Substack Breach: Author Information Compromised

This week, TikTok is officially back, but the algorithm retrain could scramble BookTok discoverability for months. We’ll unpack what changed, why your reach might look weird, and what smart authors should be watching right now.

Also in this episode and on the blog.

• The massive hack that quietly turned your email address into a scammer magnet

• Amazon’s surprising DRM update that now lets readers download your books as PDFs

• Why Bible sales just hit a 21-year high while HarperCollins’ profits slipped

• ChatGPT’s new ad model that targets users based on their writing conversations

Plus, Brandon Sanderson’s viral speech arguing that authors are the art and why that idea matters in an AI-saturated industry.

And finally, we’ll look at the Super Bowl halftime shows and what that cultural split reveals about the readers who are buying books right now.