Publishing & Production

Trad vs Indie in 2026, Part III

/ INDIE PUBLISHING, Planning, Publishing & Production, Stoicism & Perspective / 6 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

Most authors aren’t confused about how traditional and indie publishing work. They’re confused because they’re emotionally attached to what they want those systems to be. In 2026, choosing between trad, indie, or anything resembling “hybrid” isn’t about legitimacy or dreams of a writing career. It’s about understanding which system you’re willing to depend on — corporations behaving well, or yourself. This is the part nobody says out loud.

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Trad vs Indie in 2026, Part II

/ INDIE PUBLISHING, Planning, Publishing & Production, Stoicism & Perspective / 7 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

If Part I was the brutal, unsentimental comparison of trad vs indie — advantages, disadvantages, and the cold math of each — then Part II shifts gears completely. Part II dives into what modern indie publishing actually looks like in 2026, because most writers still imagine the 2013 version: KU gold rushes, cheap ads, write-to-market hamster wheels, and algorithmic rituals. That world is gone. Today’s indie career is a full business model built on direct sales, diversified income, long-tail backlist revenue, platform resilience, and storytelling that can’t be replicated by AI. If you don’t understand this version of indie, you can’t choose your publishing path intelligently — and Part II lays it out without sentimentality, delusion, or nostalgia.

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Trad vs Indie in 2026

/ INDIE PUBLISHING, Planning, Publishing & Production, Stoicism & Perspective / 17 minutes of reading

Traditional publishing and indie publishing aren’t just two different business models — they’re two different belief systems. Trad authors think they’re building a career as an artist. Indie authors know they’re running a business. In 2026, that mindset divide matters more than ever. With AI flooding the marketplace, platforms deep in enshittification, bookstores shrinking, and rights tied up tighter than a banker’s fist, the only way to make good choices is to understand exactly how each system really works — not how you wish it worked. This is the brutal, unsentimental guide to both paths.

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Your Personal Weasel Word List (and Why You Should Actually Use It)

/ Publishing & Production, Work Processes / 3 minutes of reading

Before you dump your draft on an editor—or on your future self—you should be doing a ruthless cleanup pass. That starts with your own personal Weasel Word List: those sneaky, repetitive words and phrases that dull your prose and clutter your scenes. You’ve got ‘em. Everyone does. The trick is to catch them before your editor does. Bonus: clean manuscripts make ebook compilers very, very happy (and don’t randomly explode on Kindle).

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From the Mailbag:  How do you organize yourself?

/ Planning, Project & Task Management, Publishing & Production, Scheduling & Tracking, Work Processes / 7 minutes of reading

Juggling multiple pen names, a production pipeline, and the occasional bout of procrastination takes more than just caffeine and stubbornness—though those help. In this post, I break down exactly how I manage my writing and publishing schedule, from rotating pen names to keeping six+ books in postproduction at once. I also explain why I never write more than one book at a time and how I use a 300-step checklist to keep my head (mostly) attached.

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The Artisan Author Movement and the Myth of Slowing Down

/ Creativity, Prolificacy, Publishing & Production / 5 minutes of reading

The Artisan Author movement is gaining momentum—and for good reason. Writers are burning out chasing algorithms and churning out books to appease invisible markets. But here’s the catch: slowing down your writing isn’t the solution for everyone. For some of us, our best, most joyful pace is fast. Not frantic. Not desperate. Just flow. The key isn’t to slow down. It’s to find your best pace—and protect it fiercely.

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Review of The Artisan Author by Johnny B. Truant

/ Attitude, Creativity, INDIE PUBLISHING, PRODUCTIVITY & ORGANIZATION, Prolificacy, Publishing & Production / 6 minutes of reading / 3 Comments

At its heart, this book offers a liberating proposal: don’t play the game as it’s currently defined. Walk away from algorithm worship, punishing release schedules, and the grind of selling at 99 cents to churn-hungry subscription readers. Instead, write what you want to write, at the pace that suits you, and charge a fair price for your work.

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Why Now Is the Best Time to Be an Indie Fiction Writer

/ Futurism, Publishing & Production / 3 minutes of reading / 2 Comments

Jane Freidman, at her blog just a few days ago, wrote a post, “Like It or Not, Publishers Are Licensing Books for AI Training—And Using AI Themselves.”

The post is a refreshingly blunt take on how AI is settling into the publishing industry. I will leave it to Jane to explain how, even for indie authors, there is new money to made from the AI phenomenon, if you’re smart and wrangle your contracts.

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