Archieboy Holdings: Building Tomorrow From Yesterday

HOST: Welcome to Archieboy Holdings News. I'm Jennifer Paige, and today we're looking at the 30-year arc behind Archieboy and where AI is taking the company next. Our guest is the founder himself, Bo Bennett, PhD. Bo, you built one of the first web-based affiliate management systems in 1995, way before most people knew what a web host was. Now you're running a portfolio of AI tools — what does someone who was there for the early internet see happening in AI that people newer to the space might be missing? GUEST: Perhaps the trends that are going on right now, if you weren't there back in 1995 when the internet was first coming around and being exposed to businesses and individuals, you probably don't recognize that the same thing is happening now with AI, the way the AI is drastically changing things, the way we do business, the way we live, the way we communicate. It's very similar to the the advent of the internet, the beginning of the internet, and not similar to some of the other uh stepping stones we had along the way, like um, for example, social media. I mean, that was huge, but it wasn't as monumental as what we're seeing now with AI. HOST: It's interesting you bring up social media — so you're seeing this current wave of AI as foundational in a way we haven't seen since the internet itself, not just an evolution of existing platforms. How do you think that shifts the logic for someone trying to build a business right now? Are we throwing out the old playbook or just adding new chapters? GUEST: I guess it depends on the business you're talking about, because obviously for many mom and pop stores and like a grocery store or something, you're probably talking about adding some new chapters when it comes to using AI, how you could use AI to benefit almost any business. But there are other businesses and even entire careers that are completely, or will be, if not already, completely displaced by AI, including like copywriters, editors, uh, my jeez, the list could go on. There's, there's a lot of things that AI is replacing. So for businesses that are focused primarily on tools and services that AI provides and could do a lot better and cheaper and faster, uh, they're going to be in big trouble. HOST: Given that displacement, when you look at the Archieboy portfolio, I count at least a dozen properties that all serve authors in some way — formatting, distribution, covers, AI writing tools, mailing lists — is that a deliberate vertical stack strategy, or did you just keep solving the next problem you ran into with eBookIt? GUEST: Well, when I started eBookIt back in 2011, I I started building up a client base, obviously, over time. And because we have such a huge client base in that area, it just makes sense to stay on that vertical and and keep on providing tools. And the fact that we've see so many tools that our customers use, and now we have the ability to build them and build them better and faster and cheaper, that's what we're doing. Because, let's face it, it's very difficult to publish a book. It It I should say it's it's not very difficult. It's It's difficult to publish a profitable book. Let's Let's put it that way. So, with these tools, we make that easier because you're not paying as much for the creation, the publishing, the marketing. So, it makes everything more profitable and easier. HOST: Right, profitability is the big barrier. But doesn't that tie into the debate about AI flooding the market with low-quality books, potentially making it harder for even good authors to break through? Since you run multiple platforms that create AI content, how do you see that tension playing out? GUEST: Yes, that is a concern. Uh AI does write books. And that's only that's only, jeez, one of the businesses that we have is we or a couple actually, that where we give the the author the opportunity to use AI to write a book. Um, in terms of low quality books, I would definitely push back on that because we've been in the business, I personally been in the business a long time, and I've seen many, many, hundreds of authors manuscripts come in. And I could say with confidence, especially now, in May of 2026, AI writes far better quality books than the vast majority of authors. So, it's not a matter of low quality books, but it is a matter of increasing the volume of books that are out there, which makes it more difficult for any individual author to get their book noticed. And that's why we need AI technology to also come into play when it comes to marketing, to make it easier for authors who use this technology to break through. HOST: Interesting, so you're seeing the volume itself as the primary challenge, more than the quality debate. That makes sense with your broader portfolio approach — you're providing all the tools. You even have one affiliate program that covers every single property in the portfolio. What's the logic there — are you treating the whole portfolio as essentially one brand, or is that more of a practical simplification? GUEST: No, that's pretty much it. Uh, Archyboy Holdings, we we could see the one portfolio with our 40 plus sites, how many ever we have as of this recording. And uh, yeah, that's it's one brand, one portfolio, one affiliate program that takes care of all of them. So if you are in the publishing business, then maybe you're just going to focus on our publishing sites. But if you're an affiliate that, let's say, you could you understand and you have some access to uh, clients who may be interested in a site like Design Crowd, well, then um, then that works for you too. You could you could uh, run that website. HOST: I see, so you're providing one path for partners to engage with any of the services, simplifying the process. Now, you got a PhD in social psychology after you'd already built successful companies. Did that training change anything concrete about how you build or market digital products, or does the psychology live in a separate lane from the business? GUEST: No, it's very much related. Uh social psychology is about understanding communication, understanding people, the way they respond to different things. So when it comes to marketing and especially book marketing, uh this is all intertwined. It It definitely helps in building these websites to and and designing programs to help authors market their books. HOST: So, that background helps you design based on behavioral principles. I'm curious — you've been building businesses since before Google existed, you have that psychology background, you run a logical fallacies database, and you're deploying AI tools. If someone came to you tomorrow and said, "Bo, I want to build a focused AI-powered digital business in 2026," what's the one thing you'd tell them that almost nobody in the AI space is actually saying out loud? GUEST: that's not as difficult or I'm sorry that's not as easy as they think. It is more difficult than they probably think. And this has to do a lot with AI in or I'm sorry uh influencers on YouTube uh talking about AI and how it's so easy and people can make millions of dollars off of it and they're just basically trying to get clicks and views. It it's not that easy and virtually everybody out there saying how much money they're making they're they're just exaggerating or outright lying. Uh it's a tough business still even with AI AI technology and not everybody can do it. You need to know how to speak with AI and how to communicate with it and at least the fundamentals and the basics of website architecture and building a business in order to communicate effectively. Uh so it's not for everybody. HOST: Bo, thank you — pointing out that it's not as easy as it looks is a crucial reality check, along with your insight on needing foundational tech knowledge to make AI work. 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: You can find more about our company at archieboy.com. That's the place to go. HOST: Excellent. Bo Bennett, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing that perspective on building through AI in the publishing vertical. And thank you for spending part of your day with us. Until next time — that's a wrap.