Create compelling villains by developing their motivations and backstory with these tips from mystery writer Shannon Symonds.

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A copyright attorney shares the essential IP advice all authors need to protect their work, including when to register and what to trademark.

Benjamin Bronner was one of the first to file a claim with the Copyright Claims Board. However, nearly four years later, he’s struggling to collect his damages.

by Misha Grifka Wander. In this interview, cover designer Jeff Brown reveals why genre-focused book covers matter, how to collaborate effectively with artists, and why investing in compelling design helps your publishing success. The post Crafting a Cover: An Interview with SFF Illustrator and Designer Jeff Brown appeared first on SFWA - The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association.

You’ve done the hard work. You’ve prepared and uploaded your book to KDP. You’ve seen your book go live and then… Crickets. There’s no avalanche of sales. No magical algorithm fairy coming down to bless your rank in the search results. It’s just you and your lonely Amazon page. Sure, you may get a few […]

Discover 15 creative book preorder incentives and marketing strategies from successful authors, from reader magnets to targeted ads.

**New York, NY – February 4, 2026** – Bookshop.org, the online platform championing independent bookstores, today announced a new partnership with Draft2Digital, the leading digital publishing and distribution platform for independent authors and publishers. Through this partnership, self-published ebooks will be sold by independent bookstores, marking a transformative milestone for indie authors and publishers, indie bookstores, and the ebook economy at large. The partnership brings hundreds of thousands of self-published titles from Draft2Digital to Bookshop.org’s fast-growing ebook platform, which launched in the U.S. in January 2025 and the UK in October 2025. The ebook platform has contributed towards record bookseller earnings on Bookshop.org in 2025, with independent bookstores earning over $9.5 million overall, including over 200,000 ebook sales through Bookshop.org’s app. By adding Draft2Digital’s catalog, Bookshop.org is expanding its offering for readers and opening a new, sustainable revenue stream for its network of 3,400+ indie bookstores in the US and UK. When a Draft2Digital-distributed ebook is sold on Bookshop.org, 100% of Bookshop’s ebook profit is passed directly to the affiliated bookstore. “This is a watershed moment for independent bookstores,” said Andy Hunter, Founder & CEO of Bookshop.org. “Our mission has always been to help local bookstores thrive in the digital age. Partnering with Draft2Digital means self-published authors, an essential and rapidly growing part of the publishing landscape, can now work with indie bookstores, and they can support each other.” **** This partnership arrives at a time when indie authors are experiencing unprecedented cultural momentum. Long dismissed by the publishing establishment, indie authors have taken significant market share in multiple genres. Today, self-published titles frequently climb bestseller lists, attract film and streaming deals, and cultivate millions of devoted readers. A new generation of readers are actively seeking diverse and undiscovered voices, fresh storytelling, and the next great gem outside of mainstream publishing houses. “Gone are the days of the self-publishing stigma,” said Jane Friedman, publishing industry expert and author of _The Business of Being a Writer (Second Edition)._ “Indie authors have proven themselves to be talented writers, savvy marketers, and astute businesspeople. Retailers and libraries who ignore this essential inventory are only hurting themselves.” Draft2Digital’s catalog of more than 1 million titles includes many of the most commercially successful ebooks across global platforms. Bestselling authors include Jan Moran, Piper Lawson, Kristen Ashley, Juliette N. Banks, and many others. A large launch collection of ebooks from Draft2Digital is available for purchase through Bookshop.org today and will expand significantly in the weeks and months ahead. Indie authors and publishers who wish to distribute their ebooks to Bookshop.org must opt in through their publishing dashboard at Draft2Digital. “Indie authors publish high-quality books that stand shoulder-to-shoulder with traditionally published works,” said Kris Austin, CEO of Draft2Digital. “Readers don’t care whose logo is on the spine, they care about a great read. All the major ebook retailers carry indie titles because they sell. Our partnership with Bookshop.org ensures independent bookstores can now participate in that success by enabling self-published ebooks to become a meaningful and permanent part of their inventory.” The partnership builds on Bookshop.org’s significant growth and impact. Since launching in 2020, the platform has raised over $44 million for independent bookstores in the U.S. Bookshop.org’s ebook platform, available through any web browser and the Bookshop.org apps for Apple and Android, allows readers to directly support their favorite bookstores while enjoying digital reading. When an ebook purchase is made without selecting a store, profits are shared among all participating bookstores, further strengthening the literary ecosystem. To learn more about Draft2Digital and its community of independent authors, visit Draft2Digital.com and follow @draft2digital on Instagram and TikTok. For more information on Bookshop.org and its mission to support independent bookstores, visit Bookshop.org and follow @bookshop_org across social platforms. ### ### **About Draft2Digital** : Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Oklahoma City, Draft2Digital is the world’s leading publishing platform for self-published authors and independent presses. The company’s tools and services streamline ebook and print publishing, distribution, metadata management, and other publishing business operations. Draft2Digital serves more than 330,000 authors worldwide who have collectively released over one million titles by utilizing its services. ### **About Bookshop:** Bookshop.org is an online bookstore that financially supports local, independent bookstores. Since its launch in 2020, Bookshop.org has earned over $44 million for local bookstores. It is a certified B Corp, carbon-neutral, mission-based business that believes local bookstores serve their communities and the public good. The company has also won several awards; most recently Fast Company’s 2023 Brands That Matter, Digiday’s 2023 Greater Good Awards for ‘Best Retail Model’ and Fast Company’s 2025 World Changing Ideas Award. ### ### **How to distribute your ebooks to Bookshop.org** If you distribute ebooks through D2D, you can opt in to Bookshop.org today from your publishing dashboard. The next time you log into your account, you’ll see a pop-up window notifying you that ebook distribution to Bookshop.org is now available. You will have the option to add all your eligible ebooks or add them one by one. You must manually opt-in to have your ebooks distributed to Bookshop.org. If you publish print-on-demand paperbacks through D2D Print, your print books are automatically purchasable through Bookshop.org. To learn more about what the Bookshop.org / D2D partnership means for you, your books and indie bookstores, be sure to catch D2D’s Self Publishing Insiders show live with the CEOs of Bookshop.org and D2D on at Noon Central/1 p.m. Eastern/10 a.m. Pacific on February 5 or watch the replay at your convenience using the same link.

Plagiarism is the act of taking credit for the creativity or work of another. That includes taking credit for the work of generative AI.

I’ve been interested in the concept of writer decks for years, since I first discovered that some people use old AlphaSmart devices in that way. People who use writer decks find it helpful to write on a device with no distractions. When I’m writing my books, I refer to my sources and notes (stored on a computer) a lot. If I used a writer deck to write, I’d still need a computer close by for reference, so I don’t want a writer deck for my main writing. But I’m still fascinated by the idea. I recently discovered WriterDeckOS, and decided to try it out on an old laptop.

I always try to keep track of the stories I write, and to update my posts when new information comes to light. Sometimes, though, it’s worth re-visiting the stories themselves–as in the two cases below, where “bewares” that appeared to have resolved return, unhappily, for a second go-around (or seem to). ### _Harper’s Bazaar_ Short Story Contest Rights Grab Redux In 2019, I wrote a post about a rights grab in the guidelines for the annual short story contest conducted by _Harper’s Bazaar_ magazine, the wording of which included a surrender of copyright. Here’s what I wrote at the time (Hearst is _Harper’s_ parent company): > The bolded language isn’t completely clear, at least as I see it. Read narrowly (by entering _and_ in consideration for publication, i.e., as a consideration for publication only), it requires the winner or winners only to surrender their copyrights and all the rights that copyright includes for zero financial compensation. It could also, however, be read more broadly, to indicate that _merely entering_ the contest constitutes a surrender of copyright ownership. > > The latter would be a hell of a predatory rights grab. But even if it’s just the former, it’s not good: you should never have to give up your copyright as part of winning a writing contest. Either way, it’s hard to see how holding copyright, even just to the winner’s entry, benefits Hearst above simply licensing publishing rights. And contest guidelines should not be so ambiguous that you have to struggle to interpret them. For whatever reason, _Harper’s_ had a change of heart that year, and removed the copyright transfer from the guidelines. When I checked back the following year, the copyright grab also wasn’t present, though other rights language raised some concerns (see the update to my post). I didn’t think to check back again until today, thanks to a tip from a reader. The 2026 contest is open for entries, and the copyright grab is back in the guidelines, worded exactly as it was when I saw it in 2019–and, also as then, buried in the middle of a lengthy block of italicized text where entrants’ eyes could easily skim right over it: I posted a thread about this on Bluesky, noting the ambiguity mentioned above. Helpfully, several people with legal knowledge responded that indeed what’s meant is not the maximalist grab of copyright on all entries, but rather a copyright transfer limited to the winner only. Again, there’s no major benefit to Hearst to hold copyright rather than simply claiming limited publication rights for a story that will probably only ever be published in a single magazine (if it’s published at all: the contest guidelines promise winners only “the chance” of publication). So even if it’s just the winner who loses their copyright, it’s still a bad deal. A reminder, yet again, to read the fine print–every word, even if they make it hard for you with tiny font or garbage formatting. ### IT LIVES!…Sort of: America Star Books, nee PublishAmerica This may not much resonate with my newer readers. But for longtime Writer Beware fans, as well as writers who got their start in the early days of the digital publishing revolution, America Star Books, and especially its original incarnation, PublishAmerica, is a storied name. Launched in 1999, PublishAmerica was an author mill and de facto vanity publisher that didn’t charge upfront fees, but turned authors into customers via constant incentives to buy their own books and purchase an enormous variety of nonsense “marketing” products. PA quickly became notorious for deceptive advertising, horrible quality, abusive treatment of authors, and the sheer brazenness of its sales pressure (this should give you the flavor). Writer Beware published dozens of blog posts about its shenanigans, as did other anti-scam activists on websites that are now sadly gone. The Absolute Write Water Cooler hosted multiple discussion threads about it, including three “neverending” threads totaling more than 45,000 posts. Complaints and warnings piled up online (google PublishAmerica to see what I mean.) Two class action suits were filed against it (both, unfortunately failed). Multiple authors filed individual lawsuits and arbitrations. In 2014, possibly to dodge the reams of bad publicity it had accumulated, PA re-branded as America Star Books. (When I wrote about the name change, it sued me and other Writer Beware staffers for defamation–thankfully it did not prevail). Inside the company, though, trouble was building, with major discord between the two founders, who in 2015 filed dueling lawsuits against each other for various alleged wrongdoings, and a trio of liens filed in 2016 by the state of Maryland, where PA/ASB was based. In 2016, PA/ASB stopped accepting submissions. Then, in summer 2017, ASB’s URLs stopped working. Its bookstore site became non-functional and its social media vanished. By September, it was clear that ASB was dead: vanished with no official announcement and no return of rights, leaving royalties unpaid and authors high and dry. My lengthy blog post chronicling the demise can be seen here. (I later learned that ASB didn’t end badly for everyone: founder Willem Meiners sold his Maryland house, re-located to Maine, and published a book.) This recap only scratches the surface of the PA/ASB saga. But what does it have to do with the present day? A reader recently tipped me off to the fact that the America Star Books website, which lapsed in 2017, had reappeared at the old ASB URL, americastarbooks.pub. Someone apparently re-registered the URL in 2022, and, per the Wayback Machine, a website had been online since then. How had I not known this? Of course I had to check. Courtesy of the Wayback Machine, here’s how the website looked before ASB closed down in 2017. Here’s how the new site looks today. New logo and some extra text, but otherwise the same template. The links in the left-hand menu don’t work, but the links in the top menu go to pages that are also copied, more or less, from the old ASB website template. So what gives? Could it possibly be that the original PA/ASB miscreants, or people related to them, or maybe even some scammer from overseas, has reanimated this notorious trash publisher, hoping to use it, once again, to rip writers off? Fortunately, no. The clue is in the second image above, where a link to an essay-writing service is incorporated into the first paragraph, and a link to a “plagiarism checker” appears in the third paragraph. Similar links are scattered throughout the site. So it looks like the new ASB is really just a sort of Trojan horse for advertising scammy websites. It’s a bizarre choice, but who can fathom the mind of a fraudster. Disappointing, in a way. I’d relish taking down PA/ASB all over again. But better for writers. If you have vivid memories of PA/ASB, please share them in the comments! And I can’t sign off without mentioning the _Atlanta Nights_ hoax, in which the worst book possible, created by a group of speculative fiction authors (including me) who each contributed a horribly written and/or nonsensical chapter, was submitted to PA to test its claim of selective acquisition. Read more, if you’re inclined, here. ### Share this: * Share on X (Opens in new window) X * Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook * Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads * Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit * Share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon * Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn * Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky * Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr * Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email * Print (Opens in new window) Print * Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest * Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp * More * * Share on Telegram (Opens in new window) Telegram * Share on X (Opens in new window) X * ### Like this: Like Loading... ### _Related_

Queen tells reading campaign that listening counts too – and the publishing industry increasingly agrees

by Debra Borchert Recently, I attended a Zoom meeting, starring Kara Infante, podcaster-extraordinaire and host of Bookish Flights Podcast, in which she said, “No One is you, and that’s your superpower.” I thought about how most of us have experienced anxiety or nervousness at least once, and how those bouts can affect our self-confidence. As […]

I’ve been interested in the concept of writer decks for years, since I first discovered that some people use old AlphaSmart devices in that way. People who use writer decks find it helpful to write on a device with no distractions. When I’m writing my books, I refer to my sources and notes (stored on a computer) a lot. If I used a writer deck to write, I’d still need a computer close by for reference, so I don’t want a writer deck for my main writing. But I’m still fascinated by the idea. I recently discovered WriterDeckOS, and decided to try it out on an old laptop.

I sometimes see authors complain about how cheaply books are priced, and subsequently how little they make per sale. A common comparison is with coffee. An ebook often costs less than a coffee from Costa or Starbucks, the argument goes, but the book took months or years to write, whereas the coffee is made in minutes. This is a disingenuous comparison. The two things are completely different, but I don’t think many authors fully appreciate the difference. When a barista makes a coffee, they can sell that coffee once. In order to sell a second coffee, they will have to go through the whole process a second time. If it takes two minutes to make a coffee, it will take over three hours to make a hundred coffees, assuming the hapless barista works non-stop. By contrast, when someone buys one of my books, everything is handled by the vendor, with no need for me to do anything. I can sell my books while I sleep. Even direct sales through my website are fulfilled by BookFunnel and BookVault, without me lifting a finger. Once a coffee has been made, it has to be sold almost immediately or it’s wasted. By contrast, books can be sold, and earn money for the author or their heirs, for decades. I published my first book almost fifteen years ago, and it’s still making money for me. I bought my first copy of _The Lord of the Rings_ more than forty years after it was first published. Assuming copyright law doesn’t change, that book can continue to make money for the Tolkien estate until the end of 2043. A book can also be sold in multiple ways. At its simplest, that means that you can sell it as an ebook, paperback, hardback, audiobook, large print, etc. But the value of the book isn’t in the ebook’s electrons or the print book’s paper, it’s in the words contained within it. Those words can be licensed to others to create products based on the book. We’ve all seen films and TV series based on books, and many authors dream of seeing their stories on screen. You could also licence a book to be used for a role-playing game, a board game, or a graphic novel. I won’t pretend it’s simple, but the options are almost limitless. A book can be sold many times, in a variety of ways. Even the best coffee can only be sold once.

Award-winning author Sarah Branson shares seven common character arc problems and how to fix them in stories.