Why I’m Giving Away a $249 Course This Month
Novel Marketing patron gift for June: get free lifetime access to my course when you become a patron this month.
Zeitgeist: Pope Leo XIV Gives Catholic Novelists Green Light to Use AI
Explore the pope’s encyclical on AI, a profound critique urging transparency and human oversight in artificial intelligence.
No ISBN Means No Copyright Protection for Indie Authors
KDP lowers print costs, AI pirates monetize stolen audiobooks, authors lose Meta lawsuit standing, the Enhanced Games flop, and Pope Leo XIV embraces AI.
Announcing the 2027 Novel Marketing Conference
What makes the Novel Marketing Conference different from other conferences? Get details on topics, dates, and availability for the 2027 Novel Marketing Conference.
Zeitgeist: Light, Fire, and Clarity: What the Latest Baby Name Data Tells Us About the Shifting Culture
Explore the trends in baby names in 2025. Discover how names reflect clarity, light, and strength and the changing zeitgeist.
The Publishing Echo Chamber Nobody Will Admit Exists
Explore the latest trends affecting authors: declining nonfiction sales and the impact of podcasts on traditional publishing.
Zeitgeist: Stories Made by People Who Hate Them
Stories made by people who hate them: why faithful adaptations like Epic: The Musical earn billion-stream success while Hollywood’s deconstructed reboots keep failing, and what authors can learn from the pattern.
Amazon Review Purge: The Author Survival Guide
Explore recent publishing news on imprint closures, bestseller challenges, and AI’s influence on the future of books.
The Four Loves That Drive Fiction
Discover the four types of love in fiction that make readers fall in love with your book. Learn how storge, philia, eros, and agape drive stories from cozy mysteries to epic fantasy.
Zeitgeist: Globalists vs. Nationalists: What the UK and Japanese Elections Tell Us About the Changing Culture
Reform UK, Japan’s landslide, and the AfD surge reveal a global culture war. Here’s what the nationalist realignment means for your books and marketing.
Draft2Digital Confirms: Amazon Sales Reports Are Off by 50%
KDP dashboard errors, Chrome’s secret AI install, a Harvard prompting hack, the AI book flood, and how global nationalism is changing what readers want.
15 Rules for Book Advertising with David Gaughran
Learn 15 book advertising tips to help you save money and increase your profits while attracting more readers.
Zeitgeist: First Turning Noblebright vs. Second Turning Grimbright
Thomas and Jonathan map classic films onto the Noble/Grim + Bright/Dark axis, the four-quadrant version of the Strauss-Howe generational turnings.
Audible Forces Every Title Into New Royalty Model
Audible set a hard deadline for its new royalty model. The FTC fined a self-publishing guru $1.5M for fake promises. AI screeners favor AI-polished proposals over human ones. Independent bookstores are booming with 422 new openings. And science confirmed your TikTok breaks are wrecking your writing focus.
Zeitgeist: Southern Poverty Law Center Indictment Exposes Alleged Fraud, Accelerates Vibe Shift on Racism Accusations
a federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama, indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on April 21, 2026. The 11-count indictment charges the SPLC with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of false statements to a federally insured bank, and one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.
