Self-Publishing with ALLi

What can you do today to master social media book marketing strategies? Which strategies work and which are a waste of precious time? Rachel Thompson, who knows a social trick or two, reviews what works and what doesn't these days, with specific insider tips for Twitter and Facebook Pages. This podcast is part of Self-Publishing Advice Conference, an online author conference that showcases the best self-publishing advice and education for authors across the world — harnessing the global reach of the Alliance of Independent Authors' network. Our self-publishing conference, which runs alongside the London Book Fair and Digital Book World, features well-known indie authors and advisors, for 24 sessions over 24-hours, in a one-day extravaganza of self-publishing expertise straight to your email inbox.

My guest this week is Debbie Young, and if you're an ALLi member, you already know her as a helpful presence on the members' facebook page or on our blog. But Debbie has gone through a long journey as a writer to get to a place where she can give back to the indie author community. This is the story of how Debbie has traveled from early promise, to a detour writing promotional blurbs, to fulfilling her dream as an indie author of mysteries in the best of the British tradition. Every week I interview a member of ALLi to talk about their writing and what inspires them, and why they are inspiring to other 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 six 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 Alison Morton, whose background as a translator, historian, and British army veteran make her uniquely qualified to write an alternate history of Rome, asking what would have happened had the Roman Empire survived into modern times … and it was ruled by women. Every week I interview a member of ALLi to talk about their writing and what inspires them, and why they are inspiring to other 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 six 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.

From audiobooks to readings to podcasts, audio has never been a hotter topic in publishing, but how do you use audio to market and sell books? In search of the answers, Joanna is off to the Podcast Movement Conference in Orlando and Orna is preparing an advance summary of the audio sessions at Digital Book World. The podcast will also focus on how you monetize audio. Our advanced salon is brought to you by specialist sponsor IngramSpark, professional-grade publishing services at prices self-publishers can afford. 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

In another first for the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and as part of its 2019-2020 season of broadcasts, ALLi launches the first Self-PublishingPoetry Podcast. For poets, this is a safe online space to read and perform, to get advice about online poetry publishing and creative enterprise, and to get more attention. On the #AskALLi Self-Publishing Poetry Podcast, find: advice on how to self-publish poetry books for pleasure and profit discussion about writing and publishing options for poets readings from self-publishing poets in a segment called Indie Poetry Please! 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 Hosts 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. Dalma Szentpály Dalma Szentpály co-hosts the Self-Publishing Poetry salon. She works at PublishDrive as a self-publishing professional and has been a lifelong lover of poetry. A native Hungarian, she started learning about lyricism from poetry giants like Attila József and János Pilinszky but also recited brooding lines of verse from international poets like Pablo Neruda or Anna Ahmatova. In university, she fell in love with W.B. Yeats and Emily Dickinson and wrote her thesis about the "villanelle" form in Sylvia Plath's poetry. As a university lecturer and an event manager at an independent bookstore in Budapest Dalma encouraged readers to re-engage with poetry. Check out her blog post about contemporary poetry trends here: https://publishdrive.com/publishing-poetry-2018/. Find Dalma on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Diana Stevan is in her 70s and is beginning to hit her stride as a prolific indie author of novels about family, love, and relationships. Her third self-published book, called Sunflowers Under Fire, is set in WWI and the Bolshevik Revolution. It's based on stories told to her by her mother and it's a finalist for the 2019 Whistler Independent Book Awards, sponsored by the Writers Union of Canada. Diana is able to draw on a wide range of experience, from working at a meat-packing plant to an actress and model—but most of all as a family counselor—to accurately portray people in difficult circumstances. Every week I interview a member of ALLi who has done something remarkable and inspiring. This is the only show in our AskALLi series that does not focus on the business side of self-publishing. My guests talk about their writing and what inspires them, and why they are inspiring to other 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 six 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.

Welcome to AskALLi, the Self-Publishing Advice Podcast from the Alliance of Independent Authors. This week it's our monthly Member Q&A where ALLi Members' have their most pressing self-publishing questions analyzed and answered. Join your regular hosts for the Member Q&A: Michael La Ronn and Orna Ross. Questions this month include: Help! Someone is pirating my book. My publisher went out of business and took my book with them. What do I do? How do I get an editor to read my fantasy book? I'm writing a children's book and looking for an illustrator. What are the most important questions I should be asking the illustrator Should I create a coloring book as a companion to my children's book? And More! Also, News Editor Dan Holloway and Howard Lovy bring you the latest self-publishing news. 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 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.

Carmen Klassen has personally gone through transitions that became the inspiration for her series of books about women and how they cope with crisis and change. We live in uncertain times. Professions appear and disappear with changing needs and technology. Our political systems are in turmoil, creating a need for all of us to have some kind of contingency plan for when things go wrong. Every week I interview a member of ALLi who has done something remarkable and inspiring. This is the only show in our AskALLi series that does not focus on the business side of self-publishing. My guests talk about their writing and what inspires them, and why they are inspiring to other 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 six 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.

In the first of our new shows comparing the perspectives of fiction and nonfiction, Orna Ross, Adam Croft and Boni Wagner-Stafford discuss when you should brand the author versus when the branding should focus on the book, or the book series. What are the factors to take into account? And what about pen names? Should you have one? Or maybe even more than one? What are the implications? Tune in for this session on branding best practice.​ 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 Orna Ross is founding director of ALLi, which she founded in 2012 and launched that year at London Book Fair. After being traditionally published Orna took her rights back from Penguin and republished with titles and treatment she'd always envisaged. With a background in journalism, as a literary agent, and writing teacher, it is Orna's work with ALLi that has seen her repeatedly named one of The Bookseller's "Top 100 people in publishing." Orna writes award-winning fiction and poetry, runs a Patreon page for poets and poetry lovers, and an active author website. She's on a mission to help eradicate creative poverty, through digital publishing and enterprise. You'll find her, most days, on Twitter and she posts poems and quotes for poets on Instagram: @ornaross. With almost two million books sold to date, Adam Croft is one of the most successful independently published authors in the world and one of the biggest selling authors of the past few years, having sold books in over 120 different countries. In February 2017, Only The Truth became a worldwide bestseller, reaching storewide number one at both Amazon US and Amazon UK, making it the bestselling book in the world at that moment in time. The same day, Amazon's overall Author Rankings placed Adam as the world's most widely read author, with J.K. Rowling in second place. In March 2018, Adam was conferred as an Honorary Doctor of Arts, the highest academic qualification in the UK, by the University of Bedfordshire in recognition of his services to literature. Visit his website, The Indie Author Mindset, or find him on Twitter. Boni Wagner-Stafford is a nonfiction author coach, writer, ghostwriter, and developmental editor. Since 2015, she has helped other authors publish memoir, anthology, how-to and journalistic nonfiction titles. She also miraculously managed to cross the line with a couple of her own titles, with the requisite gazillion half finished. She's an award-winning former television reporter, talk show host, and news anchor who later led public-sector teams in media relations, issues management, and strategic communications planning, then muddying her hands as a creative entrepreneur. Visit her Ingenium Books website, find her on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Today's guest is author H. N. Deeb, a TV writer who also writes climate science fiction or cli-fi, for young adults. His path was a winding one to Hollywood, where he noticed California's water crisis and wanted to write something that both warned and entertained. Deeb and I discuss why he switched careers from law to writing, and how he's helping to change sci-fi from its sexist past. Along the way, we talk about the real root cause of much conflict around the world: water and access to it. Every week I interview a member of ALLi who has done something remarkable and inspiring. This is the only show in our AskALLi series that does not focus on the business side of self-publishing. My guests talk about their writing and what inspires them, and why they are inspiring to other 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 six 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.