Joe Pulizzi is the author of seven books on content marketing, the host of two podcasts, a popular speaker, and the founder of several content marketing businesses, including The Tilt (a website, newsletter, and publishing service) and the annual Content Entrepreneur Expo.
His latest book, “The Content Entrepreneur,” is a 40-chapter guide from 33 experienced content marketers. Topics include choosing a content niche, technology and platforms, building an audience, revenue channels, long-term growth, and more. The book is available in hardcover ($45), paperback ($25), and ebook ($10).
I spoke to Prizzi about books, the industry, and authors.
Practical e-commerce: What is a content entrepreneur?
Joe Pulizzi: A content entrepreneur is a small media company. That means you start by building an audience that knows you, likes you, and trusts you. What are their pain points? What keeps them up at night? If you can consistently solve their challenges, you’ll be a content entrepreneur in no time. Create a great newsletter, podcast, or YouTube show. And monetize it.
It’s not like launching a product. teeth Your product is good, but you won’t be able to make money from it until you have the right user base.
The life of an entrepreneur has incredible ups and downs, and you can experience tremendous success and incredible failure in the same day.
Joe Pulizzi, Publisher of The Content Entrepreneur
Peck: Why did you publish The Content Entrepreneur?
Prizzi: My VIP group from Content Entrepreneur Expo wanted to collaborate on a project. We thought there was a need for resources for content entrepreneurs. We met at CEX 2023, brought together 33 authors to create a book, and launch it in early May before CEX 2024.
Collaborating with 33 contributors would be extremely difficult. I don’t recommend it. Luckily, we have a group of content professionals with expertise in their fields, most of whom are authors themselves. Tilt Publishing’s incredible editorial and project management team made this work possible.
Peck: Since 2008, you’ve published seven books on content marketing.
Prizzi: The book business has changed. Most authors think they have to publish and sell through outside channels. That’s no longer the case.
Affordable technology can create great reading experiences without relying on traditional publishers and Sell ​​directly from your author website. Why build a readership and then send them elsewhere to buy your books? It just doesn’t make sense.
I created Tilt Publishing to empower authors to create great books and sell them directly to their subscribers, fans, and followers, which is essential to their long-term success.
Tilt Publishing is a hybrid. We’re not a traditional publisher, but we’re not self-published (custom) either. We help with back-end editing, design, and distribution. Authors no longer need a publisher for credibility.
But books still matter. The data doesn’t lie: in 2023, roughly 1 billion books were sold worldwide.
A non-fiction book is a content entrepreneur’s mission statement: What do I stand for and what do I believe?
Peck: What does the future hold for content marketing?
Prizzi: Innovative companies will continue to focus on building or buying their own audiences. Advertising isn’t going away. It serves a purpose and still works. But why rent when you can own it? To own it, you need to tell a compelling story. If you do it well, you can dominate your industry. Not a bad place to be.
