@Gwynne Conlyn From the little I understand of it, it’s basically about positioning your book properly inside Amazon using things like categories, keywords, metadata, and overall setup so the algorithm better understands who to show the book to. Honestly, I only know the basic side of it from what was explained to me because I’m not really the tech person behind it. I actually started with them on a very small budget at first just to test things out, and once I started seeing real visibility and engagement results, I became more confident putting more into it. If you’re open to it, I’d genuinely be happy to connect you with them so they can explain it more clearly and show you how it works better than I probably can.

@Gwynne Conlyn Alright, wish you best of luck

@Ananta Dave That’s a great place to be doing a read through with audio is such a smart move. It really helps with flow, pacing, and catching those sneaky line level issues we miss when reading silently. After 3 rounds of self edits, you’re definitely putting in solid work on your WIP. By the way, I’d love to know if this is your first MS or if you’ve published before. I’m also curious where you are right now in your process, whether you’re leaning toward querying (TradPub) or going Indie/Self Pub. And how you’re handling things on your end if you’re working solo or with beta readers/CPs, and whether you’ve done any developmental editing yet or mostly self edit + line edits. Also wondering what you’re using to manage your draft, if it’s just Word or if you keep backups on Drive/Scrivener, and how you’re thinking about the next steps like formatting (Vellum/Atticus/Word), your pub route (KDP, IngramSpark), and your overall marketing strategy. And I totally get what you meant about never feeling like the editing is done, that’s every author. At some point, it shifts from perfecting to ready for the next stage. If you want, I can share a quick checklist for the next steps. Happy to help wherever you feel stuck.

@Jonathan Mark Bayliss Alright, thanks so much for reporting her.

@Jonathan Mark Bayliss Haha, maybe we’re both bots then 😂 But I promise, I don’t have the idea about who’s the bot that spam you

@Petra Glover Serious question for you. When you imagine your book finally being published, what matters more to you? . Seeing real readers enjoy your work . Making consistent sales . Building an audience for future books . Simply finishing and publishing your story

@Petra Glover The interesting thing I’ve noticed though is that many good books never really reach those readers in the first place. Not because the book isn’t good, but simply because discoverability is harder than most people expect after publishing. Out of curiosity, have you already published your book, or are you still working on it?

@Juno Baker That makes a lot of sense, especially with how unpredictable platforms can be lately. When you say you’ve struggled to find your loudspeaker, do you mean audience reach specifically, or converting readers into reviews and repeat buyers? I’m really curious how short story authors are navigating visibility right now without a big ad budget.

@Kathryn Brown 80% through a line edit is no small feat, especially with Fantasy. That’s impressive. Are you finding the line edit more about tightening prose, or catching deeper structural/world building consistency issues? And smart move lining up a beta reader before moving to D that feedback loop can make publishing feel a lot less intimidating.