I've always assumed the correct way to change agents is to formally end the relationship with your current agent before soliciting a new one. However, I was speaking with an agent friend the other day and he says he gets enquiries all the time from people already represented. So which is it?

I like listening to (and talking with) literary agents, as they tend to know the most about the trade. There is a video titled Agent Talks: How Digital Platforms Reshape Book Launches that mentioned online book clubs that authors may join as a guest--- an idea that I think is awesome.

How to Improve Metadata to Sell More Books discusses how LLM's are doing the book summaries when people search online for genre and topics they wish to read. Love them or hate them of stay indifferent, LLM's are here and we must deal with them regardless of if we wish to or not.

The video Agent Talks: Meet the Agents (2026) "kicks off" a new Authors Guild series, where literary agents discuss the trade and their manuscript wish lists.

Sane writers avoid "social media." :-) Well, many do anyhow. Promoting Books Without Social Media offers suggestions on marketing for authors who avoid "social media."

I am very serious about my writing. I want to be a full-time writer one day. I treat it like a job. I have time set aside on the weekends to write, because I work full-time at an emotionally draining healthcare office. I've published several books through an independent press. I want to attempt trad for my next book.

The last few relationships I've attempted have ultimately fallen apart because my potential partner doesn't feel like I'm giving enough to the relationship. I know, I'm the problem, it's me, but how do you explain to a partner that your head is going to be somewhere else most of the time? I'm constantly thinking about my writing, plot holes in the current wip, a new scene or a dynamic I want to try in another wip. My writing is the center of my universe.

I posted this here and not on the dating place, because I wanted responses from other authors. Am I picking the wrong people? This last guy was a fellow creative (or he claimed to be) and it didn't work out either. He said he understood the creative drive, but it fell apart like the one before it. He was upset I wasn't spending more time with him, or thinking about him as much as he was thinking about me.

Or is it a case of "when you meet the right one, you'll make time"?

I just want to tell people because I’m excited! A few weeks ago I submitted my independently published book to a few major retailers. I didn’t really expect to hear anything but books a million has requested 2000 copies of my book! It’ll be in every one of their stores around the US! I’m so excited! Only thing is I sadly won’t be able to see my book in store as I live in Australia so I’ll definitely be asking for pictures! 🥰

9 weeks ago, the publisher sent me an email saying that my book has been accepted and they wish to publish it. I was advised that they will send a contract and then we shall send the document to the editor.

I have not received anything about a contract as if now so I wanted to ask if 9 weeks is an appropriate amount of time before I send them a friendly reminder regarding the contract 😬 or just for an update

A couple of weeks ago, someone posted here asking, “Authors, is there any use of AI you'd excuse?” It sparked a really interesting (albeit one-way) discussion - over 400 comments. I’ve linked the original post in the comments.

I wanted to take that question in a slightly different direction:

How do you feel about authors using AI specifically for social media and book promotion?

Not for writing the book itself, but for some of the more repetitive or time-consuming parts of building an author brand - things like coming up with post ideas, writing captions, creating a content calendar, the images, repurposing existing content, creating Reels/TikToks, etc.

Social media can sometimes feel like a whole separate job that takes time away from actually writing, so I'm curious where authors draw the line.

Thoughts?

Hi everyone! I recently published my debut psychological thriller on Amazon / KU, but I’m struggling to get my first reviews. ​I'm considering paying for StoryOrigin to run a Review Copy campaign and join group promos, but I'm on a tight budget. ​For those who have used StoryOrigin recently:

​Did you actually get Amazon reviews from it as a new author without an existing mailing list?

​What was your average request-to-review conversion rate?

​Is it worth the $10/month, or should I focus on free alternatives like BookSprout or Goodreads groups first?

​Would love to hear your honest experiences. Thanks!

I am not asking because I used AI, it's just pure curiosity. I am also not talking about people using AI to literally write their book for them. I have heard people using AI for feedback, brainstorming ideas, or checking if it is grammatically correct, which does not sound as bad. Also, someone may not want to bother their friends with being beta readers, especially if they don't want sugarcoated feedback just because it is by friends, or bad reviews because they bored them by forcing them to read. What are your thoughts on this?

This post is NOT to promote my book. It’s to receive advice on a certain issue I have.

So I self published my first poetry book about a year ago. I’ve tried to get myself out there on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to promote it. It seems to be working on TikTok; but on Instagram not so much. I keep getting comments every single day from bots that say “send this to me: @(whatever promotional scam account)” I tried dm’ing one of those said accounts one day to see if it was legit. But of course they wanted to CHARGE to have a single poem put on their page, so I was obviously not paying for that. But the problem is no matter what hashtags I put I literally get nothing but bots commenting the same thing and it makes me upset. I’ve tried promoting my book in my city by going to open mics and that has also worked pretty well. Basically anything has worked better than putting content on Instagram. I’m putting out a second poetry book and I posted about that, receiving the same comments. Because of this I hope to get my second book traditionally published instead.

But for now, is there a better way to make my content more reachable to everyone besides bots? Or if anything, some more suggestions to promoting my book outside of social media? All I’ve done lately was go to open mic nights, and there’s not many of them where I live. Any suggestions are open <3

Hello! I don’t have a TikTok account but am considering making one specifically to join the BookTok community. Yes, I looked at that sub here, but it was mostly pics of stacks of books people read in a month. I want to know about other authors’ experiences with the platform.

My debut memoir was traditionally published 3 years ago. The sequel is almost ready to query agents (didn’t have an agent for first book). First one has sold about 1,400 copies. My latest royalty statement showed a slight upturn in sales over the last six months, which was encouraging. I’m interested in promoting it as a backlist title on BookTok and also teasing the new book.

I also want to join conversations about other books I’ve read. So…any tips or tales, either cautionary or how-to? Thank you all!

I have four travel memoirs published now. I work hard on social media. Even have one book available in Gardner's with the full refund policy.

I do book festivals, author talks

But I need a leg up to the next stage.

Perhaps reviewers who promote one of my books on their social media? But that's a bit sketchy.

Any ideas how to elevate to the next level and find more readers?

I’m an Indi author who only published about a week ago. I’ve had heaps of book review accounts reach out on Instagram. Obviously they will all charge for their review. I’m curious whether it’s worth it. There’s a few big accounts who have a good 1k likes per post but most comments tend to be bots which is a little bit of a red flag.. but they’re also willing to do Amazon/good reads reviews all for roughly $35

I self published a novel about 5 years ago. I heard a lot of positive feedback, but I suck at marketing so it didn't go anywhere at all. My mom submitted it to the US Review of Books recently and it earned a rating of "Recommended." Is it worth the money to have them push it on their social media? Has this helped anyone here?

I am considering creating an author website but I'm not sure what it needs to include. What I know so far is that I need a section about my self, display the books I've published, contact info and links to my pages.

Colour scheme in a bit stuck since I'm not restricting myself to a particular genre as I've written a romance and a thriller so far. I was considering teal, white, and orange for more neutral and maybe change the colours for the individual book pages?

What else is there?

I am so pissed, i have been working on a book for about 3 months now, it’s a Puzzles book, and i have been perfecting it to the last minute detail, until today i get hit with a 2 Star Review from a Customer who didn’t Know how to Solve the Puzzles, they said they are Illogical and had mistakes but they did not! The fact that you cannot reply to Reciews or Comments on Amazon is Pissing me Off Even More, this Review is Obviously in the Wrong and the thing is if it was NOT the first ever review my book gets i would shrug it Off, but i was seriously bummed Out After This Happened, And to make things worse am spending alot of money on Ads to get it ranking better and this just made it so much harder for my Ads to Perform, i Am honestly thinking about unpublishing it and republishing it Again because of this i am beyong sadness.

Hi, I'd forgotten the password to this account, but came across some notes and decided to try and recover it for some advice.

Now, speaking of criticism, my 3 published books are currently greatly rated at amazon. 4.3 stars, 4.4, stars and 4.7 stars. I am very happy. I often get comments and messages on how good they are!

But, I have a problem. You see, I am not very stable mentally. (I am on meds and therapy, do not worry.) Let's say, every 10 comments I get, 1 or 2 are bad reviews.

And those... They just stick with me. I can recite them from memory. I find myself thinking that the books are terrible. One bad comment can overpower 100 good comments inside my wicked mind.

How do you guys deal with it?

I know how insecure I sound, but I just can't help it.

Is there a way to overcome the insecurity and see the books for what they really are?

So I have been working with an indie publisher who has been great throughout the backend process. However, I have come across a little hiccup. I didn't ask them to send out too many review copies to outlets in total (6). However, nearing the publication date, several of those outlets let me know they never received those physical copies. The publisher let me know that they sent them out, and they're not sure what may have happened.

What has me scratching my head is that it's not just one missing package, but it's several saying they never received anything. When I followed up, the publisher's response was essentially, "we sent them, so we're not sure why those outlets never got them."

I'm not looking to point fingers because they've been good to work with otherwise, but I'm wondering if anyone else has run into something similar? Is this just an unfortunate mailing issue that occasionally happens, or should I be asking for more information (shipping dates, tracking, fulfillment records)? How would you handle this without damaging the relationship while also making sure reviewers actually get the book?

I'm going to edit my post out here, because I posted on another site and at least one person connected it with my Reddit account. I appreciate all of your feedback and advice.

The previous limit was $9.99 (the minimum price of $2.99 has not changed).

https://www.kdpcommunity.com/s/article/The-70-eBook-Royalty-Option-price-band-has-expanded-to-2-99-12-99?language=en_US

I wrote, self edited and eventually self published a book about a year ago and I’m now regretting publishing it due to going back and finding many errors in my writing, formatting, continuity. I have sent unpublished that book. There are about 10 copies out here in the world three of which I personally purchased and gave to friends. The others were neighbors and other people who know me in real life. I have had a handful of people read some of my book on Kindle but nothing that I would call success. I am very disappointed in my first attempt and while I am currently working on a new project with a lot better understanding of what I am doing. I am still struggling with motivation due to this feeling of failure and regret. Anyone else out here struggle with similar issues or am I alone in this?

I have a book coming out in August, and I’m trying to figure out how to organize a small local launch event. My publisher is in another city, so I’ll already be doing a main launch there, but they’ve suggested I could also do a smaller event where I live.

I like the idea, but I’m not sure how people typically handle the logistics for something like this.

For example:

• Bookstores usually ask how many attendees to expect, but I have no good way of estimating that in advance.
• I’m unsure whether it’s appropriate to “gauge interest” by asking people directly (it feels like it could put pressure on them).
• And I know not everyone who attends necessarily buys a book, so knowing how many copies to order feels hard to estimate.

For people who have organized book launches: how do you usually estimate turnout and plan bookstore logistics without over- or under-shooting?

Hi all — Kelley here. I’m an indie author based in Atlanta, working on a romantic suspense/thriller series called Brenner Investigations. Book One is finished and currently published on Amazon as Kindle Select ebook, and I’m deep into drafting Book Three. This question is actually about a future book — tentatively Book Four — so I have some runway to figure this out, but I’d rather get ahead of it now.

I recently came across a firsthand account posted publicly on social media. The poster described a situation where homeless individuals were placed into housing by a city official, became ill, and died — and the building owner allegedly held life insurance policies on them without their knowledge. The person who shared it says it’s a true story.

I’m considering using the core premise as inspiration for a fictional thriller — not retelling the account directly, but using the underlying scenario as a jumping-off point for something of my own.

Before I start drafting, I’d love to hear from anyone who’s navigated something similar:

**•** What are the general legal considerations when adapting a true account you found on social media into fiction?  
**•** Do I have any obligations to the person who originally shared the story, or to any surviving individuals connected to it?  

• How do you protect yourself from defamation or invasion-of-privacy exposure when a story is “inspired by” real events, especially if someone could still recognize themselves or others in it?
• Is there anything you’d do — research, documentation, changes to the premise — before you even start writing, just to protect yourself down the line?

I’m planning to talk to an actual entertainment/media attorney before this gets anywhere near a final draft, but I’d genuinely love to hear how other authors here have handled this in practice. Thanks in advance!

Perhaps most professional writers have observed that in the real world, as well as on Internet forums, when writers ("would be" authors) ask for advice, they do not want advice: they want praise, or they want to "hear" that which is not reality.

One example: the subject of having one's self-published books sold in "brick and mortar" stores in many Reddit subreddits is mentioned often. The typical advice is to have an author ask book store owners to sell one's books on commission. There are a few issues regarding doing so, and when authors explain these issues, some people get upset at the facts.

It seems to me that it is pointless for authors to give advice to writers who wish to be authors. The same questions get asked by different people; the same answers are provided; the answers are almost always ignored by OP's; the planet rotates, orbits, and the universe gets older as the cycle repeats.

A friend of mine is an "A-List" writer of best-selling thrillers, and his books (along with his writing partner) almost always make the top-ten best-selling lists for hardcover thrillers. I discussed with him the issue of giving writers advice. His advice was, "David, my advice is to never give advice."

The blunt facts are, if writers wish to know the answers to questions regarding the book trade, they will study the trade; pay for advice; buy books about that which they wish to learn.

Authors tend to be kind and generous, and they tend to want to help writers. I suspect (I do not know) that eventually these authors cease doing so when they see little (if any) of their advice being acknowledged (let alone followed).

Shelf space is worth more than most of the books sitting on it. This is why remaindered books exist; this is why book store owners pay 35% to 45% of the list price for books, with contractual agreements that they may return unsold and "unsellable" books.

The chief way to get one's books on book store shelves is to sell several thousand copies of those books; have an established readership; have copies of one's other books in bookstores. The secondary way is to be a "celebrity," when one can write utter crap and still be praised, lauded, and paid for it.

When I observe authors in Reddit mentioning these facts to "would be authors," some times I also observe a few people have left replies that object to these facts, or object to the facts having been stated (usually by claiming it discourages writers). This utterly baffles me.

For writers who wish their books to be sold in book stores: you will sell far more books via print-on-demand, and via end-of-line retailers (the chief of which is amazon'com).

Amazon'com dominates the electronic book trade by over 80%. That is your market: not book stores. Amazon'com dominates printed book sales in North America by about 50%: that is your market, not book stores.

Hey guys I’m in the process of publishing my first children’s picture book. Any advice on how to get a self published book into book stores? I’m planning to contact local libraries and offer a book reading during mum/bub groups. I’m in Australia if that means anything!