I’m ditching my house, packing my life into a carry-on, and going full digital nomad. That feels like a weird way to open a publisher’s letter, but it’s the honest version of where my head is right now—and it connects to everything else happening at Indie Author Magazine this year.
More on that in a second. First, the news.
We’re Taking the Lead on Wide For The Win
Athenia Creative, IAM’s parent company, has officially stepped into the leadership role for Wide For The Win. If you’re not familiar, Wide for the Win is the largest community of wide (non-KU-exclusive) indie authors out there—19,000-plus members in the Facebook group alone, plus a growing community platform at wideforthewin.com.
This all happened at the Author Nation conference in the span of about 24 hours. (Never underestimate what a hallway conversation and a hotel bar can do.)
The community has always been about helping authors who distribute across multiple platforms instead of going exclusive with one. That mission hasn’t changed, but the infrastructure behind it and the team keeping it running have.
I helped the Wide for the Win team migrate their community platform off Circle and onto FluentCommunity, the same system powering Indie Author Training, and we’re already building more courses and resources specifically for wide authors. If you’ve been lurking in the Facebook group and want to see even more goodness—including a free subscription to this very magazine—head over to WideForTheWin.com.
One more perk: We convinced the entire board to stick around as a full advisory team. That was a non-negotiable for us. We don’t want to change the spirit of Wide for the Win. We just want to add to the already great conversations with new partnerships and features.
Indie Author Training Got a Full Redesign
Speaking of FluentCommunity: indieauthortraining.com looks completely different than it did two months ago. The entire community campus has been rebuilt to match the look, feel, and functionality of the rest of our ecosystem.
I know “redesign” can be a scary word. Nobody wants to relearn where their stuff is. But this wasn’t change for the sake of change. The old layout made it hard to find courses, the discussion spaces felt disconnected from the learning material, and the mobile experience was rough. That is all fixed. The new setup puts your courses, your community conversations, and your fellow authors in the same space—because that’s how learning actually works. You take a class, you have questions, you talk to someone who just went through the same thing.
If you haven’t logged in recently, go poke around. It’s the same URL, same login. Just better.
I’ll Be in London and Ireland Next Month
March is packed.
On March 11, I’ll be at the Indie Author Learning Lab during London Book Fair week. This is an Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) event at Kensington Town Hall, and it’s not a typical conference. No rows of chairs and distant panelists. It’s an immersive workshop, with small-group mentoring, breakout exercises, and hands-on work. I’ll be alongside Orna Ross, Joanna Penn, Sacha Black, and a lineup of people I genuinely admire. Orna put together a quick video explaining the format if you want to see what makes it different.
Then, on March 19, I’m heading to Ireland’s Publishing Show to present “AI-Powered Social Media Automation: Build Your Content System in 60 Minutes.” This is the stuff I geek out about: showing authors how to set up a content system that actually runs without you babysitting it every day. Sixty minutes, real tools, real setup. No vague “you should really be on social media” advice.
If you’re going to be at either event, come say hi. I’ll be the one who looks slightly jet-lagged and overly enthusiastic about automation.
About That Digital Nomad Thing
I’ve spent the past five years building this company from a home office in Texas. The magazine, the training platform, the conferences, Wide for the Win, the tools directory, the partner relationships, all came from the same desk, in the same house, in the same zip code.
That’s about to change.
I don’t have all the details nailed down yet, and I’m not going to pretend the transition is simple. Running a media company from a laptop in a different time zone every few weeks requires a level of systems and automation that, fortunately, I’ve been building for exactly this reason. (Turns out all those years of obsessing over workflows wasn’t just a personality quirk. It was a business plan.)
I’ll share more as the move takes shape. The important part: Nothing changes for you. The magazine ships. The training continues. The communities stay active. The team keeps running. I’ll just be doing my part from slightly more interesting locations.
Where This All Leads
2026 is the year everything we’ve been building in pieces starts working together. The magazine drives the conversation. Training gives you the skills. Wide for the Win gives wide authors a real home. The tools directory helps you find what you need. And it all connects.
I didn’t plan for this to all converge at once, but here we are. It’s a lot. I’m a little terrified. Mostly I’m excited.
Thanks for being here. Genuinely.
—Chelle
