Jonathan: Listen up. We’re starting with a situation report. An outfit called Claims Hero is telling authors to opt out of the 1.5 billion dollar Anthropic settlement. They promise a shot at a bigger payday, up to 150,000 dollars per title, but it means giving up your guaranteed three grand. We’ll break down whether this is legit or a bait and switch.

Ambush tracking so far: outstanding. Next, holiday operations are in effect. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas push. You will receive a full battle plan, pricing, promos, gift card strategy, and a five-minute cover adjustment that could increase conversions. That is not a suggestion. That is an order to improve your sales position.

Third item, new gear is inbound. The Patron Toolbox just got upgraded. You’ve got the SEO GEO Optimizer, the revamped Cover Analyzer, and the AI Trope Finder. These are force multipliers. Use them. We’ll also address the recent X algorithm changes, why your engagement may be in the toilet, and what to do to fix it effective immediately.

Grab your coffee. Open your notes. We move on my command. This is Author Update.

Thomas: Welcome, everybody. Good fun. I love it. You turn 250 years old and you lose your mind.

Jonathan: Monday is the birthday, everybody. Two hundred fifty years of glory and honor. I’m going to be fairly obnoxious today. It’s gonna be bad.

Thomas: More so than usual?

Claims Hero vs. the Anthropic Settlement

Jonathan: Our first story is the Anthropic settlement with an interesting twist. A company called Claims Hero is offering authors the chance to opt out of the settlement in return for potentially a larger payout later.

To bring everyone up to speed, Anthropic was in a class action lawsuit. Authors whose works may have been used to train their AI are looking to receive a 3,000 dollar payout per title. Claims Hero is a law firm aggressively advertising to authors. They say, take our three-minute signup, opt out, and on the next case you could get up to 150,000 dollars per title instead of 3,000.

Thomas: It is a trap.

Jonathan: If the place outside the base is selling you a Mustang at 39 percent APR, but it is the best deal ever and only for you because you serve our country, maybe take a close look. My heebie-jeebies are up. At best, this is gambling.

Thomas: It is not a scam in the sense that they will do nothing. It is a real law firm. It is very risky. The people most against it have money to lose if you go with this option. The original law firm that filed the class action has already filed motions to stop Claims Hero from doing this. They want all the settlements to go through their class action so they get their cut.

I suspect those motions will fail. Earlier the judge pushed for authors to have the ability to opt out and make their own cases. Anthropic does not want to pay anyone 150,000 dollars, so they are not excited about this option.

There is a low chance you could make a lot of money and an almost guaranteed chance that if you make money it will be a long time in the future. If Claims Hero is successful, they will have to relitigate, which is a big, long process. You might get more money in the long term, but you will almost certainly get less in the short term and maybe no money at all.

If I had a book in the class, I would file the normal way and take the 3,000 dollars. I would not roll the dice.

Jonathan: I have seen this a few ways. If I were Anthropic, I might encourage this. Hey, go for the big payout later, knowing it is unlikely you will win later. We lost this one, but we will not lose the next one. It all feels bad. I do not like any of it.

Thomas: Another thing: if you go to the Claims Hero website, they make it sound like this case is about AI training. It is actually about piracy and copying. Not about whether training a large language model is legal.

New Patron Toolbox: SEO GEO Optimizer

Thomas: Speaking of large language models, I created a new Patron tool. In the Patron Toolbox, there is a new tool called the SEO GEO Optimizer. I made it for myself. I was working on the Author Update webpage and realized it did not have a meta description or a good meta title. I built a tool that reads a webpage and generates a meta title and meta description, with advice on optimizing SEO and GEO for any webpage.

It is like the Blog Optimizer but more generalized. Try it at patrontoolbox.com. Run your pages through it. See your pages rank better on search engines and get recommended more by large language models.

Holiday Promotions: Timing and Mindset

Jonathan: Next up, what to start doing for Christmas promotions. We are a bit late. Few channels are talking about this yet. The Christmas shopping season is a fantastic time to boost book sales. Books are great gifts. They are inexpensive, and people feel good giving them.

December is often a slow month for web traffic, so remind people that books are great presents. Plan your promotion in three phases:

• Preparation phase, which started in October. Get drafts ready. Do not try to write new content while cooking a turkey. Write your emails. Automate and schedule so you can enjoy the holidays.
• Promotion phase, which includes Black Friday. One of the biggest days of the year. Prepare.

Thomas: Black Friday is tricky for authors. It is hard to give an 80 percent discount and still make money. For most authors, Black Friday is the beginning of the holiday window, not the deep discount moment. A 1 dollar discount on an ebook is 20 percent, which feels big to you, but not big in Black Friday land.

Indie Publishing makes a good point: advertising in December is very expensive. You are bidding against consumer product companies. A great time to advertise is January. Prices are lower, especially on YouTube. Many people resolve to read more. January is magical for promoting your book.

We are about to share strategies to get Christmas sales, but you have permission to ignore all of it and spend Christmas with your family. Do your big push in January, especially for nonfiction, but it can work for fiction too.

Gifts, Guides, and Affiliates

Thomas: Books make great gifts. They ship well, wrap well, and can be very thoughtful if you choose well.

Jonathan: A twist: read the same book with a friend, write notes in the margins, and swap. Suggest that to your audience.

Thomas: Make your blog, social, and newsletter seasonal. Or take a break. I take the last two weeks of December off.

Jonathan: There are no breaks.

Thomas: Publishing slows in late December. Editors are not meeting. Taking a break when everyone else is off lets you relax.

Jonathan: After December 26 comes the Echo Phase. People are rich in gift cards.

Thomas: Amazon gift cards work on ebooks. Apple gift cards work on audiobooks. There is a flurry of media purchases in late December into early January.

Jonathan: Put together a Christmas gift guide. Include your books and similar recommended books, especially from author friends for cross-promo. Add other things your readers would enjoy.

Thomas: Use affiliate links. If you recommend knives or candles and use Amazon Associates, you can earn 2 to 10 percent commission. Kindles often have a special bounty around Black Friday. Consider other affiliate programs. We have an episode on affiliate marketing at authormedia.com. The Novel Marketing podcast has almost 500 episodes with blog versions too.

Bundles and List Building

Jonathan: Think gift bundles. Buy one, get one. Buy one to keep, get one to gift. If you only have one book, it still works. People are budget conscious. Better deals win.

Build your email list with a Christmas gift. Offer a free Christmas short story. I wrote one for Shades of Black. If I can make Christmas work in that world, you can too.

Thomas: I learned this from a traditionally published author who grew from 1,000 to 6,000 subscribers with a Christmas short story featuring romantically interested characters between Book 1 and Book 2. She gave it away for free. The term reader magnet did not exist yet. It still works.

Jim Butcher wrote a Dresden Files Christmas story about building a bicycle for his daughter, visited by three spirits. He gives it away for free. You do not have to gate it. A page on your site works.

Jonathan: Quick clarifications. This is a cover, not a hat. The Army wears hats. It is a boonie cover.

How did I do a fantasy Christmas? The story is Ember Knight. I used the idea that the stars shone brighter on the night God came to redeem humanity from the darkness. Universal stories would exist in fantasy worlds with different cultural overlays. Winter is darkest, so we celebrate light and gift-giving. In Shades of Black, Gideon throws himself into the enemy again and again, raised back by his mentor. He becomes the Ember Knight, the only one still on fire in the snow. Readers loved it.

Thomas: Half of all Christmas stories are a retelling of A Christmas Carol. The Grinch follows that arc. You can adapt it to your world. That flexibility is why so many Christmas stories work.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals

Thomas: Bundling is your friend, especially if you sell direct. Take a trilogy. Bundle physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks. A 70 dollar list price becomes a 30 dollar bundle, which is appealing and can still be profitable.

If you do not have a business plan, you are not ready to sell direct. Do not rush into bundles without a plan. You can also feature other companies’ Black Friday deals for authors. We do a roundup and mini reviews. Not all are recommendations. We share pros and cons.

If you sell direct and your friends do not, whoever has the store can make a bundle from multiple authors’ ebooks. Seven authors at 10 dollars each is a 70 dollar bundle. Sell for 15 to 20 dollars. Brand it as Pack Your Kindle.

Jonathan: Add value at every turn.

Thomas: Create a digital product for last-minute shoppers. Schedule an email for December 23. Remind them they can gift an ebook and it delivers instantly. No discount needed.

Charity and Scavenger Hunts

Thomas: Partner with a charity. Everyone who donates gets a free digital copy of the first book in your series. Great way to support a cause and get in front of strangers.

Consider a Christmas-themed scavenger hunt. Some authors see great results. I could make a Patron tool to help brainstorm one.

Jonathan: We did scavenger hunts at conventions. If authors coordinate, you can drive traffic across booths and into a giveaway. Digitally, you can recreate that on your website.

Public Domain Christmas Content

Thomas: Write a Twas the Night Before Christmas poem for your book. Remix it with your characters. It is public domain, as is A Christmas Carol. You can write it yourself or use AI to draft and then edit. It makes a fun, shareable email.

Seasonal Covers and Product Risk

Thomas: Some bands and authors make Christmas albums or books. The risk is that your Christmas piece becomes your most popular. Mariah Carey became known for Christmas music. It can happen.

Jonathan: Superfans love seasonal oddities. I have readers who love getting The Exorcism of Frosty the Snowman because of the title alone.

Add seasonal touches to your cover. A Santa hat or sparkles can signal gift-worthiness.

Thomas: It is an old tactic that still works for ebook covers.

Amazon Descriptions and Bulk Orders

Thomas: Optimize your Amazon description for holiday terms. Include lines like “Perfect gift for the teen in your life.” Update now. It takes time to propagate.

There is a powerful tactic of bulk orders. Cold call companies to get your book into their employee gift baskets. Many authors will not do it, which leaves opportunity for those who will.

Jonathan: HR often outsources to gift basket companies now. So contact the basket company to get included. Or create your own basket, underprice the big vendors, include your book, and theme it.

Thomas: Price pulsing on December 26, Boxing Day in Canada, can juice sales, though people feel rich with gift cards and will spend anyway. Another reminder: people are not as careful with gift card money.

Handselling at Events

Thomas: Christmas fairs, parades, and festivals are great for hand selling. Near us is Main Street Bethlehem in Burnet, Texas. Tens of thousands attend. The town hosts a shopping fair while people wait in line. You could get a booth and sell books.

The Patron Toolbox has an Event Finder to help you locate events. Two quick tips:

• Do not let marketing ruin your Christmas. Bake cookies with your kids. A few extra ebook sales are not worth missing moments.
• Be specific in your holiday greeting. “Happy Holidays” feels corporate and insincere. Say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever you celebrate. Be authentic and inviting.

Protect Your Store From Holiday Fraud

Jonathan: From a Yoast SEO session, one tip stood out for Shopify or direct stores: deactivate guest checkout during the season. Scammers test stolen cards on low-value items like ebooks. They run 20 to 30 purchases, which get canceled. You still pay transaction and chargeback fees. If you require account creation, scammers are less likely to bother.

Patron Toolbox: Trope Finder Upgrade

Thomas: I upgraded the Trope Finder. It now gives a trope heat map that clusters tropes and a genre alignment score. Some authors think they wrote one genre when they wrote another. The tool analyzes your manuscript and tells you how well you align to specific genres. If you thought you wrote military sci-fi and it is secretly enemies-to-lovers romance, now you will know.

Novel November on Author Media Social

Thomas: Novel November is live on Author Media Social. I may rename it each month for sprinting novelists. Post goals, progress, and get encouragement. If you become a Patron, even at four dollars for one day, you can join Author Media Social for free. Otherwise there is a small one-time fee.

It is a strong community. The general board is 50 percent “Is this a scam?” People share screenshots, research together, and save each other money.

X Algorithm Changes in 2024

Jonathan: The X algorithm is changing. Even if you are not on Twitter or X, this matters. It shows a shift in how platforms treat content and promotion.

Elon Musk bought X and has been making changes. The unique part is transparency. Leaders at X announce algorithm updates, which gives useful insight other platforms hide.

January: X began prioritizing informational and entertaining posts over negativity. Rage bait used to drive engagement. Now negative, controversy-driven posts can be downranked. Instead of “Traditional publishing is broken,” try “Here is how this plot twist changed my novel.” Identify a problem and propose a solution with an overall positive tone.

April and May: The War on Slop. One-liners, duplicate posts, engagement farming got hammered. X added a “Not interested” button, and that signal deranks posts. Enough not-interesteds and your posts do not get shown. Spammy promo blasts do not work.

Thomas: This makes the feed feel more human. Other platforms have become AI slop. X is steering a different direction.

Jonathan: June and August: X boosted small accounts and added more AI personalization. Big accounts were throttled to level the playing field and improve discovery.

Thomas: This moves away from the celebrity-heavy approach threads took. People want regular people, not just celebrities and politicians.

Jonathan: October and November: the Link Revival. X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, announced better algorithmic treatment for links to encourage journalists and writers to return. Previously, platforms punished outbound links. Now X is easing that, which helps authors linking to books.

Thomas: I still do not see many links, but it is better than before. It is good news for authors. Grok will soon run more of the algorithms, and you will be able to tell the system what you want to see more or less of.

Jonathan: Think of it like an aimbot. You still aim. It helps you hit. If you are promoting a book, use the aimbot. Optimize it.

Conference Tickets Note

Thomas: A quick note. Someone is selling a standard ticket to the Novel Marketing Conference on Author Media Social. Standard tickets are sold out. Gallery tickets are still available at novelmarketingconference.com. If you want a standard ticket, check the post on Author Media Social.

Zeitgeist: Why Marines Work in Fiction

Jonathan: The Marines turn 250. My birthday. I care more about this birthday than my real one.

People disapprove of me until they find out I am a Marine. I have been told I use words of death and have a death aura. Then it becomes “Thank you for your service.” We have the best propaganda machine outside Soviet Russia.

Marines make great characters because the public often sees us as larger-than-life. We do dangerous things with swagger. We exalt our culture without apology and hope it offends you. We fight hard, party harder, and our loyalty, once won, is hard to break.

As characters, Marines often work best as mentors and side characters rather than main characters, with exceptions. Battle: Los Angeles has a Marine staff sergeant as the main character, but he acts as shepherd. Most audiences are not Marines and do not speak the language. As side or mentor characters, Marines can be hard, wild, and even one or two dimensional, which is often the point. It boosts your protagonist.

Thomas: You can apply the Marine archetype in fantasy or sci-fi. Brandon Sanderson talks about dials for character likability: confidence and competence. Marines score high on both. The hero still needs to be competent at something at the start, even if it is not the final skill. Luke Skywalker is competent at fixing droids.

Purpose is the third dial. Confidence and competence describe Darth Vader too. His purpose is evil, which is why he is a villain. Marines have kept their brand around being the few, the proud, the ones who enjoy suffering and do hard things well. That competence has powered recruiting for generations.

Jonathan: Team Darth Vader. Hashtag Order 66.

Closing

Thomas: If you are an Obscure No More student, office hours start in about ten minutes. If you want lifetime access, Black Friday is coming. The monthly subscription does not go on sale, so you can join for a month anytime to attend Q and A. Learn more at obscurenomore.com.

Jonathan: Apparently it is a bad idea to give a Marine telekinetic powers fueled by hatred. I could choke someone across the room.

Thomas: Live long and prosper.

Jonathan: I feel the hatred. Happy birthday, Marines.