🤔 What are your thoughts on the recent launch of Kindle Plus? As you may (or may not) have heard, Kindle Unlimited has been rebranded as Kindle Plus (aka Kindle+). Currently, the monthly cost ($11.99/mo in the US) stays the same for subscribers, and they can still read (and/or now listen) as much as they want from the catalog, borrowing up to 20 titles at a time. The rebrand looks to be a move to compete with other monthly subscription services that include audiobooks in their memberships, most notably Kobo+. The Kindle+ program now allows publishers and indie authors to opt in to the program for their audiobooks (both AI-narrated and human-voiced). Some believe the option is also designed to encourage more indie authors to use Amazon’s AI narration services (the offer of these services has caused an ideological divide in the indie author community). — Full disclosure, I’m not divided. I am vehemently opposed to generative AI, so AI narration is a definite no for me. Questions are being bandied about online regarding the royalty structure of the new model. Amazon sent out an email to KDP users that outlined the basic details. Of particular note is the no royalty payments for audiobook listens that occur after a subscriber has already read the book via Kindle+. This payment (or should I say “non-payment”?) policy, however, adds nothing new to the core workings of KU. It simply extends the prior KU “no royalties on rereads” policy to the new model (by treating a subsequent listen as a reread). Of course, if your audiobook is not added to Kindle+, you would get paid on the Kindle+ subscriber read AND the audiobook download (if the subscriber were to buy the audiobook as well). So this policy will certainly take money out of some authors' pockets. Amazon is promoting the new program to readers as "New name. Same great reading experience." But does that "same great" experience hold true for its authors? Kindle+ is in infant stages yet, and a lot remains to unpack with the new payment terms and conditions. We'll see how this progresses.

We're doing the re-launch Q&A Kickoff Call next Wednesday. Go ahead and finish October strong (write in the manuscript, close out goals, do your monthly reflection) then let's calibrate for November. New Date/Time: November 4th (Wednesday) at 5:00 PM Eastern / 4:00 PM Central time. ☎️ What are your burning questions about the book business? Which intellectual property issues are you currently struggling with? What do you need to finish 2026 strong? Come ask questions and get answers LIVE!

🗓️ Book a 1-on-1 Session <- Click here. I’ve put together a $150 1-on-1 Strategy Session (60 minutes) with me that I’m making available for a limited time to members of my Skool. This discounted rate is usually limited to attendees of my sessions for writing groups and workshops, and now I'm going to share this deal with my Skool Scribes at all levels. Session includes a mini Strategy Map-Out Plan in writing that will outline your key business priorities for your next focus period (quarter, six months, or year) and a prioritized list of what to do next (and in what order!). I've spoken with a lot of authors this year who were struggling with the business side of being an author, especially with the myriad changes and disruptions hitting the publishing industry. I cringe when I see some of the advice given online. It's time to stop crowdsourcing your book business and intellectual property advice from search-engine "experts." Note you can use this session for whatever you need – map out your author goals for the year, get 1-on-1 in-depth help with social media for lead generation, Strengths For Entrepreneurs coaching, explanations of contract provisions you’re trying to decipher (reversion questions, anyone?), or you name it. At $150, this is a steal! And the offer is good even if you are currently coaching with me at a different rate. Depending on where you’re at with your career, 1-to-1 consulting may not be for you. But at this rate, it's worth a try. I’m not sure how long I’ll keep this offer available; it'll probably end before Thanksgiving. So go schedule your $150 session now. 👇🏽 🔗 Click here. >> BOOK MY SESSION

You may have noticed that our Community comes with a Leaderboard. How do you progress, you wonder? Engage. Engage. Engage. When someone likes your comment or post, then you get a point. So the more beneficial comments you share, the more 👍 ("likes") you're likely to get. So let's get your (and my 😂) Leaderboard movement going. Start with these activities👇🏽: (1) "Like" (after reading, of course!) my posts in the "🔑 KEY INFO" category. (2) Introduce yourself by creating a post in the “👋🏽 INTRODUCTIONS” category. (3) Go read and "Like" the intro POST by one or more other members. (4) Drop a comment below about what you most hope to learn from this Skool. NOTE: I'm planning to use the Leaderboard as a way to do giveaways and award prizes periodically. So let me know what kinds of perks you'd find exciting. (If you tell me in a comment below, you might just get some Leaderboard points cuz I'm almost guaranteed to like your comment. 😁)

October Q&As are now on the calendar. Additional events will be populating over the next days and weeks. So you may want to check the CALENDAR tab regularly so you can add events you’re interested in to your personal calendar. Exciting stuff is coming to the Community through the end of Q4 2026 and into Q1 of next year, including Topical calls, Book Club chats, and Trademark Workshops. I recently gave my updated presentation on "Copyrights, Trademarks & AI" virtually to the Chicago North Romance Writers, and I'll be curating that presentation into a live ALL-members webinar for y’all here soon. 👉👉 WHAT’S CURRENTLY ON YOUR CALENDAR?