I’m a little overdue on this one, but let’s take a moment to talk Journals & Planners—because we have some really good examples inside this community 👏 I recently received journals from two incredible women here, and I want to spotlight their work. @Gale Bates shared her The One Notebook Journal and Daily Journal. These journals reflect her personality so well—clean, thoughtful, and finished with beautiful hibiscus florals inspired by her life in Hawaii 🌺 Gale runs My Mentor Biz and also has a podcast on YouTube. She’s currently in the planning phase with her books and is looking to move her existing journals onto Amazon next, which is an exciting transition to watch. @Sybil Hall is a bestselling author of Burn Bright, Not Out and has a full journal line-up already selling on Amazon. She sent me her Illuminate Journal after I was lucky enough to win her January leaderboard prize 🙌 👉 What’s especially interesting about Sybil’s approach is that her journals are not KDP journals—they’re manufactured and sold through Amazon FBA instead. (Stay tuned… we’re planning a workshop on this strategy in March.) Let’s celebrate these ladies and the journals they’ve created 💖If you have questions about journals, planners, KDP vs FBA, or anything related—drop them in the comments.

If you’re self-publishing, your book absolutely needs a copyright page. This is one of those small details that signals “this is a real book,” not a rough draft. 👉 What a copyright page does: - Establishes legal ownership of your work - Tells readers how the content can (or can’t) be used - Protects you if someone copies or republishes your content - Makes your book look professional and complete The good news? You don’t need to write this from scratch. 🛠️ Formatting Tools Make This Easy If you’re using a formatting tool like Atticus- this is the one that I used for text-heavy books, but they do have built-in copyright page templates. 💥 Atticus includes built-in copyright page templates that: - Auto-populate standard copyright language - Let you quickly add your author name, pen name, or publisher name - Keep everything formatted correctly for Amazon KDP In most cases, you just select the copyright page, fill in a few fields, and move on. No guesswork. No Googling random templates. ❓ Do You Need to Buy a Copyright? Short answer: No, not to publish your book. In the U.S. (and many other countries), copyright is automatic the moment you create original work and put it in tangible form (like a manuscript). That said, there is an optional extra step. 🔐 When You Might Want to Register Your Copyright You can officially register your copyright through the U.S. Copyright Office. This is optional, but some authors choose to do it because: - It gives you stronger legal protection if someone steals your content - It allows you to seek statutory damages in court If you want to do this, you can get started at copyright.gov. Most authors publish first and only register later if their book gains traction or contains high-value content. ✅ Bottom Line - Your book needs a copyright page - You do not need to purchase a copyright to publish - Tools like Atticus already include templates so you don’t have to think about formatting - Official registration is optional, not required

I just want to pause for a moment and say thank you. Reaching 500 members is a huge milestone, and I’m truly grateful you chose to be here and learn more about Amazon KDP with me. This community keeps growing because of you, and I don’t take that lightly. If you’re new here and have never self-published before, your first step is the Future Author Energy mini course in the classroom. It’s short, action-oriented, and designed to help you get clear on your book idea before you overthink or get stuck. The goal is simple: when you finish, you’ll know exactly what book you’re moving forward with. If you already have an idea and you’re ready to take action, this is where Premium really shines. Premium members get instant access to the Book Challenge, which walks you step by step through the full DIY process of listing your first book for sale on Amazon—outlining, cover creation, formatting, and uploading your assets the right way. 👉👉 UPGRADE TO PREMIUM HERE Premium also includes access to weekly live workshops plus all replays, so you can learn at your own pace and never fall behind. If you’re looking for guidance, accountability, and momentum, this is where it happens—for $40/month. Again, thank you for being here and for helping make this community what it is. I’m excited about what we’re building together, and I can’t wait to see the books that come out of this group. 💛

**Think In Themes** One of the biggest shifts successful self-published authors make is this: they stop thinking in *single books* and start thinking in *themes*.✨ A theme is the bigger problem your reader is trying to solve. Your first book is just the entry point. From there, you create supporting content that overlaps, deepens, or solves the next logical problem your reader will have. ✨It looks like this... - Book #1 solves the core problem - Book #2 supports it from a different angle - Book #3 goes deeper or more specific ✨ Eventually, books get **bundled** - Two existing books - One new title - New positioning - Same content, new asset This is how authors build **series**, **bundles**, and **long-term income**, instead of starting from scratch every time. 🤔 Think like this: - What does my reader struggle with *before* this book? - What do they still need *after* they finish it? - What related problem keeps showing up? Those answers become future books. You’ll notice in the examples shared (see images) that authors aren’t random. Everything connects. Same reader. Same theme. Different angles. **Your turn:** 1. Write down your first book idea. 2. List 3–5 branch-off ideas that could support the same reader. 3. Circle any two that could eventually be bundled into a new book with a fresh title. This is how you turn one idea into a publishing journey instead of a one-off book.