The same girl, the same composition, but one comment is "Such a cute illustration. I love it" and another is "Yet another AI generation. 1 star." But how do you make a decision: will the illustration help or will it tank your book? The rule is simple: ask yourself, how much would it really cost you to commission the illustration you want to use to a real artist? If you can afford a human illustration in the style you choose, it’s a good illustration. If the illustrations generated by the LLM would cost you a small fortune, your readers will probably feel the same, and you will read a lot of "AI" comments below your book. I hope this will be helpful.

My first AI-narrated ebooks are in the publishing state, so I am interested - does anybody already have any experience with that format?

I am positively surprised at how fast Amazon US approved the last two updates of my books. It took ten minutes or so. Did this change happen in other markets?

It's time to share your experience and ideas, no matter what stage of your publishing journey you are at. The attached images outline nine phases of book creation. What do you think about the outline? Is anything major missing? Should anything be done differently? Please share your thoughts; it is very important.

I had no plans to publish my 2025 results not to create unproductive comparisons. On one hand, we have members with results in tens of thousands of dollars a month. On the other hand, nine out of ten publishers' earnings are measured in tens or hundreds of dollars a month. After much thought, I decided most of the Guild members are adult enough to understand that the only productive comparison is the comparison with your previous self. And example of the possible trend, not exact numbers, would be inspiring for publishers, struggling to break the plateau. So, in late April 2025 I had catalog of about 50 low-content journals which generated a total $50 a month in average, zero ads spent. At the time I was bored and searched for an idea for productive daily activity. KDP seemed like an decent candidate for it and I started process of re-train myself to modern day publishing in May 2025. Now, eight month later, royalties are increased 22 times with healthy 15 times increased profit. On the way I learned a few things: 1. All necessary information is freely available on the internet: you do not need to spend money on gurus, magical recipes for success, or expensive software. At the same time, a good mentor (not necessarily a human; an LLM works well in this role too) and useful tools can save you a lot of time and effort. And the time saved usually means money earned. 2. As in any business, in KDP there are no magic tricks; instead, feedback loops and effective processes win the game. 3. No matter how low your results are now, if you are ready to grow, you can increase your earnings rather fast. The only limit to the results is your own mindset. What's next? I have a book of my own that has been sitting at "half-finished" for weeks because I've been so focused on our community. To be the best host I can be, I need to finish what I start. I'll be a little quieter here for a short bit while I finish this manuscript. I'm handing the "microphone" to you guys: keep the discussions going, help the newcomers, and let's see who can post the next big growth story!