For the week ending March, 13, 2026, Author Update, covered major AI developments at Anthropic to the latest contest drama unfolding on X. We’ll also look at Amazon discontinuing its book club, what the platform’s new AI-powered prompts for sponsored ads could mean for authors running ads, and a surprising milestone as YouTube surpasses Disney in a key media metric. And of course, we close with a particularly spicy Zeitgeist segment.
Only 17 Days Left: Claim Your Share of $1.5 Billion Anthropic AI Copyright Settlement or Lose It Forever
Thomas: One of the biggest stories for many authors is the $1.5 billion settlement from Anthropic. You have 17 days left to file a claim. If you do not file, you will not receive any money.
Jonathan: The deadline is March 30, 2026. Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle claims related to books allegedly used to train its AI systems without permission. The payout averages roughly $3,000 per book if your work qualifies.
Most authors did not receive direct notice. To check eligibility, go to the official settlement website at AnthropicCopyrightSettlement.com. Use the works list lookup tool to search by your name, book title, ISBN, or ASIN. If your books appear on the list, you are likely eligible to file a claim.
If you do nothing by March 30, you will likely receive nothing from the settlement fund. At the same time, you will still be bound by the settlement terms. That means you give up your right to bring a separate lawsuit against Anthropic for the claims covered in this case. You lose the money and you lose the ability to pursue the issue on your own.
Filing a claim takes only a few minutes. There is a simple online form, and you can submit multiple books on a single claim. A final approval hearing is scheduled for April 23. Once the court approves the settlement, payments will follow after the claims are processed.
Thomas: Many authors like to wait until the last minute, but this is not something you want to delay. If you discover you need additional documentation or run into an issue, you could miss out on $3,000 or more.
Some authors have $40,000 or $50,000 worth of books included in this settlement. That is significant money. This is not “wait until the last minute” money. This is “handle it right now” money.
Jonathan: Think about what $3,000 can do for your advertising budget, especially if someone used your book improperly to train their AI.
Sources:
Anthropic Copyright Settlement Official Site
Works List Lookup Tool
Options and Deadlines Page
Frequently Asked Questions – Anthropic Settlement
Bartz v. Anthropic Settlement: What Authors Need to Know – Authors Guild
Indie Contest Drama on X Again
Jonathan: The Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championship, known as SFINC, is facing controversy after two judges declined to advance Yuval Kord’s entry, Sisters of Mercy, citing religious bias. The judges stated they had no religious background or interest in religion and felt the work had no relevance to them.
That explanation sparked immediate debate online. Critics pointed to the contest’s stated policies, which say entries are accepted regardless of religion, sexual orientation, or other personal characteristics. Contest organizers responded strongly, defending the judges and rejecting the claim that any wrongdoing had occurred.
One notable aspect of the situation was Yuval Kord’s response. Kord, author of the Dark Legacies trilogy, thanked those who supported him but accepted the elimination graciously.
Ironically, Sisters of Mercy reportedly critiques religious brainwashing, in a way similar to how the Dune series explores religion and power. Science fiction has long grappled with tensions around religious themes. Some readers and reviewers simply disengage when religious language or concepts appear, which can make it difficult for such works to receive fair evaluation.
Even when the author is not attempting to evangelize, some readers prefer to avoid stories that engage with religion at all. That can lead to immediate rejection rather than a critical reading of the work itself.
This kind of controversy is not new. Disputes frequently emerge around indie writing contests, and they rarely produce meaningful career benefits for authors. In my experience, contests tend to offer prestige or validation more than sales impact.
In fact, the publicity from controversy may generate more attention than winning. Last year, Devon Eriksen was caught in a similar dispute after backlash tied to his libertarian views. This year the spotlight has shifted to Yuval Kord. In Kord’s case, the controversy has already generated additional book sales.
So if there is measurable value from these contests, it may come from the attention surrounding the dispute rather than the contest itself.
Thomas: In that case, authors should apply to contests where they are most likely to be canceled. That might produce the greatest impact on sales.
Amazon Discontinues Book Club Feature and Directs Users to Goodreads
Thomas: At a time when authors are constantly pitched fake book clubs, many of which appear to be scams or bot networks, Amazon has discontinued its legitimate book club feature.
Jonathan: Amazon discontinued the book club feature, in part because of the broader environment of scams and low engagement. Users are now directed to Goodreads instead.
This removes another avenue for direct reader engagement on the Amazon platform. Writers and promoters could previously use these clubs to notify readers about new releases. Fan groups could gather around specific titles. Authors could encourage readers to suggest their books, participate in discussions, or recommend other writers in the same genre.
In practice, however, the feature was rarely used. I did not use it, and I do not know many authors who did. If you want to participate in book discussion communities, Goodreads has long been the preferred platform. In many ways, the Amazon feature was redundant.
Still, the shutdown surprised many book club administrators. Some had spent significant time building and managing those communities.
Thomas: Imagine spending 10 years building a group of 100,000 readers. That community becomes your influence and your social circle. Then suddenly it disappears.
This illustrates the risk of building your platform on someone else’s land.
Jonathan: Exactly. You never truly owned those connections. You did not have the reader data or the underlying metadata. Just because your book was part of the group did not mean you controlled access to those readers. Once the platform closes the feature, your ability to engage with that audience disappears unless those readers somehow reconnect with you elsewhere.
Thomas: Administrators received only a few weeks’ warning. In fairness, the feature had already been declining, and amazon had not been promoting it for some time. Amazon appears to be redirecting resources and attention toward other initiatives.
Sources:
Amazon Book Club is shutting down in March
AmazonBookClub FAQs: Books
Amazon Abruptly Ends Book Club Program
Amazon AI Prompts for Sponsored Products Excludes Authors
Thomas: Many people contacted us excited about the new AI prompts for Sponsored Products that Amazon recently announced. Unfortunately, it specifically excludes books. So authors will not be able to use it, at least for now.
Jonathan: Amazon recently emailed advertisers about the change. Sponsored Product prompts and Sponsored Brand prompts are moving from open beta to general availability in the United States on March 25.
The system acts as a virtual product expert. It engages shoppers with relevant contextual information during key moments in the buying journey. The AI draws on Amazon’s first-party signals, including product detail pages, brand stores, and other internal data.
These prompts are designed to answer questions shoppers may have before they even ask them. The goal is to increase buyer confidence and move shoppers toward a purchase without requiring additional work from advertisers.
The system also provides deeper reporting insights. Advertisers can generate reports that include prompt types and other performance metrics. Billing continues under the standard cost-per-click model.
However, there is an important limitation. The feature is only available to U.S. Amazon advertisers running Sponsored Products or Sponsored Brands campaigns in certain product categories. Books are explicitly excluded.
That means authors, publishers, and book marketers who rely on Sponsored Products to promote their titles will not receive these AI enhancements at launch. So if you were hoping to use these AI prompts to strengthen your Amazon advertising strategy for books, you will not have access to the feature. At least not yet.
Sources: Sponsored Products prompts and Sponsored Brands prompts Sponsored Products
YouTube Surpasses Disney as the World’s Largest Media Company
Jonathan: YouTube has become the world’s largest media company by revenue. Research firm MoffettNathanson estimates the platform generated $62 billion in total revenue in 2025. That figure surpasses the $60.9 billion earned by Disney’s media business last year, which excludes the company’s experiences division. Alphabet had already reported that YouTube crossed $60 billion, and this new analysis confirms the milestone.
Thomas: For context, Alphabet as a whole is much larger than Disney, but that is not the comparison being made here. The analysis isolates YouTube’s revenue and compares it to Disney’s entertainment division. Disney’s theme parks, cruise lines, and likely merchandise are excluded. Likewise, Alphabet’s other businesses such as Google Search, Google Docs, Gemini, and the broader Google ecosystem are not included.
So the comparison is YouTube alone versus Disney Entertainment, which includes the company’s movies, television networks like ABC and ESPN, and its broader media operations. When those Disney properties are bundled together, they still do not surpass YouTube’s revenue.
Jonathan: YouTube’s advertising revenue alone reached $40.4 billion in 2025. If you have ever been frustrated by YouTube ads, that number explains why they are not going away. That advertising total exceeds the combined ad revenue of Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery, which together generated $37.8 billion in 2024.
In addition to advertising, YouTube generates revenue from subscriptions. These include YouTube Premium, YouTube Music, NFL Sunday Ticket, and YouTube TV, which has roughly 10 million subscribers. The platform has paid out more than $100 billion to creators, artists, and media partners over the past four years.
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan emphasized this creator-driven model. He noted that the platform allows creators to build audiences worldwide and develop sustainable businesses.
The broader shift is from a centralized, corporate entertainment model to one driven by independent creators. Today, anyone can sit in front of a camera and distribute content globally.
Thomas: Because we are professionals.
So what does this mean for authors? In what other industry have major corporations been challenged by an army of small creators connected directly to customers through a single platform?
Jonathan: Indie publishing.
Thomas: Exactly. We do not have financial reporting for publishing that is as clear as the data for YouTube, but it would not be surprising if Amazon generates more revenue from indie books than from traditionally published titles on its platform. In many genres, bestseller lists are dominated by independent authors who are earning significant income.
The pattern is familiar. In the past, gatekeepers decided which films would be produced or which books would reach readers. Today, creators can produce content themselves and distribute it directly.
YouTube illustrates this shift clearly. The platform contains an enormous range of specialized content for niche audiences. Many viewers now choose it over traditional entertainment services.
For example, I no longer maintain a Netflix subscription. Yet we still watch content regularly on YouTube. With children, we might watch creators such as Dude Perfect. We also watch older Christian children’s content, including the Hide ’Em in Your Heart series that my wife grew up with on VHS. Those videos are now available on YouTube.
The platform allows families to curate content aligned with their worldview in a way that traditional entertainment platforms often do not. More broadly, YouTube hosts an enormous diversity of voices. Political perspectives range from Marxist to libertarian. Religious perspectives are equally varied.
For example, you can find discussions from nearly every theological viewpoint. If you are premillennial, there are voices representing that perspective. If you are postmillennial, those voices exist as well.
It is easy to think of companies like Disney as unassailable giants. But history shows that large institutions often lose ground to decentralized competitors. The Roman Empire did not fall to a single opposing empire. Instead, it weakened internally and lost territory piece by piece to smaller groups that recognized its vulnerability.
In the same way, large media companies now compete with countless independent creators who collectively attract massive audiences.
Jonathan: The larger shift is from corporate content creation to creator-driven media. However, creators should remember an important limitation. When you build your audience on a platform such as YouTube, you do not own that platform.
We saw this clearly in 2020 when some creators left YouTube for other platforms such as Twitch or alternative services after disagreements about moderation and platform policies. If a platform changes its rules, your access to that audience can change as well.
Thomas: That is why creators should not rely on a single platform. If you build an audience on YouTube, you should also maintain other connections, especially an email list.
For example, we maintain several channels for connecting with our audience: an email newsletter, social media, YouTube, and podcast platforms. The newsletter is particularly important because it provides a direct communication channel.
Podcasting is also uniquely resilient. Unlike most platforms, podcasts are distributed through RSS, which is a decentralized technology rather than a single company’s platform. When someone subscribes to a podcast, episodes are delivered directly to their device.
Jonathan: Even as creator platforms grow, the underlying principle remains the same. Build your audience in multiple places so you are never dependent on a single platform.
Sources:
YouTube is now worlds largest media company, topping Disney in 2025
YouTube surpasses Disney, Paramount, WBD in 2025 ad revenue
Self-Publishing’s Output and Influence Continue to Grow
Self-Publishing Facts – Alliance of Independent Authors
2025 Indie Author Survey Results
Traditional Publishing in Crisis: Sales Down 9.4%
Bestselling Covers in 2026 – Author Media Webinar
Thomas: I am hosting a webinar on March 24, which is 11 days from now, on the science of book cover design. Book covers are one of the most important elements of book marketing. They are also difficult to discuss effectively in an audio format.
I have covered the topic on podcasts before, but those episodes were not my best. Describing visually effective covers with words alone is not the best way to demonstrate the principles of strong design. This webinar allows us to examine real examples.
I will be joined by an expert in book cover design, and the event is free. There is a link to register in the Author Update version of this video.
Jonathan: Covers matter enormously. When I look at a book cover, I can usually identify the psychological signals that communicate the genre. At the very least, I can see what genre the cover claims to represent.
Readers browse covers at a very shallow level of awareness. Much of their decision-making happens subconsciously. If your cover sends the wrong signals, readers will assume the book belongs to a different genre, or they will simply move on.
I experienced this myself. My first cover was attractive, and I liked it, but it communicated the wrong message about the book. After I redesigned the cover so that it made the correct subconscious promise to readers, sales increased. The cover aligned with what readers expected.
That is why this topic matters so much. I strongly recommend attending the webinar.
Thomas: I have spoken with many authors whose books were not selling. After switching to a stronger cover, their sales improved dramatically.
If the cover is weak, the rest of your marketing often collapses. It does not matter how effective your advertising is, or how many interviews, podcasts, or promotions you pursue. A poor cover undermines all of it.
I have also added the webinar link to the Novel Marketing stream, so viewers there can register while continuing to watch.
- What: Webinar: The Science of Bestselling Book Cover Design
- When: March 24th, 2026 4:00 PM Central
- Cost: Free
- Replay? Yes, for those who register
Cloudflare Rolls Out Carrot and Stick Strategy for AI Crawlers
Thomas: In AI news, Cloudflare is rolling out what could be described as a carrot-and-stick strategy for AI crawlers. We have discussed this trend over the past several weeks. Recently there was the introduction of Markdown for agents. Now Cloudflare has taken another step.
On March 10, the company launched a new “crawl endpoint.” This tool allows developers to crawl an entire website using a simple API call. A developer submits a starting URL, and the system discovers additional pages using site maps and internal links.
For many authors, the technical details may sound abstract, so it helps to understand Cloudflare’s role.
Cloudflare operates behind the scenes for many websites. The company manages DNS infrastructure and performance services that help sites load faster and stay online. Many websites use Cloudflare without the site owner even realizing it. Others choose it intentionally. In many cases, your web hosting provider is already routing traffic through Cloudflare.
Last year we reported extensively on Cloudflare’s anti-AI features. The company introduced tools that manage robots.txt, detect AI crawlers, and block bots. Now, at the same time, Cloudflare is adding features that make it easier for AI systems to access websites.
This shift has been widely misunderstood. On platforms such as X, some commentators claim Cloudflare has switched sides and joined the AI companies. That is not what is happening.
Cloudflare is implementing a carrot-and-stick strategy designed to push AI companies toward paying for access. Under this model, compliant AI systems can access website content easily if they participate in a payment system. Noncompliant bots are blocked.
Blocking alone rarely works. If a website allows humans but blocks bots, sophisticated crawlers can simply mimic human browsing behavior. Systems such as Claude and other agents are already capable of doing this. However, that approach is expensive for the crawler.
The goal of Cloudflare’s system is to make legitimate access cheaper than circumvention. In other words, it should be easier and more economical for AI companies to pay than to evade restrictions.
This strategy has historical precedent. Music piracy did not disappear because of lawsuits alone. Services such as iTunes made legal music purchases so convenient and inexpensive that piracy became less attractive. Steve Jobs famously argued that downloading songs legally for 99 cents was cheaper than spending hours pirating them.
Cloudflare appears to be pursuing a similar model. Rather than fighting AI scraping outright, the company is building infrastructure that encourages AI systems to pay for access.
Jonathan: One particularly interesting feature is the pay-per-crawl model. Website owners can now charge AI companies for access to their content.
When a crawler requests a page, it must either pay the listed price or receive a “payment required” response. Cloudflare handles the transaction as the merchant of record.
For authors and website owners, especially those who publish strong nonfiction content, this creates a new opportunity. If an AI system retrieves information from your site to answer a user’s question, you can now receive payment for that access.
It is not a perfect solution, but it is significantly better than the previous model, where AI systems could scrape answers from your website without compensation.
Thomas: Another point worth mentioning is Cloudflare’s pricing structure. Anyone can create a free account, and many website owners already use it. The free tier is generous and includes protection against attacks such as distributed denial-of-service attacks, which long predate modern AI systems.
Cloudflare originally built its reputation on protecting websites from those attacks. To receive protection when an attack occurs, your site typically needs to be routed through Cloudflare in advance. That is one reason the company encourages users to create accounts early.
The free plan exists partly to encourage website owners to route their DNS through Cloudflare. Once a site is integrated, some users eventually upgrade to the company’s more advanced paid services.
In short, Cloudflare is positioning itself as the infrastructure layer between websites and AI crawlers, while experimenting with payment models that could reshape how AI companies access online content.
Sources:
Introducing Markdown for Agents
Crawl entire websites with a single API call using Browser Rendering
Introducing Pay Per Crawl
Trapping misbehaving bots in an AI Labyrinth
Cloudflare Developers X Post on Crawl Endpoint
Zeitgeist: Trigger Warning: Blank Slate Theory is Bogus
Thomas: This is a zeitgeist segment I was so nervous about doing that I put it off. I teased it a week or two ago, then delayed it because I knew it would be dramatic. It blew up on X, and we could have had the scoop. But now Elon Musk has tweeted about it, and tens of millions are discussing the topic. So we’re getting to it now.
Let me explain zeitgeist. It has to do with changing culture. A meme is going viral right now: a scene from the movie Inception where Leonardo DiCaprio wakes up, realizing he’s in a whole new world. It’s very viral because many people feel the rate of change is so rapid they’re waking up to a transformed reality.
Many factors affect the zeitgeist. We often discuss it in terms of the secular cycle, a generational pattern observed by the ancient Romans and even earlier by the Etruscans in their concept of a saeculum. People have noted this cycle for 3,000 years. Some say even Solomon observed it with his remark that there is nothing new under the sun. It involves generational turnings. That’s not our focus today, because other forces also shape the zeitgeist.
Technology has a huge impact: the emergence of the iPhone and the Kindle reshaped culture. But biology matters too. Before we dive into the story, a disclaimer: this draws on science, with studies on both sides. We’ll aim to be fair and balanced.
Jonathan: We’re going to make people mad.
Thomas: More than normal. We say that every zeitgeist segment, but this one is spicy.
There is a religious view among many that humans are blank slates, that all creatures are products solely of their environment, with sociological factors determining who you are. This is known as blank slate theory. There’s no scientific proof for it. It’s a tenet of faith, because evidence shows biology matters.
A core belief in blank slate theory is that there’s no such thing as a bad dog, only a bad owner. They say breeding doesn’t matter; only environment does.
If you believe we are purely products of our environment and biology has no role, then this segment will be triggering.
I personally think blank slate theory is nonsense. Bad company can corrupt good morals, but biology matters. Dogs bred for centuries to fight bulls to the death in bull-baiting, which was a sport outlawed about 150 years ago, still exist in their descendants. In bull-baiting, a dog and a bull fought in a ring until one died. For the dog to win, it had to latch onto the bull’s neck and hold on until it tore out the throat, causing the bull to bleed out. The bull could gore the dog with its horns. It was so violent that society banned it, yet we still have dogs with “bull” in their names because they were bred to kill bulls.
By contrast, a dog bred to guard sheep has different biology. Anyone who has bred or raised animals knows genetics matter.
But biology isn’t just genetics. Chemicals and pharmaceuticals can affect it too. This is the start of a series of zeitgeist segments on pharmaceuticals.
Jonathan: Thomas’s approach is scientific. In the Marine Corps, my job was tracking and predicting behavior. So many small factors exist that people think they’re just part of the world and don’t notice how they push or pull in one direction or another. These must be accounted for.
I’m a hand-to-hand fighter too. When your opponent varies, you can’t assume one style fits all. What kind of Taekwondo guy is he? What’s his muscle density? How much will this hurt? Does he have long legs, creating weaknesses? If short, does he kick like a mule? Target points change based on height, aggression, training, triggers. In a fight, you move off instinct and triggers, not conscious openings.
This applies here, and we’ll explain why it matters for authors.
Thomas: People’s book preferences are an extension of how they’re feeling. Your mood in the moment determines what kind of book you’re in the mood for. You’re not always open to every genre. One major influence on feelings is hormones, which brings us to hormonal birth control.
That’s right. We’re talking about the pill.
Zeitgeist: Hormonal Birth Control May Quietly Change What Romance Readers Crave in Male Heroes
Thomas: Hit us with some science.
Jonathan: In around 2013, an experiment published in Psychoneuroendocrinology found that women who started hormonal birth control showed a measurable drop in preference for masculine male faces. Partners chosen by women on the pill had less masculine facial features than those chosen by women not using hormonal contraception.
Recently, a story on X from Evie Magazine highlighted the split among women: some prefer Henry Cavill, others Timothée Chalamet. I ran my own informal poll with women in my life, none on hormonal birth control. They responded with near-unanimous violence: Henry Cavill was obviously more attractive. I banned my wife from watching Man of Steel because Cavill is shirtless, bearded, and hairy-chested. I can’t compete with that. Yet many women genuinely prefer Chalamet, and hormonal birth control appears to play a role.
Thomas: Anecdotal evidence is growing. Women who dated and got engaged while on hormonal birth control sometimes stop taking the pill after marriage. When they stop, their preferences reset, and the man they loved while on the pill no longer inspires the same feelings once they’re off it. I haven’t seen rigorous studies on this. It’s hard to design a study asking, “Do you feel differently about your husband now?” but the stories are common.
Jonathan: Many factors change after marriage. You might marry the masculine bad boy: adventurous, dangerous, exciting. But he may not be a good dad if he’s out drinking instead of helping with the baby. Social and interpersonal dynamics shift, especially with children involved.
Thomas: A 2012 Scientific American article noted that women who met their partners while on the pill later reported lower sexual satisfaction in some cases. Yet they stayed together longer and felt more content with non-sexual support. The pattern suggests a trade-off: less attraction to high-testosterone traits, more emphasis on dependability.
Jonathan: The pill mimics a pregnancy-like hormonal state and flattens natural cycles. During pregnancy, women prioritize safety. My wife has been pregnant five times so I know they nest by rearranging furniture, preparing the nursery, sending me out at 10:30 p.m. for pickle ice cream. It’s about creating security to bring new life into a dangerous world. My job is to be dangerous toward threats, so when threats come, I’m the villain who handles them.
Thomas: Now to romance fiction. In the 1960s, hormonal birth control was illegal. Usage rose sharply, plateauing around 80 percent between 1982 and 1985. That period marks peak adoption. Recent data is sparse, but younger women increasingly reject hormonal birth control due to fertility concerns and other effects, with anti-pill sentiment growing on TikTok.
In 1986, Fabio appeared on his first romance cover. He dominated the late 1980s and early 1990s, gracing nearly every top book’s cover. Fabio has masculine traits but he also has long, beautiful hair and he’s always striking a nurturing pose and holding the woman. He encapsulates the shift. Today’s edition of Hearts Aflame features only the woman on the cover. Fabio is gone from ebooks and paperbacks, though he lingers on some hardbacks. Preferences among romance readers lean toward more effeminate male leads, especially if they’ve used hormonal birth control.
Knowing your Timothy matters. Not all women are or have been on the pill. Some have religious objections while others were prescribed it young for period management. Preferences vary.
The science isn’t settled. A 2019 analysis of over 6,400 women found no difference in masculine preferences between pill users and non-users. Debate continues on X, but the Evie Magazine piece and Cavill-Chalamet split support the idea that women on hormonal birth control lean toward Chalamet and those off it lean toward Cavill.
If you’re writing for women on the pill, craft a hero more like Chalamet. For those not on it, aim for Cavill.
Sources:
Does the contraceptive pill alter mate choice in humans?
Birth Control Pills Have Lasting Effects on Relationships
Birth control pills do not alter women’s preferences for masculine faces
The Birth Control Pill’s Ripple Effect: How It May Be Changing Male Preferences for Fictional Heroines
Jonathan: Men are affected too. Testosterone can decrease in response to women’s hormonal cycles. Research from the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism in 2007 noted age-independent declines in U.S. men. Later data showed sharper drops among younger men between 1999 and 2016, with some levels falling from near 600 nanograms per deciliter to below 450. Synthetic hormones from birth control are suspected culprits.
Normally cycling women release monthly cues through body odor and pheromones, boosting testosterone in nearby men. The pill flattens these cycles.
Thomas: Two factors reduce male testosterone: environmental estrogens from birth control enter the water supply. Water treatment kills bacteria but not these chemicals. Even on private wells, the second factor applies: women on the pill stop releasing fertility-signaling pheromones. In a society where up to 80 percent of women no longer cycle naturally, ambient testosterone drops.
This may explain why the Western died as a genre. Westerns celebrate rugged, high-testosterone men doing dangerous things. With lower societal testosterone and women preferring less masculine traits, the hairy-chested, sweat-drenched gunslinger loses resonance.
Jonathan: The 1960s also brought the sexual revolution, loosening social norms around sex. Hippies, long-haired guitar players, drugs, and open relationships all coincided with the rise of the pill. Westerns require strong men with firm values protecting homesteads or communities, even in anti-hero tales like The Magnificent Seven. Social shifts favored different archetypes.
Thomas: By the 1990s, urban settings dominated: Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry in the 1970s gave way to Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, a beautiful, Chalamet-like protagonists. Chuck Norris, a bearded fist of a man, appealed less. The shift moved from raw masculinity to beauty and softer traits.
Jonathan: Brad Pitt bridged both because he was beautiful yet masculine in roles like Achilles in Troy or Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Arnold Schwarzenegger appeals to men aspirationally as an muscle man, but women often react with visceral disgust. Late-1980s action films targeted male audiences.
Knowing your Timothy is crucial. Low-T men admire high-T men; high-T men admire even higher-T ones. Timothée Chalamet is highly intelligent, and some women value that over fist-fighting. But Henry Cavill is intelligent too and fights writers to stay true to source material, as in his Warhammer 40K project. He creates conflict, bucks the team, and stands firm, which are masculine traits that appeal to some but alienate others who prefer cooperation and harmony.
Thomas: Humor in relationships ties in. Well-done humor is risky; the best jokes skirt the edge of appropriateness. Safe dad jokes lack danger. True comedy demands risk-taking, arguably fueled by testosterone.
Jonathan: I often get in trouble for my sense of humor. Thomas regularly edits what I say because my jokes can push boundaries. He was especially concerned about my talk at the Novel Marketing Conference.
My intention is not to offend people. Occasionally I may push a joke too far, but most of the time I simply want people to laugh, relax, and consider ideas they had not thought about before.
Humor can also function as a resilience mechanism. Studies of military personnel, first responders, and emergency workers show that many develop a darker sense of humor. They joke about grim situations that most people prefer not to think about. To outsiders, that humor can seem disturbing.
However, when people work daily in difficult environments, humor becomes a way to process stress. It allows them to make light of dark circumstances. When I was deployed hunting ISIS, we operated in environments where real atrocities were occurring. Those groups deliberately targeted innocent people to create terror. Living and working in that reality changes how people cope with stress.
Dark humor, shared among teammates, builds camaraderie and resilience. It allows people to release pressure and maintain emotional balance in situations that would otherwise be overwhelming. Research suggests that individuals who can find humor during difficult periods are often better able to endure them.
Thomas: That type of humor also signals courage. Making a joke in the face of danger communicates confidence to others. Courage can spread through a group just as fear can.
This kind of gallows humor has long been part of military culture. C. S. Lewis even examined the topic when discussing whether soldiers can ethically celebrate victory in wartime. His perspective carries weight because he served in the trenches during World War I. His reflections on war come from experience.
That context matters. Someone who has faced real danger speaks differently about courage and humor than someone whose most stressful experience might have been criticism after a sermon.
Jonathan: I remember a moment when Congressman Dan Crenshaw addressed this idea on television. He said that people often claim they feel “attacked,” but real attack means bullets flying overhead. Experiencing actual danger changes how you understand words like “attack” or “trauma.”
People who have faced genuine threats often rely on humor to release stress. It becomes a pressure valve. By contrast, people who have not faced those experiences may find that humor uncomfortable or inappropriate.
Thomas: Bringing this back to writing fiction and the changing cultural climate, this is why having a real-life Timothy, a representative reader from your target audience, is so valuable.
Directly asking readers personal questions about their lifestyle or medical decisions would be inappropriate and unlikely to produce honest answers. However, you can ask lighter questions that reveal preferences and personality.
For example, you might ask readers which characters they prefer. Do they favor Legolas or Aragorn? Do they prefer Timothée Chalamet or Henry Cavill? The answers reveal something about the type of characters your audience finds appealing.
If someone chooses Legolas and Timothée Chalamet, that tells you something about their preferences. If they choose Aragorn and Henry Cavill, that signals something different. These are simple, engaging questions that provide insight into your readers without crossing personal boundaries.
Jonathan: Readers usually enjoy answering questions like that. They have strong opinions.
Thomas: Exactly. Questions like these serve multiple purposes. They increase engagement with your email list, they entertain your audience, and they help you understand what kinds of characters resonate with your readers.
Your goal is not to change your reader. Readers rarely want authors lecturing them about their personal decisions. Instead, your goal is to understand your audience so you can write stories they will love.
Jonathan: I do something similar in my own life. I regularly ask my wife simple preference questions. People change over time, so I continue learning what she enjoys.
Sometimes it is as simple as asking, “What kind of ice cream sounds good tonight?” Questions like that reveal preferences and moods. The same principle applies when learning about your audience.
For example, discussions about Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice can reveal surprisingly strong opinions. Many readers prefer Colin Firth’s portrayal. Others prefer different versions. Asking which interpretation someone prefers often leads to lively discussion.
Thomas: The same approach works with other cultural references. Asking readers which actor they prefer as James Bond is a good example. Most people have a strong opinion about their favorite Bond.
Jonathan: I prefer Pierce Brosnan. Some people prefer Daniel Craig, who many consider a more rugged interpretation. At one point Henry Cavill was even considered for the role. Conversations like this are fun, and they reveal something about personal taste.
Thomas: An onboarding email asking readers about their favorite James Bond could work for many genres. It is an easy way to learn about your audience’s preferences.
This conversation is also the beginning of a broader series of Zeitgeist segments. In future discussions we may explore topics such as GLP-1 medications and SSRIs as part of a wider look at how pharmaceuticals influence culture and behavior.
Jonathan: That will probably make people even more upset.
Thomas: Perhaps. But exploring cultural change often involves discussing uncomfortable ideas. Our goal is to keep the conversation thoughtful and engaging.
Sources:
Substantial Age-Independent Decline in Testosterone in US Men
Declining Testosterone in Young Men – NHANES Analysis
Women’s Body Odour During the Ovulatory Phase Modulates Testosterone and Cortisol Levels in Men
Men Report Stronger Attraction to Femininity When Testosterone Is High
Effects of Exogenous Testosterone on Men’s Preferences for Female Facial Femininity
Environmental Endocrine Disruptors and the Pill’s Role in Rivers
