If you tried to publish your book, check your sales data, or manage your ads through Kindle Direct Publishing yesterday, there’s a good chance you encountered some technical difficulties. And even if you didn’t, if you’re in author and publishing circles on social media, you likely heard about the challenges other authors were facing.

A DNS error in Amazon’s Virginia data center caused an outage that affected tens of thousands of users, resulting in “problems [that] ranged from checkout and payment failures to incorrect or fluctuating prices appearing on product listings,” according to Business Insider. But Amazon is far from the only platform whose updates or outages can affect authors’ businesses. In May 2025, IAM author Heather Clement Davis talked about the importance of “building on your own land”—creating a foundation for your business that isn’t dependent on one platform and that you can control if technology changes.

Or in this week's case, if a faulty piece of code makes it harder for people to purchase your books from a certain retailer.

How Indie Authors Can Build Audience Engagement with Platforms They Actually Own
In a world of sudden TikTok bans, Facebook freezes, and constant shifts on social platforms, authors can’t afford to rely solely on third-party systems for audience engagement and revenue. While direct sales can be effective, this approach isn’t feasible for everyone. Indie authors require solutions that balance essential third-party tools
Indie Author MagazineHeather Clement Davis

This Week's Indie Author Magazine Articles

While a February article in The New York Times highlighted the controversy in the indie author space around using generative AI, advancements in agentic AI—which can execute multi-step tasks across multiple platforms—have prompted a second look at the ways authors can use the tools into their business. In this week’s Monday Close-Up, IAM publisher Chelle Honiker examines how authors are using AI today and how current conversations and pending legal cases may ripple out into the future.

What’s New with AI in 2026 for Indie Authors
AI technology has moved well past chatbots. Most authors have, too—just not in the direction you may think.
Indie Author MagazineChelle Honiker

Note: Indie Author Magazine, Indie Author Training, and our other sister sites maintain a neutral stance on artificial intelligence. In our coverage, we seek to provide an objective, informative take on the technology, and we encourage authors to make decisions about whether to use AI platforms based on their personal values and what’s best for their business.

Does your book have series potential? In this week’s installment of her yearlong series on launching a new pen name, “Author Inklings” columnist Susan Odev examines how to turn any book into a series without locking yourself, or your readers, into a complex saga. But just because you can keep the story going, should you—or will some books perform better if you let them stand alone?

Author Inklings: Does Your Book Have Series Potential?
In this installment of her yearlong series, columnist Susan Odev examines how to turn any book into a series without locking yourself, or your readers, into a complex saga. But when should you keep the story going, and when should you let it stand alone?
Indie Author MagazineSusan Odev

Teachings from Indie Author Training This Week

Webinar: “Design an author career that fits”

Are you even aware that you may be squeezing your writing life into someone else’s job description? You may be shocked to learn how much that can be adding unnecessary stress and overwhelm around your author career. Dr. Marla Albertie joined us this week to deliver an information-packed webinar on how to ensure your career is set up to best benefit YOU.

Using simple techniques and searching questions, she demonstrated how to complete a writing demand audit—and how to action what it shows you—to ensure that your career is actually the best fit for you, your aspirations, and your sustainable future.

You can access the replay here: https://webinars.indieauthortraining.com/talks/design-a-writing-career-that-fits/

More Indie Publishing News

Here’s a look beyond our pages at the latest headlines and happenings in the publishing world.

  • The Amazon outage Thursday afternoon was not the first disruption authors have experienced with the site; a similar outage to Amazon Web Services this past October also affected many authors’ webpages, sales data, and other parts of their businesses. Following the October 2025 AWS outage, New Shelves Books shared tips for what authors and publishers should keep in mind when reviewing their sales dashboards and reminded authors not to make business decisions based on data from this week. Read the publishing consulting company’s advice for authors and publishers following an outage here: https://newshelves.com/amazon-outage-account-issues-reporting-delays.

Anything we’ve missed that you think we should cover? Any topics or questions you’d like our team to explore? Let us know at feedback@indieauthormagazine.com. Your suggestion may just make it into an upcoming article.

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