The Self Publishing Show

The Self Publishing Show is a long-running indie publishing conversation with a practical, in-the-trenches temperament. It is not polished into a neat lecture format, and that works in its favor. James Blatch and Sissy Mecca talk like people sorting through the week’s publishing arguments while still trying to get their own work done. Recent episodes lean hard into AI, especially the everyday reality of using tools like Claude and ChatGPT around writing, planning, advertising, translation, and professional development. The show is interested in what AI can do, but it is also wary of hallucinations, addictive product behavior, creative shortcuts, and the difference between serious use and superficial use. That tension gives the conversations some bite. One moment might be about a daily agenda workflow or a manuscript tool, and the next might become a broader argument about how authors should adapt when technology changes the job. The same grounded style carries into marketing topics. Amazon categories, author event strategy, discoverability, reader formation, and ad improvement all get treated as practical problems rather than abstract publishing theory. There is also a steady appetite for industry drama. The show talks about author backlash, TikTok discourse, London Book Fair chatter, romance market dynamics, and the way writers can suddenly find themselves in the firing line. It is conversational enough to include golf in Ireland, microphone fiddling, film adaptations, and jokes about names or accents. Then it usually snaps back to the business of books. That mix makes it useful for authors who want more than a checklist but less than a keynote speech. The recurring sponsor reads and casual openings are part of the texture, so impatient listeners may need to skip ahead. For writers who like hearing live opinions formed out loud, the show offers a useful pulse check on indie publishing’s current anxieties and opportunities.