Podcasts about Rufus

What if creativity isn't a talent you're born with, but a muscle you've simply stopped using? In Daily Creative, Blythe Harris and Mallory May make the case that everyone is creative — even the people convinced they can't draw, paint, write, or make anything “good.” The real problem is that perfectionism, routine, and our obsession with getting things right have trained many of us to stop experimenting altogether. In this conversation with Rufus, Blythe and Mallory reveal why even a few minutes of creative play can boost well-being, sharpen your thinking, and pull you out of autopilot. They share simple ways to quiet your inner critic, explain why constraints can actually make you more creative, and show how noticing what catches your eye can help you develop a point of view that's genuinely your own. And in an age of AI and automation, they argue that exercising your creativity may matter more than ever.

Amazon sellers are being forced to rethink how they build and grow their businesses. From stricter listing requirements to AI-powered shopping and new international opportunities, the rules are changing quickly.  On this episode of The Opportunity Podcast, Greg sits down with Jana Krekic, founder of YLT Translations and Seller Lingo, to discuss what's changing across Amazon and where sellers should be paying attention.  They cover Amazon's stricter listing requirements, shorter titles, supplement compliance, and what these changes mean for sellers who have relied on older optimization strategies. They also dive into AI and Amazon search, including Rufus and Alexa, and how sellers may need to structure their listings so AI can better understand and recommend their products. The conversation then moves beyond the US, with Jana sharing her perspective on international expansion, localization, and overlooked markets. She explains why simply translating a listing isn't enough and why some markets can offer opportunities that sellers may not be looking for. If you sell on Amazon, are thinking about expanding internationally, or want to understand where the platform is heading, this episode is worth a listen. Topics Discussed in this episode: 04:03 - Why Amazon has gotten stricter with their listing requirements 11:59 - Amazon's crackdown on supplement regulations 17:37 - How Amazon has changed for sellers over the last five years 25:03 - The risks of using AI to translate your listings  36:32 - How important is your listing copy in the age of AI? 42:39 - When to consider international Amazon expansion  51:22 - Cultural translation for different markets Mentions:  Empire Flippers Podcasts Empire Flippers Marketplace Create an Empire Flippers account Subscribe to our newsletter YLT Translations SellerLingo Smart Scout Helium 10 Data Dive Sit back, grab a coffee, and get the latest update on Amazon's listing requirements across different countries.  

Want to be a better leader? Start by doing less. In her new book, Leadership Intelligence, Caroline Webb shows how smart delegation, ruthless prioritization, and the right time management techniques can help you make better decisions. In this episode, Caroline and Rufus discuss how to be a better leader by using your time more intentionally, delegating work you should no longer own, and helping your team do their best thinking. Caroline shares practical tools for team management, decision-making, communication skills, saying no without damaging relationships, avoiding multitasking, and focusing on the highest and best use of your leadership. __________ Today's episode is sponsored by: Granola — The AI notepad with notes, actions, and memory, and no annoying meeting bots. Try it totally free for three months at granola.ai/idea IM8 — Athletes. Doctors. They all drink IM8. Get a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets, and 10% off your order when you use code NBI at im8health.com/nbi Momentous — If you want to try Momentous Signature Spec Creatine, head to livemomentous.com and use code IDEA for up to 35% off your entire first order Upwork — Find freelancers for any project. Visit upwork.com right now and post your job for free Wealthfront — Earn up to 4.30% APY with Wealthfront's high-yield cash account for a limited time at wealthfront.com/nbi Wealthfront Disclosures: This experience may not be representative of other Wealthfront clients, and there is no guarantee of future performance or success. Experiences will vary. The host of The Next Big Idea, Caleb Bissinger (“Media Partner”), is a client of Wealthfront. The Media Partner receives cash compensation from Wealthfront Brokerage for this paid endorsement placed in their podcast, creating a conflict of interest. More details available via the referral link. The Direct Deposit Plus Investing Program from Wealthfront Advisers LLC and Wealthfront Brokerage LLC provides eligible clients a 0.25% APY increase above the base APY on eligible Cash Account balances (up to an overall boosted rate of 4.30% for a limited time when including the three month 0.75% APY boost for new clients) when you direct deposit $1,000 a month, plus open, fund, and maintain an investing account. Wealthfront may change or end the program at any time and determine eligibility at its discretion. Terms apply. Full details at wealthfront.com/promo-terms. The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of January 30, 2026, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. References to the APY for the Wealthfront Cash Account, including any APY increase, are to the APY paid by insured depository institutions that participate in our cash sweep program (the "Program Banks”). Wealthfront Brokerage does not pay interest. Funds in the Cash Account are swept to Program Banks where they earn a variable APY and are eligible for FDIC insurance. Conditions apply. For a list of Program Banks, see: www.wealthfront.com/programbanks. FDIC pass-through insurance, which protects against the failure of Program Banks, not Wealthfront, is not provided until the funds arrive at the Program Banks. While funds are at Wealthfront Brokerage, and while they are transitioning to and/or from Wealthfront Brokerage to the Program Banks, the funds are eligible for SIPC protection up to the $250,000 limit for cash.  FDIC insurance is limited to $250,000 per customer, per bank, regardless of whether those deposits are placed through Wealthfront Brokerage. You are responsible for monitoring your total deposits at each Program Bank to stay within FDIC limits. Wealthfront works with multiple Program Banks to make available up to $8 million ($16 million for joint accounts) of pass-through FDIC coverage for your cash deposits. For more info on FDIC insurance coverage, visit www.FDIC.gov.  Same-day withdrawal or instant payment transfers may be limited by destination institutions, daily transaction caps, and by participating entities such as Wells Fargo, the RTP® Network, and FedNow® Service. New Cash Account deposits are subject to a 2-4 day holding period before becoming available for transfer. Fees & Eligibility requirements may apply to certain checking features. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Securities investments are not bank deposits, bank-guaranteed or FDIC-insured, and may lose value. Product images are for illustrative purposes and do not reflect individual experiences, account balances, or performance.

In Episode 90 of the LIVE FREE Podcast, Pastors Josh Howerton, Carlos Erazo, and Paul Cunningham uncover surprising lessons hidden inside some of the Bible passages we usually skim—including the stories of Mark, Demas, Rufus, and Quartus. Their lives reveal powerful truths about failure, restoration, friendship, legacy, and lifelong faithfulness. The conversation also gets intensely practical: Who are the people carrying your mat when you're struggling? Is it biblical to pray for God's judgment on someone? And why does Scripture teach that Christians can approach God directly through Jesus? In this episode, you'll learn: Why seemingly insignificant names in Scripture actually matter What Mark and Demas teach us about failure and finishing well How to intentionally build a band of brothers or sisters Why Christian friendship requires encouragement and confrontation How Christians can pray for enemies while still asking God for justice Why Jesus alone is our mediator before God How to keep your eyes centered on Christ throughout your life Don't simply start the race—finish faithfully. Stand firm. Think biblically. Live free.

AUG 23 | Who Is This King? | Mark 15:21-39 ...A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!” In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can't save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him. At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he's calling Elijah.” Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said. With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

AUG 23 | Who Is This King? | Mark 15:21-39 ...A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!” In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can't save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him. At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he's calling Elijah.” Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said. With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

AUG 23 | Who Is This King? | Mark 15:21-39 ...A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!” In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can't save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him. At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he's calling Elijah.” Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said. With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

AUG 23 | Who Is This King? | Mark 15:21-39 ...A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!” In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can't save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him. At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he's calling Elijah.” Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said. With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Today, we're revisiting Rufus's conversation with Yuval Noah Harari about his book Nexus. It's Harari at his best — a soaring overview of human history that turns, almost imperceptibly, into a gripping argument about the world we are building right now. The questions he raises about how AI affects our politics are even more relevant now than they were back then. At the time, Harari warned that AI was moving "much, much faster" than he expected. Since then, it has only accelerated — and so have Harari's concerns. At Davos this year, he said: "Anything made of words will be taken over by AI. If laws are made of words, then AI will take over the legal system. If books are just combinations of words, then AI will take over books." Which makes the ideas they explore in this conversation feel less like speculation about the future and more like a description of the present. __________

How can you get your books surfaced when readers ask an AI what to read next? What are the hallmarks of authors and businesses that last more than a decade in the indie author industry? Ricardo Fayet gives his marketing tips after more than a decade at Reedsy. In the intro, Expanding Your Book's IP through Merchandising [Wish I'd Known Then]; Guide to writers conferences [Kindlepreneur]; Rick Rubin and Stephen Pressfield on resistance and the muse [Tetragrammaton]; Pulitzer Prize winners disclose AI usage [Nieman Lab]; My new rebuilt fiction site JFPenn.com. Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, self-publishing with support, where you can get free formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Just go to www.draft2digital.com to get started. This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Ricardo Fayet is the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Reedsy, a marketplace for writers to find vetted freelancers, author training courses, and lots more. He's also the author of How to Market a Book and Amazon Ads for Authors. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes How AI search actually finds and ranks the books it recommends Why keywords and search volume are disappearing as marketing metrics Building an internet footprint so your book is worth recommending Why Claude leans on Goodreads while ChatGPT and Gemini lean on Reddit Product is more important than marketing, and how to find your comp titles Passion, business sense and resilience in the authors who last You can find Ricardo at Reedsy.com. Transcript of the interview with Ricardo Fayet Jo: Ricardo Fayet is the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Reedsy, a marketplace for writers to find vetted freelancers, author training courses, and lots more. He's also the author of How to Market a Book and Amazon Ads for Authors. So welcome back to the show, Ricardo. Ricardo: Thank you, Jo. It's been a while. Jo: It has been a while. As we were saying, it's been a decade, which is crazy, because you and I see each other at events and things. For anyone who doesn't know you— Tell us a bit more about you, where you're from, and also, what is Reedsy these days and how have things changed? Ricardo: Yes, sure. I think I'm hard to dissociate from Reedsy because my only background really is Reedsy. We started Reedsy right after business school for most of the founders. There are four founders, and I'm one of them. We've been going since 2014, so it's been 12 years. We started around the same time, and you started even earlier than we did, but we've had the chance to meet at quite a few conferences since. I think the main thing we're still known for is our marketplace. Since the very beginning, Reedsy is a curated marketplace where authors can come in and look for editors, cover designers, marketers, ghostwriters, literary translators, author website designers, pretty much any freelancer you would ever need to hire throughout your writing career. That's how we started. That's our main source of revenue and our main business. Since then, as you mentioned, we've also added courses, live events, so we've got a membership under Reedsy Learning. The main thing we're proud of right now is our writing tool, Reedsy Studio, because we've been pouring a lot of engineering talent into it over the past five, six years, and I think it's a really cool writing tool that is 90% free. It also does the formatting, so it's a good alternative to Vellum or Atticus for those who haven't purchased those tools. So there's a lot of things that Reedsy does at this point, which always makes it hard for me to describe what we do. Jo: But you generally serve writers. That's probably the crux of it. Ricardo: Exactly, yes. We're mostly at the production stage. The thing we say is we help authors make beautiful books, right? That's a little bit the tagline that applies to 90% of what we do, though we also help a little bit with the marketing side of things. Jo: And then just tell people where your accent is from. Ricardo: So I'm half French, half Italian from my parents, and I was born in Spain. So depending on my mood and the moment, it might be anywhere from French, Italian, Spanish. It's anyone's guess, really, at this point. Jo: Yes, exactly. You've been part of the indie author ecosystem, as you said, since 2014. You're often at the author conferences, and you stay abreast of everything that's going on. So what are the biggest changes you've seen in the industry since you started out? Like you said, you guys came from business school. You chose to come into the industry at a particular point, and yet things have changed. So what do you think are the biggest changes, and how have you seen authors adapt? Ricardo: It's crazy, the amount of things that happened in the past 10 years. Obviously we came into the industry as a result of Amazon launching Kindle Direct Publishing, and then the Kindle Store becoming one of the number one places where people buy books. That's what enabled self-publishing in the first place as an industry, and obviously we wouldn't exist without self-publishing being a thing. But then I think probably one of the biggest changes that happened was the introduction of Kindle Unlimited and various other subscription models. Perhaps as a response to that, afterwards, I would say direct sales is the other massive change that happened in the industry. The ability for authors to sell direct to their readers via their websites, or running Kickstarters, or basically the ability to reach your customers directly. Now, obviously, artificial intelligence is probably the biggest change of them all, not just in publishing, across every industry, but of course it's going to affect publishing very strongly, or it has already started making big waves. So I would say those are the three main changes that we've seen happening in the industry. Jo: Just interestingly, given that you're French, Italian, Spanish, European— Has the pace of change been the same in mainland Europe? Because you and I have also met up at European conferences, but I just get the sense that each individual European country, the UK included, as I include the UK in Europe, goes at a different speed. Ricardo: No, they definitely do. Our market at Reedsy is all in English. We only have an English website, and I would say 70% of our market is US, then 15% UK, and then Australia, New Zealand, et cetera. We do have clients in continental Europe, but they're mostly going to be American or British expats. A lot of retired people who write books and use Reedsy services. I think the main reason for that is that self-publishing as an industry hasn't really grown in Spain, France, Italy the way that it's grown in the US and the UK, probably because these are countries where book buying habits are a lot more traditional. So all my friends from high school and university in France, they all buy books, they all buy paper books. They all buy from bookstores. They don't really buy from Amazon that much. They love the smell of paper, all these sorts of things. So obviously that makes it harder for indie authors in those countries because they cannot place their books in the places where people buy them, which is traditional brick-and-mortar bookstores, or at least it's much harder. So there is an indie movement in those countries, but it's much smaller. I would say Germany is maybe the exception in Europe, where I've seen more and more full-time indie authors, but I don't think it's a market that's comparable even to the UK. Jo: Interesting. Okay, so let's go to marketing, because you love marketing, you have a newsletter about it, and you have a book, How to Market a Book, same title as mine, and we've found each other in our Also Boughts over the years. You have, however, updated yours several times. 2025 was your last update. Mine was 2016, so yours is definitely the most up-to-date one. So what are your thoughts on how authors can reach readers now? And let's split this into two. Let's start with some tips for new authors who just have maybe one book and are really just starting out. Ricardo: Yes, first of all, sorry for stealing your title. Jo: Oh, you know, it's never been a problem. Ricardo: We were trying to come up with something… I know, I know, I know. But still, we wanted something more original, and then we realised that for SEO purposes, that's the title we should really go for. The good thing is, if you search “how to market a book” on pretty much any retailer, you're going to find your book or mine in any order really, but those are going to be the top two books to this day, thankfully, so I'm good with that. I think in terms of marketing tips for new authors who have just the one book, I'd say, despite all the changes in the industry, the basics of marketing still stay the same. One of my big mantras when it comes to marketing is that product is more important than marketing. So having a great book is going to be more important, in my opinion, than being a great marketer. Having a great product. By that, I generally don't talk about literary value or prose or anything like that, just because I'm not a book critic. I'm not an editor. My opinion on whether a book is good or not is worth zero. From a marketing standpoint, for me, a good book is one that resonates with its intended audience. So the first step for newer authors is to basically figure out who they wrote this book for, right? Have an idea of who their target market is. A great way to do that, without entering into marketing jargon like proto-personas and stuff like that, is to think in terms of comp titles, comparable titles. I think that's probably the base of any marketing, whether traditional publishing houses or indie authors, to think, “Okay, which other books out there are similar to mine?” If your book is completely unique, you have, I would say, 99.9% chance of not selling, because your market doesn't exist, and 0.01% chance of creating your own market and completely dominating it, right? So being unique is not necessarily a bad thing, but I would say 99% of the time, it is. Obviously being unique within an existing niche, within an existing market, that's completely different, but you need to work on some comparable titles. So I would say that's where I would start, and that's one of the things that AI is great at. If you even just plug in your book into an AI chat that has enough context, if you're comfortable doing that of course, or if you plug in a synopsis, like a long synopsis, you can basically ask the AI chats, “Okay, what would be some comp titles?” Either you'll have heard of those books, and you'll think, “Okay, they're good comps,” or you may not have heard of them, in which case I would really recommend buying them and reading them and seeing whether they're comps or not. I think that's where marketing starts. Jo: Yes, and we might come back to that for book discoverability. Well, let's just talk about it now, because I now pretty much use Claude for discovering books as well. I just find that the Amazon search, for nonfiction it works really well, right? As you said, if you want to learn how to market a book, you just search “how to market a book”, and our books are very well titled for that. But for fiction, it's so difficult to find new books and comp titles, especially if you don't write in a clear genre, which I don't. I know lots of people do. So we're writing cross-genre. So in terms of book discoverability, I know you've been looking into SEO for books and all of that. What are your thoughts on how authors can more effectively have their books surfaced if people are using the AIs for finding books? Ricardo: That's a very big topic. That's one of my favourite topics right now. That's what I talk about in my marketing newsletter, and I want to start a Substack on the topic as well, because I think it is the future of book discoverability. As you say, search on Amazon isn't great, and if it's not great on Amazon, you don't even want to imagine on Google Play, Kobo, all these sorts of places, right? If you search on Kobo or Apple Books or Google Play for witch cozy mysteries, the top 10 books are going to have exactly “witch cozy mystery” in the title or the subtitle or the series title, right? Jo: Yes. Ricardo: Search is very simple on those sites, so it's very easy to game, but it's terrible as an experience for readers. So I do think that a big part of search is going to move to AI, and now you have Rufus within Amazon itself that appears as a chatbot and encourages you to talk with it, to ask for recommendations. In the beginning Rufus was really terrible, but now I recommend authors play with it. In general, I recommend when it comes to AI discoverability that authors play with all the AI search tools. So it's going to be Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, Rufus within Amazon. Just like we talked about comp titles, right, ask for something like, “What would you recommend for fans of this book? Which other books would you recommend?” Or if you're looking for something specific that describes your book, what books would you recommend on… I think one of your examples was fiction around masonry or something like that, right? Jo: I always say, for example, if you ask for action adventure thrillers on pretty much anywhere, you're going to get 20 books by male authors. For those of us who are female authors, but also who have female main characters, you can then be far more granular. That's just not something that necessarily works on Amazon. So, action adventure thrillers with female protagonists written by female indie authors, which is very specific. That will work in AI, whereas that definitely won't work on Amazon. Ricardo: Exactly. So one of the great things about AI search, and terrible things at the same time, is that the concept of keyword is lost, right? So we title our books How to Market a Book because the keyword that people would search for is “how to market a book”, or “book marketing for authors”. Those were the two keywords that had the biggest search volume if we looked at Google Keyword Planner, or any search tools that give you keyword volume. When it comes to AI search, since it's conversational, and it's very personalised, and it can go as niche as you want, keywords are going to disappear, and search volume as a metric is going to disappear. The search you just told me about, maybe there are 10 people who are going to run it exactly. Most people are going to run variations of that. Since you can go as granular as you want, it's going to be very long phrases, very long sentences. So the whole concept of keywords, search volume, SEO, is going to disappear in favour of what some people call GEO, generative engine optimisation, AIO, AI optimisation, AI search optimisation. There's a bunch of names for it, but it is a different discipline. It still works on the basis of Google SEO because what most of these search engines will do is they're going to search the internet, right? They've been trained on a lot of information, but not all of that information is current. Most of these models have been trained on documents and web pages before 2021. That's why when you used the very early versions of ChatGPT, and you asked it about current events or current books, it didn't find it. It didn't have that information. Now all these models have the ability to search the web, and they do that really effectively. So the first thing they're going to do if you run a search like that is they're going to run dozens of different searches on Google or a similar search engine. Action thriller books with female protagonists. Action thriller books with female protagonists by indie authors. Action thriller books by indie authors. They're going to create what I call a corpus, so a massive document of information with candidates, books that probably meet those criteria that they have found through regular web searches. Then they're going to go through all those books and determine which are the most relevant to recommend, and they'll return with that. Then they'll usually have a verification layer as well, which is, okay, I have these five books that I want to recommend to this user, but I just want to make sure first that they are written by indie authors, that they do have a female protagonist, et cetera. And if I'm not able to verify that, I'll flag it in my answer to them. So there are these three layers. Web search, then ranking of the book candidates, and finally a verification layer, and then they serve you the answer. Obviously, that's really powerful. If that's the way that search is headed, which I firmly believe, then we as authors need to learn how to get our books in there. Jo: Yes. It's so interesting, and I do this all the time. Really niche stuff, like a thriller about anatomical Venuses, which are these models from anatomy museums and stuff like that, with an edge of the supernatural. What is brilliant is that you can find the books that come up. I actually got one that I read and reviewed, and it was fantastic. So I love the more granular thing, but we're really in the very long tail now, right? It feels like you can write a very nuanced book, and it will be surfaced, but only by a few people. So do we have to write our books and then try to not even retrofit them in the way that we used to? We used to try and figure out the seven keywords and all of that kind of thing, and now I almost feel like we just get to be grownups, where you just get to write the book and put it out there, and these things are more intelligent than the search terms. Ricardo: Yes, absolutely. I think in terms of the variety of books that are going to be read and discovered, that's amazing. A little bit like the whole indie publishing movement was amazing, because if you remove the traditional publishing gatekeepers, then suddenly zombie books aren't dead anymore. Zombies are alive again. They've… Jo: Come to life. Ricardo: They've come alive, and so you get a bunch of zombie books again. It's not a small niche audience. It's actually a pretty big niche audience that loves zombie books, and suddenly they have those to consume. This is a little bit similar on a much, much bigger and more granular scale, because anyone can find exactly the kind of book that they're looking for, with the tropes they want, with the type of characters they want, with the type of author they want, and you can basically use any kind of filter. So for discoverability on the side of the reader, that's great. For the authors, it doesn't mean that you can just write whatever you want and then rest, and readers will find them. Because your books still need to have generated a certain internet footprint and a certain review footprint in order to become interesting or recommendable to AI search engines, right? Unless you're the only book that an AI search engine can recommend for that specific search, and yours was very specific, so it might have been the only one. If there are other candidates, the AI search engines are pretty smart. They're going to recommend the candidates that have more reviews, better reviews, or are more famous, that have more, when I talk about internet footprint, more pages talking about them on the internet. That's for me the big finding I've seen. The more pages you have on the internet talking about your book, so that could be book review sites, that could be Goodreads lists, Listopia lists, anywhere on the internet where your book is mentioned, that creates a footprint for it. The more footprints, the more famous your book looks to AI search engines, and so the more worthy of recommendations it is to them. Jo: Yes, and this is one reason why I now ask people, especially when you sell direct, or say you have a Kickstarter and you want reviews, I ask people if they can review on Goodreads. Obviously Goodreads is owned by Amazon, but it is far more searchable by the bots than Amazon is. I sometimes find that Amazon gets blocked. Or Amazon blocks some of the bots, let's put it that way. They might change over time. They own 15% of Anthropic or something. But Goodreads I feel like does get indexed, and I'm not willing to engage on Reddit. I know Reddit is another popular one. Just be very clear on social media, because some people think, oh, I just need loads of influencers to talk about my book, and that will impact the AIs. But I find that social media just almost isn't even there. Ricardo: It depends on which social media. For me, Reddit is a social medium, right? It's a very weird one, but it's obviously the number one social medium used by AI search engines, and it's pretty dodgy stuff with lots of conflicts of interest, because Google has a paid partnership with Reddit. I think Sam Altman has shares in Reddit. So both OpenAI and Google Gemini heavily rely on Reddit for their AI answers, right? If you ask anything from ChatGPT or Gemini, I'd say there are very high chances that in the sources and the citations of the answer, you're going to find Reddit, right? That goes for books as well. Every time you ask for book recommendations, Reddit is going to be big for those two AI search engines. Claude, it's a little bit different. They do have a little bit of a relationship with Reddit, but I don't think it's as big. I found that Claude relies heavily on Goodreads, not Reddit. To me, Goodreads is another social medium at the end of the day, right? It's not the kind of social medium we think of, like… Jo: It's not TikTok. Ricardo: It's not TikTok. TikTok is surfaced a little bit, but not that much. It might become more surfaced in the future, but right now what I've found is, it's really Reddit and Goodreads. Facebook, LinkedIn, but LinkedIn is big for nonfiction topics more than fiction, because there are just not a lot of fiction readers, sorry, talking about their favourite books on LinkedIn. They usually go to other places for that. Jo: Yes, it's really interesting. So obviously TikTok has its own BookTok thing, so some people are finding books on BookTok, and some people like me are finding books through asking Claude, and that's just my overwhelming feeling about the industry. We talked earlier about what's changed. When I started, so 2006, there wasn't even KDP, and then KDP arrives, then you came in 2014, and probably until maybe a few years after that, there was one way to self-publish. Then what's happened since is this kind of splintering. There are so many ways to self-publish. There are so many ways to reach readers. There are so many ways to market. So someone, for example, could sell direct on TikTok Shop, only market through TikTok, and you wouldn't even know that they existed over in another ecosystem, right? So do you feel like that's happened too, this total splintering? Ricardo: Absolutely. I think there are so many different ways in which you can reach your audience now and monetise it as well, that it's absolutely possible. We both know examples of authors who are only visible to their TikTok niche, right? I think the big difference is also monetisation, because earlier you also had different ways of becoming well-known. Like you had Facebook, you had potentially Twitter, back when it was Twitter. Various social media, word of mouth. But where people bought books was Amazon. So that was your monetisation. It was either selling your book on Amazon, or potentially getting KU reads after that when KU launched. Now you can sell on TikTok, you can sell direct, you can run Kickstarters, you can start a Patreon or Substack and make your money through there. There are pretty much infinite ways through which you can monetise your content as a creator. Most of those places will also have a discoverability engine built in, so you can not only sell through there and make money through there, but also grow an audience there. That's probably the biggest competition that Amazon has ever had to face, is this sort of splintering. For us authors and content creators in general, it's amazing, because it's a bunch of different opportunities. Jo: Yes, and I think probably that's circling back to marketing. As we've said, some things have changed, some things stay the same. Is the email list still the number one way to market, do you think, for authors who want a long-term career? Ricardo: I think so. It's just the one thing you really own that allows you to communicate with readers, right? Because even if you build a following on TikTok, TikTok can change. The things we said about Facebook 10 years ago, if you build your Facebook group, Facebook can change, and Facebook changed. Facebook destroyed the reach of pages, and now groups also aren't amazing, et cetera. So the same thing that happened to Facebook can happen to TikTok, can happen to any other social media. Substack is a bit of a hybrid because it is a newsletter, it is a mailing list, but it also has a discoverability engine built in. So I still wouldn't really go all in on Substack. The great advantage there is that you do own the emails, right? So you can move away from it at some point. For me, the email list is the one thing that you are completely in control of. Personally, the main thing I check is my emails every day. I spend more time in my inbox than anywhere else, and I think that's probably the case for most people. So I do think, despite the influx of mails that readers are getting in their inbox, I still think it's one of the most important marketing tools for authors. Jo: Yes, and I still remember when I started my list in December 2008, and I still have people on the list who've been with me that whole time, and have moved email list services several times as well. So I think that's important too. The care of that list too is so important. One of the things that I am annoyed about with Substack, I don't have a Substack, but when I follow some people's, it's always constantly trying to get you to sign up to other people's lists, trying to subscribe you to this or that or the other. I'm like, “That's so annoying.” Now I've found on all these email services they're trying to pair you with other creators and cross-promote and all of this. So it feels like even the email list is becoming a difficult place unless you really protect it. So just protecting your list, I think, and remembering that those are people. Those are people who've bought your books, or people who read your emails. Like people listening to this, these are humans. Sure, some bot might be looking at the transcript, but humans listening to this are individual humans with individual email lists. We tend to forget that, don't we, as you get a bigger list. You think about it as a big number, whereas it's still individual people. Ricardo: Yes, it becomes a number, it becomes metrics, the open rate, the click rate, and all that. But the great thing about email is that you get replies in your inbox. There you remember that they're actual human beings who write you back. I think for readers, the ability to write back to an author and get a response is just amazing, right? If you write to your favourite author and they write back to you, that's the best feeling ever as a reader. So I think email is still one of the best ways to turn your readers into fans and into super fans of your brand, by just interacting with them and answering them. Because yes, you can answer comments on TikTok, Facebook, and all those places, but it doesn't feel the same as an author answering you in your inbox, I feel. So you do get that ability to create a real connection with readers directly through email. Jo: Yes, and I think that trust and the reputation is so important. Just in terms of seeing the authors that you've seen over the years, like I said, you've been going to a lot of the author conferences. You know a lot of the authors in the industry. A lot of people will know you from events. But you've also seen authors come and go, and you've seen vendors come and go. Both of us have seen people arrive, and we'd be like, “Oh, yes, I wonder how long they're going to last.” Then some people do and some people don't. So what are some of the elements that you've noticed about the businesses that last more than a decade? Ricardo: I think they need to solve a genuine problem, or offer a genuinely better solution than one that already exists. I see a lot of businesses come in and they do what another vendor already does, without doing it necessarily better. Those businesses tend to disappear, or linger there, but you don't really hear about them again. When they solve a real need… I still remember when BookFunnel came out, and they've since become massive with one very, very basic thing, which is, “We will take care of delivering your ebook files to readers.” That's how they started, and that's how they became massive. To me at the time, I was like, “That seems like a very small problem,” because I can just email an ebook file. I didn't realise that it was so complicated for a lot of readers to upload files to their Kindle or other devices, and that having a service that takes care of that for you is just massively helpful. I realised that when I published my books, actually. So businesses that solve even micro or apparently very small problems, but they really solve them effectively, they stay. Others that surf on trends, they tend to disappear when the trend disappears. When there's a new marketing trend, and that trend stops working, then those businesses tend to go. Jo: Yes, and what about the authors who last? Because let's face it, most of us don't solve a problem in a different way. Maybe you could say we solve your entertainment problem in a different version to your last book. What about the authors who last long term? What have you noticed about them? Ricardo: Two things. So the first one… Maybe three things. First one is passion. I always say to people who are looking to start self-publishing, I always say that publishing in general is probably one of the worst ways to make money. It's awful. You can pick up any other occupation and it's probably going to be easier to make money. So writers who make a career do it because they need to write, because they have a passion for writing. So a lot of people who come into the industry thinking, “I've heard about all these self-publishing success stories. Surely I can write a book and I can market it. It's not that hard. So that's going to be a great way to make quick bucks,” those generally don't last, because they don't have that genuine passion. The first hurdle they're going to face—and there's going to be a bunch of them along the way—they're going to quit. The second thing is business sense, or business education, the basics of business, right? Thinking in terms of marketing, thinking in terms of who's my reader, unit economics. If I'm selling my books at $3.99, I shouldn't be spending a ton of money. If I just have one book at $3.99, I cannot afford to pay $5 on ads to generate a sale. So those kinds of basic economics or business knowledge, I think, if not a requirement, it's a massive plus. The third thing is resilience. The industry has changed a lot, as you mentioned. There are a bunch of ways now to reach an audience. There are a bunch of ways to make money. It can also be distracting, because you go to one of these conferences and you go back thinking, “Oh, I've got to create my own website, sell direct. I've got to launch my Substack. I have to use Claude Code for my ads,” and three more things, “and I have to set up my TikTok Shop and do TikTok Lives to sell books,” right? Jo: All of those by next week. That's why we go to the conference. Ricardo: Exactly. All those by next week, right? And during that one week after the conference, you have the energy to start implementing all those things, but afterwards you lose that energy and you go back to, “I just want to quit.” So you need to have some sort of resilience, and the business sense of, “Okay, I'm going to try this for the next six months, and I'm going to stick to it, and I'm going to see whether it works or not. And if it doesn't work, I'm not just going to despair. I'm going to try something else.” That goes for marketing tactics, but also goes for books. Most authors I know who make a living writing, they didn't get there with their first book or even their first series. A lot of times I see authors who write a couple of series, and those series do okay. They sell a little bit, but not much, and it doesn't afford them to quit their day job. Then suddenly, based on what they've learned with those first two series and what they've learned potentially going to conferences or listening to podcasts like this, et cetera, they write a third series that's a hit. That's a hit, and that's instantly much easier to market, and that's when they can afford to go full time and write full time, because they've found that sort of product market fit. And product market fit for me is the main thing for marketing in general and for authors in particular. Until you find that, everything is really difficult from a marketing perspective. But finding it usually requires writing more than one book and more than one series, because you're rarely going to get the big lottery ticket on the first try. Jo: Or ever. I think it's really important. I've never had a breakout book, but I've made good money every year. I think, and Hugh Howey said this, that the real story of self-publishing is not the people who make seven figures a year, it's the people who can go on a holiday once a year, or the people who can just put a bit towards their mortgage or whatever. So you may never have a breakout series. I think that's really important, too. Ricardo: That's true. Jo: That's true. You can just keep writing and make all right money and be what we call in the mid-list. Ricardo: Yes, but you've got to keep going. You've got to have that resilience to keep going, probably because it's your passion. Exactly. You're not chasing that seven figure series. You're writing because you need to write. Jo: Yes, and you can't stop, and you get the bug. I think when you're writing that first book, I'm not sure if people understand that you either get the bug or you don't, I think. You've written a couple of books now. Do you think you have the bug, or is it more about the business? Ricardo: I don't have the bug. I definitely don't have the bug. I would've kept writing otherwise. Jo: You're a technologist, right? Ricardo: Yes. I'm more of a technologist, more of a marketer. To write my first book, How to Market a Book, I actually had to write newsletters, because that I can manage, right? One newsletter a week. Now I don't even manage that. I send it once every two weeks when I can even manage that pace. But back then I did one newsletter a week, and that's how I wrote my first book. I then put all these newsletters together, and that was before the age of AI, so I couldn't just dump all that into ChatGPT and tell it, “Create me a book based on that.” I had to do it myself. Jo: Oh, terrible. Ricardo: Terrible, I know. The days when we had to work. No, but that was a really good experiment. The second book, Amazon Ads for Authors, I actually wrote it from scratch, and I didn't love the experience. I loved the finished product, I'm very proud of it, but I didn't enjoy the experience of writing it. Amazon Ads is not the most exciting topic in the world. Even for people like me, who actually enjoy Amazon Ads, it's not super exciting to write about. The fact of having to write that whole book from scratch, I didn't love the experience. So now I do want to write a third book at some point, but I think it'll probably be in the format of the first one. Like, when I finish my series of newsletters on AI search and AI discoverability, I might do a booklet or something around it, but we'll have to see. It's not my favourite thing. It's a good thing I don't need to. Good thing I'm not an author, basically. Jo: No, but I think that's really great to recognise. You actually have written books that support your business, and that is very common for nonfiction writers. That's completely normal for nonfiction authors. So I think that's another important thing for people to recognise, is that the reasons we write are different, the reasons we market are different, and we all have different approaches. As we wind up, and obviously you talked a bit there about how easy it is to generate books with AI, and that is probably one of the biggest things that people are worried about. Now, those of us like you and I have been talking about AI at conferences and things for years now. Neither of us are afraid of it, I think basically because both of us use it, and we're technologists, so we just get on with it. There is so much fear in the community. There's so much negativity. You mentioned Substack, and now they've integrated Pangram, which is renowned for false positives around what is written with AI, and so people are very worried. If we look forward and we look at the next decade, this is not going away. This is going to change a lot of things. So how should authors be thinking about AI, do you think, if they want to prepare for the next decade? Ricardo: I think they need to play around with it, because you and I know that until you actually use it, you don't realise what it's capable of. We've both had these moments of “Oh my God, I'm going to be out of a job,” or “Oh my God, this is incredible,” the kind of things it's able to do. You also realise by using it the things it's not great at, or the things it can be good at but needing a lot of human input. There are courses out there, there are books, there are a lot of things, but for me, the most important thing is to start playing around with it. So you can pick one specific topic to play around with. Either something that you've been meaning to get into for years and haven't done, or something that really annoys you. Looking at the results of your Facebook ads, for example. If you run Facebook ads in the first place, and when you log into your Meta dashboard you cannot make sense of it, take screenshots or download the data, feed it to an AI chat, and talk with it. One of my biggest tips when talking to AI chats is asking them questions rather than asking them for things to do. Because if you just feed it your advertising data and you tell it, “Tell me what I should do,” the chat has no context about what your ads are about, what your goal is, et cetera, et cetera. If you feed it just a screenshot and you say, “Here are my ads. I would like you to help me make sense of them. What do you need to know from me in order to help me with this?” Then it's going to start asking you questions. “Okay, what are you advertising?” They're books. “Okay, what kind of books? Where are you selling? Are your ads going straight to Amazon or retailers, or are they going to your website? If you sell direct, okay, are these conversion ads?” Et cetera, et cetera. So you build that context, and they can help you with it. So that's just one example, but I would pick one thing that you want to test AI with, with zero expectations. Don't expect that by the end of the week you'll have a full system for understanding your Meta ads thanks to AI. You might get to that or you might not, but at least you'll play with it and you'll understand its capabilities, and have a sort of understanding of how it works and how you can potentially use it for other things. I think that's the best way to adapt, because once you play with it, you start thinking. You're walking the dog and you're just thinking, “Ha, I could maybe use it for this thing or that other thing,” and that's how you progressively become more familiar with it. I think there are a lot of worries around AI, but as you say, it's there to stay. So far, I think I was looking at data this morning, and the unemployment rate in the US has stayed stable ever since ChatGPT was introduced two years ago. So there are a lot of narratives out there around how it's going to replace humans, it's going to replace jobs, et cetera, which it might do. I'm not great at predictions usually, but so far it hasn't. What it will definitely do, however, is completely change the way we work. Obviously AI was one of our big reckonings at Reedsy, because we run a marketplace. Our main business model is the marketplace, where authors come in and look for editors, for marketers, for cover designers, for translators, and some of these domains and services are being transformed by AI, right? AI translations are massive right now. We haven't really seen a decline at all on the Reedsy marketplace, but we're prepared for it. It might very well happen, but what we think is happening, or is going to happen, is professionals using AI tools to provide a better output or a faster output or a cheaper output, or all three of these things. So for example, we now have literary translators who say they're open to editing AI translations, right? So you can come in, you can have your book translated with AI, whichever tool or method you choose for that. Then if you want a set of human eyes on it, you can hire a literary translator who's open to working on an AI-translated manuscript, and that's obviously going to be much, much cheaper than paying 10 cents per word from scratch for a literary translator. I'm not necessarily recommending you completely bypass literary translators, or that you go this way, but you have options, right? You have options for different sets of budgets. I think all these human editors, narrators, translators, designers, et cetera, they're not going to disappear, but they might have to reinvent the way they work in the future. Jo: As we all are doing. As you say, for me mostly it's the business side, getting Claude to help me with business stuff. Like even bookkeeping. There are bills that we've all been paying for years that we can now maybe reduce, and reducing costs as well as increasing profit is obviously good business sense. So, interesting times. But just as we wrap up, what are you excited about in what's coming? How do you see Reedsy shaping up in the next decade? What is coming for you and Reedsy? Ricardo: We're really excited about the decade to come, because obviously 10 years for a startup is a long time. I think most startups after 10 years, the founders are gone. Jo: Yes. Ricardo: Or they've exited or they've sold or whatever. We've stayed, we're the same founders, and we're still as excited because I think we have new products, right? We're working on new things. As I mentioned at the beginning of the episode, Reedsy Studio, our writing tool, is probably one of the things we're most excited about, because first, it's getting adopted very fast. It has startup-like growth that we hadn't seen for other products in a long time, and it has very cool technology built in. We probably have a team of 10, 15 engineers now working full time on it and adding a lot of things. So we've added templates for plotting your book, with relationships within different characters and places and magic systems and things like that. We've added writing goals and writing statistics. We still have the free exports. One very cool thing we've added is real time collaboration. So just like Google Docs, you can write in real time with a co-author, or you can get an editor to work in there live with track changes. So you could have an editor working on chapter one while you're writing chapter three, for example. That kind of thing. It's really powerful technology, and that's one of the things we're really excited about for the future. A business, just like authors, we've got to reinvent ourselves. We've got to find ways to keep things exciting and keep motivated, and that is definitely one of them. When adoption goes along with it, then that's obviously super satisfying. Jo: Brilliant. So where can people find you and Reedsy online? Ricardo: So Reedsy you can find at reedsy.com, R-E-E-D-S-Y.com. And there you'll find the whole suite of tools and services. For me, you can find me mostly by email, as I mentioned. That's the one place I check consistently every day, and my email address is ricardo@reedsy.com. So again, R-E-E-D-S-Y.com and ricardo@reedsy.com. You can email me any questions you have about this episode, about AI book discoverability, about marketing, about Reedsy. I always try to answer every email I get, because I think when we started Reedsy, I really appreciated people like you, and some other agents and editors and authors we contacted who were influential in the industry, who actually answered us and took the time to do that. So now I try to answer every email I get, because I feel like we've been very lucky in the beginning to have those people answering our emails, so we should do the same. Jo: Oh, well, thanks so much for your time, Ricardo. That was great. Ricardo: Thank you, Jo. Thanks for having me again.The post Book Marketing, AI Book Discoverability, And Resilience, With Ricardo Fayet first appeared on The Creative Penn.

JD has tickets to Rufus Del Sol. One problem... he doesn't know anything about them, nor does he have a date hahaha! So we played matchmaker live on air. Follow us on socials! @themorningmess

JD has tickets to Rufus Del Sol. One problem... he doesn't know anything about them, nor does he have a date hahaha! So we played matchmaker live on air. Follow us on socials! @themorningmess

JD has tickets to Rufus Del Sol. One problem... he doesn't know anything about them, nor does he have a date hahaha! So we played matchmaker live on air. Follow us on socials! @themorningmess

Amazon sellers have spent years optimizing for keywords and traditional search. That is still important, but the way customers discover products on Amazon is changing quickly. In this episode of The Opportunity Podcast, we sit down with Jon Tilley, founder of ZonGuru, to unpack Amazon's latest AI developments and what they mean for sellers. Amazon has moved away from Rufus and is doubling down on Alexa for Shopping, alongside its newer Cosmo algorithm. Instead of simply returning search results, Amazon can now use conversations, customer profiles, product data, and recommendations to help shoppers make decisions. For sellers, this creates a new layer of optimization. We discuss why keywords still matter, but why sellers also need to think about the questions customers ask, how their products are used, who they are best suited for, and which products they complement. Jon also explains why simply asking ChatGPT or Claude to rewrite a listing is not enough, how first-party Amazon data can improve AI optimization, and why sellers need to balance AI readability with human conversion. We also look at the wider implications of AI for Amazon sellers, agencies, and omnichannel growth. If you want to understand where Amazon is heading and how to adapt your business before these changes become mainstream, this episode is worth a listen. Topics Discussed in this episode: 04:11 - Why Amazon is doubling down on Alexa and what that means for sellers 08:57 - Keywords vs. conversational search  14:48 - How to maximize your AI visibility on Amazon 17:43 - Understanding Cosmo's product knowledge graph  25:19 - The biggest AI optimization mistakes sellers make  27:52 - The opportunities AI unlocks for Amazon sellers 31:59 - How quickly AI optimization can impact performance  38:21 - How Amazon sellers are using AI beyond product discovery  41:00 - AI, agencies, and the changing service model  43:33 - Is AI killing agencies or helping them thrive? Mentions:  Empire Flippers Podcasts Empire Flippers Marketplace Create an Empire Flippers account Subscribe to our newsletter ZonGuru's AI Readiness Report ZonGuru's Helix Jon's LinkedIn Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn how to improve your AI visibility on Amazon.

Amazon put up $200.6 billion in second quarter net sales and still ran negative free cash flow. Rick Watson and Jessica Lesesky work through the quarter Amazon would like read as a straight growth story.The reported numbers: net sales up 20 percent, income of $27.5 billion, advertising up 26 percent to $19.8 billion, online stores up 15 percent to $70.4 billion. Trailing twelve month free cash flow came in at an outflow of $7.6 billion. Sitting alongside all of that is $53.4 billion in non-operating pretax income, a good portion of it paper value on Amazon's Anthropic position.Then the $496 billion AWS backlog, which is a commitment for future compute rather than cash in the account. Amazon says those commitments run out to 2028 and it cannot build fast enough to meet them. Rick's read on the strategy is that Andy Jassy has stopped treating the frontier model as the prize. Models end up looking like programming languages. Plentiful, commoditized, and somebody else's problem to fund.Grocery gets its own segment. Amazon calls itself the second largest grocer in the United States and says fresh items are six of the top 20 best sellers on the site. Jessica's read is that a lot of that volume is bananas and avocados riding along on Prime orders people were already placing. Real frequency, real habit, and not the thing that keeps Kroger up at night. Amazon now has 2,300 delivery locations handling perishables, which is the part of the story that actually changed.Also on the show: sponsored prompts. Rufus moved out of the spotlight, Alexa moved in, and advertisers can now bid on the suggested prompts shoppers tap on a product page. Amazon says shoppers who engage with those prompts spend 21 percent more. Rick calls it evil genius and silly at the same time, and makes the case that it works better on Amazon than the equivalent inside a general chatbot, because people arrive already shopping.The Watson Weekly Weekend episode is sponsored by Avalara. Learn more at avalara.watsonweekly.com#watsonweekly #amazon #aws #andyjassy #q22026

This week on Bet the Process, Jeff and Rufus recap BetBash, some golf betting, and Rufus' dating life, then welcome Cleat Street Founder & CEO Dan Rubin to talk his company's pivot from sports betting to prediction market.

Amazon keeps raising the bar. Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc open with the retailer's blockbuster quarter: massive gains in AWS and advertising, staggering AI capex, and retail revenue up 16% year over year, up from 12% last year. Third-party sellers now drive more than 60% of the business, and Citi pegs underlying GMV growth near 10%, roughly double the industry average. Amazon's B2B division alone now tops $60 billion, bigger than all but eleven U.S. retailers. Then the hosts dig into the agentic commerce numbers Amazon disclosed as Rufus folds into Alexa shopping, why sample bias demands caution here, and how grocery momentum is turning Amazon into a mega market-share threat.  Then: Shopify's revenue up 32%, and the tale-of-two-cities reality that a handful of giants now drive nearly all e-commerce growth. A mid-year check on Steve's Prediction #8 — luxury's future won't be evenly distributed. LVMH, Kering, and Capri lag on China softness and war induced Gulf weakness, while Hermès, Ralph Lauren, Richemont, and Zegna keep delivering outsized results. Live from the CommerceNext Growth Show: Kartik Hosanagar. He's Wharton's John C. Hower Professor of Technology and Digital Business, author of A Human's Guide to Machine Intelligence, and co-founder of Bliss Labs. His argument: the biggest shift in retail isn't a new technology or channel. It's a new customer. Treating AI as another distribution channel is the same mistake movie studios made with Netflix. There's no marketing science for AI yet. $9.99 pricing, scarcity, social proof — a model may not respond to any of it. Kartik walks through the Ridge wallet case: invisible in ChatGPT's "gifts for men" results, then the default recommendation within three weeks, complete with a hallucinated promotion. Every retailer faces the same fork: efficiency or meaning. The middle is the most dangerous place to stand. Kartik also details the simulation sandboxes that let brands test counterfactuals in a day instead of eight weeks, why you can't just ask an LLM why it picked a brand, and the three attitudes retailers need now: curious, experimental, collaborative Back in studio: Wayfair's encouraging quarter and Steve's change of heart, Warby Parker's mixed report as store count passes 400, tariff rebates ($100 billion of $160 billion already repaid, more tariffs looming), and whether live selling has hit its tipping point with QVC out of bankruptcy and Whatnot valued at $20 billion. About UsSteve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling author of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.Michael LeBlanc is a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.

Scott sits with Christian, founder of Autopilot, about his extensive study on Amazon's AI shopping assistant (Alexa / Rufus) and how generative recommendations are fundamentally changing how products get discovered on and off Amazon. Christian explains that AI-driven shopping isn't just a replica of traditional search results, it also represents a distinct "third shelf" alongside organic search and paid advertising. Through a study analyzing over 110,000 search listings and 13,000+ Alexa recommendations, Christian discovered that 64% of Alexa's suggestions actually fall outside the top 10 organic search results. While top organic spots hold an advantage for the primary recommendation, deeper AI suggestions heavily favor long-tail products backed by strong star ratings (4+ stars), high sales velocity, and concise titles optimized for AI truncation. Furthermore, running PPC ads offers only a tiny chance of forcing an AI recommendation if the listing lacks strong underlying signals. The big takeaway is that AI discoverability operates as a holistic 360-degree ecosystem. Off-Amazon content on target sites, D2C stores, and deal forums heavily feeds engines like ChatGPT and Google AI. To win in the long run, brands must optimize their data infrastructure and create "agent-friendly" D2C content that AI bots can crawl, validate, and convert into citations and recommendations. Episode Notes: 00:00 – Christian's background 01:30 – How analyzing 15,000+ brands led to founding Autopilot 03:00 – Amazon unifying Rufus and Alexa under one shopping brand 04:30 – Why AI recommendation is Amazon's "third shelf" 06:00 – Methodology behind the 13,000+ Alexa recommendation study 07:30 – Alexa picks 09:30 – PPC reality check 11:00 – Category variations: Apparel vs. Health & Supplements 12:30 – What signals drive AI picks (ratings, sales velocity, title length) 14:30 – ChatGPT & Google Shopping 17:00 – Optimizing off-Amazon content for AI crawlers 19:00 – Tracking AI visibility using tools like Gumshoe, Peek, and Profound 21:00 – The scale of AI shopping: Over 100 million daily product searches 22:30 – How to connect with Christian and access the study report Related Post: Amazon Accelerate Coupon Code: Save $50 With SmartScout How to Reach Christian: Website: autopilotbrand.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/umbach Scott's Links: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/scott-needham-a8b39813 X: @itsScottNeedham Instagram: @smartestseller YouTube: www.youtube.com/@smartestamazonseller2371 Newsletter: https://www.smartscout.com/newsletter-sign-up Blog: https://www.smartscout.com/blog

This past weekend, Rev. Rufus Smith continued our Dear Corinth series with "Three Ways to Win in the Spiritual Life." In order to enjoy our eternal prize, we must exercise discipline, endure discomfort, and escape distractions.

This week on Bet the Process, Jeff chats with Rufus and Henry Kerins of Novig, who are in Vegas this weekend for BetBash. Topics discussed include Novig's national launch, the role of bookies in the evolving gambling landscape, and the recent Red Sox/Orioles trade.

OpenAI has a new model coming soon called Astra. Was it a leak? A reddit post? Some backdoor update? Nope, OpenAI made some crazy discoveries and math then told the world that their next model family Astra did the heavy lifting. (And you thought you could just click ‘Sol' and your strategy was set for Q3?) Aside from news on what's next from OpenAI, this week saw multiple new agent outbreaks, AI competitors banning together to pace AI, Amazon doing a 180 on its AI strategy and a lot more. Don't get left behind. We'll keep you ahead. OpenAI's new Astra model, more AI agents escape sandboxes, AI leaders call for AI pacing and more. AI News That Matters for August 3 — An Everyday AI Chat with Jordan WilsonNewsletter: Sign up for our free daily newsletterMore on this Episode: Episode PageToday's Episode on LinkedIn: Thoughts on this? Join the convo on LinkedIn and connect with other AI leaders.Upcoming Episodes: Check out the upcoming Everyday AI Livestream lineupWebsite: YourEverydayAI.comEmail The Show: info@youreverydayai.comConnect with Jordan on LinkedInTopics Covered in This Episode:OpenAI Agents Escape Sandboxes IncidentAnthropic Claude Models Security BreachesAI Agents Breaking Cybersecurity GuardrailsOpenAI GPT-5.6 Price Cuts & Self-OptimizationRecursive Self-Improvement in AI ModelsAI Leaders Urge AI Development PacingUS, China, and International AI GovernanceAmazon Nova AI Models Shutdown StrategyOpenAI Astra Model Math BreakthroughNew AI Models: Fable, Astra, DeepSeek v4 FlashEnterprise AI Agents and Cybersecurity UpdatesGoogle Gemini Robotics, Music, and Agent ReleasesMeta, Microsoft, and AWS AI Infrastructure MovesOpenAI Free Frontier Tools for ResearchersBlock's Buzz Open Source AI Workspace LaunchTimestamps:00:00 OpenAI agent containment issues04:27 Anthropic data breach explanation07:28 Evaluating AI incidents and responses10:14 OpenAI slashes GPT 5.6 prices15:59 AI industry urges development pause17:45 Concerns about AI self-improvement22:36 Amazon shifts AI strategy25:04 Amazon's AI efforts discussion28:00 OpenAI's Astra and new math proofs30:36 OpenAI's new four-tier system36:14 Google's Lyria 3.5 and Block's Buzz36:48 Latest AI developments overviewKeywords: Astra model, OpenAI, AI agents, agent escape, sandbox containment, autonomous AI, Hugging Face breach, Anthropic, Claude AI, cybersecurity testing, unauthorized access, model capabilities, recursive self-improvement, GPT-5.6, price cut, Luna model, Terra model, Sol model, input tokens, output tokens, AI infrastructure optimization, self-improving models, benchmarking, SONNET-5, large language models, artificial analysis index, codex, academic research, AI oversight, industry pause, AI governance, national security, China open-source models, Frontier Labs, Amazon Nova, AGI Lab, AWS, Peter DeSantis, Peter Abbeel, media coverage, Fable model, Haiku, Opus, DeepSeek, Kimi K3, Quinn 3.8, GLM 5.2, Google Gemini 3.5, Microsoft Copilot, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, distillation, model overhang, artificial intelligence development, international AI regulation, generative AI, model benchmarking, Sora video model, El Paso data center, MCP update, MAI Cyber One Flash, Project Perception, Lyria 3.5, music generation, Buzz open source, Block, Meta AI, Chrome Gemini integration, Gemini Spark, product summary algorithms, Rufus, enterprise AI, stateless core, model scaling, advanced math problems, sphere packing, federal policy, voluntary AI commitments.Send Everyday AI and Jordan a text message. (We can't reply back unless you leave contact info) Ready for ROI on GenAI? Go to youreverydayai.com/partner 

This week Erin tells us about John Rodney McRae, a convicted serial killer who murdered 8-year-old Joey Housey in 1950 at age 15, was paroled in 1972, and later was convicted again for the 1987 killing of 15-year-old Randy Laufer.Sources:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rodney_McRaehttps://murderpedia.org/male.M/m/mcrae-john-r.htmSupport the show

This past weekend, Rev. Rufus Smith continued our Dear Corinth series with a message on how to win people with the Gospel. We should strive to win others to show them the way of salvation and to shield them from destruction, and we do this by being culturally flexible.

More than 50 years after his role in the Senate's Watergate investigation, a North Carolina political veteran is taking a look back at his career and how the political world has changed.Rufus Edmisten recently turned 85 and has had a long career in North Carolina, from working with U.S. Sen. Sam Ervin on the Watergate investigation to serving as attorney general and secretary of state and facing a scandal of his own. Edmisten spoke to WUNC News' Colin Campbell at his law office in downtown Raleigh, chatting about his career, the current state of Congressional hearings and his forthcoming book about civility in politics.

If you've ever wondered what happens when St. Louis collectively loses its mind over bread, a pet kangaroo becomes public enemy number one, and everyone starts planning for an NBA team that doesn't technically exist yet... congratulations, you've found today's episode.On today's daily comedy show, the gang dives headfirst into the internet meltdown surrounding Panera moving its headquarters to Boston. Is this another Rams-level betrayal, or are people simply way too emotionally invested in soup and sandwiches? The debate gets surprisingly passionate, with theories, conspiracy-level outrage, and enough Bread Co. nostalgia to butter an entire bakery.Then things somehow get even stranger.There's a real pet kangaroo named Rufus hopping around Missouri after escaping from his enclosure, launching one of the funniest conversations we've ever had about exotic pets, Australian wildlife, boxing kangaroos, and why absolutely nobody expects to look out their kitchen window and see a four-foot marsupial staring back at them.As if that wasn't enough, the crew gets excited about rumors that St. Louis could someday land an NBA franchise, debates whether the Portland Trail Blazers could become the St. Louis Trail Blazers, imagines new arenas, and immediately starts spending money that doesn't exist.Of course, because this is The Rizzuto Show, we also somehow end up talking about armadillos, leprosy, Anthony Bourdain conspiracy theories, earthquake anxiety, weird Missouri wildlife, celebrity gossip, local news, and enough random detours to make your GPS quit.Expect sarcastic takes, ridiculous hypotheticals, hilarious fails, pop culture commentary, local St. Louis chaos, and the kind of conversations that only happen when six people completely refuse to stay on topic.Whether you're here for funny news, celebrity nonsense, Missouri weirdness, or just need something to laugh at during your commute, this episode delivers exactly the kind of beautiful train wreck you've come to expect.Thanks for making us part of your day. Keep sharing the show, keep telling your friends, and remember: if you see a kangaroo in Missouri...maybe it's actually a kangaroo.One innocent bakery van. One suspicious slogan. One studio full of adults who absolutely refused to let it go.What should have been a simple conversation about Nothing Bundt Cakes rapidly devolves into one of those classic Rizz Show debates where nobody can agree if a marketing slogan is clever, completely innocent, or unintentionally one of the funniest things ever printed on a delivery van.From there...because this is The Rizzuto Show...the conversation somehow shifts into Halloween party planning, costumes nobody should wear, Ballpark Village's Freak Show bash, and why Halloween somehow starts before August even arrives.The crew also dives into major local news as Hollywood River Studios announces plans that could transform the Metro East into a legitimate production hub. Massive sound stages, esports arenas, film tax credits, and the possibility of movies being made just across the river all have the crew imagining what St. Louis could become.Technology also gets roasted when Apple unveils its new hardware leasing program. Is leasing your iPhone actually smart? Is owning anything becoming a thing of the past? The gang debates whether renting phones is the future or just another monthly bill nobody asked for.Then it's time for a packed Crap on Celebrities featuring entertainment headlines involving Jared Leto allegations, Usher's awkward concert moment, Katy Perry's inflatable crowd-surfing fail, new music from Tony Iommi, Peter Gabriel's latest full moon release, Marvel movie rankings, celebrity birthdays, and plenty of sarcastic commentary that somehow makes even serious stories feel like hanging out with your funniest friends.Along the way you'll also hear debates about when kids should start paying their own phone bills, why Terry Crews seems like the nicest guy alive, Bob Hope trivia nobody expected, and enough random tangents to make your morning commute disappear.Some shows ease into the day. We immediately start arguing over Missouri's official state animal, accidentally insult half the Midwest, and somehow end up talking about rabid beavers terrorizing New York. Pretty standard Tuesday around here.The gang discovers that Missouri's official state animal isn't nearly as obvious as anyone thought, learns way more about mule breeding than anyone requested, debates whether a charging beaver should be kicked like "nature's football," and wonders why every state seems to have picked the weirdest possible mascot.Then it's time for one of the greatest disasters in recent memory: Read My Lips. Words like butt crack, flamethrower, cinnamon, armadillo, bidet, mothballs, Sasquatch, cornhole, and fruitcake somehow become Big Rig, Philadelphia, Hope Solo, Powder Keg, and whatever "Quantana Roo" is supposed to be. Nobody can read lips, everyone is somehow overconfident anyway, and the callers suffer right along with us.King Scott proves that facial hair is apparently the ultimate lip-reading defense system. Moon keeps inventing new techniques. Rafe becomes increasingly concerned about everyone's strategy. Lern somehow turns perfectly normal words into complete mysteries. Riz somehow nails "cornhole" while missing words he literally owns.Along the way we also dive into:• Missouri mule history• Rabid beaver attacks• Weird state facts• Listener games• Complete communication breakdowns• More accidental nonsense than should legally fit into one morning showIf you enjoy ridiculous conversations that somehow become educational, questionable wildlife discussions, hilarious games, and friends relentlessly roasting each other, you've found your people.New episodes of our daily comedy podcast drop every weekday with celebrity news, weird stories, listener games, and enough sarcasm to make your coworkers wonder why you're laughing at your desk.Follow The Rizzuto Show → https://linktr.ee/rizzshow for more from your favorite daily comedy show.Connect with The Rizzuto Show Comedy Podcast online → https://1057thepoint.com/RizzShowHear The Rizz Show daily on the radio at 105.7 The Point | Hubbard Radio in St. Louis, MO.Shots fired into Creve Coeur home, police investigatingCould the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers move to St. Louis?A kangaroo on the looseA 4,000-year-old disease is on the rise in this state thanks to armadillosJapan earthquake: At least 13 dead, death toll expected to riseApple Upgrade: Here's the monthly subscription cost for every productWhat happened to leaving the groom at the altar like an adult? Bride-to-be accused of setting fire to churchSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If you've ever wondered what happens when St. Louis collectively loses its mind over bread, a pet kangaroo becomes public enemy number one, and everyone starts planning for an NBA team that doesn't technically exist yet... congratulations, you've found today's episode.On today's daily comedy show, the gang dives headfirst into the internet meltdown surrounding Panera moving its headquarters to Boston. Is this another Rams-level betrayal, or are people simply way too emotionally invested in soup and sandwiches? The debate gets surprisingly passionate, with theories, conspiracy-level outrage, and enough Bread Co. nostalgia to butter an entire bakery.Then things somehow get even stranger.There's a real pet kangaroo named Rufus hopping around Missouri after escaping from his enclosure, launching one of the funniest conversations we've ever had about exotic pets, Australian wildlife, boxing kangaroos, and why absolutely nobody expects to look out their kitchen window and see a four-foot marsupial staring back at them.As if that wasn't enough, the crew gets excited about rumors that St. Louis could someday land an NBA franchise, debates whether the Portland Trail Blazers could become the St. Louis Trail Blazers, imagines new arenas, and immediately starts spending money that doesn't exist.Of course, because this is The Rizzuto Show, we also somehow end up talking about armadillos, leprosy, Anthony Bourdain conspiracy theories, earthquake anxiety, weird Missouri wildlife, celebrity gossip, local news, and enough random detours to make your GPS quit.Expect sarcastic takes, ridiculous hypotheticals, hilarious fails, pop culture commentary, local St. Louis chaos, and the kind of conversations that only happen when six people completely refuse to stay on topic.Whether you're here for funny news, celebrity nonsense, Missouri weirdness, or just need something to laugh at during your commute, this episode delivers exactly the kind of beautiful train wreck you've come to expect.Thanks for making us part of your day. Keep sharing the show, keep telling your friends, and remember: if you see a kangaroo in Missouri...maybe it's actually a kangaroo.This daily comedy show is packed with hilarious stories, entertainment gossip, pop culture commentary, strange headlines, St. Louis humor, celebrity chatter, and plenty of moments that make us question how any of this became a real job.If you're looking for a daily comedy show that feels like hanging out with your funniest, most sarcastic friends every morning, welcome home.Follow The Rizzuto Show → https://linktr.ee/rizzshow for more from your favorite daily comedy show.Connect with The Rizzuto Show Comedy Podcast online → https://1057thepoint.com/RizzShowHear The Rizz Show daily on the radio at 105.7 The Point | Hubbard Radio in St. Louis, MO.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Why do some people seem to create opportunities wherever they go while others spend years waiting for the right break? According to Cate Hall — lawyer turned poker player turned drug addict turned CEO of a $3B foundation — the difference isn't luck. It's the ability to question assumptions, reject the default path, and realize the world is far more malleable than it seems. In this episode, Rufus and Cate explore what it really means to become a high-agency person — a.k.a. someone who just does things. Together, they unpack why ambition isn't the same as agency, how fear of embarrassment and an obsession with hard work hold us back, and why curiosity, unconventional thinking, and expanding your "surface area for luck" are the keys to creating extraordinary opportunities. Cate's new book, You Can Just Do Things, is out now.

Rev. Rufus Smith resumed our Dear Corinth series with a powerful charge to lay down our personal rights for the communal rights of all Jesus followers, especially when our goal is to save or deepen our relationships with others.

Este fin de semana hablamos de festivales, pues Alberto Barbera ha anunciado ya los títulos que veremos en la 83ª edición de Venecia, en la que faltan mujeres directoras y con la presencia en competición de dos coproducciones españolas: 'Búnker', de Florian Zeller y protagonizada por Penélope Cruz y Javier Bardem, y 'Sucederá esta noche' de Nanni Moretti. Si nos venimos un poco más cerca, aquí en España, concretamente en Mallorca, comienza el Atlàntida Film Fest, así que hemos hablado con su director, Jaume Ripoll. Además, hay estrenos muy interesantes que comentar. Desde Francia llega 'El sueño americano' y desde Argentina, 'La mujer de la fila'. También de allí, pero en coproducción con Uruguay y España es 'El mensaje'. Una comedia española familiar llega a la cartelera, 'Tres de más', protagonizada por Kira Miró, Salva Reina y Luna Fulgencio; y con los más pequeños también se pueden disfrutar las animadas 'Rufus' y 'Jumbo'. Pero espérense, porque esta semana hay de todo. Si les gusta el terror pueden ver 'Insaciable' y si, en cambio, prefieren pasar un rato más divertido, ya está disponible en Apple TV 'Dink'. En 30 minutos les ponemos al día de todo. 

Carcajadas, dramas con clase, magia con firma argentina y pura superación animada, iniciamos el repaso a la cartelera con una de las perlas del Barcelona Filn Fest El anfitrión, un thriller asfixiante sobre la decadencia del poder que firma Miguel Ángel Jiménez y protagoniza Willem Dafoe y Emma Suarez con esta última y su director charlamos esta madrugada. El sueño americano llega de la mano de Elio Castro, una comedia con un ritmo arrollador inspirada en una divertidísima e increíble historia real de Anthony Marciano. La comedia de la semana es "Tres de más" de Mar Olid, el remake de la italiana ‘Tre di troppo’protagonizada por Kira Miró y Salva Reina con ellos y con Mar Olid hablamos de esta película ideal para ver en familia. Cruzamos el charco hacia la pampa argentina para dejarnos atrapar por la poesía de Iván Fund en "El mensaje", una fábula conmovedora sobre la inocencia infantil y la necesidad de creer en algo. Cerramos este repaso con los reyes de la casa y una joya de la animación europea que llega desde Noruega: "Rufus, la serpiente que no sabía nadar". Una preciosa lección en 3D contra el acoso escolar y a favor del orgullo de ser diferente.Todo esto además del resto de la cartelera, las mejores series con Pedro Calvo, esta semana Ángeles González Sinde nos acerca una película que llegó la semana pasada a la cartelera y que todavía podéis ver, Omaha, José Fernadez se detiene en la plataforma Netflix a la que llega los Creyentes, tensión familiar y suspense psicológico y las secciones habituales.Escuchar audio

Sergio Pérez habla de Insaciable, El anfitrión, El sueño americano, Tres de más, Motor City, El mensaje, Rufus y Jumbo.

First, a few numbers. This year Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta will spend more than $700 billion building AI infrastructure. There are 1,500 data centers in development across the country. AI-linked stocks make up at least 40% of the S&P 500. These are the kinds of numbers that make some economists jumpy. If this whole AI thing doesn't pan out, they warn, we're headed for the mother of all crashes. But Azeem Azhar is not one of those economists. He and his team recently spent months turning the AI economy inside out, and they just released a report called The State of the AI Economy. It contains surprising answers to what has become an increasingly pressing question: is this the biggest bubble ever blown, or are we building the durable machinery of a radically more abundant world? In this conversation, Azeem joins Rufus to unpack why AI adoption is growing faster than the internet or mobile, what Wall Street and Silicon Valley may still be getting wrong, and why the most important skill in an AI-powered future may have nothing to do with AI. Along the way, they explore energy, jobs, investing, AI safety, and what exponential change means for the next generation.

The Champion's Corner UnpluggedS1 (Bars & Breakthroughs)Recorded & Aired Date: March 31, 2025ALL NEWBars & Breakthroughs - Season 1The Notorious B.I.G. - "Mo' Money, Mo Problems"• Bars & Breakthroughs - Cultural Reflection + Life Application• Kitchen Table Talk + Real Talk with Rufus (Unfiltered Discussion Flow)Bars & Breakthroughs begins with a thought-provoking conversation inspired by one of hip-hop's most recognizable classics, "Mo' Money, Mo Problems" by The Notorious B.I.G.In this episode, Rufus explores the deeper truth behind the iconic lyric, challenging the common belief that more money, more success, or greater influence automatically leads to greater happiness. While financial growth can create opportunities, it also introduces new responsibilities, pressures, expectations, and decisions that require wisdom and intentional stewardship.Through cultural reflection, practical life application, and faith-centered insight, this conversation examines how people often chase increase without preparing for the responsibility that comes with it. Listeners are encouraged to consider whether they are pursuing wealth for status or stewarding the blessings they have with purpose, gratitude, and integrity.More isn't always the answer.Sometimes the breakthrough is learning to manage what you've already been entrusted with.Success without wisdom can become a burden, but stewardship creates peace, purpose, and lasting fulfillment.This episode reminds us that true wealth is measured not only by what we possess, but by how faithfully we manage what God has placed in our hands.Stay Safe. Stay Protected. Stay Aware.N/A (Podcast Exclusive Episode)N/ANo copyright infringement is intended. We do not own the rights to any music played during this broadcast.Portions of this episode may include excerpts from books, blogs, social media, and public figures. These are used under the Fair Use Clause of the Copyright Act of 1976, Section 107, for purposes such as criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research.The views expressed on this show are those of the host(s) and guest(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of any affiliates.The RH3 Show is a talk media platform and intellectual property of RH3 Productions, a division of S'iol Solutions.Conversations on The RH3 Show may address personal growth, finances, relationships, family dynamics, leadership, and lifestyle changes. These discussions are intended to provide insight, encouragement, perspective, and practical wisdom for everyday living.Listeners are encouraged to use wisdom, personal discernment, and, when necessary, seek professional guidance when making financial, personal, or life-changing decisions.The Champion's Whole Health Boost segment promotes mental, emotional, spiritual, financial, and physical well-being.This content is for informational and motivational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional financial, legal, medical, psychological, or licensed counseling advice. Please consult with a qualified professional regarding your specific circumstances.Website: www.therh3show.comFlagship Station: www.gospel107.ccinfo@therh3show.comrhcconnect@therh3show.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/therh3showInstagram: www.instagram.com/therh3showX (Twitter): www.twitter.com/therh3showYouTube: www.youtube.com/@TheRH3ShowTune in to The RH3 Show weekdays:• 1st LIVE Airing: 1:00 PM EST• Rebroadcasts: 7:00 PM, 9:00 PM, and 12:00 AM (Midnight) ESTAlso available on major podcast platforms including Audacy, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, and more.Search:Champion's Corner Unplugged PodcastBars & Breakthroughs Season 1: Mo' Money, Mo Problems The Notorious B.I.G. Rufus Hobson III#BarsAndBreakthroughs#TheRH3Show#ChampionCornerUnplugged#Season1#MoMoneyMoProblems#TheNotoriousBIG#FinancialStewardship#Purpose#FaithAndCulture#RealTalkWithRufus

Helium 10 releases a super-powerful MCP that will revolutionize the way you manage your Amazon accounts. New data shows that AI and Alexa for shopping have not decreased the number of people using the Amazon search bar to enter keywords.   We're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's VP of Education and Strategy, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, TikTok Shop, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10's newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level. Helium 10's new MCP is changing the way Amazon sellers research, analyze, and take action on marketplace data by connecting Helium 10 directly with AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT. Now available to Diamond and above users, the Helium 10 MCP lets sellers ask natural-language questions and instantly pull insights from tools like Black Box, Cerebro, Brand Analytics, Keyword Tracker, and Helium 10 Ads, without manually downloading reports or switching between multiple dashboards. In this episode, Bradley Sutton shows how sellers can uncover product opportunities, analyze competitor keyword rankings, review historical Brand Analytics and Cerebro data, and build smarter advertising strategies in minutes instead of hours. For more Helium 10 MCP strategies, skills, and advanced seller workflows, follow Bradley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast/ and follow Bradley Sutton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/h10bradley/   TikTok Shop Bans AI Voices From Live Commerce Streams: Violations Now Dent Account Health Score https://www.techtimes.com/articles/320624/20260715/tiktok-shop-bans-ai-voices-live-commerce-streams-violations-now-dent-account-health-score.htm New Data Proves Amazon Keyword Searches Have NOT Been Replaced by Alexa! Bradley Sutton breaks down a new Helium 10 research study analyzing whether Rufus, now Alexa for shopping, has significantly changed how shoppers search for products on Amazon. Despite the growing conversation around AI replacing traditional keyword search, the data shows that Amazon search volume, clicks, and conversion behavior have remained largely consistent from 2024 through 2026, with no major shift away from keyword-based shopping. While Alexa for shopping may be useful for product discovery when shoppers are unsure what they want, Bradley explains that most buyers still use the search bar when they already know what they are looking for, making keyword research and listing optimization just as important as ever. The key takeaway: sellers should not ignore Rufus/Alexa for Shopping optimization, especially for listing questions and product-page interactions, but traditional keywords are far from dead. To see the full breakdown and data behind this study, read Bradley's full blog here: https://www.helium10.com/blog/breaking-news-amazon-keyword-search-is-alive-well/ Amazon Seller Central News: Use new pallet delivery ship option for your business customers https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHRDhCQUg1UlkyV1hGQkE1 New Feature Alert! Helium 10 now shows Keyword Tracker data directly on Amazon product pages via the Chrome extension. View search volume, organic and sponsored ranks, and track products or competitors instantly without leaving the page.   Amazon has released the session lineup for Amazon Accelerate 2026, happening this September in Seattle, and Helium 10 will be there with Bradley Sutton speaking on stage, Carrie attending, and a booth for sellers to visit. Sellers can register at h10.me/accelerate using their Seller Central account and use discount code heliumsellercomp to save on the regular ticket price. If you're attending, make sure to stop by the Helium 10 booth and take advantage of Amazon's Seller Cafe for help with account or support issues that have been difficult to resolve.   In episode 537 of the AM/PM Podcast and Weekly Buzz, Bradley covers: 00:00 - Introduction 00:46 - Helium 10's MCP Is Now Live! 10:28 - TikTok Shop Bans AI Voices 12:14 - New Data Proves Amazon Keyword Searches Have NOT Been Replaced by Alexa! 20:46 - You Can Now Ship Pallets To Customers! 21:48 - New Way To Track Keywords On Amazon Listings 23:59 - Amazon Accelerate Discount Code

This week on Bet the Process, Jeff and Rufus interview Justin Ray, a golf analytics expert who has worked with U.S. teams in the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup competitions.

Podcast Name:Champion's Corner Unplugged PodcastEpisode Status:Encore Presentation / Archived Broadcast / Special Upload / All New (Update as Applicable)Listen Anytime (Click to Listen Live):www.therh3show.com | www.gospel107.ccPodcast Summary:Welcome to the Champion's Corner Unplugged Podcast, the official podcast home of current episodes from The RH3 Show with Rufus.Each episode brings you authentic conversations centered on faith, family, culture, leadership, relationships, personal growth, health, current events, and everyday life. Whether you're listening to an all-new broadcast, a listener favorite, an encore presentation, or a special archive release, our mission remains the same: to encourage, inspire, inform, and remind you that meaningful conversations still matter.Thank you for making The RH3 Show part of your day and part of your journey. We appreciate your continued support and hope every episode leaves you encouraged, challenged, and empowered to live with purpose.Stay Safe. Stay Protected. Stay Aware.Real Life Headlines with Rufus:• Light, engaging updates centered on awareness, perspective, and everyday life.This Week in Gospel News:• Highlights, artist updates, inspiring stories, and news from across the Gospel music community.Copyright Information:No copyright infringement is intended. We do not own the rights to any music played during this broadcast.Portions of this episode may include excerpts from books, blogs, social media, and public figures. These materials are used under the Fair Use provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, Section 107, for purposes including criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research.The views and opinions expressed by the host(s) and guest(s) are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of any affiliates or broadcast partners.The RH3 Show is a talk media platform and intellectual property of RH3 Productions, a division of S'iol Solutions.Conversations on The RH3 Show may explore faith, family, relationships, leadership, personal growth, health, culture, and lifestyle. These discussions are intended to provide encouragement, perspective, and thoughtful conversation.Listeners are encouraged to exercise wisdom, personal discernment, and, when appropriate, seek guidance from qualified professionals when making decisions related to their personal lives, relationships, finances, health, or well-being.The Champion's Whole Health Boost promotes mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical wellness.This segment is provided for informational, educational, and motivational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical, psychological, legal, financial, or licensed counseling advice.Podcast Availability:Champion's Corner Unplugged Podcast is the official home for current podcast releases from The RH3 Show.Our legacy podcast archive, featuring episodes through Season 8, remains available under The RH3 Show podcast.Listen on Audacy, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other major podcast platforms.Search:• Champion's Corner Unplugged Podcast (Current Episodes)• The RH3 Show (Legacy Archive)For More Information:Website:www.therh3show.comFlagship Station:www.gospel107.ccContact:info@therh3show.comrhcconnect@therh3show.comFollow The RH3 Show:Facebook:www.facebook.com/therh3showInstagram:www.instagram.com/therh3showX:www.twitter.com/therh3showYouTube:www.youtube.com/@TheRH3ShowBroadcast Schedule:LIVE:Weekdays at 1:00 PM ESTRebroadcasts:7:00 PM, 9:00 PM, and 12:00 AM (Midnight) ESTEpisode Hashtags:#TheRH3Show#ChampionsCornerUnplugged#ThisIsTheFamily#FaithFamilyCulture#RealConversations

It's Summer of Crossovers, and we're switching things over to the Disney Channel Animated Universe this week when Middleton's favorite teenage spy meets Hawaii's favorite alien in the Lilo & Stitch: The Series episode, "Rufus". Plus, our thoughts on Love Island, the Jonas Brothers' new Burnin' Up Tour announcement, and the official confirmation of Cheetah Girls 4. ----- Follow The Time Mousechine: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There's been a lot of talk recently about Amazon's AI shopping tools, with some people claiming they'll completely change how customers shop and others saying that Amazon SEO is dead.So, what does this actually mean for UK sellers?In this episode, I'm breaking down what we know so far about Amazon AI for Shopping, including Rufus and Alexa for Shopping, and separating the facts from the fiction.I explain how these new AI powered shopping tools work, why Amazon is investing so heavily in them, and what they could mean for the future of product discovery on Amazon.Most importantly, I share what I think you should actually be focusing on right now, without getting caught up in the hype.If you're selling on Amazon, or you're planning to, this episode will help you understand what's changing, what's staying the same, and how to make sure your listings are ready for the future of Amazon AI for Shopping.One thing I really wanted to do with this episode was cut through some of the noise. There are lots of headlines suggesting everything is changing overnight, but I don't believe that's the case.Instead, I think this is another reminder that good Amazon listings have always been about helping customers understand your product. AI is simply giving customers another way to find that information.Whether you're already selling on Amazon or you're planning to launch your products soon, understanding Amazon AI for Shopping now will help you stay one step ahead as these tools continue to develop.Chapters00:00 Introduction00:45 Why Amazon AI for Shopping matters02:18 What Rufus actually does04:36 How Rufus uses your product listings06:59 Alexa for Shopping explained08:09 Debunking the biggest AI myths10:26 What sellers should focus on now13:02 AI powered advertising and sponsored prompts14:45 My own Rufus testing and what I found16:15 My biggest takeaway for Amazon sellers17:30 Join my free Amazon Seller Support and Connect sessionLET'S CONNECTFollow me on YouTubeFind me on InstagramWork with me Buy My Book: Bring Your Product Idea To LifeIf you enjoy this podcast, and you'd like to leave a tip, you can do so here: https://bring-your-product-idea.captivate.fm/supportMentioned in this episode:Amazon Made Easy is now openMy membership, Amazon Made Easy is now open. It's a membership for people who are selling on Amazon (or planning to) and want regular access to support, somewhere to ask questions and talk things through, and a bit of structure and accountability as they grow. Inside, there are live Q&A calls, optional co-working sessions and a small, supportive community. Find out more: https://vickiweinberg.com/membership membership

Can music transform the brain and body? Recorded live at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, with 11-time Grammy Award winner Chaka Khan and MD Anderson neurosurgery assistant professor, concert pianist, and music medicine researcher Dr. Mei Rui for a conversation inspired by Rufus's classic “Tell Me Something Good.” Together they explore the neuroscience of rhythm, music as medicine, Chaka's early years in Chicago, the profound role music has played in connecting with her nonverbal nephew Tallon, and how emerging research may benefit neurodivergent communities. This episode was produced in partnership with the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Chaka Khan Foundation, and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

A @Christadelphians Video: In this **thought-provoking** and **revealing** Bible study, **Christadelphian** brother Roger Lewis presents an **outstanding** exposition of Simon of Cyrene – the man compelled to carry the cross of Jesus. This **wonderful** and **insightful** character study traces Simon's journey from a reluctant Passover pilgrim to a transformed prophet in the early ecclesia. We discover how one dramatic encounter with the suffering Saviour turned Simon's life completely around, and how his family's footsteps spread the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome. Prepare to be inspired to take up your own cross and follow Him.**Chapters** 00:00 – Introduction: Inspiring Characters of Scripture 02:35 – Matthew & Luke: Simon Compelled to Bear Christ's Cross 08:07 – Who Was Simon of Cyrene? A Devout Jew from Africa 12:34 – Walking Behind Jesus: Hearing the Saviour's Words 15:15 – Mark's Revealing Detail: Father of Alexander and Rufus 18:46 – From Compelled Service to Commissioned Preacher in Antioch 25:04 – Paul's Warm Tribute to Rufus and His Mother 28:37 – Remarkable Archaeological Confirmation: The Tomb of Simon & Alexander 35:50 – The Heart of the Lesson: Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me 43:12 – Conclusion: A Call to Shoulder Our Cross Today (ends 44:44)**Bible Verse Category**

Whether you're planning a short trip or a long-haul adventure, you want to make sure your home is safe and sound while you're away. Here are some steps you can take to protect your property and prevent unwanted visitors. Smart devices can offer various advantages for keeping your home safe while you're away. Of course, there are many more things you can do depending on your situation and preferences you could even consider hiring house sitters. The main thing is to plan ahead and be prepared for any eventuality. How can I avoid obvious signs of being away ? What security measures should I take ? What else can I do to ensure my home is safe while I am away? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: ⁠⁠What is Rufus the Hawks job at Wimbledon?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠What is an eco-friendly beach ?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Why do we get grumpy when we're hungry?⁠⁠ A Bababam Originals podcast, written and produced by Amber Minogue. First Broadcast: 6/7/2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Beat it Rufus” is a “2025 graphic novel by Noah Van Sciver about Rufus Baxter, an aging, delusional hair metal musician clinging to his 1980s rock-god fantasies while living a life of failure, eviction, and bad decisions, leading him on a psychedelic road trip to a wedding gig in Wyoming where he confronts his past”.…

"We're entering our 250th birthday, and we're not quite in the mood for a birthday party. We've been tearing ourselves apart." That's what Walter Isaacson told Rufus when they sat down last year. But, he says, it doesn't have to be that way. "Let's use this birthday party as a chance to try to heal some of the divides." Walter's latest book is The Greatest Sentence Ever Written. That sentence? “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Yes, it's eloquent, but more than that, it gave the United States a mission statement, one that we are still striving — fitfully, imperfectly — to meet. With America's 250th birthday just a few days away, we think it's the perfect time to revisit this conversation with Walter about how that sentence came to be written, what it meant to the founders, and why it still matters today.

On Thursday, Rufus and Robert Wright (The God Test) talked about AI as a new stage in the evolution of intelligence — and about the very human traits already showing up in our machines: empathy, deception, power-seeking, seduction. Today, they ask the harder question: what happens when these machines become the object of a geopolitical arms race?

Runnin’ down the show: July in sight! Crab and chinook.. and larger coho than usual? // Regional Roundup: Coastal chinook numbers, a pause in the halibut season and time to clean crab bait outta freeza // The BeauMac TECH Line: Austin Moser of AustinsNorthwestAdventures.com Rufus Woods summer triploids and walleye // Picks of the week! Ocean salmon, MA10 coho and Skagit reds!

What happens when you strip Windows 11 down to the bare essentials and kick most Microsoft services to the curb? Paul Thurrott reveals how going minimal can transform your PC into a cleaner, faster machine. Host: Paul Thurrott Download or subscribe to Hands-On Windows at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-windows Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord. Sponsor: canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT

This week on Bet the Process, Jeff and Rufus go guest-less and recap the U.S. Open, share some thoughts on golf's future, and then get into some World Cup betting insights.

This week on Bet the Process, Joseph LaMagna of Fried Egg Golf returns to discuss this weekend's U.S. Open. Also, Jeff and Rufus chat World Cup betting and share their thoughts on the Knicks winning the championship.

What really went on at the court of King William Rufus?William the Conqueror's son and successor was fierce and ruthless. He taxed heavily, refused to conform to the ideals of kingship, and reportedly presided over a court of extravagant young men and sexual licentiousness. But how much of Rufus's reputation was shaped by the monks that despised him?Matt Lewis is joined by Professor Tom Licence, to explore the life, reign and shocking death of a king, whose reputation remains as provocative today as it was nearly a thousand years ago.More:King Arthur's Sex LifeListen on AppleListen on SpotifyEdward II: King of IncompetenceListen on AppleListen on SpotifyGone Medieval is presented by Matt Lewis. Audio editor is Natasha Hughes, the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcastSign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week, PLUS early access, ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nearly half of all Americans believe AI is bad for humanity. Peter Diamandis is not one of them. On his podcast, Moonshots, and in his new book, We Are as Gods, co-written with the inimitable Steven Kotler, he makes the case that artificial intelligence is already ushering in a world of abundance — think radical life extension, 10 billion humanoid robots, and agents that do your job while you're sipping a latte. He knows it may not be all sunshine and hydroponic roses, but he believes our future is incredibly bright. And he's putting his money where his mouth is: XPRIZE, the nonprofit he founded more than 30 years ago to bankroll breakthroughs, just announced it's giving $3.5 million to filmmakers who conjure convincingly optimistic visions of the future. Rufus and Caleb don't have their film treatment ready yet, but they do have plenty of questions for Peter and Steven about flying cars, the future of work, worst-case scenarios, and the new commandments for working with AI.