Welcome to the Creative Pen podcast. I'm Joanna Penn, thriller author and creative entrepreneur,

bringing you interviews, inspiration and information on writing, publishing options and marketing ideas for your book.

You can find the episode show notes, your free author blueprint and lots more information at thecreativepen.com.

And that's Penn with a double N. And here's the show.

Hello creatives. I'm Joanna Penn. And this is episode number 741 of the podcast, and it is Thursday the 7th of March,

2024, as I record this early, as I am off to 20 bucks Sevilla in the south of Spain.

So in today's show, I have an interview with Becca Syme about dealing with change in the indie author community,

shifting business models and how to

navigate the splintering of options, as well as dealing with how fast things are changing with

generative AI and some practical ways to stay resilient. And also why we are both intending to

stick around and help surf this wave of change in the author community.

Now, Becca is always great to talk to, so that's coming up in the interview section.

In Publishing Industry News, Cobo launches Cobo Plus in Ireland and South Africa,

which is two more countries where readers and listeners can use the subscription program to try new authors.

And remember, the best part for us is that you don't have to be exclusive to take part.

So, as I've said, many times, I think subscription programs are fine and they're great for readers and they're part of the business models that many people have now, but I don't like the exclusive one.

I think exclusivity is just in general, annoying.

So there we go.

Covo Plus now in more countries.

Also this week, and this isn't really about indie authors, but I was fascinated. So the launch this

week of author's equity, which as reported by publishing perspectives, links in the show notes as

ever. So this is a new publishing company committed to reshaping the relationship between

...