A few weeks ago I was listening to the Create Tomorrow podcast and someone on it mentioned absurdity as a trend in 2026.
So, I went digging. For a start, what is the psychological value of absurdity?
Jason Shimiale MD at Psychology Today has a great short article, well worth reading. “Absurdity, at its core, arises from the clash between our desire for meaning, order, and clarity and the universe’s inherent indifference.”
From a philosophical perspective, Jack Maden gives us Camus’s take on absurdity and the invitation to metaphysical rebellion. (Note: if you do click this link, it opens with mention of suicide) Albert Camus on Rebelling against Life’s Absurdity. To quote Maden, “Unable to tolerate an unease with uncertainty, we hand ourselves over to the consolation of dogma. Searching for an authentic life, we commit to inauthenticity…”
You can judge the power of absurdity by the media and marketing’s attempt to exploit it. Pauline Oudin, CEO of Gradient, talks of absurdism signaling authenticity, and thereby, engaging its audience. Laura Agricola, at Mumbrella, writes, “Absurdity doesn’t trigger the fight-or-flight response, but it does hijack the same early-warning systems that were meant to keep us alive and repurposes them to keep us entertained.”
In short, absurdity wakes us up.
The lesson that I’m taking from this, as an author, is that if you need to jolt people, add an absurdity. And because I have a diabolical mind, I’m also considering absurdity as a tool for distracting readers from a vital clue…
This isn’t a book-related post. But it is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and since this is the time of New Year’s resolutions, it might be worth discussing.
I’m talking about boundaries.
The concept of boundaries, and of respecting our own and others’ boundaries, has been around for a few years and sometimes very loosely applied to justify selfishness. However, don’t let the abuse of the concept obscure its power.
I have a reminder sticky-noted to my screen so that I see it daily on opening my laptop.
Honour your own limits.
For me, boundaries are limits. They are the limits of what I can do or endure before the cost affects other aspects of my life and becomes unsustainable. I can push beyond those limits, or allow others to do so (i.e. cross my boundaries), but doing so means I pay a high price. Sometimes that price is worth it, but I need to consciously choose to pay it.
It’s why I use the word “honour”. When I honour my limits I’m not limited by them (play on words intended), but rather I’m making a whole-of-life decision for my well-being and for my place in the community and the world.
Living in this way you soon come up against people who challenge and criticise your limits. Some do so directly, but others create a space in which you are seduced into thinking that it’s your responsibility to make them comfortable with your limits. It’s a strange idea. Critics of your boundaries first demand that you compromise, that is, reduce or remove them. If you hold firm, the implicit demand then becomes for you to make the critic feel better about your choices—and to be clear, limits aren’t choices. They are limits. Keeping this at the front of my mind and in my heart is why I use the term limits rather than boundaries in my daily reminder.
You cannot be all things to all people. The people asking things of you which you can’t deliver have to look elsewhere.
Being true to yourself means honoring your own limits. They aren’t restricting. They are empowering.
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!
As a special post-Christmas gift (and one that respects our empty wallets) today is Stuff Your Kindle Day! There are loads of free books.
I’m linking to Romance Bookworms for the complete list. I’m thrilled to be part of this event. My contribution is a free copy of Alien Haunts (free till Dec 28 on Amazon).
Merry Christmas! I hope you have a joyful, peaceful festive season – with lots of books!
I’ve had a good reading month this December.
It kicked off with Book 5 in the Beware of Chicken series by CasualFarmer. It wasn’t my favourite of the books. That remains Book 1. But it was enjoyable to return to this heartwarming fantasy world.
Still in the progression fantasy zone, I enjoyed the latest Iron Tyrant series novel by Seth Ring, Falling Gold. It was easy reading with some interesting developments.
Lauretta Hignett started a new series with A Little Bite. It was short and sassy with an opinionated young heroine.
I also had a re-read binge of Jamie Bennett’s contemporary romances. She does slow burn well and often reduces me to tears with her Cinderella heroines. You could start with any of her books. Defending the Rush is good if you like football, and if you like football romances, I picked up Penny Reid’s Homecoming King as a free book and found it one of the more enjoyable marriage of convenience novels I’ve read (and a bit sexier than Jamie Bennett’s books).
A hero is integral to most novels. We follow their journey. But “hero” has connotations that sometimes obscure the purpose and grace of the concept. Therefore, it can be useful to consider the role of the “protagonist” instead.
“Hero” links us to the word “heroic” and we expect the lead character to strive, perhaps to grow, often we hope to witness them triumph. A “protagonist” doesn’t carry such a heavy burden of expectation. A protagonist is freer to interrogate their world. What can they learn?
In real life I think we should all consider ourselves the hero of our own stories. However, if we push that notion of hero closer to protagonist then I think we have more agency. We can ask what are our goals? What experiences confront us or have shaped us? How will we change? Why should we change? Who will we journey with?
We don’t have the mythical hero’s burden to save the world. Our challenge as the protagonist-hero is to be more ourselves.
Yup. You’re the hero of your story when you’re you.
And when I say “you”, it can be a collective “you”. The hero can be a community, a nation, even a business; whatever entity that is challenging the world so as to be true to itself.
I think the temptation to inhabit the role of victim in your own story comes from this concept of the hero as a larger than life character who must triumph or else loses the right to exist.
A protagonist whose journey is one of internal and external discovery is far healthier.
I’m still hung up on the idea of Golden Age fiction and what characterises or defines such work.
I’ve decided that my Caldryn Parliament novels promise that all will be well.
After all, what is a Golden Age but one where we find inspiration from earlier heroes that impossible dreams can be pursued? They won’t always be attained, but the journey will bless the world.
The release of Rogues Lie went so much better than I expected. I did so many things wrong. For a start, life meant that I had to push back the release a month from when I originally set the pre-order. So, release day went from Halloween to Thanksgiving, and worse, to the weekend of the Black Friday sales. The wisdom of the book marketing world suggested I pretty much couldn’t have chosen a worse release date.
And yet…
You guys made it work!
Thank you.
When I woke up in the morning of what would have been New York’s evening of the release day (sorry for the time zone confusion, but I’m in Western Australia and that means I live in most of your futures) and saw that Rogues Lie had cracked the top 300 in the US Kindle Store, I nearly cried. As for your kind comments, messages, and reviews … pass the tissue box!
Thank you. I cannot say it enough times. Thank you.
When I first had the idea for Caldryn Parliament I WANTED to write it. The idea of mixing science fiction, fantasy, and mystery genres with a dash of romance was irresistible. I also longed to have a protagonist who stalked the halls of power. I wanted to show real people in a world of complicated alliances and potential tragedy (not tragedy in terms of deaths, but in terms of having to juggle competing interests. For one group to flourish, must another suffer?).
I mean, what would I even call this mixed bag of genres? It’s not quite cozy fantasy or mystery. It’s not romantasy (oh the envy I feel for authors who can use that tag and Amazon’s algorithms reward them with discoverability). I’m still searching for the right descriptor.
But I took the leap. I even built a website (yes, it’s basic. So are my tech skills).
And then, politically, the world went mad and I was committed to releasing a new series set in a parliament at a time when people were side-eyeing politicians or dreaming of rotten-tomatoing them.
The successful launch of Rogues Lie feels like I can finally breathe after holding my breath for much of the year.
Fate willing, there will be eight books in this series. Next up is Ghosts Cry. I’m hoping to release it in March 2026, but I learned my lesson this year! I’ve set the pre-order for June to give myself wriggle room if everything goes sideways. I’ll bring the release day forward if life permits.
Rogues Lie is out today! This is the third book in my Caldryn Parliament series and secrets are stirring, rumors swirling, and Giddy is…well, Giddy has dramatic plans!
Blurb: A whisper campaign threatens Vanda Kavanagh’s hard-won position as Warden of Caldryn Parliament, but are the malicious rumors a personal attack or do they mask an uglier plot?
As Vanda investigates, long-hidden truths are revealed leading her to question everything she believed about herself.
In a city steeped in magic and political intrigue who can Vanda trust?
Note: If you’re new to this series, please start with Book 1, Stars Die. Reading out of order will mean spoilers for earlier mysteries, plus everything really does build on what came before. This is a world with a lot of secrets and some truly ambitious goals. Enjoy the journey!
Hunter by Mercedes Lackey is the first book in a YA urban fantasy trilogy. I enjoyed it, but oddly, I’m satisfied with it as a standalone and don’t feel the need to read the next two. From their blurbs they take twists that don’t appeal to me. Great world building in this book.
I anticipated reading Turns of Fate by Anne Bishop for months, and while it deals with tough issues of domestic abuse and general nastiness, the Wyrd is fascinating and the twists and turns of the plot and how it weaves together is so good.
A Courtship of Dragons by Alanna Cole was pure cozy fantasy, and an enjoyable, imaginative read.
I re-read the Towerbound litrpg series ahead of the release of Book 4, and found that Book 4 lived up to the others. I like the compassion at the core of this gritty series, the compassion and found family and the sense of justice and hope.
Also, Rogues Lie (book 3 in my Caldryn Parliament series) is out on Saturday!!! I am so excited.
A whisper campaign threatens Vanda Kavanagh’s hard-won position as Warden of Caldryn Parliament, but are the malicious rumors a personal attack or do they mask an uglier plot?
As Vanda investigates, long-hidden truths are revealed leading her to question everything she believed about herself.
In a city steeped in magic and political intrigue who can Vanda trust?
