New Platform

HOST: It's good to have you back, Bo. Last time we got into BookEditor.io and how AI can help finalize a manuscript; I've been thinking about some of that philosophy you opened up there. Today, I want to push on this new launch, BookSpokesperson.com, which is explicitly reversing the typical marketing order—payment usually happens before you see results, but here you get a free preview of the presenter holding your book. Is this just another version of "try before you buy," or is something different happening psychologically when it's a *person* holding your physical book? GUEST: Well, I guess it could be argued that it's both. Uh there is some psychology behind the idea of uh somebody actually holding their book. They have a commitment to to the purchase cycle. Uh there's an emotional attachment and it's more difficult to walk away from. Uh but it's also something that they can walk away from. They can download that and they have a great free pick of somebody holding their book, which any author would want and would want to share and post. So, it it's a win-win really because sure, uh they give a little bit um of themselves in a way where where it's a little bit more likely that they'll purchase and in exchange, they get a a fantastic image that they could use for social media. HOST: That "win-win" framing is interesting. You're letting authors dip a toe into using this presenter model with no upfront cost. Do you see that casting option as a way to lower the barrier for authors who might be skeptical about AI, or is it purely about letting them get a creative brief just right? GUEST: Well, many people are skeptical of AI and they're not sure what it can do. They don't quite believe it until they actually see it. That's why we let them see at least the still first and then they take the chance on actually making it a video. And of course, with the video they can redo it if it's not right. They can change things and even if they don't like it at the end, they could always ask for a refund. HOST: So there's a safety net there, which definitely helps encourage them to experiment. You mentioned being able to change things—say, redoing the script. When someone makes a request like, "a 60-year-old former Marine in his yard," how specific can those descriptors get and still be processed effectively by the backend? Is that design-draft-style precision, or something different? GUEST: It It is part of the AI design in that they could be as specific as they want in describing the scene like the exact person they want to be holding their book, where that person is, and how the person is speaking. For example, I just did a video where I wanted the book was all about New York. So I wanted a typical New Yorker. And I guess it's not typical New Yorker, but I I decided to go with a hot dog vendor on the side of a busy New York street with a rough New York accent holding the book and presenting, and it did a wonderful job. HOST: That "rough New York accent" is a perfect example of the detail you can prompt for. You've used your own books, like *Squat!*, *A Mostly Magnificent Memoir*, and *Logically Fallacious*, as the demos on this site, similar to how you did with BookCovers.pro and BookyAwards. Is that just convenience, or is there something you've learned about what makes a good demo book to showcase on a new site? GUEST: Well, by doing my own books, I get the benefit from actually having the promotions as well. Because when I put my books out there as as a demo, people are going to see it over and over and over again. And as a result, sell more books. And they are It's a very effective promotion. So, why wouldn't I want to do that? So, it it serves a whole bunch of different purposes. HOST: That makes sense, you're getting a dual utility out of it. So now you have BookReelz for trailers, AuthorOnAir for AI-hosted interviews, and BookSpokesperson putting a presenter on camera holding the book. You told me once that video doesn't sell books directly, it starts conversations. Does a spokesperson video change that math, or is this the same word-of-mouth engine with a different face on it? GUEST: It's virtually the same. When you have a book video versus a spokesperson video. But the spokesperson video tends to have a little bit more weight carried for it for for your book. We make it very specific instructions here, not to mislead people or deceive people. For example, we're not going to We're not going to let you, the author, pretend that this is somebody who bought your book and read it and really likes it. So, they are going to be a spokesperson for the book in that they tell you like they they'll talk about the book and good things about the book, but they're not going to claim that they actually read the book, which would be deceptive or dishonest. So, there there is that element of the human face to the book that gives it a little bit more credibility than just say a video that just runs a bunch of different scenes. Although, the video that runs a bunch of different scenes can be more intriguing than just watching somebody talk. So, both of them, whether you whether you prefer the bookspokesperson.com or our bookreels.com, they both have their advantages. HOST: That clarity on disclosure is crucial, making sure authors are upfront about the nature of the video. You mentioned you can do one to three scenes—connected by a story, perhaps. How does that multi-scene format compare to the batch logic you've used on something like PoddyHost's queue of episodes? Are people making short video series, or is it mostly one-offs? GUEST: They're mostly one-offs. These aren't large video series. So far, again, it's a brand new site. We're just launching it, so we don't have a lot of uh people to uh to draw from with the experience and how they're using it. But I would anticipate that people would just do individual books, and when they have series of books, they could they could just treat them like individual books, and it will come out and appear as a series as long as their writing is consistent. in a series, which I'm sure it would be. HOST: So while consistent writing ties them together, the tool is flexible enough to handle both one-and-done projects and serial authors. Now that you've given authors a face for the trailer, a voice for the audiobook, a host for the interview, and now a spokesperson to hold the book itself—when you look at that lineup, is there one more "face" left to build, or have you finally covered every angle a reader could see or hear from an author? Before We go—for listeners who want to follow up on what we covered, where can they find you and the work you're doing? GUEST: Well, to your question first, your first question first, and that is I don't think we're ever going to be done, although I think we've covered about 95% of anything that an author could want with the 50 plus different author websites that we have and all the different services that we offer. So, it's incredibly a wide net that we allow them to cast to to get as many readers as possible with all of our different tools. But we're we're never done. There's always going to be another good idea that comes along and I'm going to have to create another site for it, which is perfect example of this one. It was just something I saw. I'm like, wow, this is a great idea. And then a day later, the site's built and we're ready to go. Now, in terms of your second question, you could always find out more about this product at bookspokesperson.com and all of our websites at archieboy.com. HOST: It's fascinating how quickly you can move from an idea to a live site like BookSpokesperson, and I appreciate you walking us through the strategy and the psychology behind it. And thank you for spending part of your day with us, listener. Let's get you back on soon, Bo—there's clearly plenty more we can cover. Until next time—that's a wrap.