The WRITE Strategy
Welcome to The WRITE Strategy newsletter for business book writers and self publishers.
The Write Strategy is a community of business experts and leaders who want to share and leverage their knowledge, build their profile and be recognised as a leading voice in their field.
click here to edit this text.
What does AI mean for books and self publishing?
Marketing your book in the age of AI
December 2025 Edition
Self publishing in Australia (and worldwide) is going through some monumental shifts and challenges at the moment, especially in the business book niche. I’ve been spending a lot of time researching, exploring and asking experts in AI, self publishing and book marketing to understand what’s really going on, the opportunities and impact – good, bad and ugly. In this newsletter I summarise some of the insights I have gained.
The 5 key trends for self publishing in Australia:
1. AI is transforming everything in self publishing from writing, production, marketing and leveraging content.
2. AEO (Answer engine optimisation) is your friend so learn about it and how to deploy it.
3. Self publishing is a way better option than traditional publishing for business book authors to increase the revenue from their book and linked opportunities.
4. In the age of AI, we are seeking out humans who share their knowledge, can be trusted and are real – this is your superpower.
5. The content you write for your book (and the bits that don’t end up in it) can be leveraged extensively IF you know how, have a plan and execute – and this is where AI tools can supercharge your efforts.
I’ll be writing a series of articles/blogs about each one of these trends over the next month so you can prepare yourself for 2026 publishing projects.
The 3 key threats for self publishing in Australia:
1. Copyright law changes
You may have been following my updates about the big tech companies lobbying to change Australia’s IP laws, to make it legal for them to take copyright protected content for no payment to train their models. Specifically, this was seeking to change Australia’s ‘fair dealing’ copyright provision to a ‘fair use’ one. While the big tech companies pretty much steal whatever content they want from the web without any payment, legalising this is something all creators in Australia are opposed to. Funny that! Currently the government has provided certainty to Australian creators and media workers by ruling out a text and data mining exception in Australian copyright law. https://ministers.ag.gov.au/media-centre/albanese-government-ensure-australia-prepared-future-copyright-challenges-emerging-ai-26-10-2025
2. Scam self publishing websites
Every day I hear about and see more scam self publishing websites. I recently posted about another one where fraudsters are posing as traditional publishing houses or self publishing companies. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7396432205247471616/
3. AI generated books
Not long after ChatGPT hit the world, Amazon was flooded with fake books. Books that were written by AI with a cover slapped on them and sold for $2.99-$3.99, with no human engagement, checking or anything. Amazon then enforced in a ‘three book a day’ limit.
In 2024 Amazon required authors to disclose if their content is AI-generated, but not AI-Assisted. AI-generated content refers to text, images, or translations created by AI-based tools, even if they have been edited by humans.
Separately, many authors have seen their entire book stolen and uploaded to Amazon by someone else – with the money from these sales going to the scammer.
If you’re thinking about writing your business book in 2026 and using the Christmas/New Year break to start planning it, I’m available to chat with you (as I have a manuscript to finish – book No. 43!).
Merry Christmas and have a wonderful start to 2026.
5 things to do
1. Learn about Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO). I’ve been learning more about AEO and thank the team at HubSpot for a great series of webinars about it. www.hubspot.com
AEO is all about being seen and understood by AI easily. This means reviewing how you write your content, where you/your content shows up, and the context.
2. Do not despair about AI and your writing/your book/content. Jim Lee from DC Comics shares why.
“People have an instinctive reaction to what feels authentic. We recoil from what feels fake. That’s why human creativity matters.”
Lived experience has a signature that no amount of training data can reproduce. It’s lived experience that creates trust, connection, and meaning.
Take responsibility for how you use ChatGPT and other AI tools…what you ask it, what you share with it and what you take from it. EVERY interaction you have helps ‘train’ it so you need to be mindful every time you use it.
3. Reviews are vital in the AI world. AI search engines are looking for experts, so you need to build referrals, citations, references on other platforms/websites. Think third party review sites, Editorial reviews of your book in industry magazines, references in Listicles, You Tube engagement, Quora, Reddit and more. A note on Reddit. It has done a partnership with OpenAI – so if you’re not on Reddit or key sub-Reddits you need to be. https://openai.com/index/openai-and-reddit-partnership/
4. The growth of answer engines v Google Searches. Answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and others) are growing as a percentage of search but Google is STILL the main search engine. From the current research Answer Engines won’t overtake Google till around 2028. So what does this mean?
You need to operate with both SEO and AEO…all the while still focusing on writing high quality content that actually helps people with their challenges and reinforcing that you and your content is human generated.
5. Book CPR. Have you fallen out of love with your book? Does it need a bit of love or perhaps CPR? It happens. The excitement fades after your launch, maybe after 3-4 months. But guess what? Your book has long term value. You can resuscitate it, leverage it and make it (and you/your business) visible again. If you’re interested in how, email me. I am going to run a FREE Book CPR session in early February to help your reboot your book. And I’ll be covering AEO, content hacks and more. [email protected]
5 things from The Book Adviser
1. Book launches. Abby Bloom launched her book (twice) in November. The Cost of Not Caring CLICK HERE
Phil Pryor also launched his book (twice) in October and November: Risking it all. CLICK HERE
2. Check out the winners of this year's Australian Business Book Awards. I am a judge for these awards. The quality of both the content and publishing of business books in Australia, especially self published books is improving significantly. And, get ready to enter your book next year.
https://www.businessbookawards.com.au/2025-winners
3. Marketing your book. Make a plan to market your book throughout 2006. It doesn't matter if you're about to launch your book or if it's been published for a year or two. If you need some inspiration/insight, contact Jaqui to help you reboot your book marketing, visibility and sales. [email protected]
4. Christmas gift with a difference. Buy a gift that makes a positive difference in the world. Buy socks that give books from Conscious Steps. https://consciousstep.com.au/products/ankle-socks-that-give-books-basic
If this isn’t your passion, check out their other conscious socks.
5. The holiday break is often a time for families to get together, create new memories and share old stories and memories. If you want to capture the stories of your parents/grandparents download the FREE My Memory Lane Family Story booklet and get started. Make 2026 the year you start that family history you’ve been thinking about.
5 things to know
1. LinkedIn book promotion and engagement. Given most business book authors use LinkedIn as a primary platform for gaining visibility for their book and personal/business brand, it’s super important to understand that LinkedIn has changed its algorithm (well it’s constantly changing it). It’s now underpinned by a new model called 360Brew. Here’s a terrific summary of what it is and what you need to know to maximise your reach from Authoredup. https://authoredup.com/blog/linkedin-360brew
2. Beware of self publishing book scams. As self publishing in Australia grows, there are sadly more and more scams out there. Don’t get caught out. Read and share this article about how to spot a scam. https://thebookadviser.com.au/6-self-publishing-scams-to-avoid/
3. With Traditional publishers you only receive 7-10% of your book sales and they tie up your IP for a long time. With self publishing options you get to keep between 40-80% of your book sale revenue. The best for revenue share is Shopify, X, Patreon, Substack, and OnlyFans 80%; YouTube, Meta- between 50% to 80%, Amazon 40-70% but lower price points; Audible 25-40%.
Knowing what channel provides the best return is important.
4. Your book is a business asset. Stop thinking about your book as simply a book you can sell. Think about it as a business asset that you can create programs from, leverage for speaking engagements, generate media and exposure for you/your business, build
5. Macquarie's word of the Year, AI Slop. Low quality content created by generative AI which often contains errors not requested by the user.
is it time to publish your book?
The Book Adviser has helped more than 400 business leaders, owners, consultants and entrepreneurs to successfully self publish and market their business book.
Find out more about The Book Adviser Program CLICK HERE.
subscribe to The Book Adviser YouTube channel
Are you curious about:
- How AI is impacting book publishing
- What to do after writing your own book? or even
- What makes a good business book?
Subscribe to The Book Adviser channel
CLICK HERE
help spread our message
We’re passionate about business books and helping people share their knowledge and insights to a wider audience as we believe each of us can change the world for the better, one book at a time. If you’ve found this newsletter informative, inspiring or want to share some of the books we’ve mentioned, please share it with your colleagues, friends and family.
get more of The WRITE Strategy
Do you know of someone that would benefit from our services? DM us or email [email protected]
Was this email forwarded to you? Get your own subscription by clicking SUBSCRIBE and completing our form.
Copyright 2024 - The Book Adviser
The WRITE Strategy
Welcome to The WRITE Strategy newsletter for business book writers and self publishers.
The Write Strategy is a community of business experts and leaders who want to share and leverage their knowledge, build their profile and be recognised as a leading voice in their field.
click here to edit this text.
What does AI mean for books and self publishing?
Marketing your book in the age of AI
December 2025 Edition
Self publishing in Australia (and worldwide) is going through some monumental shifts and challenges at the moment, especially in the business book niche. I’ve been spending a lot of time researching, exploring and asking experts in AI, self publishing and book marketing to understand what’s really going on, the opportunities and impact – good, bad and ugly. In this newsletter I summarise some of the insights I have gained.
The 5 key trends for self publishing in Australia:
1. AI is transforming everything in self publishing from writing, production, marketing and leveraging content.
2. AEO (Answer engine optimisation) is your friend so learn about it and how to deploy it.
3. Self publishing is a way better option than traditional publishing for business book authors to increase the revenue from their book and linked opportunities.
4. In the age of AI, we are seeking out humans who share their knowledge, can be trusted and are real – this is your superpower.
5. The content you write for your book (and the bits that don’t end up in it) can be leveraged extensively IF you know how, have a plan and execute – and this is where AI tools can supercharge your efforts.
I’ll be writing a series of articles/blogs about each one of these trends over the next month so you can prepare yourself for 2026 publishing projects.
The 3 key threats for self publishing in Australia:
1. Copyright law changes
You may have been following my updates about the big tech companies lobbying to change Australia’s IP laws, to make it legal for them to take copyright protected content for no payment to train their models. Specifically, this was seeking to change Australia’s ‘fair dealing’ copyright provision to a ‘fair use’ one. While the big tech companies pretty much steal whatever content they want from the web without any payment, legalising this is something all creators in Australia are opposed to. Funny that! Currently the government has provided certainty to Australian creators and media workers by ruling out a text and data mining exception in Australian copyright law. https://ministers.ag.gov.au/media-centre/albanese-government-ensure-australia-prepared-future-copyright-challenges-emerging-ai-26-10-2025
2. Scam self publishing websites
Every day I hear about and see more scam self publishing websites. I recently posted about another one where fraudsters are posing as traditional publishing houses or self publishing companies. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7396432205247471616/
3. AI generated books
Not long after ChatGPT hit the world, Amazon was flooded with fake books. Books that were written by AI with a cover slapped on them and sold for $2.99-$3.99, with no human engagement, checking or anything. Amazon then enforced in a ‘three book a day’ limit.
In 2024 Amazon required authors to disclose if their content is AI-generated, but not AI-Assisted. AI-generated content refers to text, images, or translations created by AI-based tools, even if they have been edited by humans.
Separately, many authors have seen their entire book stolen and uploaded to Amazon by someone else – with the money from these sales going to the scammer.
If you’re thinking about writing your business book in 2026 and using the Christmas/New Year break to start planning it, I’m available to chat with you (as I have a manuscript to finish – book No. 43!).
Merry Christmas and have a wonderful start to 2026.
5 things to do
1. Learn about Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO). I’ve been learning more about AEO and thank the team at HubSpot for a great series of webinars about it. www.hubspot.com
AEO is all about being seen and understood by AI easily. This means reviewing how you write your content, where you/your content shows up, and the context.
2. Do not despair about AI and your writing/your book/content. Jim Lee from DC Comics shares why.
“People have an instinctive reaction to what feels authentic. We recoil from what feels fake. That’s why human creativity matters.”
Lived experience has a signature that no amount of training data can reproduce. It’s lived experience that creates trust, connection, and meaning.
Take responsibility for how you use ChatGPT and other AI tools…what you ask it, what you share with it and what you take from it. EVERY interaction you have helps ‘train’ it so you need to be mindful every time you use it.
3. Reviews are vital in the AI world. AI search engines are looking for experts, so you need to build referrals, citations, references on other platforms/websites. Think third party review sites, Editorial reviews of your book in industry magazines, references in Listicles, You Tube engagement, Quora, Reddit and more. A note on Reddit. It has done a partnership with OpenAI – so if you’re not on Reddit or key sub-Reddits you need to be. https://openai.com/index/openai-and-reddit-partnership/
4. The growth of answer engines v Google Searches. Answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and others) are growing as a percentage of search but Google is STILL the main search engine. From the current research Answer Engines won’t overtake Google till around 2028. So what does this mean?
You need to operate with both SEO and AEO…all the while still focusing on writing high quality content that actually helps people with their challenges and reinforcing that you and your content is human generated.
5. Book CPR. Have you fallen out of love with your book? Does it need a bit of love or perhaps CPR? It happens. The excitement fades after your launch, maybe after 3-4 months. But guess what? Your book has long term value. You can resuscitate it, leverage it and make it (and you/your business) visible again. If you’re interested in how, email me. I am going to run a FREE Book CPR session in early February to help your reboot your book. And I’ll be covering AEO, content hacks and more. [email protected]
5 things from The Book Adviser
1. Book launches. Abby Bloom launched her book (twice) in November. The Cost of Not Caring CLICK HERE
Phil Pryor also launched his book (twice) in October and November: Risking it all. CLICK HERE
2. Check out the winners of this year's Australian Business Book Awards. I am a judge for these awards. The quality of both the content and publishing of business books in Australia, especially self published books is improving significantly. And, get ready to enter your book next year.
https://www.businessbookawards.com.au/2025-winners
3. Marketing your book. Make a plan to market your book throughout 2006. It doesn't matter if you're about to launch your book or if it's been published for a year or two. If you need some inspiration/insight, contact Jaqui to help you reboot your book marketing, visibility and sales. [email protected]
4. Christmas gift with a difference. Buy a gift that makes a positive difference in the world. Buy socks that give books from Conscious Steps. https://consciousstep.com.au/products/ankle-socks-that-give-books-basic
If this isn’t your passion, check out their other conscious socks.
5. The holiday break is often a time for families to get together, create new memories and share old stories and memories. If you want to capture the stories of your parents/grandparents download the FREE My Memory Lane Family Story booklet and get started. Make 2026 the year you start that family history you’ve been thinking about.
5 things to know
1. LinkedIn book promotion and engagement. Given most business book authors use LinkedIn as a primary platform for gaining visibility for their book and personal/business brand, it’s super important to understand that LinkedIn has changed its algorithm (well it’s constantly changing it). It’s now underpinned by a new model called 360Brew. Here’s a terrific summary of what it is and what you need to know to maximise your reach from Authoredup. https://authoredup.com/blog/linkedin-360brew
2. Beware of self publishing book scams. As self publishing in Australia grows, there are sadly more and more scams out there. Don’t get caught out. Read and share this article about how to spot a scam. https://thebookadviser.com.au/6-self-publishing-scams-to-avoid/
3. With Traditional publishers you only receive 7-10% of your book sales and they tie up your IP for a long time. With self publishing options you get to keep between 40-80% of your book sale revenue. The best for revenue share is Shopify, X, Patreon, Substack, and OnlyFans 80%; YouTube, Meta- between 50% to 80%, Amazon 40-70% but lower price points; Audible 25-40%.
Knowing what channel provides the best return is important.
4. Your book is a business asset. Stop thinking about your book as simply a book you can sell. Think about it as a business asset that you can create programs from, leverage for speaking engagements, generate media and exposure for you/your business, build
5. Macquarie's word of the Year, AI Slop. Low quality content created by generative AI which often contains errors not requested by the user.
is it time to publish your book?
The Book Adviser has helped more than 400 business leaders, owners, consultants and entrepreneurs to successfully self publish and market their business book.
Find out more about The Book Adviser Program CLICK HERE.
subscribe to The Book Adviser YouTube channel
Are you curious about:
- How AI is impacting book publishing
- What to do after writing your own book? or even
- What makes a good business book?
Subscribe to The Book Adviser channel
CLICK HERE
help spread our message
We’re passionate about business books and helping people share their knowledge and insights to a wider audience as we believe each of us can change the world for the better, one book at a time. If you’ve found this newsletter informative, inspiring or want to share some of the books we’ve mentioned, please share it with your colleagues, friends and family.
get more of The WRITE Strategy
Do you know of someone that would benefit from our services? DM us or email [email protected]
Was this email forwarded to you? Get your own subscription by clicking SUBSCRIBE and completing our form.
Copyright 2024 - The Book Adviser