In this 2026 YouTube monologue, Julie Broad (founder of Book Launchers) argues that publishing solely as an ebook is obsolete. Citing the PublishDrive 2026 Market Intelligence Report, she highlights a 75% year‑over‑year increase in print revenue, a 96% surge in Ingram distribution and a 71% rise in Amazon Print, and a 60% revenue jump for indie authors versus 24% for traditional publishers. She explains that print captures higher value, resists discount pressure, and lives longer in readers’ hands, providing ongoing branding and marketing. Wide, multi‑format distribution—including print, audio, digital, and direct‑to‑consumer sales via Shopify/Accutrack—is presented as the core of an “intellectual‑property empire.” Indie authors are thriving in high‑growth niches (business/technology up 140%) and library demand (Hoopla up 501%). Managing a catalog across multiple channels yields a 33% increase in sales volume and higher revenue per reader. Julie urges authors to adopt a coordinated, multi‑format strategy, build interactive assets (apps, workbooks, courses, digital clones), and leverage community resources or consulting services to scale their authority‑building empire.
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I talked to someone yesterday who said, "Yeah, I think I'll just publish my book as an ebook." I wanted to climb through my computer and shake him. The days of a digital book only are so far gone, if they were ever here. If you're still treating your book like a digital file, you're leaving the biggest growth engine of the decade on the table. Get this, print revenue surged by 75% year over year. And yes, I'm filming this in 2026. Print is crushing it. If you want the format strategy that's working right now, well, this video is for you. Hey there, I'm Julie the Book Broad. I'm the founder of Book Launchers, a full-service self-publishing company helping nonfiction authors write books that are assets and turn those into authority-building intellectual property pieces. Today we're looking at why publishing in print is fundamental to monetization stability, especially when you stop thinking about a book and you start thinking about an intellectual property empire. That's right. Your book, it's not just words on a screen or words on a page. It's high-value intellectual property. When you think about it that way, you realize the reason you need to put that property into the world in many formats, well, that is where you are gonna have the most impact and generate the most income. For years, there were authors self-publishing who focused on digital. Maybe they did it to save money. Time, or they just thought that was gonna be a good strategy 'cause people could download it and read it instantly. And I know some people have said to me that print was just a legacy format, something you did for your mom to have a copy on her coffee table. But the data from the PublishDrive 2026 Market Intelligence Report blows that thinking apart. Print isn't just surviving, it has become a huge monetization engine for indie authors. While we're seeing a lot of pricing pressure in ebook world, print is showing incredible stability. In fact, the report shows that print revenue is accelerating faster than almost any other format, growing 75% year over year. Why is this happening? Well, it's because print captures value differently. It's resilient against the discount-heavy pricing we see with digital-only platforms. And when you offer a physical book, you aren't just selling information. You're selling a high-value asset that readers are willing to pay a premium for. My favorite part about print is that most people will never throw a book out. They will give it to a friend, they'll donate it to a library, they'll sell it at a used bookstore. But the print book lives on longer. And while it sits on shelves, it also reminds people of you. It's marketing, it's branding, it's building for you while you sleep, eat, and write your next book. Now, the real secret isn't just having a print book, it's wide distribution. The report shows that being everywhere isn't just a theory, it's a pattern of success. I mean, check out these numbers. Ingram Distribution, which is the backbone of wide print availability, reaching the bookstores and libraries all over the world, surged by 96%. Amazon Print also expanded by 71%. But don't just take the print surge as a sign to ignore digital. This is a multi-format game. And by the way, it's also become a game where the indie authors are crushing it and finding ways to make a lot more money while having a lot more impact. And this makes my heart sing. The data reveals another massive structural shift. Indie author revenue grew by 60% shattering traditional publisher growth, which sat at just 24%. Why? Well, indie authors, we're faster. We're moving into high-growth areas like business and technology, which are up as much as 140%. And for us, it's not just about selling a copy on Amazon. Library demand is also through the roof with Hoopla up 501%. This is a distributed ecosystem according to the report. And the authors seeing the most growth are using Amazon to capture that massive retail demand but they're using Ingram to hit the rest of the world. And a lot of them are also selling direct. I do that with Self Publish and Succeed. We sell through Shopify and a company called Accutrack handles the printing and fulfillment. There are lots of approaches to this. And if you wanna dive deeper, come on over to our community at booklaunchers.com/school, S-K-O-O-L, to see exactly what other authors are doing because people are talking about this all the time. The insight here is clear. Wide print availability That's not optional. If you are an authority builder, you need it. And I've also argued for a while that you want all the formats available and not just available on Amazon. If a potential client or a speaking scout is looking for you and they can only find a Kindle link, you will look like a hobbyist. And frankly, if somebody consumes books only in one format, say only in audio or only in print, and you aren't there when they look, there's not a notify me if this becomes available button. You've lost them. Bye-bye. And more importantly, bye-bye benefits to having them read your book, love it, and carry your message forward. When you are available across multiple physical retail and wholesale networks and you're in different formats, it reinforces your professional strength and your status as a leading authority in your field. You're exactly where your reader wants to buy your book in the format they want to consume it. And that leads me to my biggest conviction for 2026. The era of choosing your format is officially over. It's not optional. You've done the hardest work building the intellectual property. Now it's about taking those thoughts and positioning them everywhere, starting with all formats and moving into things like interactive assets like digital clones, apps, workbooks, and even courses. It's not about one asset in one format. It's about building an uncopyable empire. Once you've developed a great book, one that's worth reading, It should be the foundation for those interactive assets, books you talk to, digital clones, educational upsells like courses, workbooks, authority-building workshops, keynotes, other talks, the framework for your consulting or service. If you have a digital book with no print, no audio, well, you're only really kind of a third published. So don't just tick the box on one platform and one format. Use that infrastructure that reaches libraries and regional networks and bookstores and all of them are seeing some growth. So if you wanna move from being an author with a book to a founder with an empire, you have to look at how you manage your assets. The PublishDrive 2026 report shows a clear pattern. Growth isn't coming from leaning harder into a single thing. Instead, authors who manage their entire catalog across multiple channels are the ones seeing that massive 33% increase in total sales volume. Think about that. We're not just talking about 33% more books sold, we're talking about revenue growth. And that is actually outpacing unit volume. That means when you're wide across retail, library, and even international subscription models, you're capturing more value per reader. Tell me in the comments below what you're gonna add to your author empire after watching this video. Think like a CEO building a scalable empire. Now, don't let that thought intimidate you, let it excite you. Use the infrastructure available to you to coordinate your metadata and pricing across every market simultaneously. And build your empire around the world. When you have a coordinated multi-format presence, you aren't just selling one asset in one format. You're building a foundation that you can then layer with interactive assets, courses, digital clones, and so much more. Scale— it's not achieved through concentration. It's achieved through coordinated wide market participation. If you want help, come on over to our free community or schedule a call at booklaunchers.com/apply, and we can chat about how we can help you.
