Self-Publishing with ALLi

Artificial intelligence sounds like a very futuristic term but you have already experienced it in your author business, from the Amazon algorithm to Google translate. In this Advanced Self-Publishing Salon, ALLi Director Orna Ross and Advisor Joanna Penn of thecreativepenn.com look at some of the AI tools that are already available to us, as indie authors. And those that are likely to prove most useful to us in the years ahead. 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

Today's guest is Rohan Quine, author of The Beasts of Electra Drive, which was a 2018 finalist for the Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards. With themes of magic realism, technology, horror, LGBTQ characters, it is both a genre and gender-bending indie book. I call him genre-bending because he retrospectively finds labels to apply. That means he just writes, and does not really concern himself with categories. Later, he sees that his book can be defined as sci-fi, horror, fantasy, LGBTQ, among other labels. This is one advantage to indie publishing, of course. A traditional publisher would probably want him to just pick one. After having spoken to Rohan, I can see why he would not want to play that game. In conversation, he can seem a little unconventional, even a little untamed. Thoughts pour out of him as a way of vocalizing internal dialogues. This is the way he writes, and it is also why he writes. To read his "voice" does not do him justice. That is why he is recording his books on audio and video, and it's why I chose to interview him for my latest Inspirational Indie Authors podcast. 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.

It's Week 23 Q2, 2019, halfway through the year. How is your author business doing so far? In this month's AskALLi Advanced Salon, ALLi Director Orna Ross and Enterprise Advisor Joanna Penn discuss how to review what's working and what's not. How do we marry the year's goals and our life roles? How change is part of the process. How to adapt to changing conditions and challenges without getting derailed or distracted. And more! 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

Welcome to AskALLi, the self-publishing advice podcast from the alliance of independent authors. Today, we present a special edition of our podcast for the launch of our Indie Authors' Copyright Bill of Rights. 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

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: What are the best and ethical methods to do a giveaway without using Goodreads or Amazon giveaways? If I've self-published my business advice book but want to submit it to a publisher, do I still need to write a book proposal? What is the best way to brand a nonfiction self-help series? And more! 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 Director Orna Ross and Author Dan Blank survey seven ways to be a productive writer so you can write and sell more books. Expect lots of research-based advice about how best to prepare body and mind, setting daily priorities, Block out time and shut out distractions. Plus: ways to map and log your progress and give yourself rewards. Here are some highlights: Orna on Surrounding Yourself with Support "Surround yourself with other people who get it, who understand what you're trying to do. It's hard to do this stuff in complete isolation. It really does help to have a supportive group around you who get it, who understand and who are there to pick you up when you fall down and give you a pat on the back if things go well." Dan Blank on Setting Your Own Expectations "Then there's that endorphin rush of, "Let me please them. Let me live up to that expectation. Let me be a good person." And the expense is almost always your writing, your editing or publishing and that's very depressing. So I think that with intention, one thing I'm a huge advocate of is, I live by my calendar and I time block. So it's really a matter of setting intention by the half hour, an hour period. And I really write that down the night before." Self-Publishing News Also, News Editor Dan Holloway and Howard Lovy bring you the latest self-publishing news. This week, they discuss the new US version of the Selfie Awards and the rise of the subscription publishing model. Howard talks about his new website, howardlovy.com and Dan updates us on the slow takeover of writing by artificial intelligence. Dan Holloway on Subscription Services "And that trend is going up and obviously in terms of the size of data, movies are a lot bigger and gaming is a lot bigger than books. But books do seem to be part of this trend. But my worry is that, in terms of finances, we'll go down that same sort of route of Spotify has gone down for musicians, where you're literally getting fractions of a cent per listen." 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 Dan Blank is the founder of WeGrowMedia, where he helps writers and artists share their stories and grow their audience. He is the author of the book "Be the Gateway: A Practical Guide to Sharing Your Creative Work and Engaging an Audience." 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.

Joanna Penn, of TheCreativePenn.com, and Orna Ross, director of the Alliance of Independent Authors, explain copyright in this edition of the AskALLi Advanced Self-Publishing Salon. Think copyright is boring? Think again. Copyright controversies have seen people take to the streets in recent months, sign petitions, boycott certain companies, and even black out Wikipedia. As big content, big tech and big legal fight court battles, Joanna and Orna talk about what it all means for the independent author, and ALLi's new Copyright Bill of Rights. Plus: should authors try to stop piracy? And more! 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

Howard Lovy interviews Maggie Lynch, who writes a series of science fiction books she shares with eight other indie authors, called Obsidian Rim. Their goal is to produce a new book in the series every couple of weeks. Howard and Maggie discuss how the group is appealing to a growing demographic of sci-fi readers: women. Maggie's new book is called Gravity and it has all the elements of space opera, but with "a romantic twist." Maggie talks about what that means. Inspirational Indie Authors is a biweekly feature within our AskALLi series of podcasts. 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 five 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 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 Self-Publishing Life Salon with Alli Director Orna Ross and author Dan Blank. They discuss the importance of finding your rhythm and balance across the days and weeks. Orna proposes a three-part planning system that takes account of processing, promotion as well as production. And Dan explains why he doesn't believe in balance, but obsession, and discusses firm schedules and accountability. Also, on Inspirational Indie Authors Howard Lovy interviews Maggie Lynch, who writes a series of science fiction books she shares with eight other indie authors, called Obsidian Rim. Their goal is to produce a new book in the series every couple of weeks. Howard and Maggie discuss how they are aiming for a growing demographic of sci-fi readers: women. 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 Dan Blank is the founder of WeGrowMedia, where he helps writers and artists share their stories and grow their audience. He is the author of the book "Be the Gateway: A Practical Guide to Sharing Your Creative Work and Engaging an Audience." Howard Lovy has been a journalist for more than 30 years, and has spent the last five years amplifying the voices of independent publishers and authors. He works with authors as a "book doctor" to prepare their work to be published. Howard is also a freelance business and technology writer. Find Howard on howardlovy.com LinkedIn, 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: How do you go about finding a translator for your book? How would you recommend that I reach my target audience of teachers and educators? What is the recommended way of copyrighting a book by multiple authors? Is it better to send my readers to Book 1 in my series or my series page on Amazon? What is the difference between an ASIN and an ISBN? A 10-digit ISBN vs a 13-digit ISBN? And More! Also, News Editor Dan Holloway and Howard Lovy bring you the latest self-publishing news. They talk about changes that are making Patreon creators and Mailchimp customers unhappy. Also, the audience for audio content continues to grow. 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.