You’ve heard how I got into Costco. Well, there’s more to that story. When my writing partner and I created our turtle story, we didn’t even have a name for the character. The premise was simple: a square-shelled turtle bullied by his “normal” turtle friends because he looked different.After agonizing over the name, we settled on Sheldon. At the time, we thought it was perfect. Looking back, there are a lot of Sheldons out there. The original book was actually created as an interactive book app in 2012. We published the printed book in 2013. The original title was "Cornered," which I came up with. In hindsight, it didn't really tell you what the book was about. We eventually added “The Square-Shelled Turtle” as a subtitle, which probably should have been there from the beginning. I loved the story and the illustrations. Then things got interesting. I noticed another publisher using a very similar square-shelled turtle concept and thought, Wait a minute. Are they ripping us off? My writing partner said, “Leave it alone. It’s not worth the fight.” So I did. Big mistake. Not long afterward, we received a Cease and Desist letter from that same publisher claiming we were infringing on their trademark. There was an attorney involved, which made the whole thing pretty intimidating. But instead of panicking, I started digging. And that's when I discovered something they didn't know. Our book apps had been published in 2012. Their book was published in 2013. They apparently had no idea our characters and story had already been commercially available through the Apple App Store a full year earlier. That changed everything. Trademark law is complicated, but I knew one thing: We had evidence. The App Store provided a dated record of our commercial use. I still had to hire an attorney to respond, and he put together a detailed case explaining why their claim was unlikely to succeed. It cost money. It caused a lot of stress. But we fought it. And we won. That experience taught me just how important intellectual property can be. We had no idea where this little book might eventually go—licensing, apps, retail, or even Costco.

Want to do more with AI? Want to level up your storytelling skills and creativity? My friend @Nick Nebelsky is so close to hitting 500 members in his group. His group is a fun place to be with amazing prompts to get highly detailed images, and there is so much to learn. 👉JOIN AI STORYTELLERS HERE

Share whatever you’re working on or proud of right now. This community is full of creators, authors, and entrepreneurs, and sometimes the best thing we can do is help each other get a little more visibility. 💡 IDEAS ON WHAT YOU COULD SHARE: • Yourself and what you do • Your Skool community • A book you're writing or recently published • A project you're building • A shoutout to another member • A video, post, or resource • Affiliate links (yes, those are allowed) The goal is simple: help our members get seen. Just one request so this stays valuable for everyone. 👉 1 RULE: If you share something, please also leave a thoughtful or helpful comment on someone else’s post. Support goes both ways, and when we all participate, the whole community benefits. Now let’s see what everyone is building 👇

We could all use a little accountability - Including myself ❤️ Read the questions then grab the template at the bottom and make a post 🗒️ 1️⃣ What is **one specific thing** you completed on your book this week? Examples: * Finalized my book topic * Chose my main keyword + category * Wrote 1,200 words * Edited Chapter 1 * Uploaded my manuscript draft 2️⃣ What is the one thing you can commit to finishing by next week? Examples: * Write 2 chapters * Finish book outline * Draft my book description * Collect 10 competitor book screenshots 3️⃣ One blocker - What slowed you down or got in your way this week? This gives you: * Content ideas * Coaching opportunities * Workshop themes * DM conversations for higher-level support 4️⃣ Where are you at right now? 🔥 On track 🟡 Progress but slow 🔴 Stuck 🧠 Overthinking ⏸️ Life happened Drop your update below 👇 (Keep it short — progress > perfection) 1️⃣ **One thing you completed this week:** 2️⃣ **One thing you’re committing to finish next week:** 3️⃣ **Any blocker slowing you down? (optional)** 4️⃣ **Status emoji:** 🔥 🟡 🔴 🧠 ⏸️ I’ll be reviewing these to and helping to move you forward!

Waiting until it's perfect is just fear wearing a productive mask. I see people stuck in editing mode for months, tweaking, second-guessing, rewriting ... when they could've already published and started collecting real data. Here's the thing about KDP: you can update your manuscript anytime. Change the cover, rewrite the description, fix the content. Nothing is locked in forever. Your first book is a learning tool. Publish it, watch how it performs, and improve from there. You'll learn more from one live book than 100 hours of pre-launch tweaking. Done beats perfect. Every time. 👉 Have you published your first book yet? Drop a yes or no below.