Full transcript
0:00If you're an aspiring author or AI
0:02powered writer, this video is going to
0:04do two things for you. First, I'm going
0:06to pull back the curtain on exactly what
0:08I earned in December of 2025. This is a
0:10follow-up to my November 2025 video as I
0:14am trying to build my publishing
0:16business. And I'll show you where that
0:18money came from and where I screwed up.
0:20Now, second, I'm going to share five
0:22lessons since we're at the beginning of
0:24the year right now that genuinely
0:26changed how I think about writing and
0:28publishing and running my business and
0:30how I'm using them to make 2026 my best
0:32year yet. This is also going to be a
0:35little bit of a reflective uh video
0:38along with talking about my goals for
0:392026. So, if you want to write more
0:41books and make more income from your
0:43stories and use AI without losing your
0:46soul as a writer, uh stick around. If
0:49you don't know who I am, my name is
0:51Jason. I'm the nerdy novelist and I help
0:53aspiring authors to use AI to write more
0:55and better books without spending 10
0:57years staring at a blinking cursor and
0:59without sacrificing their creativity. In
1:00this video, I'll walk you through my
1:02income for last month and then go over
1:04the five big lessons that I'm taking
1:05into 2026 so you can steal what works
1:08and avoid my mistakes. So, let's start
1:10with the numbers and then we'll get into
1:11the mindset and strategy shifts. Okay,
1:14so uh we have the last two months since
1:16I've been tracking all of this data. Uh,
1:19I did another video going over
1:20November's
1:22income, so that's uh we won't go over
1:25that here. Uh, but 2025,
1:28uh, 12, aka December, is what we're
1:31going over today. And, uh, the first
1:33thing I start out with is the number of
1:35titles published because that's an
1:37important marker to be looking at. We
1:39got none in November, but a whopping 16
1:42in December, and I only worked for half
1:45of the month because I was on vacation
1:47with my family for the holidays. Now,
1:50this is a just technically true, okay?
1:53Uh I'm not going to I'm not going to
1:55sugarcoat this. Technically, I got 16. I
1:59consider it more like um 10 because
2:03first of all, there's only one flagship
2:05book in here. one just like full high
2:09content
2:11um book that I released that's in my
2:13fictional universe. It was a big
2:15release. I I did a a big thing about it
2:19or at least it's big for me. I don't
2:20have much of an audience yet on my email
2:22list, so I won't say it was a big
2:24release in terms of the money it made,
2:26but it was an important book, very
2:28foundational in my universe. So, I was
2:30really proud to get that out. And then I
2:33put out 12 books that were public
2:36domain. Okay? And technically those
2:39books were actually six books. Um that's
2:42why I consider myself to actually having
2:44done 10 books instead of 16 because what
2:47I did is I took these six public domain
2:49books and I created two versions of
2:51them. One was the original public domain
2:53book that had annotations on it and
2:55another was a modern pros version of the
2:58same book. So it read a little bit
3:00easier for a modern reader to understand
3:02what's going on. And so I basically took
3:05the same books and published two
3:06different versions of them. It was
3:08really easy to do and just gives me a
3:11some extra variety in what goes out. Um
3:15I get a trickle of money from all of the
3:18public domain books that I do, but given
3:20the effort that goes into them and uh
3:24which is not much, I can churn out a lot
3:26of these. they do kind of add up over
3:30time and so I'm going to be consistently
3:33putting out a lot more public domain
3:34books in the future. So that accounts
3:36for 12 of this number and then there are
3:38three more left to get to 16. And those
3:40were three non-fiction books that I
3:42published uh if you saw my videos about
3:45urban fantasy. I put out uh three books
3:48that are basically genre analyses. One
3:51of them is urban fantasy. One was urban
3:53fantasy with a male lead which is a
3:55slightly different genre and one is a uh
3:59one for vigilante crime thriller. So
4:02things like uh Jack Reacher and stuff
4:05like that. So I put out those those have
4:07done really well since I launched them.
4:09Uh I'm going to be putting out a lot
4:10more genre non-fiction books like that
4:14um because they're relatively easy for
4:16me to create
4:18uh with the setup that I've put
4:20together.
4:22um very very in-depth analyses of those
4:26books. But anyway, that's a total of 16
4:29books published in December of 2025. And
4:31like I said, I actually published these
4:34all before I went on vacation. So, I
4:37really did this in about like two two
4:38and a half weeks, which was uh awesome.
4:41All right, so the next category here is
4:44Amazon ads. This is my expenses. I'm
4:46only using Amazon ads to market my books
4:49at the moment. I will branch out to
4:51Facebook ads eventually as well, but
4:53right now I'm just trying to work with
4:55Amazon ads and figure those out. And I'm
4:57getting coaching from Brian Cohen right
4:59now on on that. Uh so I spent a little
5:02bit more than I did in November.
5:05Um about $120, not a whole lot. I'm
5:09still kind of building this. What I'm
5:11seeing so far is very promising, but
5:13it's not in the level of just like, oh,
5:15this is very clearly profitable,
5:18so I should like really increase my
5:21budget and just throw money at this
5:22thing. It's not quite at that level yet.
5:24We're still tweaking things and figuring
5:26things out. Uh, and I'm learning more
5:28about Amazon ads and all that goes into
5:30that. So, we're still cautious here with
5:32a fairly low budget of $120 for the
5:35month. But so far, that has actually
5:36done really well. You can see that my
5:38fiction revenue went up from $77 in
5:40November to $130 in December. That might
5:43not sound like much, but this is almost
5:46entirely a result of running these ads
5:49uh that it's increased. Now, these ads
5:51are also going to non-fiction. So, not
5:53all of this budget is resulting in this
5:55uh 130. But it's actually nice to know
5:58that if I subtract the Amazon ads from
6:01just the fiction, it's still technically
6:04profitable, although not by [laughter]
6:06much. Right. Uh, so that's that's just
6:09nice there. All right. So, non-fiction,
6:11I obviously do a lot better with my
6:13non-fiction, mostly thanks to you guys
6:14because my non-fiction is meant for
6:16authors and you guys are my ideal
6:18audience for those books. So, even
6:20though I don't market them very heavily
6:22on this channel, a lot of you do find
6:24them and pick them up. So, my
6:26non-fiction revenue is pretty good at
6:28560. Also, a little bit higher than it
6:31was last month or or in the month of
6:33November, I should say. So all
6:35altogether that's a decent bump.
6:38Obviously I'd like to see it grow even
6:40faster. But I this sort of thing as I
6:43understand it is a bit of a flywheel. It
6:45takes a lot of effort in the beginning
6:47but as you go along it gets easier and
6:49easier and grows more and more. All
6:51right. Now I did add in here audiobook
6:53revenue and I only have access to my
6:57report from November because Audible
6:59takes a while to report exactly what the
7:01revenue is. Uh, so I can only report on
7:04what I got in November, which was about
7:06$50. So about um little little less than
7:1010% of everything that I have here. I
7:12don't have a ton of audiobooks, but I do
7:14have a few. Um, and then I don't have
7:17anything for December yet, but I will
7:19make sure to update the spreadsheet next
7:20month when I'm doing it so we can kind
7:22of get a fair comparison. Um, but that
7:25leads to total revenue minus expenses of
7:29$5007 $70.93.
7:32It looks like less than this one, but
7:34that's just because we have the
7:35audiobooks. If I take away the
7:37audiobooks,
7:39um, you can see I did make $20 more this
7:42in December than I did in November. So,
7:44not a huge margin. And again, this is
7:47income minus expenses. So, this is
7:49taking into the account that I spent
7:51more on um Amazon ads. Um and then once
7:56we have the audiobook revenue for
7:59December, we'll have a better fair
8:00comparison there. So, as a few notes
8:02here for this month, um things are
8:05starting to see some promise. I do have
8:07a lot more that I want to publish. I
8:09want to start getting into a kind of
8:11rhythm with my publishing and that's
8:13going to to depend on what I'm starting
8:15to get a sense of what I can
8:17realistically put out while also
8:18managing my other businesses. And what I
8:21want to be able to do is put out two
8:23flagship
8:25uh novels. So like I I mentioned
8:27December had one, but I only worked half
8:29the month, so I think I could do two.
8:32Um, and then a
8:35smallish batch of maybe five, six
8:38different public domain books like I've
8:41did and a couple maybe maybe four of
8:45those genre analyses. I could probably
8:48do that like one per week essentially.
8:51Uh, maybe a few other things. Uh, I I
8:54really like the idea of being able to
8:56repurpose content. Uh, so taking my
8:58flagship books and creating like a young
9:00readers edition or a children's book
9:02edition or um, you know, other just
9:06supplemental books that could kind of
9:07tie in. I like that idea. I don't know
9:09if it's going to be that profitable, but
9:11I do know that with AI I can do a lot of
9:14that relatively painlessly.
9:17Um, so that's just that that's
9:19essentially the uh, report here. Now,
9:21the last note that I have here is that I
9:23expect to see much more success once I
9:26start publishing highly targeted books
9:27that are written to market. I currently
9:29have two series in the works that are
9:32very targeted with the right readers and
9:35everything. They're they're still
9:36stories that I have had in my mind for
9:38forever, but in doing some of the genre
9:41research that I'm doing, I have found
9:43ways to tweak them just slightly so that
9:46they work better for uh certain very
9:50specific genres. One is going to be an
9:53urban fantasy with a male protagonist.
9:55The other one's going to be a young
9:57adult medieval academy
10:00uh romanty.
10:02Uh that's how niche I'm getting. I know
10:04which books are the exact match to mine.
10:08And uh so so I have every confidence
10:11that once I start getting that dialed in
10:14to what the readers want, we're going to
10:17start seeing a lot more success with
10:20those books as they publish. And the
10:23wheels are rolling for that. But
10:24unfortunately, it'll be probably 3 or 4
10:26months before I'm able to start
10:27publishing any of that material just
10:29because it takes time. So, that's just
10:32the that's the only thing that I'm
10:33working that I'm waiting for. I really
10:36do expect that my revenue will start
10:37skyrocketing once I do that because I I
10:40will know how to mark market those
10:41better because they're much more uh
10:43written to market. So, all right, that's
10:45the money side. Now, let's talk about
10:47what actually created some of these
10:49results and the lessons that I've
10:51learned over the course of 2025. Now,
10:53I'm just starting this uh I've only been
10:55tracking this revenue over the last two
10:57months. Uh, but I've actually learned a
11:00significant amount in those two months.
11:03Uh, as well as a few other lessons I've
11:04learned before that. So, here are the
11:06five big lessons. Lesson one is to
11:08double down on generosity. In 2025, I
11:11noticed I had drifted away from what had
11:13originally helped this channel grow,
11:15which was being kind of stupidly
11:17generous. I was holding back on YouTube
11:20a little bit more, holding back with my
11:21email list and overoptimizing what
11:23should be free. Uh, and making things
11:26that used to be free just cost a slight
11:29amount. And, you know, I would justify
11:30that because by the fact that I was
11:32keeping out spammers, keeping out like
11:34people that are aren't really
11:35interested. You know, I wanted to get
11:37people in that were willing to fork over
11:40just a little bit at least in order to
11:43get high quality prospects. But I found
11:45that that was leading to a lot of
11:49I don't know just loss of goodwill I
11:51think with people. I just got this sense
11:53that I was sort of becoming the person
11:56that I hate which is that person who's
11:59always trying to uh squeeze money out of
12:03you. Um and once I started leaning back
12:06into generosity everything felt very
12:07better and started working better. So in
12:102026 I will be overcorrecting. You're
12:13going to see a lot more highv value
12:14freebies in both my publishing business
12:17for my fiction readers as well as this
12:19nerdy novelist story hacker business
12:21that you're involved in right now by
12:24watching this video. And in fact, in the
12:26description of this video, you'll find a
12:27link to some of my main prompts document
12:29that I actively use to write with AI and
12:30that is completely free. It's one of the
12:32tools I rely on daily and you can have
12:34it. So, generosity is the long game. The
12:38more I help writers win, the more my
12:39business grows, etc. Uh, and that's what
12:42I really want. Now, lesson two is to go
12:45back to basics. In 2025, I tried to grow
12:49my publishing business using strategies
12:51that worked great for my story hacker
12:53business, but unfortunately, they didn't
12:55translate. And meanwhile, I wasn't even
12:58consistently profitable on Amazon yet. I
13:00was trying to overshoot that and try to
13:03make something else work. So, my motto
13:05for 2026 is master the fundamentals.
13:08Amazon is basically a giant laboratory
13:10that tells you in real time what readers
13:12actually want. And if you can't get even
13:13moderately successful there, fancy
13:16strategies probably won't save you. So
13:18this year I'm focusing on dialing in my
13:21covers and blurbs and the categories
13:23that they go in, understanding my
13:25specific reader and niche, doing all of
13:27that genre research, testing, learning,
13:30adapting inside of Amazon until it's
13:32reliably profitable at least to a
13:34minimum amount like a couple couple
13:37grand a month. And then and only then
13:40will it make sense for me to layer on
13:42more advanced business practices that go
13:45outside of Amazon. And if you don't have
13:47an audience yet or you don't know how to
13:49reach the right readers, copying those
13:50advanced tactics from bigger brands is
13:52usually a distraction. So, let's go back
13:54to basics. Now, lesson three is to pay
13:57close attention to my intuition. There
14:01were a few strategies in 2025 that
14:03looked good on paper, but actually made
14:06me miserable in practice. And I kept
14:08trying to force them because like this
14:10is what you're supposed to do or like
14:12just think of the results you could get
14:13from this. But I was really dragging
14:15myself through the work, getting close
14:17to depressed often. And the moment I
14:19gave myself permission to stop some of
14:21those things and focus on something
14:22either more effective or more enjoyable,
14:26that depressive cloud lifted quite a
14:28bit. And so far, every time I've trusted
14:30that intuition, it's been a net positive
14:32for the business. It's certainly been a
14:34net positive for my mental health. So,
14:36in 2026, my rule is if a strategy
14:38chronically drains me and the data isn't
14:41clearly amazing, I'm allowed to quit it
14:43and pivot to something that aligns
14:45better with my skills, my energy, and
14:47the audience I'm working with. Now,
14:49lesson four is that work smart, working
14:52smarter is better than working harder,
14:54but doing both is lethal. Uh, I've had
14:58seasons where I've worked really hard on
15:00the wrong things. And I've had a seasons
15:01where I've overoptimized and tried to be
15:04clever instead of just putting in the
15:06reps. And the real unlock is doing both.
15:09Working smart is choosing the right
15:11problems. Like what moves the needle in
15:14my business? What actually helps writers
15:15get better and faster results? Uh, and
15:18then working hard is then attacking
15:20those few things with stupid
15:22consistency. So in 2026, I'm asking what
15:25are the one to three activities that
15:27actually grow both my publishing
15:29business and the story hacker business.
15:31And then I'm going to engineer my weeks
15:33so that I'm working on those most of the
15:36time and everything else has to fight
15:37for scraps. So working smarter and
15:40harder will always be superior than just
15:42working harder or just working smarter.
15:44Lesson number five is to follow what
15:46lights you up on purpose. One pattern
15:50that I've noted for myself is that the
15:52stuff that genuinely interests me
15:54usually ends up being the content and
15:56offers that people respond to the most.
15:59Uh my bestselling book right now is the
16:01plot module, which was entirely just
16:04something that I thought was cool uh
16:06that I wanted to work on and create and
16:09then I did and it's now my bestselling
16:11book. And more recently, I've had this
16:13real intense interest in trying to
16:15figure out what works on a genre level
16:18and essentially creating a plot module
16:20for each individual genre and focusing
16:23on creating the tools with AI to do
16:26analysis of different books to come to
16:28those conclusions. And those have
16:30resulted in the three genre analysis
16:32books that I've published so far. And
16:34there's going to be a lot more of them
16:36coming this year. And so far the
16:37reaction to those genre books has been
16:39really good considering they've only
16:41been out for a couple weeks. Uh so I'm
16:43really encouraged by that. And that's
16:45just another thing that's just me being
16:47a nerd, right? I'm the nerdy novelist.
16:49Like I'm just the things that I nerd out
16:51about it usually when I produce
16:53something with that usually results in
16:56something that people love. And that's
16:57partly because when I'm excited it it
16:59shows and the ideas are better, the
17:01teaching is clearer and people feel that
17:03energy. So, I've built a simple rule for
17:06myself, another one which is at least
17:0840% of what I work on has to be stuff
17:10that lights me up. That doesn't
17:12necessarily mean I ignore the boring and
17:14necessary pieces. Uh because every
17:16business has those. Uh it just means I
17:18intentionally stack my week so that
17:20there's always a big chunk of work that
17:21I'm genuinely excited about. And the
17:23side effect is that I show up more
17:25consistently, create better stuff, and
17:27you get more value. So, those are the
17:29five big lessons I'm taking from 2025
17:31into 2026. Double down on generosity. go
17:34back to basics, listen to your
17:35intuition, combine smart work with hard
17:38work, and make sure at least 40% of my
17:41work lights me up. And if that was
17:43helpful for you and you're serious about
17:45using AI to write more books, check out
17:47the description for that free prompts
17:49document I mentioned, as well as a link
17:51to join the waiting list for my
17:52membership if you want to join that as
17:54well. We uh we're going to be opening it
17:56up very soon. So, if you join the
17:57waiting list, you'll be the first to
17:58know. But let me know in the comments
18:00what's one lesson you're taking into
18:012026 as a writer. Maybe do any of the
18:04ones I mentioned resonate with you or is
18:06there something else that uh you were
18:08thinking about? Anyway, thanks for
18:10hanging out and I'll see you in the next