R. S. Breed Founder

Books by R. S. Breed

Posts

• July KENP rate is $0.004221, lowest since January

  Industry News · 1 month ago

  Written Word Media has the July Kindle Unlimited per-page rate up: **$0.004221**, down from $0.004615 in June. https://writtenwordmedia.com/kdp-global-fund-payouts/ That's a drop of about 8.5% month on month, and the lowest since January ($...

• Readers, when do you give up on a series?

  Readers' Corner · 1 month ago

  Authors get told to write in series because readers like them. But I suspect readers also drop series all the time, and nobody tells the author why. So, readers: when do you give up? Is it a number? Does book six feel like a chore no matter...

• Using AI in your writing, and what you should disclose

  Writing & Publishing · 2 months ago

  Threads about AI in writing usually turn into a shouting match between "never touch it" and "everyone uses it, get over it". I'm not going to tell anyone which side to be on. But whatever you decide, you need to be clear with yourself about...

• Series or standalone for your next book? The honest trade-offs

  Writing & Publishing · 2 months ago

  The standard indie advice is "write in series", and for a lot of genres it's right. But it gets repeated as if it's free, and it isn't. What a series gives you: - **Read-through.** Every reader who finishes book one is a warm lead for book...

• Anthropic settlement gets final approval, about $3,000 per work

  Industry News · 2 months ago

  The court granted final approval to the Anthropic copyright settlement on 20 July. The Authors Guild puts it at roughly $3,000 per work before fees. https://authorsguild.org/news/court-grants-final-approval-anthropic-copyright-settlement/ F...

• Already paid someone who turned out to be dodgy? What to do now

  Scam Alerts · 2 months ago

  If you've paid a marketing service, a "publisher" or an "agent" and the penny has just dropped, the first thing to know is that this happens to careful, intelligent people all the time. The second is that the next few days matter. Roughly i...

• Readers, would you pay more than $9.99 for an indie ebook?

  Readers' Corner · 2 months ago

  Over to the readers for this one. Amazon now lets indie authors price ebooks up to $12.99 and still get the higher royalty rate (there's a thread about it in industry news). So some indie ebooks are going to creep up. Would you pay more tha...

• KDP's 70% royalty band now goes up to $12.99. Worth raising prices?

  Industry News · 2 months ago

  Reported by Publishers Lunch this week: KDP has widened the 70% ebook royalty band so it now runs from $2.99 to $12.99. It's the first time the ceiling has moved since KDP introduced the 70% option in 2010. It took effect on 7 July. https:/...

• If you do one marketing thing this year, make it an email list

  Writing & Publishing · 3 months ago

  Of all the marketing jobs a new indie author could take on, the most useful is an email list. Start it before you think you need one. This isn't just my hunch. Written Word Media's 2025 indie author survey (1,346 authors, published in Decem...

• Do you care whether a book is self-published?

  Readers' Corner · 3 months ago

  Polite answers won't help anyone here, so feel free to be blunt. When you pick up a book, do you check who published it? Does "self-published" or "independently published" make you more likely to try it, less likely, or make no difference a...

• PageTurner Press CEO agrees to $48.7 million restitution

  Scam Alerts · 3 months ago

  Via a guest post on Writer Beware: PageTurner Press's CEO signed a plea deal and agreed to an order of about $48.7 million in restitution. The case involved nearly 900 writers and more than $48 million. https://writerbeware.blog/2026/06/19/...

• Are audiobooks worth it for indies? The mid-2026 version

  Writing & Publishing · 3 months ago

  This comes up every few weeks, and the ground keeps moving under it, so here's where things stand in the middle of June. The market is there. The APA's figures for 2025 put audiobook sales at $2.43 billion, up 9%, so listeners are spending....

• Authors Guild study says only 25% of books read were bought new

  Industry News · 3 months ago

  New study from the Authors Guild, out 9 June: only 25% of the print and ebooks people read in the past month were bought new or accessed through a subscription. https://authorsguild.org/news/new-authors-guild-study-only-25-percent-of-reader...

• APA says audiobook sales hit $2.43 billion in 2025. AI narration was 0.03%

  Industry News · 3 months ago

  The Audio Publishers Association's annual figures came out on 5 June. Audiobook sales for 2025 were $2.43 billion, up 9%. AI-narrated titles made up 0.03% of revenue. https://infodocket.com/2026/06/05/audio-publishers-association-reports-au...

• Writing around a day job

  Writing & Publishing · 4 months ago

  A lot of indie authors write around a job, and many of them always will. The books might grow into an income one day, or they might stay something you do alongside the thing that pays the rent. So the day job isn't a phase you're trying to...

• Spotify is adding ElevenLabs AI narration to Spotify for Authors

  Industry News · 4 months ago

  Announced at Spotify's investor day on 21 May: AI narration through ElevenLabs is coming to Spotify for Authors. It's due as an invite-only beta in June, English only and in select markets. https://newsroom.spotify.com/2026-05-21/investor-d...

• Launch week with no budget. What's actually worth your time?

  Writing & Publishing · 4 months ago

  A lot of launch advice assumes money for ads, promo sites and review services. Plenty of people don't have it. Here's what I'd spend time on instead. Most of the launch happens before launch week. By release day you want: - A fixed date you...

• What actually gets you to leave a review?

  Readers' Corner · 4 months ago

  Readers, this one's for you. Plenty of people finish a book and never review it, which is completely fine. But some do, and I'm curious what tips you over. Only when you loved it? Only when you hated it? Because the author asked nicely at t...

• Heads up: fake book festivals and fake interview requests

  Scam Alerts · 4 months ago

  Writer Beware's latest (8 May) covers two that are doing the rounds right now: fake invitations from real book festivals, and fake interview requests from real radio shows. The festivals and shows exist. The people emailing you, usually fro...

• Ebook pricing basics, for anyone who's been guessing

  Writing & Publishing · 4 months ago

  Here's the basic version of ebook pricing, for anyone setting a price for the first time. Mostly KDP, because that's where most people start. **The 70% band.** KDP pays its higher royalty rate on ebooks priced from $2.99 to $9.99 (US prices...