About Fully Booked: The Hidden Gems Author Podcast
Author Craig Tuch has written a large number of books under a variety of pseudonyms, which have collectively sold hundreds of thousands of copies and had close to 100 million page reads. In 2016, he started HiddenGemsBooks.com as a way to help new and established self-published authors navigate the complex and often-changing world of self-publishing.
Since then, Hidden Gems has become well known and respected for helping thousands of authors market their books more effectively and sell more copies through a variety of services, free tools, and a weekly blog.
Roland Hulme’s 15+ years as an advertising executive in New York and London gave him an advantage when he turned his hand to writing, because no matter how good your stories are, you can’t sell any copies of a book that no one knows about. His targeted ads have led to his novels being bought and enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of readers.
If you’re interested in ways to improve as a writer, or in learning about new or better ways to market, advertise and sell your books, then join Craig and Roland every Thursday as they talk with each other and their guests about a wide range of topics relevant to self-publishing and writing.
Fully Booked EP249: AuthorAd Engine Takes the Guesswork Out of Book Advertising
Advertising is one of the biggest expenses for many independent authors, but figuring out whether that money is well spent can be surprisingly difficult. In this week's episode of Fully Booked, Craig and Roland introduce Author Ad Engine (AAE), a new platform built specifically to help authors make sense of their advertising and promotional efforts. AAE automatically brings together advertising data, book sales, promotions, rankings, attribution, and other information to give authors a clearer picture of what is happening with their books and where their marketing dollars are going.
After Roland takes us through the quick and easy setup process, Craig takes over to demonstrate some of AAE’s more powerful features, including monitoring your ads, tracking promotions alongside changes in sales and rank, and analyzing series read-through to better understand what a new reader may actually be worth. Because much of this episode involves looking at charts, dashboards, and real data inside AAE, we highly recommend watching the video version on YouTube for the best experience. However, those who prefer the audio-only version should still be able to follow along and get a good sense of what AAE can do.
Author Ad Engine
https://authoradengine.com/
15 Oct 2026
Fully Booked EP248: Does AI Know Your Book Exists?
Whether you're a fan of AI or not, the reality is that it's changing the online landscape, including how readers discover your books. As AI powered search engines increasingly offer answers instead of simply pointing to websites, authors have another reason to consider what information is available about their work. Does AI know enough about your book to include it in a response? This week, internet marketing specialist and author John Colascione joins us to discuss AI visibility and the various ways authors can help their books get noticed.
An Amazon product description is only one part of your book's online presence. Author websites, reviews, interviews, media mentions, and other promotional efforts can all also help build the visibility that John believes is important to AI discovery. Today's discussion takes us through a variety of topics, such as why consistent information matters and how press releases and coverage from other sources can give AI more information about you and your work. John also introduces a free tool designed to assess whether AI recognizes, cites, or recommends you, offering a starting point for identifying gaps in your online presence. If you're an author looking to keep your books discoverable as search habits change, this episode offers practical tips about where to focus your efforts.
John Colascione
https://www.johncolascione.com/
https://www.searchen.com/ai
Hidden Gems
Need our help publishing or marketing your book?
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/author-services/
All episode details and links:
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/podcast
8 Oct 2026
Fully Booked EP247: Knowing Your Subject Is Only Half the Challenge
Knowing your subject inside out can be an advantage when writing nonfiction, but it can also make it harder to recognize what beginners need explained. How much background should you include for the novice while still keeping more experienced readers interested? This week, teacher and author Daniel Bullen joins us to discuss how he tackled those challenges when writing his computer science book, which he designed to build from the fundamentals into more advanced topics so that both novices and more experienced readers could benefit from it.
Through our discussion of Daniel’s book, we explore how the order of information shapes a reader’s understanding, why foundational ideas sometimes need their own explanation, and how different names for the same concept can create unnecessary confusion. By bringing his teaching materials together into a manuscript and including practice exercises, Daniel hoped to engage readers with the content more directly. For authors writing educational nonfiction, his approach offers a starting point for thinking beyond the information they want to share to what readers need to understand and put it into practice.
Daniel Bullen
https://danielbullentutor.my.canva.site/daniel-bullen-s-website
Hidden Gems
Need our help publishing or marketing your book?
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/author-services/
All episode details and links:
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/podcast
Who has been a guest on Fully Booked: The Hidden Gems Author Podcast
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Patricia Black-Gould
KimBoo York
Ariel Anderssen
Clay Vermulm
Gary Smith
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
8 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 45 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
58
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
82
Contact Fully Booked: The Hidden Gems Author Podcast
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about Fully Booked: The Hidden Gems Author Podcast
Who hosts Fully Booked: The Hidden Gems Author Podcast?
Craig and Roland host the show. Published by Craig Tuch.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes weekly, based on its RSS feed.
Does Fully Booked: The Hidden Gems Author Podcast take guests?
The show does not typically feature guests, based on episode analyses.
Host of Fully Booked: The Hidden Gems Author Podcast?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
