The last two weeks were unusually slow and silent in the Guild. I am not sure, but it feels like there was less activity in most of the communities I am involved in. Is it just my perception, or have you experienced the same? Anyway, the Guided Publishing System is now built and fully operational. I am in the process of creating the new book with the system, and it works exactly as it was supposed to - "blank page syndrome" gone. Every time I come back to the book, I know exactly what the next step is. The same thing applies to the Review Catalyst tracker - it removed a lot of hustle and ambiguity from the process. I used the Paperback 3D Mockup for the A+ content for a few of my books, and it totally changed the experience of creating marketing materials. I am not sure if it's interesting to anybody except @Yannick Di Mondo, @Sven Georgiev and me. Anyway, it's OK for me to continue developing the tools, even if only three of us will use them. Slowly, without a rush, providing functionality that publishers are interested in. So, what is on your mind? What are you doing now? What are you aiming for? P. S. @Ana-Rita Piirainen It's so nice to see you back!

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.

A+ content, Facebook, Instagram, your own website, TikTok, video ads... There are a lot of places where we need photos and videos featuring our books, but not enough time to produce them. Now, if you have an Amazon-formatted PDF with a cover and a manuscript, you can create the necessary materials for your book in seconds. What kind of images or videos will you create first?

After the interview I did with Barry on YouTube, we received dozens of emails asking for deeper explanations about the use of Virtual Assistants for posting reviews. For this reason, we decided to publish what is probably the most complete article ever written on how these accounts actually operate and why they are causing mass review deletions, book blocks, and KDP account terminations. 👉 Read the article here: https://bookvillage.pub/wiki/essential-knowledge-for-all-users/why-reviews-posted-by-virtual-assistants-are-getting-kdp-accounts-terminated A second article will follow soon, where we will show the correct way to use VAs to delegate part of your work, together with a real case study of a KDP account suspension for review manipulation, where we will analyze the information provided by Amazon and show how it strongly connects with the patterns explained in today’s article. Let me know what you think, and feel free to share it with other publishers so more people understand the risks. If you haven’t tried BookVillage yet, you can use this link to get 30 days free + 25% off your first two months: https://bookvillage.pub/?via=guild

As usual, we had a great meeting. @Thomas Juuls, @Laura Diaz, @Yannick Di Mondo, thank you so much for the deep, insightful conversation. For Premium members, the recording is already 📺 uploaded to the Classroom. Here are the major takeaways from the meeting: - Developing the Guided Publishing System (GPS): To make the tool ecosystem easier to navigate, step-by-step guidance will be added to the interface. Future updates will probably include bullet-point hints or suggested next steps immediately after a tool generates an output, so users know exactly how to apply what they just created. - Adapting the "Book DNA" Tool: The Book DNA tool may ask too many questions if a book is still in the early idea phase, but works perfectly for completed books. To fix this, the plan is to split the Book DNA process into three distinct stages: a brief five-minute seed interview for new ideas, a complex explanation stage for communicating with freelancers, and a final stage focused on marketing and A+ content creation. - Amazon Algorithm and Metadata Shifts: We discussed how the A10 algorithm has evolved. Platforms are now pulling natural metadata directly from the manuscript, cover, and customer reviews, rather than relying on traditional stuffed keywords. Consequently, keywords are now viewed merely as "seeds" rather than the entire foundation of a book's visibility. Rollout of New Tools: Several new tools and updates were introduced to the community: - A lightweight niche research extension that collects market data and reviews directly into a CSV files without requiring users to register for an account. - A Seed Generator that uses a Publisher's Persona to generate over 100 relevant seed keywords. - A 3D Paperback Mockup tool that allows publishers to upload their cover and manuscript to create interactive, 3D video mockups. This includes transparent and green screen backgrounds to help generate custom marketing assets.