Baby...

I have been working on something that brings together several parts of what we are building at Oasis Builders. Lila and the Sleeping Seed is the first book in the new Backyard Nature Stories series, and the Kindle edition is now available for preorder. At first, it is a story about a little girl planting a bean seed. Underneath that simple story, Lila begins learning that caring for a living thing does not mean controlling it. Sometimes we help. Sometimes we observe. Sometimes we wait. The heart of Book 1 is patience, supported by trust, curiosity, compassion, grace, and thoughtful care. The larger goal of Backyard Nature Stories is to create stories that teach both the child and the adult reading with them. Each book will combine a natural learning experience with a deeper value: - Book 1: Patience — germination, observation, helping without forcing - Book 2: Generosity — seed saving, continuity, and sharing - Book 3: Kindness — friendship, compassion, and learning across generations - Book 4: Responsibility — caring for living systems - Book 5: Belonging — seeing how soil, plants, wildlife, food, family, and community connect Those later values will remain flexible as the stories grow naturally from Lila's experiences. The child gets the adventure. The grown-up sees something deeper. They discover it together. Lila and the Sleeping Seed releases September 21. Kindle preorder: https://amzn.to/4gvDsEZ As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. A special Thank you to @Krista Brea and @Nick Nebelsky for their teaching and motivation to pull me through. What value would you most like to see Lila explore in a future story?

Lots of changes have been coming down the pipeline lately when it comes to audiobooks and Audible, and I’m still feeling out what some of these changes are going to mean for us as authors. But when I logged into my Amazon Ads account today, I noticed something NEW… 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀. This officially rolled out in the U.S. at the end of August, and authors — including ACX creators — can now advertise Audible titles using both 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗱𝘀. Before this, authors could only directly advertise their print and digital book ASINs. Personally, I’ve never really 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 to advertise my audiobooks separately. I would run Amazon Ads to my paperback books, and readers could see that an audiobook version was available and simply choose that format instead. And that strategy has worked pretty well for me. But now we have another option. You can add the audiobook format into new or existing campaigns alongside your paperback and ebook. One thing I find particularly interesting is that Amazon says this will also help with 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀-𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴. So if someone clicks on an ad for one format of your book but ends up buying another format, that sale can show up in your campaign reporting. That could give us a much clearer picture of how our Amazon Ads are actually contributing to sales across paperback, ebook 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸. Amazon says we’ll also be able to track the usual metrics like impressions, clicks and attributed conversions. ⚠️ 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲: Right now, Amazon says audiobook advertising for authors is available in the 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀, and you need to have your pen name claimed through Amazon Author Central before you can begin advertising. I’m definitely going to be playing around with this because audiobooks have been a significant part of my publishing business, and I’m curious to see whether directly advertising the audio version actually moves the needle — or whether I’m better off continuing to advertise the paperback and letting readers choose their preferred format.

𝗪𝗘 𝗛𝗜𝗧 #𝟮𝟱! First, I just want to say 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝘂𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘄𝗲𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲. I truly didn’t expect us to get this far this quickly. In fact, when I decided to close the group to new free members, I thought it might slow things down a little… but you proved me completely wrong. 😂 The group has actually been showing up 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿. Engagement is going up, conversations are growing, and people are continuing to comment, share, support each other, and bring real value into the community. Because of all of that, we just hit another huge milestone: #𝟮𝟱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗿𝘆! 🎉 At this point, I don’t really have a specific reason why we 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 to hit Top 20… but now I’m curious. 😂 𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝟮𝟬? Thank you to everyone who has been showing up, commenting, engaging, sharing wins, dropping gems, helping other members, and simply being present here. Every bit of activity helps this community continue to grow, and I appreciate you being part of it. ❤️ Also, a quick reminder that the 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟳𝘁𝗵. Right now, you can lock in a 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 $𝟰𝟵 and get access to the 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗞𝗶𝘁 included with your membership. ❤️❤️Premium members already have access to the Author Success Kit at no additional cost. If you’ve been thinking about upgrading, now is the time before the founding offer disappears. 👉 𝗨𝗣𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗗𝗘 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥 $𝟰𝟵 Now… 𝗹𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗶𝗳 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝘁 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝟮𝟬! 👀🔥

Share whatever you’re working on or proud of right now. This community is full of creators, authors, and entrepreneurs, and sometimes the best thing we can do is help each other get a little more visibility. 💡 𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗦 𝗢𝗡 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘: • Yourself and what you do • Your Skool community • A book you're writing or recently published • A project you're building • A shoutout to another member • A video, post, or resource • Affiliate links (yes, those are allowed) The goal is simple: help our members get seen. Just one request so this stays valuable for everyone. 👉 𝟭 𝗥𝗨𝗟𝗘: If you share something, please also leave a thoughtful or helpful comment on someone else’s post. Support goes both ways, and when we all participate, the whole community benefits. Now let’s see what everyone is building 👇