Alida Winternheimer dropped by the show today to fill in for Bryan as she and Jim took on the top tips and news of the week. After giving props to this week's featured patron, P.G. Kassel and his book Black Shadow Moon ( http://www.pgkassel.com ), they took a stab at tips related to editing, finances, and marketing methods worth modeling. The subjects of the news stories included Shelfari, today's marketing trends, finding your voice, Amazon's new two-tier quality control system, and Hugh Howey's advice on how to be a writer. 

Using their +1 charm podcast mics, Jim and Bryan took on the latest in self-publishing news and tips. After giving props to their latest patrons, Spider McGee and his book Monkey Justice ( http://bit.ly/secretjim ) and John Keller's How to Drive Your Next Car Deal ( http://bit.ly/drivedacar ), the dual dynasty covered tips on front matter, effective content, and BookFunnel. The Top 5 News included stories on international ebook-reading, a new feature for Amazon's Echo device, Wizards of the Coast's D&D self-publishing platform, the effectiveness of book promotion sites, and the parallel paths of trad and indie publishing. This week's Question of the Week is "Have book promotion sites become less effective for you? If so, how do you plan to use them in your future marketing?" 

The lab segment has returned! J. Thorn dropped by the show to compare his recent results between a successful Facebook ad campaign and a BookBub for his box set. Check out the infographic on our website! After giving props to their latest patron Anthony A. Kerr and his book The Dragon Rustler ( http://bit.ly/dragrust ), Jim and Bryan took on tips about book preview embedding, outsourcing, and idea generation. The Top 5 News included stories on more Amazon title culling, the "secret sauce" of marketing, Pottermore's big change, reactive editorial selections, and the sale of Author Solutions. This Week's Question of the Week: "Why do you think Penguin sold Author Solutions? Will the Author Solutions' new owner expand or retract the company's reach and why?" 

It's our best show of the year (so far)! After Jim responded to a counterpoint about his standby Amazon competition argument, and Bryan drew a winner for the book description giveaway, the astute authorpreneurs chatted KDP ads, BookBub's new feature, and an audiobook ad trick. They also re-featured patron Crissy Moss and her book Witch's Sacrifice ( http://bit.ly/witchsac ). News stories this week included how the publishing industry really works, the Authors Guild's call for contract changes, Joe Konrath's 2016 resolutions, the importance of used book stores, and several pundit predictions for 2016. This week's Question of the Week: What are your predictions for 2016? If your predictions come true, how will your author business change throughout the year?