Author: Kessily Lewel

As I mentioned last week, things have been quiet here, and I’m going to try to pull it together now that the new year has come. A lot has been going on, and my December’s are really busy in general. But I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone happy holidays as we head into the New Year.

My card theme this year was capybaras, and I’m fairly pleased with how they came out. What do you think?

When I make my cards in December, including my digital one, I pour all my hope and love into them. So, please carry those hopeful wishes with you into 2026.

2025 wasn’t the best year, for a lot of us. It was a struggle in so many ways. My author income took a hit for a couple of reasons. One, was just that I wasn’t able to put out as many books as usual.

Another, and this was the major factor, is that Ai generated slop has really changed the business. Almost every author I know has taken a hit. Many authors, photographers, cover designers, and models are simply quitting and leaving the publishing world because of the major income drops.

I remain committed to creating my own books. To hiring human editors. To buying art from actual artists, and photos from real photographers and real models. But it’s getting harder to climb to the top of the pile, when Ai scammers can upload three fully complete books per day–all created by AI.

None of them are worth reading, of course. It’s stilted, and formal, like an amateur trying too hard. It’s choppy and doesn’t make sense.

It’s Ai’s approximation of what people want, based on millions of stolen books that it’s churned up. But in a lot of ways it doesn’t matter if people discard them after a few pages. When they are enrolled in KU, the scammer gets paid by the page. So even if they read 20 pages and quit… the scammer still gets paid.

Not much, just pennies. But multiply that by 500 books and they can make a fairly decent income off of very little work.

There really isn’t anything we can do about it, except encourage people to avoid books with obvious AI features. There is a lot of pushback against AI created art, as there should be, but we’ll see if it’s enough.

In the meantime, I’m just going to keep trucking. I will continue to do what I can, and put out the books that come from my ideas, my experience, and my heart.

I appreciate all the support I get from readers. From the purchases and borrows that pay the bills, to the reviews that help encourage others to read them. And especially for those who talk about my books, share them, and recommend them. Thank you, so much, for your support.