State of (some) publishing

By Holly the Assistant

A couple days ago, Sarah had the bright idea of listing off a bunch of authors on X, and asking her followers who else writes and Xeets. So we have a list, of Indy, Trad, and whatever other flavors of writers are around. This also prompted me informing a whole lot of folks that if you get paid for it you are a professional, and yesterday’s repost at MGC of the Real Writer Certificate. (You can get yours here: https://madgeniusclub.com/2026/01/21/the-velveteen-author/)

Here is the list of Xeeting authors. They may or may not post politics, writing, or anything else: the single requirement was that someone who follows Sarah put the handle on the list. (FTR IndyAntifa is MadMike. Because trollolol.)

@davefreersf

@Jringo1508

@mcahogarth

@JulieCFrost

@TKratman

@NathanCBrindle

@BradRTorgersen

@karentraviss

@Sverizona

@The_Hankerchief

@JohnTaloni

@monsterhunter45

@zakueins

@Andrew_G_Nelson

@RocketPulpHack

@RickPartlow66

@TheJasonAnspach

@Hadrians_Gate

@hpcjoe

@wallywaltner

@DentonSalle

@JayMaynard

@Ogiel23

@KarlKGallagher

@paul_leone

@AlysssaHazel

@LydiaSherrer

@Devon_Eriksen_

@RileyCBolt

@RGWilliscroft

@AlastairMayer

@Dr_Mauser

@NewCoffiest

@Rhodri2112

@JohnBailey64182

@bpardoe870

@caitliniwalsh

@Jesse_A_Barrett

@raconteur_press

@WatcherDamned

@cedarlili

@HollyChism

@dagney_kavanagh

@IndyAntifa

@DavidB90524

@djwojcik57

@wombat_socho

@PulpHerb

@mmcshanewrites

@profornery

With that out of the way, you may notice that some of your favorite authors are pointing you to places other than Amazon a lot more than they have previously. This is likely mostly for the very practical reason that Amazon has been having some code issues lately. They appear to be fixing it as fast as they reasonably can, but it is, I am told by those who have reason to know, a large and kludgy amount of total code. They have informed authors of the problems, but the problems are on going, and if you encounter one on the buyer end, go ahead and report it to them.

For instance, I went hunting for a brand new book by a friend that I knew Sarah wanted a link for. Brand new, as in it had only dropped that moment, the friend had posted it on Facebook and as is the nature of Facebook, it put a bunch of tracking crud in the link. I had the author name and title in hand. And Amazon’s website refused to turn off the 4 stars plus filter for me. Which, being a brand new book, I could not find, because no one had yet finished reading it and starred it. I griped to friends: Nathan didn’t have the broken filter issue and was able to get the actual clean link for me.

That sort of silly code problem. If we can’t find books, we can’t buy books, and authors really like us to buy books.

And if no one told you, the new Dresden Files dropped yesterday. Early reports from friends include “Didn’t sleep” and “Work’s going to suck today but worth it”. So see you on the other side!

AND I got to see another chapter of the sequel to No Man’s Land. I adore the first voice character. She’s the kind of woman I aspire to be. Though maybe leaving fewer dead bodies behind . . . but they all deserve it, so . . . yeah. When I grow up, I want to be Vic.