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INFLUENCEwith Matt Silverman Author: Matt Silverman
What does it really take to make a living (and an impact) on the Internet today? Join Matt Silverman (who has been covering online culture for 15 years) in conversation with YouTubers, musicians, podcasters, streamers, journalists, TikTokers and more about turning creativity into a job, building community on ever-changing platforms, and their complex relationships with huge online audiences. INFLUENCE is the relaunch of 2 GIRLS 1 PODCAST, a weekly comedy/interview show about fascinating online communities, which ran for 7 years and nearly 300 episodes. Language: en Genres: Hobbies, Leisure, Technology Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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62 A Melania Trump Erotic Monster Fiction Book Is #1 on Amazon Thanks to Internet Protesters ✊ J.D. Boehninger
Friday, 6 February, 2026
Feeling dismayed by U.S. politics in 2018, J.D. Boehninger (pen name) got advice from a friend who was writing self-published monster fiction for the Amazon Kindle. Many authors were making a good living writing paranormal stories, erotica, and things about Donald Trump. So Boehninger decided to combine all three. The result was "Melania: Devourer of Men," an erotic tale about the first lady who was secretly a killer vampire from Filipino folklore. The book debuted. A few friends left reviews on Amazon. And then...nothing. Eight years later, the book suddenly popped into the Internet's crosshairs after Amazon gave Melania $40 million to produce a documentary about her life - a pile of money that smells suspicious to say the least. As a small gesture of protest, a subreddit called r/Boycott UnitedStates got wind of the book, and hatched a plan: What if all Amazon searches for "Melania" lead to the satirical monster book INSTEAD of the documentary? J.D. Boehninger joins Matt to discuss the online machinations that sent his 8-year-old book to the top of the Amazon charts. Disclosure: I have verified Mr. Boehninger's identity and authorship and am anonymizing his face and voice for this interview. This show is made possible by listener support: https://www.patreon.com/influencepod Listen & subscribe wherever you get podcasts: 🍎 https://apple.co/44FeACS 🟢 https://spoti.fi/3UGQjrN ⏯ https://amzn.to/3wCdueF Join our Discord community! https://discord.gg/influencepod Call the show and leave a message: (347)-871-6548 Email me with guest & trivia suggestions! influencepod69@gmail.com (NOICE) Follow me: 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/mattsilverman.bsky.social 🧵 https://www.threads.net/@matt_silverman 📸 https://www.instagram.com/matt_silverman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
