Happy Indie-Pendence Day!
Even if you aren't in the US, today we celebrate indie authors everywhere.
Happy Fourth of July to my fellow Americans. And happy Saturday to everyone else! 🎉
Today we celebrate independence. And for authors? There has never been a better time to be independent.
I don’t say that lightly. I’ve been indie publishing for over a decade now, through the Kindle gold rush, through KU upheavals, through algorithm changes and platform pivots and entire tool categories becoming legacy overnight. I’ve watched this industry change so fast that the tools I recommended six months ago are already being replaced.
And yet. Here we are. One-person publishing studios, running entire empires from laptops and hotel rooms and, occasionally, poolside with an adult beverage. Charting our own course. Answering to no one but our readers and ourselves.
That’s independence. That’s worth celebrating. 🚀
🎁 My Gift to You
In the spirit of the holiday, I’m doing something I don’t normally do: giving away a paid Ginsu Steak Knife to everyone. 🔪Free and paid subscribers alike. No strings.
This is the Automated Author Audit Worksheet. It pairs with a deep-dive flagship article I have coming soon called Year of the Automated Author (the full how-and-why behind building your one-person publishing studio in 2026). That article is still in the queue, but the worksheet stands on its own, and I wanted you to have it now. I also did an entire YouTube Live show on this earlier this year. Watch it here.
Why now? Because it’s Independence Day. And the most independent thing you can do as an author is know where you stand.
📋 What’s in the Audit
The worksheet walks you through the 9 categories of the Author Studio Stack:
✍️ Writing
✂️ Editing
🔍 Research
🎨 Design
🎵 Audio
⚙️ Automation
📦 Publishing
📊 Analytics
📣 Marketing
For each category, you answer four honest questions:
What tool do you use? (Be specific. “My brain” counts.)
How long does it take?
What does it cost? (Subscription, freelance fee, opportunity cost.)
Could AI do part of this?
That’s it. Nine categories, four questions each. Takes about 20 minutes if you’re honest with yourself. Takes longer if you start having revelations, which you will. You don’t have to do any actual typing or writing. You can work through it with your fave AI and dictate the answers. Isn’t the future great?
🤔 The WIBBOW Check
After the audit, the worksheet includes my decision framework: WIBBOW, WIBBOB, or WIBBOTH. (There’s also WIBBOL- Would I Be Better Off Learning, which can quickly turn into procrastinating. Ask me how I know this. 😂)
If you’re spending three hours a week formatting books, and AI can do that in 20 minutes, the answer is yes. That’s three hours back for writing. Or living. Or swimming while your AI rewrites your novel. (I have done this. I have evidence.)
The audit tells you where the gaps are. WIBBOW tells you which gaps to close first. Together, they give you a real plan instead of a vague feeling that you should probably be doing more with AI.
You don’t need to automate everything. You need to automate the right thing first.
🚀 A Quick Update While I Have You
Speaking of independence: Fabio is back and helping me finish The White King, the book I’ve been avoiding for two years. We’re 65 chapters into a draft that will probably land around 150,000 words. The Big Ugly is becoming the Big Beautiful, and it’s happening because I’m eating the (AI) fruit while it’s in season. 🍉
My publishing empire is up and running. The secretaries are filing their briefs. The notes are queued. Fabio is drafting. And today, I’m taking a breath to celebrate with you.
We are indie authors. We don’t wait for permission. We don’t wait for gatekeepers. We build our own ships and we sail them ourselves.
Happy Indie-Pendence Day. Go download your audit, grab a sparkler (or a coffee, or a nap), and let’s keep building. 🎇
📥 Get the Worksheet
Download the Automated Author Audit Worksheet (Notion)
Download the Automate Author Audit Worksheet (PDF)
Print it, fill it in digitally, duplicate the Notion template, give to your fave AI, whatever works for you. Then come back and tell me what you found. I genuinely want to know.
The full Year of the Automated Author deep-dive is coming soon. Today, the worksheet is my holiday gift to you. All of you.
🤖 AI Credits:
Drafting: This article was built in partnership with my AI writing team in Cowork, who shaped my voice notes into a clean draft. The story, the opinions, and the holiday spirit are mine. The Automated Author Audit Worksheet was designed collaboratively. As always: human proofs AI, AI proofs human. The captain stays at the helm. 🎉