Tools & Tips to Maximize Your Publishing Potential
IN THIS ISSUE:
What's News: We have a newsy issue this month. We start by providing information on the the Bartz v. Anthropic class action lawsuit. Next, we share exciting sales data from the Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale. We then provide a link to our our latest, just-released how-to video and we conclude the section by updating you on a change of plans for the D2D Print Summer Invitational.
Upcoming Events: A schedule of dates and events you should know.
Indie Bestseller Lists: July 2025's top 10 lists for Fiction and Nonfiction in ebook and print.
What's News
Bartz v. Anthropic: As you may have heard or read in the news, Judge William Alsup ruled that a class action case against the AI company Anthropic can move forward.
If you believe your copyrighted work has been unlawfully downloaded by Anthropic, you have the opportunity to submit information to the plaintiffs' attorneys in Bartz v. Anthropic, one of the copyright class action lawsuits involving AI.
The court found that Anthropic infringed authors' and publishers' copyrights by downloading millions of books from the pirate websites Library Genesis (“LibGen”) and Pirate Library Mirror (“PiLiMi”) to train their AI model, and certified a class comprised of all rights holders of copyright-registered books downloaded by Anthropic from these sites.
The plaintiffs' attorneys are collecting contact information from all authors and publishers who may be part of the class to ensure that they receive official notices in the case going forward. By providing your contact information to the plaintiffs’ attorney’s, you’ll have the opportunity to opt out of the suit or to stay in the suit to receive your share of the award if the plaintiffs prevail. The attorneys have created a website where rights holders can confidentially provide this information.
How do I know if I'm part of the class action? What do I need to do?
To be eligible for the class action, your copyrighted books must have been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, have an ISBN or ASIN, and have been downloaded by Anthropic from pirate libraries LibGen (June 2021) and PiLiMi (July 2022).
Unfortunately, we’re unable to determine for you if your titles were unlawfully downloaded by Anthropic. If you suspect your books may have been unlawfully downloaded by Anthropic, we encourage you to visit the plaintiff attorneys’ website to provide the requested information. This is an important step in ensuring that as many authors as possible are compensated for the unauthorized use of their work to train AI.
In last month's Indie Advantage newsletter, which was emailed July 17th, we were thrilled to tell you that the Smashwords July Summer/Winter Sale was off to a sizzling start. As a refresher, we reported that sales for the first two weeks of the month-long sale were up 28% over the first two weeks of the 2024 Summer/Winter sale. We also reported the sale had logged the single highest sales day of any previous July sale, and the second highest sales day ever recorded in Smashwords' 17-year history.
Guess what?
When it was all over, the 2025 edition of the Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale was up 35% over 2024. Thirty-five percent!
But that's not all. First time buyers were up 60% over 2024, and those first-time buyers spent almost 3x more than first-time buyers in the 2024 Summer/Winter sale!
What's going on? It's you. You made it happen with your consistent promotions during the month. You told your readers where they could find great deals not only on your books, but on the books of your fellow authors. And of course, you provided readers with bargains on your fantastic, high-quality books. How else can we explain such a huge surge in new purchasers who are buying larger quantities?
We can't wait for the next sale, the Smashwords End of Year Sale, coming your way mid-December. Mark your calendar!
New How-To Video
We realize it's probably not everyday that you need to change a book's cover image or update the manuscript on a previously published book. And when you don't do something everyday, memory tends to fade.
That's why we created a short video to guide you through the update process for any of your previously published titles. You can find the video here on our YouTube channel. Let us know in the video's comments section if you like this sort of content and if there's a particular tool or subject you'd like us to cover.
And as a reminder, if you need a new cover for an upcoming release or a refreshed cover for an existing book, we have the world's largest marketplace of premade book covers on our BookCovers.com website!
Change of Plans
If you've been reading The Indie Advantage the last couple months, you'd be aware of our plans to announce the D2D Print Summer Invitational. We've decided to hold off on the program...for now.
The program was designed to add a little summertime fun and provide authors who published a new print book a shot at earning some really cool publishing perks. As we grow and add new members to the D2D team, we felt it would be the right call to place the program on hold while we staff up and get everyone up to speed.
We're sorry if you were looking forward to the program. We'll be sure to update you with any developments.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Join us live online every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. Central for our Self Publishing Insiders (SPI) show and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Topics range from craft, to marketing & promotion, to layout & design, to business strategy, avoiding burnout, and more. D2D team members will be right there with you in the comments, live, ready to answer just about anything.
The monthly indie bestseller lists are a compilation of the top-selling indie fiction and nonfiction titles, by revenue, for the most recently completed month. Sales data is compiled from across our entire global retail and library partner network. If an author has more than one title eligible for the list, only the highest performing title from that author will be included. This ensures high-performing titles receive the accolades they deserve, while providing up-and-coming authors the visibility they have earned.
We hope you enjoyed this issue of The Indie Advantage.
