In part two of a look back at 2025, Cara and James discuss where we are with AI acceptance (spoiler, a dwindling band of holdouts very much exist). We also discuss direct selling as one of the big expansion areas for indies.

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In this episode Jame & Cara start to look back on a fast moving year for indie publishing. They touch on AI Translations, one of the big breakthrough areas, the mythical A10 Amazon Algorithm and plenty of other chat!

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We are joined by the multi-talented Adam Beswick (AP Beswick) to talk empire building.

Adam has used TikTok to build a loyal following of readers and he now focuses on selling direct to them, using TikTok Shop and TikTok Lives. He's an evangelist for the platform and he has a fantastic mindset. It's a great chat!

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It's NovelNovember and we're both drafting a new novel!

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This week Cara & James touch on the subject of influencers and how to use them. James also talks about the coming AI storm for ads, he reports on AuthorNation and rants about the cost of living!

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In this week's episode, James reports from AuthorNation, indie publishing's largest conference. The talk is of new technology, a recent slump in ads effectiveness and the possibility of more seismic changes to come!

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This week we delve into the intriguing world of ghost writing. You might know Cara is/has been, a professional ghost writer and she spills the beans on this industry that takes place largely in the shadows.

We also touch on the sudden epidemic of author scams using AI to highly personalise the first approaches.

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This week we have a bona fide guest! Cissy Mecca is a close friend and fellow author whose work I'm constantly admiring—she's brilliant at finding innovative ways to streamline our publishing workflow. (And she's an incredible writer, too.)

We recently stayed together in Florence, and I was fascinated watching her receive her daily structure from her assistant "Pedro." Turns out Pedro isn't a person at all, but an AI she's trained to organize her entire work life, freeing her up to focus on the creativity she loves.

I've already started training my own AI, Princess Leia, and I'm loving it.

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