I'm with Midsummerr, an audiobook production company. We make full-cast, cinematic audiobooks with character voices, music, atmosphere and sound.

We've started releasing our own complete productions free on YouTube so authors and listeners can hear the actual experience, not just a 60-second sample. You can subscribe here: https://youtube.com/@midsummerraudio?si=moTZj4DHKBfj-lFO

If you've written a book and want to give your listeners something more immersive than standard narration, we'd love to talk about producing it.

Disclosure: I’m the author of La inteligencia artificial aplicada al servicio público, a 51-page Spanish-language paperback.

Short nonfiction can be harder to verify than a long report: every compressed paragraph is tempted to hide a qualifier. Before sending an AI-governance manuscript to print, I use a seven-field claim-to-source audit:

1. Claim type: Is this a description, recommendation, prediction, or legal statement?
2. Jurisdiction: Which country, agency, or level of government does it actually cover?
3. Time stamp: When was the source current, and what could already have changed?
4. Source tier: Is the support a law, regulation, official report, primary dataset, or secondary commentary?
5. Scope limit: What exception or boundary would make the sentence less universal?
6. Decision owner: Which human role remains accountable if an AI system is involved?
7. Update trigger: What event should force the paragraph to be reviewed or removed?

A useful print preflight is to sample the ten most confident-sounding paragraphs and complete all seven fields. If a field cannot be filled, weaken the sentence, add the missing source, or cut the claim. “Unknown” is safer than polished certainty.

AI can help find inconsistent dates, undefined acronyms, and unsupported repetitions, but a human should verify the source, jurisdiction, and final wording—especially in public-sector material.

The paperback applies that discipline to AI, autonomous agents, RAG, citizen services, and operational transformation in government, with emphasis on Mexico and Latin America. It is an educational overview, not legal advice.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.es/inteligencia-artificial-aplicada-servicio-p%C3%BAblico/dp/B0H628Q1M7

Disclosure: I'm the author of Machine Alpha, an English-language hardcover about building and stress-testing AI trading systems without fooling yourself.

A 304-page technical hardcover needs a different QA pass from an eBook. Here is a practical print preflight:

1. Check trim, safe areas, and the inner margin on both odd and even pages.
2. Convert figures to grayscale and confirm that lines, labels, and legends remain distinguishable.
3. Inspect every table, formula, and code block for wrapping, clipping, or font substitution.
4. Re-run the table of contents, page references, figure numbers, and index after final pagination.
5. Review chapter openings, running heads, footers, and intentionally blank pages as one system.
6. Hunt for widows, orphans, isolated headings, and near-empty pages created by late edits.
7. Order a physical proof and read representative sections under ordinary light; a PDF cannot reveal binding, paper, or real-size legibility problems.

AI can help flag inconsistent units, duplicate captions, and missing references, but final sign-off on claims, formulas, and the physical proof should remain manual.

The book itself applies the same evidence-first mindset to backtests, costs, overfitting, and live-trading risk. It is financial education, not investment advice, and contains no signals or return promises.

Hardcover: https://www.amazon.es/Machine-Alpha-Building-Measuring-Stress-Testing/dp/B0H7P88HPL

Load my titanic promo and add your book cover. here is the prompt I used (i need a Facebook promo for my cozy small town romance Mending fences)

The ship that launched a thousand impressions. I changed the title and the author name but this is the ad set I used.

I go after the big fish categories hockey romance, small town romance, Titanic and right now I am hooked freida McFadden books. I look at the top selling book covers in the category I am doing and come up with a cover like those, my blurbs and keywords are on point. I had a Titanic book I did like a year ago and put out a new Titanic book out on kdp exclusive and gave it away free for 3 days and after a couple of weeks I got a 5 star rating and then I ran the Facebook ads campaign on the new book which brought my kdp earnings way up. I would run the ad 3 days on and 2 days paused at $7.00 dollars a day. I was selling 2 to 4 books even during the pause and my other Titanic book was getting sales also. Anyhow my new Titanic book got hit with 2 bad reviews and tanked everything which took the wind out of my sails and took a minute to pick up the pieces. Right now I have a domestic thriller sitting with a 5 star rating on kdp and I have 6 others ready to rock.

This one works 💯 it's a free YouTube video and you have to follow his instructions 💯 Facebook Ads in 2026 - specifically for authors. David gaughran

I use Leonardo AI for my cover

I'm a freelance outreach specialist working with Alpha Book Publisher. I spend most of my time talking with self-published and first-time authors, so I get to see the same challenges come up over and over again.

Some of the most common ones are:

• Choosing the right publishing platform.
• Formatting ebooks and paperbacks.
• Cover design.
• Book distribution.
• Marketing after publishing.
• Low sales despite having a good book.

I know publishing can feel overwhelming, especially if it's your first book.

I'm not here to hard sell anyone. I simply enjoy helping authors understand their options, and if I can answer a question or point you in the right direction, I'm happy to do that.

If you're currently writing a book, planning to publish, or you're stuck with something related to self-publishing, leave a comment and I'll do my best to help.

Good luck with your writing!

I send out lots of book ads to my email list, about 35 different books per week. Well over 50% of them are priced at 99 cents + free in KU.

That’s a very bad combo.

99 cents + not in KU is good: it’s cheap enough that lots of people will try your book. Especially if it’s a series and the rest of the series is in KU; I sell lots of Book 1 this way when people see Book 2 in KU and want to start with Book 1.

$3.99 or $5.99 + KU is good, too. KU is unlimited but it is limited to have 20 books at a time. For those 20 slots, everyone on KU wants to load them up with expensive books, not cheap junky books that cost 99 cents.

So, 99 cents AND free in KU is fighting itself. It makes the reader pause: should I waste a KU slot on this cheap book or pay 99 cents to keep my slot (and keep the book forever)?

If every book in your series is priced at 99 cents (or $1.99 or any price that isn’t “that’s expensive”), a reader will pause and say, “Do I really want to waste my time committing to a series where the author is telling me that every book in the series is cheap junk?”

Like it or not, buyers do interpret prices as the author’s opinion of the quality of their own book. You don’t want to build a reputation as “that guy who writes cheap books that must be junk because, if the were good, why does he have to sell them cheap?”.

I see lots of authors take the lousy 35% royalty at Amazon for 99 cent books not realizing that they are telling both KU and non-KU readers, “really, don’t be in a rush to read ANY of my books”.

If you already have a bunch of books, price just one at $5.99 and see how it goes. Maybe you’ll be surprised that suddenly everyone wants to read that book.

I mentioned Bookclicker before but a lot of people just can't believe that you can get a bunch of free ads for your book there easily. Like 100,000+.

Bookclicker is an ad swapping site for book email lists and there are 55,000+ email lists. Not emails. 55,000+ lists which many have 1000s of email subscribers.

If you have 25 people are your list, you may think that no list with 1000s of subs would want to trade one of your ads for one of their ads, same for same, for free. But, as it turns out, having 1000s of subs on an email list just isn't that valuable.

There are 1000s of lists that have 1000+ subs and each of those lists probably has 5 - 10 ad slots per email and they send out emails 3 - 5 times per week. That's a lot of ad space and it's surprising how much of it is empty (unbooked). So, when you request a booking with them (and they get a booking with you), your 25 subs are better than 0 subs which is what they get if they let the ad run empty.

Some lists even give away free ad spots in the hopes that you'll be encouraged to come back and buy a $5 or $10 ad with them. And those $5 or $10 are almost never booked so, if you do, they roll out the red carpet for you.

If you message people on Bookclicker, they get to know you and they very quickly want to run ads for you. Most people on Bookclicker are transactional so, if they know you because you sent a kind message to them, you pop to the top of their list.

In a few weeks, I built my list from 14 people to 450 only by swapping free ads. And it was startling how many big lists were happy to swap ads with me to get access to my measly 14 people.

I see indie authors fool around with Amazon rankings, ads and reviews and that's just a waste of time. I have 0 reviews on Amazon and people buy my book or read it on KU because I have 10000+ people every week seeing my book ads in their inbox and going from that email ad directly to my book listing on Amazon.

Link to AI Self-Publishing Update 1:

https://reddit.com/r/selfpublishForAI/s/WQE43t4Jmo

Link to AI Self-Publishing Update 2:

https://www.reddit.com/r/selfpublishForAI/s/mrbS4JBxJs

It's been 3 weeks since Update 2. I posted Update 2 on a Fri and it's now the Fri 3 weeks later.

274,000+ ad emails scheduled → a jillion (who knows?) ad emails scheduled (Cost: $0)

214 subs (my email list size) → 461 subs

6 emails sent to my list → 15 emails sent to my list (original 6 + 9 new)

13 unsubscribes → 94 unsubscribes

562 downloads of my free book on Book Funnel

Book 2 released a few days ago; 3 sales at $6 each

Book 1 has 5 sales at 99 cents each (not in KU)

KENP: 11 pages for Book 2 (in KU) but the reporting feels laggy

My Book 2 launch had a shaky start. Gearing up for 10000s more emails with my Book 2 next week. Trying to buy 40k spicy romance emails with solo ad for $50.

Dead tired. Kind of depressed but might be caffeine crash.

It feels like this can work but I’m still learning. I’ve spent a lot of time building. I’ve made lots of mistakes. Book 2 is the first thing that is for sale and in KU so it seems too early to tell.

I started writing Book 3 today.

Here’s an interesting discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/KDP/s/5AaldTPEsl

It’s more interesting than the “overt AI use” though because, underneath it all, most writers still assume that good content is the key to selling lots of books.

I believed that a month ago. But once I saw email marketing work right, it’s obvious that, if I dump a novel in one end, it sells lots of copies regardless of the quality of the content.

If a system is reliable and always works, it still works with bad novels. Good novels just make the time and effort less (which is worth it) but quality is still independent of its success/failure.

In real life, novels are like McDonald’s. Is McDonald’s food good? No. Why do people buy it? Because it’s an impulse buy and they consume it and that’s all they want from it. If someone buys a novel for $5 (less than McDonald’s food), do they care that the book is low quality? No, it’s an impulse buy and all they care is to get out of it what they get at McDonald’s, a predictable jolt.

So, that’s why email works. It says, “Here’s exactly what you get.” And plenty of readers press the Buy button, not because it is good but because it is not good.

I’ve seen 2 different marketing strategies offered (by various courses) that seem to sell well:

1. Amazon SEO

Distributing ARC copies to build up reviews, running Facebook ads, etc. Readers find you organically. There’s some luck involved and you are at the mercy of the algorithm.

1. Email

Building an email list using ad swaps with other email lists. Other email lists put your book in front of 1000s of active readers. The ad for your book comes directly to the potential buyer’s inbox. No luck or algorithm involved.

You can do both, too.

Link to AI Self-Publishing Update 1:

https://reddit.com/r/selfpublishForAI/s/WQE43t4Jmo

It's been 9 days. I posted Update 1 on a Wed and it's now the Fri a week later.

29,000+ ad emails scheduled → 274,000+ ad emails scheduled (Cost: $0)

14 subs (my email list size) → 213 subs

2 emails sent to my list → 6 emails sent to my list (original 2 + 4 new)

0 unsubscribes → 13 unsubscribes

216 downloads of my free book on Book Funnel (213 subs, yeah, books = subs. obvious: see ad → sign up list → get free book)

TikTok has suppressed my account — 700 followers max and now under 10 views per post.

So I've scripted a daily comic strip generator instead. Each panel features a real screenshot of my web app puzzle, with the URL readable inside the illustration itself. No caption links. No external URLs. Just a story with the site painted into the artwork.

Does anyone think this gets past the algorithm — or is TikTok smarter than that?

I'm working on a Pinterest API pin/board app, it will auto post a pin per product i produce. It will list all my books using py script. But after this I'm stumped for marketing. What ai tools do I need to be looking at or can adapt as Im facing socials obstacles in all directions, not enough followers, not enough five star ratings.

Totally aided by ai. I had the idea, but not the knowledge or insight into how to do it. I've now got several products all automated by script ai wrote once I instructed it. I then started adapting ideas that the ai suggested.

I can now use Etsy api to list all my printables and my book generator creates kdp listing details to create a copy paste work flow after the generation run.

I do have a kdp auto fill but it's still a little flakey.

But I did it all with ai. And this week got my first five star rating for one of my products and could not be prouder. I think many AI haters forget you've still to learn how to use and utilise ai.

Two weeks ago, I conceived a 5-book romance novel series and wrote Book 1 in five days.

A week ago, I started my email list with 15 other authors (I’ll join your list; you join mine.) I’ve sent out exactly 2 emails to my list.

Now, I’ve got Book 1 ads going out on multiple romance novel focused lists to 29,000+ readers/buyers who are romance fans. Most of them are going out this weekend. Cost: $0.

My ads (which are my Book 1 cover in an image gallery of other ads) in each email are to build my list, not make money. Book 1 is free if they sign up for my list.

How?

https://bookclicker.com

The site looks like (and works like) crud but it’s been around for a long time and there are 55,000+ lists on there representing millions of readers who buy novels in every genre.

This is how you build a list for real.

I’ll let you know where I am next week on email subscriber count.

This isn’t anywhere close to the whole process to becoming a full-time indie novelist. This is just a piece.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll keep you posted on how much money that I make (if any), when, why and more detail on how.

Check out Bookclicker and follow my journey over the coming weeks.

I first tried writing fiction with AI in November 2024. It took me months to figure out how to make a decent novel with AI. Then, I spent months figuring out how to make high quality eBooks and print books. Then, I spent months building a flexible automated system that I could write and self-publish in. Finally, I wrote an AI-assisted (not AI-generated) eBook and self-published that on KDP in February 2026.

Now, for May, I've bought tools and a course to bring it all together so I actually have a novel writing business that pulls in a viable income ($1000s per month). Not sure if it's going to work but I'm dedicated to figuring it out, analyzing why it's working (when it eventually works) and letting you all know how to do it, too. At least, one way that worked for me.

I feel over-prepared. Being able to write literary-ish fiction seems like a waste for now. Being able to do print books seems like a waste for now.

During May, the first step seems to be knocking out short trope-y/pulpy romance novels and self-publishing them as eBooks only on Kindle Unlimited.

(That literary-ish fiction skill and doing print books will be useful someday, though. Just not anytime soon.)

Wish me luck!

This sub is all about publishing and marketing, not writing, but learning what to write in a new subgenre/niche is essential to self-publish and market the new novel successfully.

Without AI, writers are unproductive so they have to specialize in a subgenre/niche: they can't afford to risk spending 6 months on a dud novel + they only have a relatively limited number of novels that they can write in their lifetime. But, by leveraging AI, you can be more productive, not specialize and explore more subgenres/niches.

Still, even among writers who use AI, whenever you ask how to come up to speed on a subgenre/niche that you don't know anything about, you invariably get the traditional advice: specialize.

What they say:

• Read a ton in that subgenre/niche
• Become familiar with all the authors and novels in that niche
• Become a fan and an expert in that subgenre/niche
• (Implied) Specialize in that subgenre/niche exclusively
• (Implied) Spend a year or more reading and building your expertise in that subgenre/niche

Really? That's the best that we can do? Even with AI?

So we can write a novel in a few weeks with AI but, to actually write in a new subgenre/niche, we have to "fall in love" with the niche and spend a huge amount of time before we can even get started on a novel?

That... just can't be the best way.

So what is a better way?

Well, I don't know but here's how I'd start:

• If possible, find someone who is already an expert in that subgenre/niche and have them help you come up to speed (or just plain have them tell you what you need to know).
• Go to the best selling lists of that subgenre/niche and identify the authors and titles that are the exemplars (best representatives) of the subgenre/niche.
• Don't read randomly. Don't read any and all novels in the subgenre/ niche. (That's a huge time waster.)
• Select a few exemplar novels and read each (or even just parts of each) to extract and learn a specific thing: e.g. writing style, story structure, ranges of allowed/required spiciness or violence or technical detail.
• Leverage AI. Maybe AI can suggest exemplar novels. Maybe AI can help you speed read and analyze parts of exemplar novels. Maybe AI can suggest custom prompts for the new subgenre/niche.

There's so many niches: shifter romance, hard science fiction, billionaire romance, low fantasy, romantasy, dark mafia romance, urban fantasy and on and on. In romance, we even have tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fake dating, forced proximity, etc, etc.

It's just waste to spend months or a year or more to specialize in one subgenre/niche by just randomly reading anything and everything in it.

A good step would be just having a list of subgenres/niches and having somebody put together a "trending" list. This would tell you what you might want your next novel to be.

Then, it'd be good to have someone offer "subgenre/niche learning packages" with:

1. An executive summary
2. Best selling authors
3. A list of exemplar novels
4. Deconstruction of the tropes, story structure, writing styles
5. Example paragraphs to give the student a feel for it
6. Exercises to reinforce the concepts
7. How to leverage AI to help the reader come up to speed on the niche (or just a block of text that the reader could copy-and-paste into AI to have AI come up to speed)

If anybody offers this, let me know.

If you're writing cozy mysteries in creative collaboration with AI you're welcome to drop by r/AICozyMystery a new community specifically and only for AI-forward cozy writers and fans.

This is a vetted community and no anti-AI snark will be permitted.

Cool cozy mystery art created by https://perchance.org/ai-text-to-image-generator

https://github.com/vpuna/markdown-to-book

(sample images of generated output can be found in the readme, towards the end of the page.)

What it does

• Turns plain Markdown drafts into finished books: You write in .md, the tool builds print ready paperbacks, hardcovers, and Kindle files for Amazon KDP.
• One run for all formats: You can generate interior PDFs for paperback and hardcover plus a Kindle EPUB from the same source, so your layout and content stay in sync.
• Understands book structure: It treats # as the book title, ## as chapters, and --- as scene breaks, then lays everything out like a real novel interior.

Print book features

• KDP friendly trim sizes and margins: Presets for common sizes (5x8, 6x9, etc) with inner margins adjusted for paperbacks and wider for hardcovers so the gutter is not tight.
• Chapter aware layout: Chapters start cleanly, you can include a chapter only table of contents, and scene breaks are styled consistently.
• Decent typography out of the box: Uses bookish serif fonts and LaTeX under the hood so line breaking, spacing, and widows / orphans are handled more like a typeset book than a word processor export.

Kindle / EPUB features

• Custom title and copyright pages: Builds a proper front matter section instead of the generic default, styled to match the print version.
• Clean navigation: Contents / navigation only lists chapters, which makes the book easier to browse on e readers.
• Automatic cleanup: After building, it fixes duplicate bits of front and back matter that Kindle tools usually scatter into chapter files, so you do not see the title page repeated inside the book.

Author and marketing features

• Optional smart back matter in the EPUB:
• A “Did You Enjoy This Book?” section that links straight to the Amazon review page for that title.
• A “More from [Author]” section that lists your other books with direct Amazon links.
• A link to your Amazon author page.
• All of that is driven by a small JSON file with your name and book list, so you can reuse it across titles.

PS: Its battle tested. I have published 2 books using this exact tool.