Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

2026 is the year where I finally increase my books’ availability and discoverability. There are a lot of things happening and even more thinking, testing, and questioning behind the scenes. Not everything I try will work, and hence, some things will change and change again.

First up, and unchanging, my focus remains on writing new books. This is what I enjoy and it is what, by far, brings in the most income. New books are what allow me to write full-time.

My new books will release first on Amazon in Kindle Unlimited. I’ve spent a decade building my readership there, and I am a Kindle Unlimited reader myself. Kindle Unlimited is core to my author existence.

Which isn’t to say that I’m a huge fan of Amazon.

Cory Doctorow is credited with coining the term “enshittification”. My understanding of the concept is simple. A company identifies a business-to-customer relationship and inserts itself in the middle. For the purposes of this discussion we’re talking author-to-reader, where author includes the publisher. The company inserts itself by offering an easier experience. Everyone is happy. Then the company begins exerting pressure. As alternative arrangements become less and less viable, the company siphons a bigger share of profit from the relationship. The business and customer may be unhappy, but their other options are worse. For many businesses, the other option is failing to cover costs. Yikes.

So, yeah. Amazon pretty much defines how books get to readers.

We have independent bookstores. Authors can sell direct to their readers. Libraries are gold.

But I have looked and looked and looked, and for a small indie author like me, there is no comparable income stream or access to new readers.

And to be brutally honest, I’m exhausted. The energy to build an author platform elsewhere is literally non-existent for me. I salute the authors who are challenging Amazon. I am so grateful for the bookstores, librarians, and reviewers supporting them. But I lack the energy for the fight.

Which leaves me in the nasty position of dependency on Amazon and having to adjust to its whims. It gets to dictate terms, and the best I can do is try to soften the impact for my readers.

A few months ago, Amazon changed the exclusivity clause for Kindle Unlimited so that digital books available in Kindle Unlimited can now also be shared with digital library services like Overdrive and Libby. I am using Draft2Digital to get my books into libraries. Most have been uploaded (it’s been a long process).

If you use your library’s subscription to Libby or a similar digital book service then you can request any of my books. Your library can also say no, but fingers crossed! I am quietly excited by this opportunity to get my books to people on tight book budgets or those who choose to avoid Amazon.

I’m also looking at paperbacks. I know! I have been promising paperbacks for years. This time it is happening.

Draft2Digital has a paperback creation service. My focus is on getting my current series, Caldryn Parliament, into print. Depending on how that goes, and other demands on my time and energy, I’ll work through my backlist.

Audiobooks are the other long-term promise I’d like to honour this year.

Podium Entertainment has been brilliant to work with and I’m delighted with the quality of my audio editions with them. However, with Caldryn Parliament I’m looking at an eight book series and Podium is unable to make that commitment upfront. Eight books is huge. I understand their reservations. However, I also want a consistent experience in audio, so I’m looking at other options.

One of the lesser discussed benefits of negotiating is the reality check it provides. If Podium sees a risk in my eight-book long commitment, I also need to consider it.

I have considered it and I’m going ahead!

Caldryn Parliament forever!

However, audio-publishers’ lack of interest in other series in my backlist is something I’m taking far more seriously. It means they’re not viable as audiobooks. Certainly not with my limited resources (time, energy, and money).

And this is where Amazon pounces and increases its enshittification (pardon my French).

On the one hand Amazon gives (i.e. allowing my ebooks into digital library services), and with the other hand it takes away. Let me introduce you to the recently initiated Amazon Virtual Voice.

To make it easier for Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) authors to quickly and easily produce an audiobook version of their eBook, we launched audiobooks with virtual voice in beta to the U.S. marketplace. KDP authors in the beta can create audiobooks with virtual voice (computer-generated narration) in addition to the audiobook creation options available through ACX.

With virtual voice, authors can create an audiobook in minutes by:

• Selecting an eligible KDP eBook from their Bookshelf.

• Choosing from 80 voices—including American English, Latin American Spanish, Castilian Spanish, Australian English, British English, French, and Italian. Authors can also set a different voice for each chapter.

• Setting a list price between $3.99 and $14.99.

• Previewing and editing the narration before publishing.

What does all that mean?

If you ask me, it does NOT mean audiobooks. This is Amazon’s text-to-speech program slightly improved and repackaged. I can’t find the guide, but there is a way to listen to kindle books that you download to your phone. Virtual Voice is basically that, but with Amazon pushing the author into doing the tech bit of turning on text-to-speech and checking it for errors.

Sadly, it’s the best option (in terms of my limited resources and low reader demand) for my backlist. So, I’ve been slowly adding the Virtual Voice feature to those books in my backlist that don’t have audiobooks and pricing them as low as Amazon will let me. This makes my backlist more accessible, but on enshittified terms. Sorry.

Attempting to win back author and reader approval, Amazon recently announced a change to its Digital Rights Management (DRM) terms. This is from the email it sent authors:

Starting January 20, 2026, Amazon will make it easier for readers to enjoy content they have purchased from the Kindle store across a wider range of devices and applications by allowing new titles published without Digital Rights Management (DRM) to be downloaded in EPUB and PDF format.

I like this. I’ve always been happy for readers to buy my kindle books and convert them (generally via Calibre) into epub or other formats to save and read on other devices. It’s why my ebooks are DRM-free.

In short, there are a lot of changes ahead. As I get some breathing space later in the year I might also look at swapping out some of my older series from Kindle Unlimited to other platforms. But I’ll warn you if I do!

Apart from making my books available beyond Amazon, the reason for testing the waters with other booksellers is discoverability.

Amid all the other challenges that AI has introduced, its impact on search is such that discoverability is even harder. My books have to be mentioned (preferably positively!) in a lot of places for AI search to report them to new readers. This is why you’ll see authors asking readers to do things like add their books to Goodreads or similar sites. We need AI to judge our books as sought after. It’s a self-reinforcing spiral.

It’s not actually new. Algorithms, especially in Amazon, have never been neutral. They either reward or punish books, moving them up the rankings or hiding them. Interest is rewarded. Read-through is gold. Reviews are superstars. Miss any of these factors and your book bombs.

If you’ve read through to the end of this mind-spew of some of the things worrying me and the path I’m trying through the publishing swamps of 2026, you are a legend. It’s a lot. And I haven’t even mentioned some of the alternatives to Amazon that I’m keeping an eye on (such as Yearn Media).

I need to go write, which is the part of indie publishing that makes the rest of this mess worthwhile—well, that and your enjoyment of my books!