Hi everyone, Wishing you all a warm holiday season (it's literally warm for those of you in the southern hemisphere!). I'm Balaka, author of a few books in English and Bengali, my mother tongue. My latest book, Poised and Prepared, is about empowering young women to fortify their physical safety and building awareness for building safer communities. I'm here to learn so much about marketing and becoming a paid speaker. It's an endless learning curve, and I'm energized to take small, consistent steps toward that goal. Wishing you all the success you're dreaming around your books. Warmly, Balaka

Hi everyone! I'm Laura Nespoli, founder of a strategic storytelling consultancy with the purpose of helping brands, individuals and leaders articulate their stories for business and personal growth. I'm self-publishing my first book, Threads of Me and You in May 2026. It is a memoir/manual that combines my personal transformation story with practical exercises that help readers unravel limiting patterns and weave growth into their existing lives without burning everything down. I'm new to this community and I want to get the most out of it, but know that I will struggle without some structure. On top of publishing my book, I'm also in the process of creating an app that combines my go-to-market storytelling expertise with personal transformation work. (Most ambitious leaders don't realize self-doubt and lack of confidence in owning their brand story is one of the biggest barriers to marketing success in their business.) And on top of the app, I also have a 9-5 job leading strategy at marketing consulting firm. I'm curious to hear if anyone has any guidance on how to make the most of this community for time-limited people. I haven't been good about leveraging communities I've been a part of in the past because I'm so limited on time and have an ever-growing to-do list. Time blocking? A regular schedule? What works for those of you who are juggling many roles? (Assuming that is most!) Happy to be here! Thank you.

**This was our newsletter this week but we struggled to get it fully delivered thanks to some tech issues ... so here it is in case you missed it** 2025 was enormous for us at Book Launchers. We reorganized the company. We retired our Platinum membership, the very first service level we ever offered. Not an easy goodbye. We replaced it with a package - Author Essentials. We launched Author Launch Kit. We launched the Author Lab Community (hi! you're in it!). These were not cosmetic changes. They were foundational. They happened because publishing itself crossed a line this year. The old playbook did not just get outdated. It got run over. Books stopped being static. Audiobooks stopped being “just audio.” Platforms stopped being enough. So we changed too. If you have watched my end of year, looking ahead video, you already know this one feels different (I have it below if you have not seen it yet). I am not telling you to chase more reviews, produce an audiobook, or build an author newsletter (past years repeated recommendations). Those things still matter. But the bar moved. They aren't enough anymore. This year also gave us a front-row seat to something rare. We watched one of our authors, Jonathan Stanley, go absolutely hyper-viral. Over 100 million views. Coverage from every major news outlet you can name. The kind of lightning strike people talk about but almost never see up close. That did not happen by accident. It happened at the intersection of message, timing, and a publishing world that now rewards momentum in entirely new ways. Alongside that were bestsellers, speaking stages, media wins, and plenty of quiet breakthroughs that never make headlines but change lives all the same. And through all of it, you were here. Having an audience is a privilege. Whether that audience is ten people or ten thousand. Thank you for trusting us, for sticking with us through change, and for being part of this journey. Before we officially turn the page, a few important invitations and one very fun announcement are below for you

All, I am seeing a lot more em-dashes being used not just in books, but in everyday postings, including news-articles. I have been associating that with AI type output, but I know em-dashes have been used for a long time. Personally, I prefer hyphens, always have. But this brings me to my question - when is it appropriate, or by Chicago Manual of Style, to use em-dash or a hyphen? Thanks much.

In past years when I filmed a video looking into the year ahead I said things like 'reviews are still important, audiobooks continue to grow, and build your own audience' and all of that remains true however this is the first time I've looked ahead and gone 'woah - this year is going to be really different than past years!'. Things changed A LOT this year and it's setting 2026 up for some big shifts. Are you ready? If you aren't feeling ready ... let's chat about it in the comments here or on the video!! We want to set you up for success.