Self-Publishing with ALLi

What's the best way to gather reviews for my book? Our #AskALLi Member Q&A is hosted by Michael La Ronn and ALLi Director, Orna Ross, and this month they'll be answering this question and more. Other questions include: How do I improve my writing craft? What's the best way to self-publish literary fiction? I'd like to donate profits of my book to a nonprofit. What should I be thinking about as I explore this? What service should I use to create my website and blog? 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 week is A. D. Starrling, a UK-based author who grew up on the Island of Mauritius, where her hyper-achieving family left her little choice but to become a doctor, so that's what she did. But Starrling found a way to combine the logical and artistic parts of her mind as an indie publisher of fantastic and thrilling tales. What do the paranormal and medicine have to do with each other. Listen on, and A. D. Starrling will explain. 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 Host 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.

Planning ahead is an important step for your author business, enabling you to make decisions about what you want to focus on as well as make time to achieve your writing and financial goals. Kicking off our 2021 #AskALLi Self-Publishing Salons, as always, is our Advanced Salon with ALLi Director Orna Ross and New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Joanna Penn. In this month's salon, Orna outlines her quarterly creative business planning process and how she applies it to her own novels, poetry books and ALLi publications, while Joanna talks about her high-level project approach and more granular time-blocking. The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to create an actionable plan, so tune in to get started! Our advanced salon is brought to you by specialist sponsor IngramSpark. 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 non-fiction 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

Should authors create their own imprint? Our #AskALLi Member Q&A is hosted by Michael La Ronn and ALLi Director, Orna Ross, and this month they'll be answering this question and more. Other questions include: What is ALLi's stance on licensing and collecting societies? What is ALLi's recommended pricing strategy for IngramSpark books for full-length fiction paperbacks? I uploaded an ebook to IngramSpark but am not happy how it turned out. Can I unpublish it, publish the ebook through KDP Select and still distribute the paperback through Ingram? What are some "easy wins" I can make in promoting my book since I don't have a lot of time to promote? 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

ALLi is calling out Amazon on their Audible refund policy, which is resulting in unknown numbers of audiobook authors and narrators around the world being deprived of income. Bookshop.org suffers a glitch, confusing some indie authors, and the end of an era with the end of Book Expo America. These are among the topics discussed on Self-Publishing News with Alli News Editor Dan Holloway and book editor Howard Lovy. Together, they will bring you the latest in indie publishing news, including commentary, a technology update, and highlights from indie author interviews. 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.

My guest this week is Dale Roberts, a health and fitness author who discovered a perfect synergy between print and video content. He has amassed a sizable following on YouTube. It took a little while for Dale to discover his voice and his brand, but once he found it, he began to exude an energy for self-publishing that you just have to hear for yourself. 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 Host 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.

To close this year when so many people suffered so many setbacks through COVID-19 and its consequences, our #AskALLi Advanced Self-Publishing Salon with Orna Ross and Joanna Penn examines the role of author mistakes, setbacks, and failures in an author business. They look back on the lessons learned from their own mistakes and failures in 2020, and across their years of self-publishing. This session will highlight some of the most common mistakes made by indie authors, so you can avoid them, and propose a way of dealing with negative experience so it can be put to best use in your author business. Tune in for all this and much much more. Our advanced salon is brought to you by specialist sponsor IngramSpark. 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 is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author, as well as writing non-fiction for authors. She is also a professional speaker and entrepreneur, voted as one of The Guardian UK Top 100 creative professionals 2013. She spent 13 years as a business IT consultant in large corporations across the globe before becoming a full-time author-entrepreneur in September 2011. For more information about Joanna, visit her website: http://thecreativepenn.com 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 ALLi author guest this week is Bjørn Larssen, who was born in Poland, lives in the Netherlands, but has his heart simultaneously in Iceland and with the ancient Norse Gods, which he writes about in his books. And, if that isn't enough, there is much more to Bjorn's story and his journey from communist-era Poland to his discovery of freedom as an indie author. Bjorn, himself, tells it best. Listen to the whole thing, since there will be surprises. 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 Host 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.

Joining Orna Ross in this month's #AskALLi Self-Publishing Poetry Salon is indie poet Lauren Lott who will outline the steps she took to launch her first poetry collection, The Remains of Burning. "Choosing between wounds and scars" is how she describes sorting out which poems would go into her collection. What went well? What will she do differently next time? What lessons can other indie poets take from her experience? Lauren lives in Lake Macquarie, on the East Coast of Australia and is currently working on her second collection to be released in 2021. Tune in for discussions on a different theme each month with a focus on developing prosperity for poets through community building and self-publishing. 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 Host Orna Ross Orna's work for ALLi has seen her repeatedly named one of The Bookseller's "Top 100 people in publishing." She launched at the 2012 London Book Fair, after taking her rights back from Penguin in 2011 and republishing her books herself, with the titles and treatment she'd originally wanted. Orna writes award-winning poetry and fiction, runs a Patreon page for poets and poetry lovers as well as an active author website. She is on a mission to help eradicate creative poverty through digital publishing and enterprise. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram: @ornaross.

My ALLi author guest this week is Joanna Penn, who many of you already know as a successful indie author, businesswoman, and podcaster for ALLi. In fact, her name is almost synonymous with the term authorpreneur. So, this podcast will not focus so much on Joanna's current work, but we'll hear more of her own backstory, what motivates her fictional characters, and what motivates her as a writer, self-publisher, and role model for other indie 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. About the Host 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.