𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 — 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 — 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘸, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘕𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨. 🚂 𝗘𝗡𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗘: 𝗪𝗵𝗼'𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿? One sentence. Who are they, right before their story starts? 𝘈 𝘬𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰'𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯. 🚋 𝗖𝗔𝗥 𝟭: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁? Something they're chasing. Doesn't have to be big — just has to be 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸. 🚋 𝗖𝗔𝗥 𝟮: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘆? A person, a fear, bad luck, themselves. Every good story needs something pushing back. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. 🚋 𝗖𝗔𝗥 𝟯: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲? If they don't get what they want... so what? What actually gets lost? 𝘐𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. 🚋 𝗖𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗦𝗘: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲? By the end — even if they don't get what they wanted — how are they different? 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘻𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦... 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘯. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. "𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘸 👇 𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 — 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘵." LET’s Go! Show us your stories! Special Thanks to @Patrick Taylor for the graphic idea!

Watch how I utilize Notebook LM, Gemini (Nano Banana), and Canva to help me extend the life of my character. This one video will rock your world! https://youtu.be/lgJIFQ5c91Q

I use Canva entirely for my book design. Though I haven't done slides yet. I've been thinking of taking some of the slides that Notebook LM provides and use them. The graphics are outstanding. Any advice on this would be much appreciated. The problem is the slides are horizontal at around 13" x 7.5" so I have to figure a way to make it work in book design. I'm sure there are others who have already solved this issue.

I'm always trying to OPTIMIZE, and today I put up a new community about page image (attached) Would love to know what you think about it. The previous one did not have my photo on there, so I decided to get that added in. 👇Share your thoughts...

One thing I don’t see talked about enough in the book space is positioning. I’ve been an SEO expert for over 15 years, so I’m wired to think in keywords, search behavior, and demand before anything gets created. And now that AI is part of the writing process, prompts matter just as much as keywords do. This is why I’m such a believer in vetting a book topic before you ever start writing. 👉 Here are the questions I always ask upfront: - Does this topic actually have search demand? - Is the niche completely oversaturated with competition? - Can the topic be repositioned for a different audience to reduce competitors? - Can this book fit into a less saturated category? All of that matters. A lot. Because if the topic is wrong, no amount of good writing will fix it. Personally, I use Publisher Rocket to do my SEO research for books. Is it worth investing in tools like that for me? Absolutely. That data informs everything—topic selection, title wording, categories, and even how I prompt AI when I’m writing. I’m not saying you need to go spend money on tools right this second. But I am saying that doing research upfront can save you weeks (or months) of frustration later. It changes the entire publishing experience. That’s also why I created Self Publishing Playbooks. For $27, you unlock: - My full self-publishing frameworks - Top 100 Easy Bestseller Book Categories - The replay of my Profitable Book Topics training UNLOCK THE SELF-PUBLISHING PLAYBOOKS NOW If your goal is to choose a profitable topic, position your book to sell, and fast-track the process without guessing — this is the cleanest path I know. Publishing isn’t just about writing a book. It’s about making sure the book has a place to land.