Self-Publishing with ALLi

Orna Ross, director of the Alliance of Independent Authors, talks to ALLi News and Podcast Producer Howard Lovy about upcoming additions and changes to our twice-weekly family of podcasts. We took a little more than a month off to collect feedback from listeners and we're coming back with new hosts, new shows, improved content, all with the same commitment to giving you the news and advice you need as independent authors. Have a listen and learn what's new! Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center: https://selfpublishingadvice.org, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at http://allianceindependentauthors.org. Now, go write and publish! About the Hosts Orna Ross launched the Alliance of Independent Authors at the London Book Fair in 2012. Her work for ALLi has seen her named as one of The Bookseller's "100 top people in publishing". She also publishes poetry, fiction and nonfiction, and is greatly excited by the democratising, empowering potential of author-publishing. For more information about Orna, visit her website: http://www.ornaross.com Howard Lovy has been a journalist for more than 35 years, and now amplifies the voices of independent author-publishers and works with authors as a developmental editor. Howard is also a freelance writer specializing in Jewish issues whose work appears regularly in Publishers Weekly, the Jewish Daily Forward, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and Longreads. Find Howard at howardlovy.com, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Hello, everyone. A short broadcast from us today. It's Orna Ross here, director of the Alliance of Independent Authors, just here to tell you that we are taking a short production break. We will be back at the beginning of September. We are doing a major upgrade of the podcast, as well as the general Self-Publishing Advice Center, from our ratings pages, where we bring you the best and the worst of the self-publishing services out there, the awards page, where we look at and rate the awards and prizes that are available to indie authors these days, and all our advice pages. We're going to be making the site a lot more user-friendly, and we're going to have a section just for beginners and navigation, generally, just making it easier for you to find what you need. There's a huge amount of information on our website, as you know, between our almost daily blogs, our weekly podcasts, and all the different information in video, in audio, and in text, that we try to bring you about the fast-changing world of self-publishing, and while that's great to have all that information there, we are aware that extracting the information that you need, when you need it, is what the Advice Center will be designed to do, because we know that's what you need. The last thing you need is so much information that you feel overwhelmed. We're operating, going forward, on a just-in-time principle rather than just-in-case. So, rather than you just accumulating all the information and knowledge that is available around self-publishing, the idea is that you'll be able to drop in to just the information that you need at the point in time when you need it, and it will be organized across the seven stages of the publishing process: editorial, design, production, distribution, marketing, promotion, and rights licensing. So, it will all be there at your fingertips. That is the hope anyway. And as part of that, as I said, we will be revamping the podcast. We have new team members coming on board who we'll be talking to about all the various topics. Now, currently we are organized on the podcast around a beginner's session, an advanced session, our Member Q&A, and Self-Publishing News. So, they're the four categories, and of course, our interviews with our inspirational indie author members, which happen every second week on a Sunday. So, the podcast comes out on a Friday, one of those four streams, and on a Sunday, we do the interviews. We're going to shake that up, and the reason I'm here really is to ask you what you would like us to be providing on podcast. So, as I said, we'll have new technology coming on board, new team members, new ideas, we've got our own ideas of things that we would like to change, but we're really keen to hear from you about what you would like to change. What would you like to see on your Self-Publishing Advice podcast? What topics would you like us to cover? How would you like us to approach them? We will be having member-only content for Alliance of Independent Author Members only. But what else, what else would you like to see? Are there people you would like us to get in touch with and maybe have as speakers? The canvas is still quite blank over here as we decide what we're doing, and as I said, we're taking this production break in order to do this. So, we'd love to hear from you. If you write to me directly via orna@allianceindependentauthors.org. That's orna@allianceindependentauthors.org with your ideas, your thoughts, your feedback, anything at all that you would like to say about the Self-Publishing Advice podcast. We will take it on board, and we will see what we can do. So, until September, I hope you have a wonderful summer, if you're in the Northern hemisphere. A wonderful winter, if you're in the Southern hemisphere, and just a wonderful time, generally. Happy writing, happy publishing, and see you in September. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center: https://selfpublishingadvice.org, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at http://allianceindependentauthors.org. Now, go write and publish! About the Host Orna Ross launched the Alliance of Independent Authors at the London Book Fair in 2012. Her work for ALLi has seen her named as one of The Bookseller's "100 top people in publishing". She also publishes poetry, fiction and nonfiction, and is greatly excited by the democratising, empowering potential of author-publishing. For more information about Orna, visit her website: http://www.ornaross.com

In this Self-Publishing Conference Highlight, Sacha Black discusses how to level up your side characters. All too often, side characters are afterthoughts for an author. Most writers spend their time focused on the hero and the plot, so their side characters are slapped on without much thought. But they shouldn't be. Side characters are the pillars upon which your heroes and villains stand. By the end of this session, you will learn: The principles of creating captivating side characters The most common mistakes writers make with side characters... And how to fix them How to make your side characters represent your book's theme If you want to level up your characters, story and craft, this session is for you.

My guest this episode is Keith A Pearson, who grew up in economically disadvantaged conditions in England, left school when he was sixteen, and developed a work ethic as he advanced in his career. That work ethic came in handy when he transitioned to full-time author. It was a very unlikely new career choice for Keith, who did not exactly surround himself with the literati. In fact, he wrote his first book on a bar bet with a friend. I'll let Keith A Pearson tell the rest of his story. ALLi's Inspirational Indie Author interviews are sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, a global, independent ebook and audiobook publishing platform that empowers authors with a quick and easy publishing process and unique promotional opportunities. To reach a wide readership, create your account today! Thank you, Kobo, for your support of this podcast. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center: https://selfpublishingadvice.org, 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, if you haven't already. You can do that at http://allianceindependentauthors.org. About the Host Howard Lovy has been a journalist for more than 35 years, and now amplifies the voices of independent author-publishers and works with authors as a developmental editor. Howard is also a freelance writer specializing in Jewish issues whose work appears regularly in Publishers Weekly, the Jewish Daily Forward, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and Longreads. Find Howard at howardlovy.com, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Today on Self-Publishing News: Spotify rewrites the rules on audiobook sales by ditching the subscription model and going à la carte. Also, Spotify buys an AI narration tool, but is artificial intelligence really ready to take over from human narrators? These are among the topics discussed on Self-Publishing News with ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway and News and Podcast Producer Howard Lovy. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center: https://selfpublishingadvice.org, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at http://allianceindependentauthors.org. About the Hosts Dan Holloway is a novelist, poet and spoken word artist. He is the MC of the performance arts show The New Libertines Earlier this year he competed at the National Poetry Slam final at the Royal Albert Hall. His latest collection, The Transparency of Sutures, is available on Kindle. Howard Lovy has been a journalist for more than 30 years, and has spent the last eight years amplifying the voices of independent publishers and authors. He works with authors as a book editor to prepare their work to be published. Howard is also a freelance writer specializing in Jewish issues whose work appears regularly in Publishers Weekly, the Jewish Daily Forward, and Longreads. Find Howard at howardlovy.com, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Should I traditionally publish my book? This is among the questions answered on our #AskALLi Members Q&A hosted by Michael La Ronn, author of science fiction and fantasy novels as well as author self-help books; and ALLi Director, author, and poet Orna Ross. Other questions include: Do I have to blog to be successful at writing? Should I hire someone to manage my social media? I've been approached by a legitimate traditional publisher! What do I do? And more! Our Members Q&A Podcast is brought to you by specialist sponsor Kobo Writing Life, a global, independent ebook and audiobook publishing platform that empowers authors with a quick and easy publishing process and unique promotional opportunities. To reach a wide audience, create your account today! We'd like to thank Kobo for their support of this podcast. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center: https://selfpublishingadvice.org, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at http://allianceindependentauthors.org. Now, go write and publish! About the Hosts Michael La Ronn is the author of over 30 books of science fiction & fantasy and authors self-help books. His books include the Galaxy Mavericks series and Modern Necromancy series. You can now find his new writing course on Teachable. Orna Ross launched the Alliance of Independent Authors at the London Book Fair in 2012. Her work for ALLi has seen her named as one of The Bookseller's "100 top people in publishing". She also publishes poetry, fiction and nonfiction, and is greatly excited by the democratising, empowering potential of author-publishing. For more information about Orna, visit her website: http://www.ornaross.com

My guest this episode is Tessa Buckley, who had a successful career working with architects and designers until she developed multiple sclerosis and had to rethink everything about her life. This led to research about the proper diet to prevent the progression of MS, which in turn led to a brand-new writing career. Today, she writes middle-grade adventure stories and, she says, there's no better time to be a disabled author. I'll let Tessa Buckley tell her story. ALLi's Inspirational Indie Author interviews are sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, a global, independent ebook and audiobook publishing platform that empowers authors with a quick and easy publishing process and unique promotional opportunities. To reach a wide readership, create your account today! Thank you, Kobo, for your support of this podcast. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center: https://selfpublishingadvice.org, 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, if you haven't already. You can do that at http://allianceindependentauthors.org. About the Host Howard Lovy has been a journalist for more than 35 years, and now amplifies the voices of independent author-publishers and works with authors as a developmental editor. Howard is also a freelance writer specializing in Jewish issues whose work appears regularly in Publishers Weekly, the Jewish Daily Forward, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and Longreads. Find Howard at howardlovy.com, LinkedIn and Twitter.

The indie author's life is full of creative transformations, which means closing one phase and beginning another. In this session, Orna Ross and Joanna Penn discuss their current transitions, lessons learned from years of growth, and the projects and approaches they left behind along the way. The #AskALLi Advanced Self-Publishing Salon is sponsored by IngramSpark: "Go Publish Yourself!" Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our self-publishing advice center, http://selfpublishingadvice.org. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at http://allianceindependentauthors.org. Now, go write and publish! About the Hosts Joanna Penn writes nonfiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F.Penn. She's also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker. Orna Ross launched the Alliance of Independent Authors at the London Book Fair in 2012. Her work for ALLi has seen her named as one of The Bookseller's "100 top people in publishing". She also publishes poetry, fiction and nonfiction, and is greatly excited by the democratising, empowering potential of author-publishing. For more information about Orna, visit her website: http://www.ornaross.com

In this Self-Publishing Conference Highlight, Nick Stephenson discusses how to write emails that sell books. Nick will breakdown the four essential elements of every successful marketing email, including how to come up with topics and ideas (even if you have no idea what to write about), the "missing link" to launch campaigns that can double your sales, and how to integrate your sales message in a fun and interesting way without being "pushy." By the end of this session, you will: have an actionable framework to make email marketing and book launches fun for you and your readers. be able to craft effective sales emails in 30 minutes or less - even if you're a complete beginner. This is a post from SelfPubCon (The Self-Publishing Advice Conference), an online author event, run free twice-yearly, in association with the Alliance of Independent Authors. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center: https://selfpublishingadvice.org, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at http://allianceindependentauthors.org.

My guest this episode is Kelly Chang Rickert, a family law attorney in California who is often asked to comment on high-profile celebrity divorce cases. But to Kelly, the airing of dirty laundry in public and couples who just cannot get past their disagreements can only have a negative impact on children. That's why she started writing books for divorcing parents and their children to read together. ALLi's Inspirational Indie Author interviews are sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, a global, independent ebook and audiobook publishing platform that empowers authors with a quick and easy publishing process and unique promotional opportunities. To reach a wide readership, create your account today! Thank you, Kobo, for your support of this podcast. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center: https://selfpublishingadvice.org, 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, if you haven't already. You can do that at http://allianceindependentauthors.org. About the Host Howard Lovy has been a journalist for more than 35 years, and now amplifies the voices of independent author-publishers and works with authors as a developmental editor. Howard is also a freelance writer specializing in Jewish issues whose work appears regularly in Publishers Weekly, the Jewish Daily Forward, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and Longreads. Find Howard at howardlovy.com, LinkedIn and Twitter.