Okay, I think I over-did it in this week’s Ask Me Anything meeting. I had an agenda (rare) with so many topics that had come up this week! I’m doing the same review again this coming Monday, and my goal this time is to lean into the hope and the positive aspects of all of the swirling changes!
I’ve been fielding a lot of questions about the rapid pace of change in our industry. It’s a lot to track, but staying ahead of these shifts is what keeps an author’s business viable. At the same time, it has never been easier to catch up and use the cool new toys.
Here’s the TL;DR on the critical updates we covered:
The Cost of Doing Business
Draft2Digital (D2D): A new $20 account setup fee is now in play. If your royalties don’t hit $100/year, there’s also a $12 annual maintenance fee.
IngramSpark: A reminder of how the model has evolved. They’ve moved away from the old $12/year/book title activation fee—which Lightning Source still uses—in favor of a 1.875% “market access fee” on sales. As people wonder about the D2D fees, I’m wondering how many realize that Ingram was first with this… by decades!
Barnes & Noble: The new $14.99 paperback minimum is a clear move to clean up their dubious print inventory, following their purge of low-content ePubs. Note: This doesn’t impact traditional publishers.
Platform & Security Risks
WordPress: Hackings are becoming more aggressive. If you’re running your site on WP, ensure your security protocols are updated, keep your plugins minimal and up to date. The big, much-hyped 7.0 update did not happen on April 9. They postponed it to April 22. And now it has been postponed to May 20.
AI Infrastructure: The release of the “Mythos” model is a big step. Even if it’s restricted from public use, we must operate under the assumption that other firms have reached—or surpassed—this capability. These aren’t your every day AI chatbots. These are mammoth tools for securing or attacking real world infrastructure. Here’s hoping they stay in the hands of those seeking to protect!
Strategy Wins
The YouTube Shift: YouTube’s revenue just surpassed Disney’s. As the world’s largest media company, this platform isn’t just “video”—it’s a central pillar of discoverability.
AuthorWebsites by BookBub: A quick win: they now have a free plan for their Author Websites tool. You can actually have a free website with a custom domain name now! (Hm. I need to update the website class… again…)
Missed the conversation? These sessions are where we cut through the noise to focus on what actually moves the needle. Our next AMA is happening next Monday, April 27. These meetings are open to No Stress Writing students and Deleyna’s List clients, including my paid Substack subscribers—if you want to join the conversation and get these updates firsthand, hit the subscribe button below.
Huh. Didn't know that about YouTube.
Then again, I'm not surprised at what Disney can do to itself and fail in new ways, so, ...meh.
Thank you, Lisa, for all you do to keep us informed =)
I think moving away from settling on a tool and instead staying fluid may be helpful. Remember you don't have to know everything about it, just enough to do what you want...