Thursday, September 24, 2026 · Issue 1

What to make next

Diwali books need to go live by September 27, while Halloween printables continue to draw strong search demand.

Season ahead

October 1 to November 19

ADHD Awareness Month · Adopt a Shelter Dog Month · Breast Cancer Awareness Month · Domestic Violence Awareness Month · Down Syndrome Awareness Month · Italian American Heritage Month · National Book Month · National Bullying Prevention Month · Gratitude Month · Military Family Month · National Adoption Month · National Native American Heritage Month

News for creators

Self-Publishing Advice (ALLi)

Amazon cuts KDP weekly uploads to two titles

Amazon has reduced the number of titles that can be uploaded through KDP each week to two titles per format. The Self-Publishing Advice Center says the prior limit was ten titles and notes that the earlier restriction took effect last year.

The Verge: Creators

YouTube builds AI tools that steer creators

YouTube announced new AI-powered creator tools at its annual Made on YouTube event, including features that help creators decide what to make and how to improve their work. The company is expanding on tools it first introduced in 2025, and the new system is aimed at helping creators reach more viewers.

Printful Blog

Printful pits DTF against screen printing

Printful compares DTF printing with screen printing for clothing brands and print on demand sellers. The guide says the two methods differ in design complexity, cost per order, and material compatibility, and it explains how to choose between them.

Printful Blog

Printful compares DTF with sublimation on fabric

Printful explains how DTF printing and sublimation differ in method, fabric use, and end goals. The guide says DTF transfers a design from film to fabric, while sublimation turns ink into gas and bonds it directly with fibers.

Written Word Media

Spotify opens audiobook uploads to self-publishers

Spotify for Authors now lets self-published authors upload audiobooks directly to Spotify and manage them in their own catalog. The upload process is described as straightforward for authors who already have their cover, audio files, and book information ready.

The Daily Bicker: Trump blocks CNN and Politico from White House coverage; Trump and Xi summit stirs Taiwan, trade, and AI debate; Zelenskyy speech renews debate over Ukraine support

Creator money report: Etsy share price falls 6.40% over 1 day while Shopify rises 1.98%

Creator style report: Art Deco Halloween designs in Indian Yellow for studio makers

Trend of the day

Halloween

Halloween is a seasonal motif built around costumes, carved pumpkins, black cats, bats, ghosts, candy, and haunted houses. Its modern form draws from older Celtic and Christian traditions, later shaped by neighborhood trick or treating, party decor, and fall rituals in the United States. People draw and buy it because it supports family activities, classroom projects, party supplies, and seasonal home decor, while also giving buyers a familiar way to mark October.

It sells at the peak in October, and the peak is one month ahead, which leaves room for fresh Halloween content that can still reach buyers before the holiday window closes. The best openings right now are Halloween coloring pages, pumpkin patch scenes, cute ghost stickers, and black cat shirt graphics, because each of those fits gifts, classroom use, and seasonal decor. With a six week KDP lead, a book can still publish in time if it is prepared now, and with a three week shirt lead, apparel can still reach the market if production starts immediately.

Five listing titles

1. Halloween Coloring Pages for Kids and Adults
2. Cute Ghost Halloween Sticker Sheet
3. Black Cat Pumpkin Patch Shirt Design
4. Haunted House Fall Activity Book
5. October Halloween Decor and Craft Printables

Use original pumpkins, ghosts, cats, bats, candy, and haunted house imagery, and avoid any logos, character likenesses, or recognizable franchise elements.

Climbing keywords

Ten phrases gaining ground

Color of the day

Indian Yellow takes its name from the pigment once imported to Europe from India, a luminous transparent color that painters used widely in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its warm golden tone suits fall and summer products, from stationery and art prints to apparel and home decor. The shade works especially well in Art Deco designs and in Halloween themed pieces, where its glow reads as candlelight and harvest gold. Indian Yellow pairs naturally with Indigo Dye for contrast and with Linen for a soft, grounded background. Makers building for ADHD Awareness Month, Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, or National Book Month can use the pairing to give covers, cards, and stickers a warm and legible look.

Art style of the day

Art Deco

France, then worldwide, 1920s to 1930s

Art Deco is named after the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, although the short name came into common use only in the 1960s. The style shaped architecture, furniture, jewelry, fashion, and graphic design between the two world wars. Well-known examples include the Chrysler Building of 1930 in New York and the travel posters of the French designer A. M. Cassandre. It drew on Cubism, the machine age, and ancient Egyptian and Aztec ornament.

Art Deco favors symmetry, stepped forms, sunbursts, chevrons, fan shapes, and strong geometric borders. Palettes pair black or deep navy with gold, cream, and jewel tones such as emerald and teal. Typography is tall, thin, and geometric. On printed goods it reads as glamorous and formal, and it suits wedding stationery, invitations, book covers, and gold foil accents.

What to make

Book. For the family who hosts the whole street on October 31: an 'Art Deco Halloween' guest book with gold geometric party pages each visitor signs before they leave with their candy.

Shirt. For the dad who walks the block in the cold October wind: a heavyweight hoodie printed with 'Pumpkin Patrol' in gold Art Deco lettering across the chest.

Digital. For the host printing decorations the week before the party: a 'Golden Ghouls' printable kit with Art Deco invitations, banners, and place cards in Indian Yellow and indigo.

Ten more of each for Subscribers

Weird niches rising today

1. Warhorse archaeology

A coloring book with fortress walls, tablets, and horse remains rendered as line art.

2. Emu escape humor

A sticker pack with a sprinting emu, motion lines, and comic captions.

3. Monet repetition art

A guided journal with page prompts for painting the same scene across seasons.

4. Candy corn satire

A shirt with exaggerated candy corn faces and a joke headline.

5. Día memory journals

A remembrance journal with altar prompts, candle motifs, and family-memory pages.

6. Fat bear voting

A die-cut sticker sheet with chunky bear silhouettes and ballot-style labels.

7. St Francis pet cards

A prayer card set with pet silhouettes and simple blessing text areas.

Thought of the day

If there is no struggle there is no progress.

Frederick Douglass West India Emancipation speech, Canandaigua, New York

Joke of the day

What did the tree say when autumn came?

Leaf me alone.

Business note

Taking responsibility for work that is not your fault

Seth Godin argues in his post "Responsibility, fault, blame and shame" that responsibility, fault, blame, and shame are four separate things, and that adults take responsibility for outcomes even when the cause was not theirs. He adds that shame is the destructive force in that group and that it can be declined.

A seller of printables can apply this by treating a slow month or a failed listing as something to own rather than explain away, then adjusting the product line in response. A planner maker whose spring-themed journal did not sell can rebuild the same interior around a summer theme and relaunch it under a new cover, which turns a disappointing result into a second product without blaming the market.

Source: Seth's Blog, Badge vs Scoreboard

Puzzles

Puzzles to play on the page

Tanguess, Teeny Crossword, maze, Sudoku, word search, and word wheel. Today's word search is on Halloween, and each puzzle has a printable page and its answer on the web edition.