Self-Publishing with ALLi

David Somerfleck is a speculative fiction author and poet whose career spans journalism, digital marketing, politics, and teaching. He discusses the life experiences and personal losses behind his dystopian novel, One Grain of Sand, set in an intensely divided America of 2096. He also explores writing in Portugal, marketing a genre-blending thriller, and pursuing a trilogy later in life.

Authors’ biggest SelfPubCon questions reveal a hunger for smarter newsletter strategies and timely copyright registration before fees rise. Audible experiments with letting readers converse with Dracula and explore stories interactively. A key market-dilution study has been withdrawn from an OpenAI copyright case, while Books by People launches a certification system for human-written books.

Maria Doyle, learning strategist and author with 30+ years in education, discusses making nonfiction more interactive and useful. She explores QR codes linking to quizzes and resources, adapting visual content for audio, and using diagnostics to guide readers. She also shares ideas for retail, direct, and bulk distribution, strategic book gifting, and turning a book into a powerful business card.

Can AI handle an author’s book marketing? This lively Q&A explores using Claude and ChatGPT for ads, metadata, captions, and trend reports. It also covers business banking, tax IDs, accountants, Goodreads giveaways, preorder timing, bookstore listings, and the mysterious summer “time of great forgetting.”

Audiobook listening is booming, with fans often buying the same book in print, ebook, and audio formats. The discussion explores why human narrators still shape discovery, whether audiobooks are replacing social media scrolling, and how new Smashwords preorder tools could boost launches. It also examines AI’s growing impact on ghostwriting and the divide between quick assignments and deeply researched books.

Book marketing is changing fast, with AI, shifting platforms, and new paths beyond social media reshaping the author’s toolkit. Explore why email lists, strong packaging, print, audio, direct sales, and in-person connections still matter. The discussion also covers personalized launch plans, sustainable promotion, premium editions, and using AI to streamline the work without losing the human touch.

Liz Harris is an award-winning British author of 30 novels, best known for historical romance. She shares how law, teaching, travel, and deep research shaped stories set from Ladakh to 1880s Scotland. She discusses romance, publisher conflicts, the creative freedom of self-publishing, practical marketing routines, and why she protects her indie rights while working with traditional publishers.

A look ahead at SelfPubCon 2026, with Jane Friedman, Kickstarter crowdfunding, local marketing, and hands-on support for indie authors. The Written Word Media survey tracks earnings, backlists, series, and genre trends. Plus, OpenAI challenges a contentious study about AI-generated books and market dilution in court.

On the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, host Howard Lovy talks to poet and editor Anna Davidson about the art of editing poetry. They discuss what editors look for in a poem, why every word, line break, sound, and even blank space matters, and how editors can help poets strengthen their work without losing their individual voice. Anna also explains why trust between poet and editor is so important and how indie poets can find the editorial support that best fits their work. Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of 2,000+ blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. We invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. About the Host Howard Lovy is an author, developmental editor, and writing coach with a long career in journalism and publishing. He works with writers at many stages of their careers, with a focus on helping them develop their ideas and strengthen their work while preserving their unique voices. He lives in Northern Michigan. About the Guest Anna Davidson is an editor, editorial trainer, writer, and poet who publishes under the name A. K. Davidson. She studied modern languages at the University of Oxford and has worked in trade book publishing for three decades. Her past in-house roles include head of editorial management at Faber & Faber and publishing manager at DK Books. Anna writes poetry and fiction as A. K. Davidson. Her poems have appeared in Good Housekeeping, Pennine Platform, and other magazines, and her debut collection, Poetry for Life and Other Chronic Conditions, is available from all good bookshops. Anna is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading and a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors and the Society of Authors. She runs the Writer Meet Editor community on Substack, which offers information and connection for writers and book editors across traditional and indie publishing. For more information, visit Writer Meet Editor or The Right Word.

Amazon slashes KDP’s weekly upload limit from ten titles to two per format amid concerns over AI-generated books. A new study puts AI detector Pangram under the microscope, while SCBWI tightens its rules, asking award entrants to document the human creative process behind their work.