As authors, we have many ways to measure success beyond bestseller lists, awards, or sales figures. For some, it’s about creative freedom or building a sustainable business. For others, it’s about connecting with readers, leaving a legacy, or simply finishing the next chapter.

On the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, host Joe Solari explains how attending live events changed the course of his career and why in-person conferences still matter. He discusses how to choose the right event, prepare effectively, and build lasting connections that support a profitable publishing business.

Surveys are always great reading. They have more or less value in terms of understanding the challenging landscape, largely depending on their sample size and the transparency around it. This week we have a survey that’s both interesting and enlightening—and on the becoming-perennial subject of authors’ attitudes toward AI. It comes courtesy of a BookBub survey. This means that the kind of authors represented will be very like a sizeable portion of the cohort of indie authors. Indeed, 69 percent of authors who responded to the survey only self-publish, and 25 percent were hybrid.