{"podcast":{"title":"The Difficulty","slug":"the-difficulty-1194248","podcast_index_feed_id":1194248,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/leading-human/","website_url":"https://chadprevost.substack.com/podcast","image_url":"https://substackcdn.com/feed/podcast/7987388/484968f857d3780a5b1b04e704c35b33.jpg","author":"Dr. Chad Prevost","episode_count":275,"summary":"Exploring descent and return through psychology, literature, and lived experience. Essays, poetry, stories for those navigating transformation.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-13T16:17:58.066153+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-difficulty-1194248"},"episode":{"title":"The Free Lunch Is Ending: Three Publishing Stories Worth Your Attention","slug":"the-free-lunch-is-ending-three-publishing-stories-worth-your-attention","published_at":"2026-05-14T09:55:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-difficulty-1194248/the-free-lunch-is-ending-three-publishing-stories-worth-your-attention","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-difficulty-1194248","url":"https://chadprevost.substack.com/p/the-free-lunch-is-ending-three-publishing","audio_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/197132556/b6479e15ceb135f1d45cda85a1264b8f.mp3","summary":"If you're an indie writer paying attention to what's happening in publishing right now — this week was a tell. Three stories landed inside seven days. Each one pointed at the same answer.Episode 5 of The Difficulty — the first publishing-news episode in the new \"How\" lane. This week:— Audible's ACX royalty model is being discontinued. Authors must enroll in the new pooled, consumption-based model by year-end. Brandon Sanderson called this out back in 2024; Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur is openly skeptical. Same playbook Spotify ran for music and KU ran for ebooks. Now it's audiobooks.— Publishing.com hit with a $1.5M FTC settlement — alleged misleading income claims and undisclosed incentivized testimonials. The publishing industry is being told publicly that some of the loudest \"publish-your-book-and-get-rich\" programs were misleading. Personal aside: I came close to laying out $6K to one of these a few years back. I'm glad I didn't.— Inkers Con runs May 30 – June 12 ($250, fully online). Working authors learning from each other in real time. Worth knowing about even if you don't go.The throughline: in a week where platforms got less predictable AND shady programs got FTC'd, the answer was the same answer indie writers have been circling for a decade. Direct audience. Real community. Owned email list. Less platform dependency.I share what I'm doing about it in real time — including how the Goodreads giveaway for Iris Blackwood pulled nearly 3,000 entrants, and the moment I almost didn't release Iris #1 as an ebook (and what changed my mind).—GO DEEPERFriday's Working Publisher Substack post extends this episode with sources and analysis:→ chadprevost.substack.com — search \"The Free Lunch Is Ending\"—CHAPTERSThree stories, same answerAudible's royalty pivotPublishing.co…","meta_description":"If you're an indie writer paying attention to what's happening in publishing right now — this week was a tell. Three stories landed inside seven days. Eac…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":817,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-difficulty-1194248/episodes/the-free-lunch-is-ending-three-publishing-stories-worth-your-attention/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-difficulty-1194248/the-free-lunch-is-ending-three-publishing-stories-worth-your-attention.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}