Daniel Willcocks' own nonfiction book got flagged and blocked from Draft2Digital — not because it was bad, not because it broke any rules, but because an automated system decided it looked too generic. The irony wasn't lost on him: a book written entirely by hand, blocked by a filter built to catch AI slop. There was no appeal process. Just a flat rejection email and a trail of customer support conversations to work through.

In this solo episode, Dan steps away from interviewing guests to talk through what's actually happening in his own author business right now — from a stalled flat sale eating his bandwidth, to relaunching The Self-Publishing Blueprint 2.0, to finally publishing a new solo horror novella, Cock, four years after the idea first came up on a beach at ChillerCon.

He gets candid about the current state of author marketing: why organic discovery on social media has become nearly impossible, why pay-per-click advertising is now close to essential, and the early results from his first real Facebook ad test selling his Twisted Tales series. He also shares an honest, no-polish look at submission life — including a full manuscript read request from Tor Nightfire that ultimately ended in rejection — and makes the case for writing in series as one of the clearest paths to sustainable author income right now.

🎙️ What we get into:

• Why The Self-Publishing Blueprint 2.0 got blocked from Draft2Digital and other platforms as flagged "generic AI content" — and how he got it unblocked
• Why there's currently no formal appeal process when a platform blocks your book, and what persistence actually looks like in practice
• The Deliciously Twisted Halloween Book Sale running 5–11 October, featuring Flame Tree Press, Raw Dog Screaming Press, Bloodbound Books, and dozens of indie authors
• The four-year origin story behind Cock, his new rural horror novella, from a joke on a beach at ChilliCon to a finished 37,000-word book
• Submitting The Nowhere Line to Tor Nightfire, getting a full manuscript read request, a kind rejection, and where the book stands now
• Early results from his first Facebook ad test promoting Jack and the Twisted Tales series — real numbers, not just theory
• Why he believes pay-per-click advertising has become close to essential for discoverability in 2026, not just a nice-to-have
• His argument for writing in series rather than standalones, based on what's actually working for authors he knows
• The ongoing mission behind Devil's Rock Publishing beyond being a personal imprint — including nearing £15,000 raised for charity since 2022
• An early-stage idea for a new kind of incubator publishing contract to help new horror writers get started

Links & Resources:

• Devil's Rock Publishing: https://devilsrockbooks.com
• Deliciously Twisted Halloween Book Sale: https://devilsrockbooks.com/halloween-2026
• Cock by Daniel Willcocks https://www.danielwillcocks.com/books/cock

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