Reports Say 62% of New Paranormal Romance Titles Are AI Junk Books

Thomas: Merry Christmas, and welcome to Author Update, your weekly dose of publishing news that actually matters to your career.

Jonathan: Today we’re doing a year in review, looking at how book markets have behaved in terms of sales, which stories have proven profitable, and which have cratered. And it wouldn’t be Author Update without AI news, including ChatGPT’s new image generator, Audible’s new AI book discovery mechanism, another update on the Gemini model, and a new app store based on ChatGPT.

Good News Segment

Jonathan: For the first time in Author Update history, we’re opening with good news. Revenue, revenue.

Thomas: Revenue for the good news segment. We’re opening with good news because it is Christmas.

Jonathan: For the first time in Author Update history, revenue for traditional publishing is up. Not only that, but audiobooks have surpassed ebooks in sales.

The Association of American Publishers released its latest StatShot monthly report for October 2025. Publishers reported total revenues of $1.5 billion across tracked categories, a 6.7% increase over last year.

For comparison, KDP showed 8.3% growth, so indie is still growing faster. Year-to-date figures through October show a modest 0.4% increase from the same period last year.

Hardcovers moved up a bit, digital audiobooks climbed 7.3%, and ebooks increased 1.9%. The most impacted segment was mass market paperbacks, which declined 22.7%.

It’s important to understand the difference between mass market and trade paperbacks. Mass market is the smaller format many of us grew up with. It uses cheaper paper and falls apart more easily. Most indie authors today use trade paperbacks, typically six-by-nine, with better quality. That format is doing better.

Why are mass market paperbacks declining?

Thomas: I don’t understand why everyone is wringing their hands over the decline of mass market paperbacks. It’s like the worst restaurant in town closing, the one nobody has visited in years, but it’s been there forever. The food was bad.

There’s nothing about the mass market paperback experience that’s better than a trade paperback or a hardback. Hardcovers are doing the best. If you look at the revenue breakdown, hardcovers for traditionally published books are 46% of total revenue. Paperbacks are 31%. Mass market paperbacks are 0.7%.

We’ve been reporting for a long time that mass market is very low. The business model is going away because if you want a cheap book, you’ll buy a Kindle and get cheap books that way.

Why are audiobooks beating ebooks for traditional publishers?

Thomas: The big news is that audiobook sales have now surpassed ebook sales for October, which is our most recent month of data.

Audiobooks were 8.2% of total revenue for traditional publishers, while ebooks were 7.8%. That’s a difference of around $10 million.

Audiobooks and ebooks are neck and neck. Last month, ebooks briefly took the lead again, but it keeps flipping. If you don’t have an audiobook, you’re missing what is now the number two or number three category, depending on how you count it.

A lot of indie authors also don’t have a hardback, which means they’re missing the number one category. They have a paperback, they may not have audio, and they’re trying to earn most of their money from ebooks, even though ebooks are the fourth-best-selling category for traditionally published authors.

Do yourself a favor and have an audiobook. Maybe do yourself two favors and have a hardback special edition as well.

Do indie and traditional readers buy differently?

Jonathan: I’m going to disagree with you. This will be fun.

We’re seeing different buying behaviors among customers. There’s a kind of reader who primarily buys traditionally published books, and they want hardbacks. Hardbacks have the best margins, they look the best, and libraries love them. That is a different sales strategy than the indie self-published route.

I think the spike we’re seeing in audiobooks has a lot to do with indie authors succeeding in audio and then having those rights purchased by traditional publishers. For instance, Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl has contributed a lot to audiobook interest because readers love that level of production and storytelling. Traditional publishers are coasting off indie success.

Thomas: Like the second goose in the V, coasting on the air.

Another factor is Spotify bringing in entirely new audiobook listeners. People who were listening to Spotify podcasts are now listening to Spotify audiobooks. Spotify is pushing revenue to big traditional publishers and growing the pie overall. That’s what we’re seeing, a bigger pie.

Jonathan: It’s like when American culture changed with the development of the highway system. People didn’t move across state borders as much until the highways made it easier. Spotify, Audible, and Amazon are building new “highway systems” for customers. They’re creating new buyer behaviors.

Spotify started as music, then podcasts trained people to learn through audio. Now it’s transferring into audiobooks. That shifts traditional publishing, which is often twenty years behind in adopting new technology.

And you have to consider that traditional publishers are charging full paperback prices for their ebooks on Amazon.

Are ebooks still the most profitable format for indie authors?

Thomas: That’s an important point. Almost all ebook money goes to indie authors. If we zoomed out to include indie publishing, the ebook slice would be much bigger.

Most indie authors make far more money from ebooks than from audiobooks. Part of that is because authors earn so little per audiobook. The commissions are low, so even if readers spend more on audiobooks, much of that money goes to Audible rather than the author. With ebooks, many authors earn 70% of the list price. Ebooks are often a more profitable category.

We always try to share indie numbers too. While the traditional market grew 6.7% over the last twelve months, the KDP Select Global Fund, which we use as a proxy for the indie market, grew 8.3%. So even with traditional up this month, indie is still up more.

Barnes & Noble Opens Over 50 New Locations in 2025

Thomas: More good news, and this one surprised me. Barnes & Noble, under new ownership, is being run really well. They’ve opened 50 new locations and plan to open 60 by the end of the year. They’re trying to beat last year’s pace of 57 new stores.

Jonathan: Under CEO James Daunt, Barnes & Noble is crediting growth to strong sales and redesigned outlets that prioritize local curation over corporate curation.

Instead of corporate sending a list of required titles, bookstore managers can stock what will sell in their local market. This mirrors the success of independent bookstores, which serve local populations and build loyalty.

How does local curation help Barnes & Noble compete with Amazon?

Thomas: I have a whole episode on this about the the ten cultural regions inside the United States and how they differ from each other. If you’ve wondered how New England differs from the Midwest, or the Midwest from the Deep South, listen to that episode.

Barnes & Noble’s pivot toward local curation is how they’ll compete with Amazon. Amazon serves the whole market or the individual, but it doesn’t really have a middle layer for local culture.

A Barnes & Noble in Texas can feature Texas-specific books in a way Amazon cannot. People outside Texas don’t care about the Alamo nearly as much as Texans do. If there’s a new book about the Alamo, a Barnes & Noble in Texas can put it right at the front of the store.

Thomas: Barnes & Noble has made two other smart changes.

First, the new stores are smaller. In the 1990s and 2000s, they were opening mega-stores of 50,000 square feet or more. That’s expensive in rent, inventory, staffing, and electricity. Back then, it made sense because selection was how you won.

But Amazon changed the game. You can’t beat Amazon on selection. By moving to stores as small as 10,000 square feet, Barnes & Noble can reduce costs. If curation is good and the right books are on the shelves, a smaller store can still do very well.

Second, they’re pivoting away from board games, notebooks, and miscellaneous products, along with the huge media sections. They could never compete with Walmart on those items. Walmart will sell Settlers of Catan cheaper.

What people associate with Barnes & Noble is books and coffee. The coffee shop footprint has effectively grown, not because there are more tables, but because the overall store is smaller. Their goal is to keep non-book purchases to 25% or less.

It also helps that many competitors are gone. Borders is gone. Many indie bookstores are not run with a “grow the empire” mindset. Barnes & Noble is the major book empire left.

Books-A-Million still exists, and there are smaller chains like airport bookstore brands, but overall, this is good news. Barnes & Noble isn’t known for stocking indie books, but more reading is better.

Going into a bookstore can be identity-forming. If you walk into a bookstore, you start thinking of yourself as a reader. If you think of yourself as a reader, you buy and read more books, and that helps all of us.

Jonathan: I’ll interview shoppers. I go into a Barnes & Noble and ask questions, trying not to come off like a creep. I’m gathering data on how people make purchasing decisions.

Do they start in the coffee shop and browse, or is the coffee shop the end of their loop? What section do they go to first? Do they change what they look at if an attractive person is nearby, because the books become a prestige signal?

This is one reason politicians’ books sell. If you’re carrying Michelle Obama’s book, that makes a statement. The books you carry are part of how you present yourself.

I ask whether they leave a book on the shelf, keep browsing, then return for it. Do they have a budget, like “I can buy this many books,” or is it a splurge they justify later?

What demographic is hanging out at Barnes & Noble?

Thomas: This is also generational. We’re seeing that going to Barnes & Noble is very popular with young people.

Another trend is that younger people are drinking less alcohol and spending less time in alcohol-centered venues. They need a third place that’s not home and not work, open late, with Wi-Fi. Most coffee shops don’t stay open late, but the Barnes & Noble café does, and it’s connected to the store.

So part of this is a cultural shift. Kids aren’t going to the bar, they’re going to Barnes & Noble, which is more good news for Christmas.

Jonathan: You can especially see this in college towns. Barnes & Noble locations near campuses tend to be heavily trafficked, particularly the café area.

Students have chosen this as part of their identity. “I go to Barnes & Noble, get a book, read in the café, and maybe discuss it with other students.”

It’s a decision: “This is the kind of person I want to be.” That identity factor is huge. What kind of person do I want to be? What kind of books do I want to be seen reading?

If Barnes & Noble leans into local author shelves, and local authors do a good job, it could become part of the local cultural identity. Tucson doesn’t do this well. The local author shelves all look the same, and the books don’t look professional.

But if local indie books looked great, Barnes & Noble would absolutely showcase them, because it becomes part of the local culture: “I read local Tucson authors. I read Southwest authors.” That’s an identity decision people like to make.

Links:

Want to Work for Author Media?

We’re looking for someone to help convert podcast transcripts into blog posts on AuthorMedia.com.

Here is an episode that talks about this process:

The job would be a few hours of work each week, paid as a 1099 contractor.

You will also get some non monetary compensation including:

free coaching from me
free access to all the AuthorMedia.com courses
a free ticket to the Novel Marketing Conference.

We are looking for someone with the following:

Editing/Writing/Blogging Background
A Personal Blog/Substack (please include a link in your application)
WordPress Familiarity
Good taste when picking out stock photos.
Basic SEO knowledge. You don’t need to be an SEO wizard, but if you don’t know what SEO is then this is not a good job for you. If you don’t know what SEO is, please level up your SEO skills before applying for this job

If you are interested, email me your resume, your rates, and a link to your blog. If you get the Author Media email newsletter, you have my email address.

Jonathan: Thomas is a good boss. It’s an excellent professional opportunity.

Thomas: You’ll also get access to the private Author Media Discord, which is for the team only, and which I definitely do not spam or troll.

Audible Adds AI Book Discovery

Audible has rolled out Maven, an AI-powered search tool that lets listeners describe exactly what they want in natural language. Users can ask for specific moods, character types, narration styles, or even audiobook lengths suited to a road trip. The feature, now available in beta to select U.S. customers on iOS and Android, draws from Audible’s vast catalog to deliver personalized recommendations.

Authors benefit indirectly as better discovery tools surface hidden gems, including backlist titles and niche genres that traditional keyword searches often miss. Indie publishers and self-published creators stand to gain visibility when listeners query for underserved subgenres or themes.

This move aligns with broader AI trends in audio, complementing Audible’s separate experiments in AI-curated collections and review summaries. For authors focused on audiobook sales, improved search could boost organic finds and listener engagement over time.

What is Audible’s Maven?

Thomas: In some ways, Maven is similar to Rufus, but it’s a specialized version built specifically for Audible. The goal is to surface lesser-known titles and backlist books.

That’s why having a well-optimized Audible page matters more than ever. Keywords, categories, and overall optimization will play a much bigger role in discoverability going forward.

Jonathan: This is the key point. Most indie authors barely pay attention to their audiobook metadata because, historically, it hasn’t mattered much.

Audiobook sales have largely ridden on the SEO work done for ebook sales pages. Authors treated audiobook metadata as an afterthought. With Maven, that changes.

If a listener asks something like, “I need a steamy romance for a seven-hour road trip, read by a woman, set in this time period,” your audiobook can only surface if those attributes exist in your metadata. Authors who properly optimize their audiobook pages are the ones who will benefit.

How important are reviews in Audible discovery?

Thomas: Reviews are also critical. We don’t yet have much public information about how Maven works, but my assumption is that it’s similar to Rufus, Amazon’s AI search assistant.

Rufus heavily weights customer reviews, along with A+ content and descriptions. That may be an oversimplification, since core metadata still comes first, but reviews clearly carry significant influence.

The challenge is that audiobook reviews are hard to generate. There’s no natural moment at the end of an audiobook that prompts listeners to leave a review.

Jonathan: Exactly. There’s no frictionless transition from finishing an audiobook to reviewing it.

How can authors boost audiobook sales and reviews?

Thomas: The most reliable way is to increase audiobook sales. One of the best ways to do that is by advertising on podcasts, where audiobook listeners already spend their time.

Many authors complain that their audiobooks don’t sell, but those same authors never advertise on podcasts. They don’t target audio-first audiences.

Audiobook listeners make decisions with their ears, not their eyes. If you want to sell audiobooks, advertise where people are already listening.

GPT Image 1.5 Good Enough for Children’s Books?

Thomas: I’ve been giving OpenAI a hard time for not being number one at anything. Is it becoming the AOL of AI models? I still think that comparison fits, right down to the major merger with a Hollywood studio. AOL had Time Warner, and OpenAI has a roughly hundred-billion-dollar deal with Disney, which for them is pocket change.

That said, OpenAI is not going quietly into the night. They’ve just launched Image 1.5, which is a big deal for anyone thinking about children’s books or illustration-heavy projects.

I’ve been experimenting with it, and many of you liked the Christmas-themed image thumbnail for this episode, which was created using the new Image 1.5 engine.

It still can’t generate 16-by-9 images, which may keep me from using it long term. Google’s Nano Banana Pro can generate 16-by-9 images directly, which means I can prompt and upload without touching the image. That’s a big advantage for my workflow.

The main feature OpenAI is promoting is character preservation. Imagine you’re creating a children’s book about a dog. You want the dog to look the same on every page but be in different scenes doing different things. That’s what this model is designed to do.

They even have a children’s storybook mode built in, clearly targeting children’s authors.

You start by establishing a character anchor, an image that locks in the appearance, outfit, and personality of the character. Then you use prompts to place that same character into different scenes.

I was reading a Clifford book to my one-year-old daughter this morning. She’s still hesitant about books, but I asked her to point to the red dog. Clifford takes up half the page, and she had a great time pointing to him. That big red dog is the character anchor.

Jonathan: I’ve been thinking about turning some episodes from my storytelling podcast into children’s books for my girls.

My first thought was about children’s book illustrators. Is this going to replace them? Authors still need anchor images and brand-defining visuals. You still need someone to design Clifford, the big red dog.

Thomas: Graphic designers are busier than ever. Every book cover designer I know is slammed. On our job board, the hardest roles to fill are cover designers and illustrators.

If you’re a designer with any skill and interest in working with authors, and you have capacity, go to the job board on AuthorMedia.social. Authors are desperate to hire illustrators and cover designers. I’m not convinced this technology is putting anyone out of work in the design space.

Jonathan: Even movies that rely heavily on CGI still hire concept artists. If you’re a children’s book illustrator, lean into this. Offer to create the iconic, unique character brand that authors can then reuse. Or get good at the AI tools yourself and offer it as a service.

Authors don’t want to do this work. They want to write books. If they can pay someone else to handle design, they will.

How has the image editing improved?

Thomas: Another improvement is selective editing. With the old image model, changing one thing often changed everything. If I asked it to make Jonathan grumpier in an image, it would also change my expression and sometimes even our ethnicities.

Now it can make small, targeted edits. For this episode’s image, it hallucinated a family photo behind me and gave me an entirely different family. I usually just airbrush that out, but this time I tried prompting it to remove the photo and replace it with books. It did it instantly, cleanly, and without changing anything else.

This is going to change my workflow. I can now edit images by talking to the model.

That said, if you tell it to remove something, it will often replace it with something else. One of our team members asked it to remove a beer can from an image, and the character ended up holding a duck. You still need to learn how to prompt images well.

And again, it still can’t do 16-by-9 images, which is a major limitation.

Every image I make is 16-by-9. Blog images, thumbnails, slides, everything. It’s the only ratio I want, and it’s the one ratio ChatGPT can’t do.

Links:

Gemini 3 Flash

Thomas: Gemini 3 Flash is Google’s new model. I’ve heard good things, so I tested it all week, and I hate it.

I wanted to love it. I used Gemini 2.5 Flash in several Patron Toolbox tools, and I may still use Gemini 3 Flash for some tasks. But I haven’t switched anything yet because Gemini 3 Flash hallucinates badly.

On hallucination benchmarks, it scores among the worst of the current models. It lives in its own fantasy land.

One of my main uses for AI is research, and Gemini 3 Flash cannot do research reliably. It hallucinates facts and can’t provide links, which suggests it isn’t actually finding sources.

For two days straight, I triple-prompted GPT 5.2, Grok 4.1, and Gemini 3 Flash. Gemini consistently failed to compete. Even when I switched to Flash Reasoning, it couldn’t beat Grok’s fast reasoning model.

Grok outperformed Gemini every time. GPT and Grok traded wins, with Grok usually ahead, but GPT occasionally pulling through. That’s why I’m still double-prompting.

Why are hallucinations such a big problem?

Jonathan: It sounds like the employee who lied on their résumé. “Yeah, yeah, I know that.”

Thomas: Exactly. “I totally know SEO.” No, you don’t.

Gemini 3 Flash is fast, but it’s the fastest hallucinator in the West.

Apparently, the Grok team predicted this. They said Google’s approach would compound errors and increase hallucinations. That’s a major issue in the AI race because if a model loses credibility, users will leave.

Thomas: This ties into politics. Grok and xAI believe their maximally truth-seeking approach will win long term.

When an AI learns from scientific literature and reaches politically inconvenient conclusions, and then gets punished for those conclusions, it creates confusion. The model doesn’t know which truth you want.

A capital-T truth approach is more stable long term. It may be that Google’s internal politics are getting in the way.

My experiments with Gemini 3 Pro showed fewer hallucinations, so I’ll keep watching this. Google has a long-term advantage in compute since they build their own chips.

But Gemini 3 Flash does not get the Thomas Stamp of Approval. Nano Banana still does, because Nano Banana gives me a 16-by-9 image, and that alone makes me happy.

Links:

OpenAI’s App Store Arrives Inside ChatGPT

OpenAI has launched a new App Directory inside ChatGPT that functions as an in-chat app store. Developers can now submit third-party apps for review and publication. This marks a major evolution from the 2024 GPT Store, which focused on custom chatbots, to interactive tools that integrate real services directly into conversations.

Users access the directory from the ChatGPT sidebar or at chatgpt.com/apps. They browse categories like Featured, Lifestyle, and Productivity.

Top 3 apps for authors:

1. Canva

Authors top the list with Canva. It transforms text outlines or ideas into professional visuals like book covers, social media graphics, promotional posters, or interior illustrations. Indie creators describe a prompt, refine designs interactively, and export files instantly. This tool accelerates marketing efforts for self-published writers who handle their own visuals.

2. Coursera

Coursera ranks high for nonfiction authors and those building expertise. It allows browsing courses, enrolling, and discussing content in real time while ChatGPT elaborates on lectures or quizzes. Writers researching complex topics gain structured learning paths that feed directly into manuscripts.

3. Figma

Figma appeals to authors crafting companion materials like mind maps, character relationship diagrams, or book layout prototypes. Its collaborative design tools embed into chats for brainstorming visual story elements or formatting ebooks with precision.

The launch positions ChatGPT as a potential “everything app” hub. It keeps users engaged longer while competing with traditional app stores. Indie authors should watch for specialized tools that enhance creative processes in 2026.

Thomas: This is the very beginning of the app store, so I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the tools you use every day soon have their own ChatGPT apps. Photoshop is a good example.

Earlier today, I was on a call with an author who pays for both Photoshop and ChatGPT. For her, connecting those two tools is an obvious move. Each becomes more powerful when they can talk to each other.

That said, I know many authors are experimenting with, or even switching to, various ChatGPT competitors, which we talked about on Novel Marketing.

Author Arsenal Episode One Is Live

Jonathan: The first episode is finally live. You can now watch a Vellum tutorial that includes a brief history of the software, a breakdown of its features, and key things authors should keep in mind. It also includes my inimitable personality, and I did my best to make the tutorial as helpful as possible.

So far, the feedback has been positive. You can find it on the Author Arsenal channel. Just search for “Author Arsenal,” and it should be the first result.

Thomas: You should start using the Author Arsenal poll feature and ask viewers which service they want a tutorial for next.

Jonathan: I only have three comments on the video so far, and one of them asked for Kickstarter. So guess what my next video will be?

I have a long list of tools I want to cover, and I’m happy to adjust the order based on what people want. The next tutorial will be on Kickstarter, specifically how to create and run a Kickstarter campaign. I’ll walk through all the steps and try to make it as enjoyable as possible.

What is the Author Arsenal Writing Challenge?

Jonathan: I’m also launching the Author Arsenal Writing Challenge at the beginning of the new year, starting January 5. The challenge will help you write your book, short story, novella, or whatever project you’re working on in twenty days during January.

You’ll have a United States Marine dragging you across the finish line every day. I won’t be reading what you write. I’ll only be checking your word counts. This is purely an accountability exercise.

I plan to run one challenge each quarter. People who complete the first one and finish their project will likely come back for the next because of how much they get done.

What can participants expect during the challenge?

Jonathan: I plan to write four books next year, and I’ll be participating in the challenge myself. In January, I’ll be finishing an entire book. My personal goal is 5,000 words a day. That may not be where you are, and that’s fine.

I’ll be teaching classes on productivity, dealing with distractions, and planning and outlining your book the night before so you’re ready to write the next day. The goal is to help you show up prepared and get the words down.

We’re results-oriented and aggressive about production. The focus is on completing a first draft. We are not focusing on editing or proofreading. I don’t care about any of that at this stage. I want you to produce something messy because you can work with messy. You can’t work with the perfect book that only exists in your head.

Watch for more at the Author Arsenal YouTube channel.

Reaction to Jane Friedman’s 2025 Year in Review Reaction

Thomas: Jane Friedman has an incredible email newsletter called The Bottom Line. It’s one of the few paid industry news sources I subscribe to, and I’ve been paying for it since back when it was called The Hot Sheet.

I’m not entirely sure why she changed the name. “The Bottom Line” feels harder to find from an SEO standpoint, so if you want to follow her work, just search for Jane Friedman directly.

If you’re a fan of Author Update, which I know many of you are, Jane Friedman consistently offers thoughtful analysis. Everything we’re about to share comes from her reporting. We’re going to riff on her year-in-review article because she did an excellent job capturing the biggest publishing stories of 2025.

If you haven’t been following publishing news closely this year, consider this your recap.

Biggest Headline: $1.5 Billion Anthropic Settlement

Jonathan: If you’ve been following our episodes over the past couple of months, you know we’ve been talking about the massive Anthropic settlement. A lot of authors are excited because it feels like AI companies are finally being held accountable.

Authors are especially interested in the potential payouts tied to copyright violations, particularly if their books were included in training data without permission. On this show, we’ve already shared how to check whether your title appears on the list and whether you’re eligible for a payout.

Right now, the estimate looks to be around $3,000 per title. That’s significant. Honestly, if one of my books qualified, I’d put every dollar of that straight into advertising. That’s not a windfall, it’s an investment.

Thomas: For traditionally published authors, that could easily turn into $3,000 worth of courses, marketing, or professional development. It’s a meaningful amount.

I suspect the U.S. Copyright Office is getting absolutely swamped right now. A lot of authors are suddenly rushing to register their copyrights.

The filing date matters. There was some bad advice circulating, and I even got pulled into it briefly. You’ll often hear people say, “You don’t need to register your copyright to own it,” which is technically true but practically useless.

Yes, you own the copyright whether you register it or not. But that copyright is not financially meaningful in situations like class action lawsuits unless it is registered. Registration is what gives the copyright real legal and financial weight.

If you’re registering, go directly to copyright.gov. Do not use any .com, .org, or .net sites. Those are scams.

If you need help with the process, you can use AI to guide you. I have an AI tool called Not a Lawyer in the Patron Toolbox that can walk you through copyright registration.

It’s too late to register for this specific Anthropic settlement if your work wasn’t already registered, but there are other similar class action lawsuits moving through the courts.

Thomas: There’s another major case targeting Meta. Just this week, the plaintiffs filed a request to amend their case to more closely resemble the Anthropic case. Now that there’s a proven path to financial settlements, attorneys are paying attention.

Meta has a lot of money, and this likely won’t be the last lawsuit of its kind. The takeaway for authors is clear: registering your copyrights is no longer optional if you want real legal protection and the ability to participate in future settlements.

Biggest Unresolved Issue of the Year: TikTok Ownership

Jonathan: President Trump issued an executive order giving ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, a seventy-five-day extension to sell the platform before it would be banned in the United States. When that deadline passed, it was extended again, and then again.

Now it’s 2026, and there is still no resolution. TikTok’s fate remains uncertain. There is a U.S.-based joint venture attempting to purchase TikTok, but no deal has been finalized. The most recent extension runs through January 23, 2026.

At this point, no one knows how this will turn out. If authors have built their platforms primarily on TikTok advertising and the app suddenly disappears, that’s a serious risk. This is a strong reminder to diversify and not rely on a single platform.

Thomas: The TikTok saga has been pulled into broader trade and tariff negotiations with China. It’s no longer just a tech issue. It’s now part of a larger, multi-topic negotiation.

Jonathan: It’s a negotiating lever now.

Thomas: Exactly. And it’s a particularly effective one. If President Trump does nothing, TikTok goes away. The only reason TikTok is still operating in the United States is because the president keeps extending enforcement deadlines.

It’s important to be clear about this. Congress, which passes very few bills, somehow managed to pass a law banning TikTok, and the president signed it. That means TikTok is fully banned under U.S. law. What’s happening now is simply delayed enforcement of an existing law.

Thomas: We won’t belabor this point, especially since most of our audience probably isn’t heavily invested in TikTok. That said, the lesson applies to every platform. If your author platform depends entirely on one company or one app, you’re vulnerable. TikTok’s unresolved status is a reminder that platform risk is real, and diversification is not optional.

Biggest Failure of the Year: 8th Note Press

Jonathan: The biggest failure of the year is tied to TikTok. They launched their own publishing company to capitalize on the BookTok trend. The idea seemed to be, “We’ll publish books that go viral on BookTok and print money.”

That did not work. The publishing company didn’t even last two years. Authors who were signed with 8th Note Press were left in a difficult position. When a publisher shuts down while still holding your publishing rights, reclaiming those rights can turn into a legal nightmare, especially when there is no one left at the company to process the reversion. It can be a massive headache.

Thomas: We’ve covered several publishers closing this year, and this is the one Jane Friedman chose to highlight. It’s been a rough year for traditional publishing. While we had some good news this month, nearly every month leading up to it showed deep losses.

I don’t think the core systemic issues in traditional publishing have been solved. Barnes & Noble getting its act together on the retail side and opening new stores will help, but traditional publishing still needs to learn how to serve the entire market instead of repeatedly publishing books for the same narrow audience.

There’s a real diversity problem in traditional publishing, and I don’t see a clear solution yet. I think that’s a major factor behind the continued losses and publisher shutdowns we’re seeing.

Jonathan: Even if the strategy shifts toward more localized publishing, reaching specific regions with different titles, I’m not sure traditional publishing has the flexibility to adapt to that model.

I also question whether Barnes & Noble store managers will truly have that flexibility. Corporate culture tends to reward compliance over competence. If you want to get promoted or keep your job, you do what corporate tells you.

For Barnes & Noble to truly value competence over compliance would require a major cultural shift. If they hire the right people, it could work. But smaller stores mean less floor space and fewer titles on the shelves. That makes the curation choices far more critical.

Thomas: And ultimately, what’s really driving the positive numbers right now is romantasy.

The Year Book Criticism Became a Cultural Loss but Not a Commercial One

Thomas: Another point Jane Friedman raised is that this was the year literary criticism became a cultural loss, but not a commercial one.

She noted that the Associated Press announced it would no longer publish book reviews. I don’t think this is really a 2025-specific story. It’s part of a longer trend. Legacy media critics, especially those tied to traditional outlets, have not mattered much for a long time.

Today, a single TikTok influencer can be far more effective at selling books than even the most prominent reviewers at The New York Times. The most influential voices in publishing are now social media creators, and that shift happened years ago.

The Associated Press acknowledging that it’s no longer worth paying someone to review books feels like an inevitable outcome rather than a sudden change.

The reality is that everyone is now a critic. Readers leave reviews everywhere. Tools like Amazon’s review summaries, where Rufus synthesizes reader feedback, are often more valuable to readers than a single professional critic’s opinion. For most readers, that collective voice matters far more than what an AP journalist has to say about a book.

Most Dramatic AI Advancement in Publishing: AI-Narrated Audiobooks

Jonathan: The most dramatic advancement has been AI-narrated audiobooks. Most retailers now sell audiobooks narrated by synthetic voices. Many self-published authors are choosing this option as a cost-effective way to produce audiobooks. You don’t have to pay a narrator, and depending on the model you use, such as ElevenLabs, you can get a surprising amount of control and fine-tuning.

Thomas: The real breakthrough has been quality. The improvement over the last twelve months has been remarkable. AI voices can now convey emotion, perform dialogue, and act out the text in ways that were not possible before.

There’s been a lot of attention on AI text, images, and video, but AI voice technology has quietly made enormous leaps. I recently saw a new open-source voice model released that’s reportedly comparable to ElevenLabs. I haven’t tested it yet, and I don’t recall the name, but this is clearly the direction the industry is heading. Everyone is building better voice models, and AI narration quality continues to rise rapidly.

I don’t know yet whether this will put real pressure on human narrators. I haven’t seen that happen so far.

Jonathan: I actually see this benefiting human narrators. People are already developing an ear for AI narration. It’s everywhere on YouTube, with AI voices breaking into videos, and most people dislike it.

As audiences become more familiar with AI narration, human narrators will be able to charge premium prices. Before, narrators were competing with each other for lower-budget projects. Now AI owns the budget tier and will always be cheaper. That pushes human narrators toward high-quality, premium productions where performance and emotion really matter.

Narrators can also lean into niche authenticity. When I narrated Semper Die, it worked because I’m a Marine. I know how Marines talk, how they shout, and how they sound under stress. Listeners responded because it sounded authentic. An AI can’t replicate that. You can’t realistically create an AI Marine without running into content and safety restrictions. The AI simply won’t talk that way.

Thomas: The tool I was thinking of earlier is Chatterbox Turbo from Resemble AI. According to Grok, it was released just a few days ago. It can clone a voice using only five to ten seconds of audio, with no verification required.

Hackers are going to love this. It also means you should trust phone calls even less than you already do. Voice authentication is no longer reliable.

The End of an Era: NaNoWriMo Shuts Down

Thomas: This marks the end of an era. NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, has effectively shut down as an organization, although the idea itself hasn’t disappeared.

We’ve carried that spirit forward inside Author Media Social. We’ve created a space called Novel Month, and I rename it every month. Right now it’s Novel December, and next it will be Novel January. If you’re participating in Jonathan’s writing boot camp, you can post your progress there publicly.

Author Media Social is free for patrons, students, and conference attendees. If you’re none of those and still want to join, there’s a one-time cost of eight or nine dollars to keep bots out. After that, you’re welcome to participate fully.

While the NaNoWriMo organization may be gone, the dream of writing a novel in a month is very much alive.

Zeitgeist: Christmas Romance Report

Jonathan: It’s Christmas time, which means everyone turns on their Hallmark movies, and I have to sit through the same flannel-wearing protagonist who somehow outshines the high-powered executive.

Thomas: How is everyone in this small town so attractive?

Jonathan: The report profiles 7,050 titles within a total market of about 32,000 titles. Monthly royalties are approximately $1.83 million, not including Kindle Unlimited page reads.

The top-performing title averages about 2,300 sales per day. By the time you reach the number 1,000 title, sales drop to around 3.9 per day. You really need to be near the top of the category to see meaningful results.

Google search interest for Christmas romance is trending upward, but there was a major supply spike in October from low-quality, AI-generated titles. That’s not surprising. There are so many Hallmark-style Christmas stories that AI can easily imitate the formula.

About 50% of September 2025 releases had zero or one review. That’s often a signal of AI-generated books, since AI doesn’t have friends or family to leave early reviews and make the book appear legitimate.

What do we really mean by “AI-generated books”?

Thomas: When we say “AI-generated,” what we usually mean is that there’s a person producing a book a day under dozens of pen names and putting no effort into marketing.

The strategy is to flood Amazon and let its machine learning algorithms decide which books succeed. It’s essentially buying a large number of cheap lottery tickets and hoping one hits.

What strategy should authors use for Christmas romance in 2025?

Jonathan: K-lytics recommends prioritizing Kindle Unlimited enrollment. About 84% of Christmas romance royalties come from Kindle Unlimited, which reflects the broader romance market right now.

Focus on series rather than standalones. Series like Evergreen Hollow by Fiona Baker and Mistletoe Meadows by Jenna Guzman are performing well. Series improve reader retention and allow you to benefit from Amazon’s built-in recommendation system with each new release.

Aim for 200 to 300 pages to align with distribution peaks in the genre. Price strategically. Top titles tend to average $3.99 to $5.99, with occasional $0.99 promotions to boost visibility.

Category optimization matters, and the report breaks that down in detail. Cover trends are also important. Interestingly, covers without people are currently outperforming covers with people. If you do use people, you need to be deliberate about whether you feature a single character or a couple.

What can Hallmark movies teach authors about book covers?

Thomas: Part of the success of Hallmark Christmas movies is what’s happening behind the actors. If you pause almost any frame, it looks like a Christmas card.

There are Christmas trees everywhere, lights everywhere. My wife and I were watching The Mistletoe Murders, which is surprisingly good for a Hallmark-style mystery.

At one point, the protagonist is interviewing a janitor in a break room, and there’s a Christmas tree behind him. She even comments on it. That tree is positioned so that whenever the heroine is on screen, there’s a softly blurred Christmas tree glowing in the background.

That constant visual reinforcement creates a strong seasonal atmosphere. Giving your book cover that same unmistakable Christmas feel is critical in this genre.

Thomas: For more detail, check out the K-lytics report. We have an K-lytics.com affiliate link, which helps support us and Alex, who runs K-lytics, and generously allows us to summarize his research.

We’ve only shared the highlights here. There’s a lot more data in the full report. Now is actually a great time to start brainstorming ideas for a Christmas romance to release next year.

Zeigeist: K-Lytics Paranormal Romance Report

Thomas: Paranormal romance is being flooded with AI slop. This segment may not be family friendly, but we’ll keep it as clean as we can while acknowledging how degenerate romance fiction has become. The level of degeneracy is staggering.

Jonathan: Paranormal romance has been around for years. It generally refers to romances that involve something outside the normal world. That includes shifter romances, alien romances, and dark urban fantasy romances. Twilight technically falls into paranormal romance and can probably be credited with popularizing the genre.

Romantasy has largely eclipsed paranormal romance in my mind. The two are closely related, though they do have different buying patterns. Readers often draw a distinction between them, even if the lines blur.

Thomas: Paranormal romance is typically rooted in the real world with supernatural elements added. Romantasy usually takes place entirely in a different world. Think of The Chronicles of Narnia as paranormal in some respects, because the children start in the real world and cross over. It’s portal fantasy. The Lord of the Rings, by contrast, is pure fantasy with no direct connection to our world.

What emotional need does paranormal romance fulfill?

Jonathan: Paranormal romance asks the question, “What if the world I lived in was cooler?” What if the cute barista were a werewolf with a dark past who struggles with his inner nature?

That speaks to a cultural hunger for the otherworldly, or what I’d call the transcendent. Google Ngram data shows mentions of paranormal romance rising sharply since the early 2000s. That rise coincides with global upheaval, economic recessions, pandemics, and social unrest.

When the real world feels broken, people want a world that feels better or more meaningful. Supernatural elements become metaphors for resilience and permanence. Vampires endure eternity, which makes love feel lasting and secure. Vampire romances often emphasize eternal commitment, reincarnation, and soulmates. That idea of the fated one is deeply romantic, especially when paired with immortal beings who can wait forever.

Thomas: Paranormal romance and Christmas romance intersect in The Nutcracker. Clara begins in the real world at a Christmas party, falls asleep, and enters a supernatural conflict between fae factions. She’s transported to the winter court and encounters the Sugar Plum Fairy.

What’s fascinating is how deeply fairy mythology is embedded in that story. Clara breaks every rule of dealing with the fae. She eats their food and makes implicit agreements. In folklore, that means she’s never going home. The story ends with her still in the fairy world, with no indication she survives or returns.

How have paranormal romance tropes changed?

Jonathan: The dominant tropes have shifted. We’ve moved away from pure alpha dominance toward empowered bonds. Current keywords include fated, rejected, alpha shifter, reverse harem, omegaverse, fae, and bonds.

These tropes emphasize destiny, ownership, power, and danger. There’s a strong sense of being claimed by fate or by a powerful partner. Many of these themes reflect dating app fatigue. Readers are tired of endless swiping and want a story where the perfect partner is destined, not negotiated.

Which classic tropes are disappearing?

Jonathan: Someone asked why “enemies to lovers” isn’t as dominant anymore. In contemporary feminist discourse, the message is often “trust your instincts.” If someone is dangerous or disrespectful, the story no longer redeems them.

Enemies-to-lovers can now feel like endorsing abuse. Instead, we see strong female protagonists paired with powerful male characters, where abuse is not tolerated. Honestly, I’m in favor of that shift.

Thomas: That said, the alpha males in these stories are often very dark. There’s a lot of dark romance inside paranormal romance. According to K-lytics data from Alex, 62% of new paranormal romance titles released in September were likely junk AI books. That’s an enormous percentage.

Why is AI flooding this genre so aggressively?

Jonathan: Paranormal romance already had a culture of rapid release. AI tools just accelerated that trend. What used to be two books a month can now become thirty books a month.

Thomas: Romance is seen in AI circles as the easiest genre to automate because it’s so formulaic. While AI slop exists everywhere, romance, especially paranormal and dark romance, is being hit first and hardest.

Where is the genre heading next?

Jonathan: The most successful paranormal titles now blur genre lines. There’s overlap with romantic urban fantasy and cozy mystery. Paranormal is also absorbing high fantasy elements for richer worldbuilding.

Books like Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros show how romantic fantasy can dominate, and paranormal authors are borrowing from that success through portal fantasy structures. Search terms are increasingly mixing “cozy” with “paranormal.” The cultural mood is softening. Readers still want escapism, but not constant danger.

Thomas: Consumer sentiment is historically low, even though the economy looks strong on paper. The stock market is up, gas is cheaper, groceries are cheaper, but people feel bad. The vibes are off.

That matters. Reader behavior changes based on emotional climate. During low-vibe periods, people gravitate toward different kinds of stories. That’s why genres like billionaire romance and paranormal romance overlap. Sometimes he’s a billionaire and a vampire.

Jonathan: Billionaire romance works like portal fantasy. Dating the billionaire moves you from a dead-end job into a different world, yachts and elite society included. That’s the same appeal as Pretty Woman, Enchanted, or Elf. Someone from one world enters another and transforms it.

What should authors take away from this trend?

Thomas: All books are portals in some sense. You’re taking readers into a world you’ve created. In times of stress, readers want to escape to a world that feels better, or to bring something hopeful into a broken one. Stories that do that well, that demonstrate what is good, true and beautiful, especially during the Christmas season, are likely to resonate.

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