Here in the US we are celebrating Memorial Day - thankfully where I am north of Chicago we are having beautiful weather and I am planning to do some more clean up around my house today and playing with my son outside. He has been asking me all winter to do WATER BALLOONS. Now, would finally be a good day for that! 🗓️ UPCOMING EVENTS - I am in process of putting together the JUNE calendar, but I just wanted to give a heads up on May 27th, for my premium and VIP members, I will be holding a live book formatting workshop. You can check that on the calendar here. I will also be traveling✈️ to Rome 🇮🇹 for the first time ever. In fact, it's my first trip to Europe, and I will be solo traveling. I will be away June 4th through June 12th. I will have my laptop with me and be able to pop on and engage in the community occasionally, but I will not be doing any live events during that time frame. Hope everyone has a wonderful start to their week.

Okay, I've been seeing more questions pop up about ISBNs. Many people think they must buy one before publishing a book, but that isn't always true. Here's a simple breakdown: 📚 You probably DON'T need to buy an ISBN if: ✅ You're publishing only on Amazon KDP ✅ You are okay with Amazon showing as the publisher ✅ You're testing a book idea before investing more money ✅ You're creating low-content books, journals, or books under a pen name where publisher branding isn't important Amazon will actually give you a FREE ISBN for paperbacks and hardcovers. Now here is when buying your own ISBN may make more sense: 💡 Consider buying your own ISBN if: ✅ You want to publish your book beyond Amazon (Barnes & Noble, bookstores, IngramSpark, libraries, etc.) ✅ You want YOUR name or publishing company listed as the publisher instead of Amazon ✅ You're building a long-term publishing brand ✅ You plan to expand into multiple distribution channels One thing many people don't realize: ❌ One ISBN does NOT cover everything. Each format typically needs its own ISBN: • Paperback = 1 ISBN • Hardcover = 1 ISBN • Ebook = usually not required on KDP For beginners, I usually suggest keeping costs low and using the free KDP ISBN while learning the process. You can always invest more as your publishing business grows. Question for you: Did you buy your own ISBN, or did you use the free KDP option?

I want to be transparent with you all. I’m not out here making millions from books. I’m just an average person on the internet with a full-time job, a busy schedule, and I’m also a mom to a 4-year-old on the spectrum. Life is full. ❤️ Since shifting a lot of my focus toward building this Skool community, that has been taking up most of my extra time outside of work and family. Because of that, I actually haven’t published a new book in over 6 months. But here’s what I think is pretty cool… the books I already published are still working for me. So far this year: 📚 Paperbacks + eBooks: $8,379+ 🎧 Audiobooks: ~$9,000+ 💰 Total: Over $17,000 in royalties this year That’s why I love publishing. You put in work upfront, create something that can help people, and over time those books can continue bringing in income while you focus on other areas of life. For the second half of this year, I’m planning to shift more energy back into publishing because it’s still my strongest income stream. I’m sharing this because I hope it encourages you. Even if you already have a full plate, you don’t need to wait for the “perfect” time to start. Your words, your experiences, and your knowledge can become assets that continue working for you long after you hit publish. ❤️ If you've already published, drop below: How has your experience been so far? 👇

One thing I think people are going to regret is NOT starting their own Skool community sooner. When I got started back in 2024, there was no $9 Hobby Plan. I’ve been paying the $100/month plan ever since. I could downgrade now, but honestly, the affiliate feature alone has been worth keeping because it gives members an incentive to share your community and bring in new people. That has absolutely helped this community grow. Another thing I’m noticing? Skool is investing heavily into helping communities get discovered on the platform itself. Right now there’s still opportunity because the platform isn’t completely oversaturated yet. The earlier you build, the easier it is to establish momentum before thousands more communities flood in competing for attention. Now obviously I’m not a Skool insider, but personally, I wouldn’t be shocked if the $9 plan doesn’t stay around forever. If you can lock that pricing in now, there’s a good chance future-you will be happy you did. So if you’ve been thinking about starting a community… stop overthinking it. Yeah @Greg Junge @Todd Rosenthal @Vicky C @Lisa Jeffries - I'm talking about you 😉 Open the group. Start posting. Start building relationships. Start learning the platform. Why wait when it’s only $9/month? ➡️ START YOUR COMMUNITY NOW

📖 If you currently have a book in progress and maybe you're also working on growing your own community, one ingredient that might be missing from your recipe for success is YouTube. People don't usually open YouTube because they're bored and mindlessly scrolling. They go there because they want to learn something, solve a problem, be entertained, or explore something new. That matters because the people finding you are often actively looking for answers. And if you're sitting there thinking, "I'll start YouTube after I publish my book..." or "I'll start after my community grows..." — no. Start now. The numbers alone make a strong case: ➡️ YouTube has over 2.5–2.7 billion monthly users worldwide ➡️ More than 122 million people use YouTube daily ➡️ People watch over 1 billion hours of content every day Unlike quick-scroll platforms where content disappears in a day or two, YouTube videos can continue showing up in search for months or even years. One video can introduce people to your book, your expertise, your community, and your offers while you're sleeping. And when it comes to communities like Skool, YouTube can become a powerful funnel because people get to know YOU first. They hear your voice, see your personality, learn from you, and build trust before ever clicking "Join." People who already know, like, and trust you often become stronger community members than someone who randomly lands on a page. Today I also want to spotlight @Des Dreckett and his community THE CONTENT REVENUE LAB, who has been an amazing partner on this journey and one of the top referrers in this community. Des teaches people how to use YouTube not only as a way to grow a business but also as an additional income stream. You do NOT need thousands of subscribers to begin. You just need to begin.