BookLab Is Coming to ACP Chicago

We will be at the Association of Catholic Publishers convention in Chicago on May 28. This is the first time BookLab™ will be presented to the Catholic publishing community, and we are looking forward to it.

Here is what we are bringing.

A Christmas Carol is the BookLab demonstration title at ACP Chicago. Same book. Same text. Four different markets a publisher can reach with correct positioning.

BookLab is a publishing-intelligence system built for the books publishers already believe in. It does not replace editorial judgment. It does not generate content for authors. It takes the book a publisher has already said yes to and builds the strategic assets that book deserves: positioning, metadata, audience profiles, copy at multiple lengths, educational use cases, and faith-aligned framing where the source material supports it. The publisher reviews everything. The publisher decides.

At ACP Chicago, we are presenting two sessions:

Build Your Book's Audience and Message: What Happens When One Title Goes Through BookLab

1:45 PM–2:45 PM, Erie Room

Many books struggle not because they lack value, but because their audience, buyer, message, and use case are not clearly defined. In this practical case-study session, Grant Overstake introduces BookLab, a title-level publishing lab for small and mission-driven publishers. Using A Christmas Carol as the demonstration, Grant will show how one familiar book can be transformed from a generic "holiday classic" into a clearly positioned publishing property with defined readers, buyer profiles, channel-specific messages, and practical outreach paths. Participants will see what goes into a BookLab engagement, what comes out, and how the resulting assets can help a publisher make a book easier to describe, easier to position, easier to discover, and easier to use in schools, parishes, libraries, and reading communities.

The One-Person Publishing Studio

4:15 PM–5:15 PM, Huron Room

Small publishers are often expected to operate like full teams with limited time, staff, and budget. This session offers a practical model for accessing AI-assisted publishing capacity without surrendering voice, standards, or mission. Grant Overstake will show how BookLab grew from real publishing needs at Grain Valley Publishing Company into a title-level service that supports research, editorial strategy, communications, metadata, audience development, and companion-resource planning.

Grounded in real publishing experience, this session is for small and mission-driven publishers who cannot buy or build a massive platform but still need clearer positioning, better outreach, and practical resources around the books they already believe in. Participants will see how BookLab works from the outside: what goes in, what comes out, and how one title can become both a stronger publishing asset and the foundation for outward-facing study companions, reader guides, and community resources.

Grant Overstake on PBS Kansas discussing The Real Education of TJ Crowley, winner of the 30th Annual Audie Award for Best Young Adult Audiobook.

If you are a Catholic publisher attending ACP Chicago, we would like to talk with you about the books on your list. Bring a title. One book you believe in that deserves better positioning, better discoverability, or a second look from the readers it was made for. That is the conversation we came to have.

We are at www.grainvalleypublishing.com/booklab

Grant Overstake

Grain Valley Publishing Company, LLC

Wichita, Kansas

Grant Overstake is an author, publisher, and consultant helping mission-driven publishers build smarter, more human-centered workflows in the age of AI. A former journalist and independent publisher, he focuses on practical systems that expand capacity, sharpen messaging, and protect editorial integrity. He is the creator of the Audie Award–winning The Real Education of TJ Crowley and the novel Maggie Vaults Over the Moon. His workshops help publishers see how emerging tools can strengthen research, communication, and outreach without diminishing the role of human discernment or authorship.