Self-Publishing with ALLi

Ep#47: Orna Ross and Joanna Penn answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books. Each month, Joanna and Orna answer Members' self-publishing questions during our regular Ask ALLi event. If you missed our live Q&A session you can watch the video and listen to the podcast here. We've also included a summary of the questions that were asked and answered this month. How do you assert copyright if you're intending to self-publish under a pseudonym? And how does this pseudonym link back to the real-life person? How can you benefit from Foreign Rights requests but protect yourself from potential scams? I'm close to publishing my first novel. I'm confused about the ISBN, what pricing should I ask my designer to put on my book's cover? If I'm publishing via Amazon for Kindle, can I also publish via other services like Ingram Spark and Lulu? I'm having trouble getting PR opportunities for my books. How can I find a publicist? Listen to Orna and Joanna as they provide updates on the exciting activities planned for their author brands for 2017. There are also continual updates to existing ALLi guidebooks and plans to create new self-publishing ALLi tools throughout the year. Time waits for no ... indie author. Our weekly Self-Publishing Advice broadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Advanced Self-Publishing Salon is one of four regular shows, which include an ALLi Member Q&A, a beginners' salon and a special guest highlight presentation from the Indie Author Fringe, ALLi's free online author conference. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.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 www.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. Connect with Joanna on Twitter @thecreativepenn 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. Connect with Orna on Twitter @OrnaRoss

Ep#46: Orna Ross and Joanna Penn answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books. Each month, Joanna and Orna answer Members' self-publishing questions during our regular Ask ALLi event. We've also included a summary of the questions that were asked and answered this month. Is there an advantage to using both Create Space and IngramSpark, and why, does one offer something the other one doesn't? Should you purchase your own ISBN numbers, even if the first book is an e-book? And if someone submits a PDF to Ingram, do they generate an ePub, should you use IngramSpark for e-books? I'm finding it hard to get any writing done with so many tasks. Any tips for that? I write music based fiction or many books in my series follows series or songwriters and includes lyrics I've written. I want to bring other named titles and songwriters/singers into this story line. Is it legal to do this? I've bitten a bullet, commissioned an audio version of my first book. What advice do you have about going wide or exclusive with Audible bearing in mind different royalty rates and contract terms? How long before you publish should you start your marketing plan? I don't have time to write and schedule my own Facebook ads, can you recommend someone to do this for me? What is your advice to a first time author with one book hitting the market in the next few months, does KDP Select make sense as a strategy or does that set up KU reader expectation that your remaining books will be free? What is the best way to make a review e-book copy of your book from a word document? What are some of the innovative ways Indie authors of YA are attracting young readers? Are those authors also targeting adults and if so what is the strategy? I have an edited manuscript, I plan to self-publish, what is the next step to get me from computer to bookstore? Our weekly Self-Publishing Advice broadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Advanced Self-Publishing Salon is one of four regular shows, which include an ALLi Member Q&A, a beginners' salon and a special guest highlight presentation from the Indie Author Fringe, ALLi's free online author conference. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.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 www.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. Connect with Joanna on Twitter @thecreativepenn 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. Connect with Orna on Twitter @OrnaRoss

Ep#45: In this insightful Indie Author Fringe podcast, Jane Friedman takes us through seven critical elements that are foundational for any author who is serious about their writing career. I've summarised some of the key takeaways that resonated with me, but listen to this broadcast yourselves to delve into the subject in greater detail. Have your own Website. Make sure your website is mobile friendly. Have consistent bios on social media and website platforms. Improve the imagery and videos you use. Explore your entire demand curve. Mine information that is useful to connect with readers. Make important Marketing efforts trackable. Our weekly Self-Publishing Advicebroadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Indie Author Fringe Highlight is one of four regular shows, which include an ALLi Member Q&A, a beginners' salon and an advanced self-publishing salon. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.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 www.allianceindependentauthors.org. If you're not familiar with our Fringe event, it's three-times a year, online conference for self-publishing authors, brought to you by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and fringe to the major global publishing fairs; London Book Fair, BookExp, and Frankfurt Book Fair. ALLi brings together the most up-to-date self-publishing education and information available and broadcasts it to authors everywhere. Running 24 sessions over 24 continuous hours allows our members, and other authors round the globe, to attend sessions, no matter where they're located. For more information, visit our Conference Home Page. Now, go write and publish.

Ep#44: Indie Author Fringe Highlight with Joel Friedlander and Nick Stephenson. As authors, we all know the role that social media plays in our ability to connect with readers, but the most beneficial ways of establishing a 1:1 relationship with your potential customers is via your email list. Start your list building early: Between them, Joel and Nick have lots of indie author and self-publishing knowledge and expertise, and although their email marketing approaches may differ, they both agree authors need to establish their email list as soon as they start their indie author journey. This is the most crucial factor in your long term success as an author. Not only is it the ideal way to establish a direct line of communication with your readers, but it provides an opportunity to cultivate relationships, it extends your reach and exposure, and helps you raise awareness for your books (or other products). Size doesn't matter!: When it comes to lists, size doesn't matter. What's important is the quality of your list, and how responsive your email contacts are to your communications. Your goal is to compel your list to act, even if it's in their self-interest (e.g. downloading a free book). The concept of permafree is a well known way of using your book as a promotional tool, but you don't have to give a book away to have it working on your behalf. Nick includes a large graphic at the front and back of each of his books, offering a free download to anyone who joins his list. Other topics covered: How to attract traffic to your website. Engage with your Audience. Use your Writing Skills to build your email List. Our weekly Self-Publishing Advicebroadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Indie Author Fringe Highlight is one of four regular shows, which include an ALLi Member Q&A, a beginners' salon and an advanced self-publishing salon. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.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 www.allianceindependentauthors.org. If you're not familiar with our Fringe event, it's three-times a year, online conference for self-publishing authors, brought to you by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and fringe to the major global publishing fairs; London Book Fair, BookExp, and Frankfurt Book Fair. ALLi brings together the most up-to-date self-publishing education and information available and broadcasts it to authors everywhere. Running 24 sessions over 24 continuous hours allows our members, and other authors round the globe, to attend sessions, no matter where they're located. For more information, visit our Conference Home Page. Now, go write and publish.

Ep#43: Orna Ross and Joanna Penn answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books. Each month, Joanna and Orna answer Members' self-publishing questions during our regular Ask ALLi event. We've also included a summary of the questions that were asked and answered this month. Q: I'm investing in editors for my first book, do I send to multiple editors one at a time? Q: What's the difference between trade paperbacks and mass market paperbacks? Q: What are the different book cover design considerations when you're planning an ebook and print book launch? Q: Are Amazon getting rid of the Table of Contents in their books, and when I upload my book, what should I choose for the DRM (Digital Rights Management) setting? Q: I've been offered a contribution-based publishing contract – what are your thoughts on these types of agreements? Q: I'm trying to avoid losing money with my book launch, and am considering a Book Launch service to help me learn the process. Q: How to I go about finding an agent that will represent my subsidiary rights? Q: At what point does an author's social media following grow organically? Q: I have 1 book out / 10 books out. How should I adjust my marketing activity for these two different approaches? Q: Has ALLi got an insider contact at Amazon, like Andy for Ingram Spark? Q: Can you upload to KDP and make your book available to pre-order? Q: I used a free ISBN when I released via Createspace. Can I release via Ingram Spark with a different ISBN? And should I even bother with Ingram Spark? Q: What are the most important decisions an indie author has to make to transition from writing as a hobby to an authorpreneur? Our weekly Self-Publishing Advice broadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Member Self-Publishing Q&A is one of four regular shows, which include a more advanced salon, a beginners' salon and a special guest highlight presentation from the Indie Author Fringe, ALLi's free online author conference. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.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 www.allianceindependentauthors.org. Now, go write and publish. About your 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. Connect with Joanna on Twitter @thecreativepenn 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. Connect with Orna on Twitter @OrnaRoss

Ep#42: Indie Author Fringe Highlight with Kathy Meis All too often, great books launch into silence. Why? There is no plan in place to give the book a fighting chance. Today's book marketplace is highly competitive. You need to bring you're A-game not only on the craft side, but on the business side. In our latest Indie Author Fringe podcast, Kathy Meis from Bublish delves into the six crucial steps that authors need to take before launching their book. Kathy starts off by talking about the foundations of a successful book launch and the kind of mindset you need to have going into this to be successful. Then she takes a deep dive into the six crucial steps you need to do before you launch. Stop thinking of your book as a baby, and start thinking about it as a product. Launching a book is a business, and by following these 6 crucial pre-launch steps you will increase your chances of success: Step 1: Research audience and genre. Step 2: Line up reviews and interviews. Step 3: Set up a system for capturing email addresses. Step 4: Create a professional product. Step 5: Form a marketing support team. Step 6: Create a content and campaign calendar. It is a lot of work to be an indie author, but Kathy believes you will set yourself up for success if you implement these 6 crucial steps. Our weekly Self-Publishing Advicebroadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Indie Author Fringe Highlight is one of four regular shows, which include an ALLi Member Q&A, a beginners' salon and an advanced self-publishing salon. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.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 www.allianceindependentauthors.org. If you're not familiar with our Fringe event, it's three-times a year, online conference for self-publishing authors, brought to you by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and fringe to the major global publishing fairs; London Book Fair, BookExp, and Frankfurt Book Fair. ALLi brings together the most up-to-date self-publishing education and information available and broadcasts it to authors everywhere. Running 24 sessions over 24 continuous hours allows our members, and other authors round the globe, to attend sessions, no matter where they're located. For more information, visit our Conference Home Page. Now, go write and publish.

Ep#41: Indie Author Fringe Highlight with Mark Coker from Smashwords Authors are in the midst of rapid and dizzying change, and Mark Coker, CEO of Smashwords, shares his insights about the "10 Trends Driving the Future of Publishing" in our latest ALLi podcast. Mark kicks off the podcast talking about his epiphany moment that helped to get Smashwords off the ground in 2008. Mark's company was at the forefront of of the indie revolution, and for those of you who aren't familiar with Smashwords, they're an eBook publishing platform that makes it fast, free and easy to publish and distribute your books. At the time of recording, Smashwords features 400,000 books from 115,000 authors and small independent presses. Mark's discusses 10 key elements that are driving the future of publishing, and and how indie authors can can maximize their potential for self-publishing. Trend 1: THE RISE OF EBOOKS. Trend 2: The Democratisation of Publishing. Trend 3: Ebooks are Going Global. Trend 4: The Rise of Indie Authorship. Trend 5: Indie Authors are hitting all the Best Seller Lists. Trend 6: Previous stigma of being self-published is disappearing. Trend 7: A glut of high-quality low-cost books means it's becoming more and more difficult to reach readers. Trend 8: Amazon is exploiting this product glut. Trend 9: Kindle Unlimited is undermining the market in single copy sales. Trend 10: Indie Authors will write the next chapter in this industry's evolution. The power centre in publishing is shifting from publishers to writers. So as an indie authors you decide where, when, and how you're going to publish. It's the collective decisions of writers that will determine the course of the publishing industry, and really shape the industry for the next generation. It's a pivotal moment in publishing, and as an indie author you have the tools and the knowledge to publish with pride and professionalism. You also have the freedom to self-publish as an indie author, or go the traditional route. It's your choice. Mark is supportive of all the options available to writers, and only time will tell whether Amazon will strip indies of their independence. Are Amazon trying to control the supply of books? Mark believes that's true, but at the end of the day, Indies control the supply if they decide to to wield their collective power. So imagine twenty years from now. Imagine the future that you want and then make the decisions today that enable the future to come to fruition. Do your best to support a thriving and dynamic ecosystem of multiple competing retailers, by supporting all of the retailers that distribute your books. As an Indie author, fight for your right to be the captain of your own destiny. Our weekly Self-Publishing Advicebroadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Indie Author Fringe Highlight is one of four regular shows, which include an ALLi Member Q&A, a beginners' salon and an advanced self-publishing salon. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.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 www.allianceindependentauthors.org. If you're not familiar with our Fringe event, it's three-times a year, online conference for self-publishing authors, brought to you by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and fringe to the major global publishing fairs; London Book Fair, BookExp, and Frankfurt Book Fair. ALLi brings together the most up-to-date self-publishing education and information available and broadcasts it to authors everywhere. Running 24 sessions over 24 continuous hours allows our members, and other authors round the globe, to attend sessions, no matter where they're located. For more information, visit our Conference Home Page. Now, go write and publish.

Ep#40: Self-Publishing Advice Podcast: Indie Author Fringe Highlight with Sean Platt and Johnny B Truant of Sterling & Stone believe the key to writing better is to write faster. Here they talk about their creative process, how planning helps authors to write a better story in less time, even if they're "pantsers", and their new story-planning app. A lot of indie publishing is frontier thinking. Sean and Johnny have been figuring the best way to approach their writing process, and in this podcast they share some lessons and techniques they've learned along the way. Here are three elements from this podcast that really resonated with me: Understanding your genre foundations. Know your characters. The importance of cover design for your readers, and you. Want to know why some books sell more than others? This information is out there and accessible to anyone who wants to take the time to understand their genre better. At the end of the day, if you want to sell more books, you have to write books that appeal to the genre's core audience. When Johnny and Sean first started writing together it was as simple Sean coming out with a very simple outline and then Johnny turning it into a book. Along the way, David Wright joined the writing team, and they developed a systematic way of writing together that allows them to establish core relationships with the characters. At the end of this process, there's enough information for each of the writing team to be able to picture the locations and know the characters. They have a connection with all of them, and this is one of the elements that allow them to write their stories faster. The Cover Design topic never gets old! But what was interesting was hearing about Sean and Johnny's writing process. For Book 1 in the Invasion series, they commissioned the book cover before they started writing, and it provided some creative inspiration for their story details. During their cover design discussion, Johnny and Sean also discussed the importance of genre conventions in the cover process. Yes we all want our book to stand out in our genre, but if you design against the established conventions, especially in the major genres, you may end up getting passed over rather than stand out. Our weekly Self-Publishing Advicebroadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Indie Author Fringe Highlight is one of four regular shows, which include an ALLi Member Q&A, a beginners' salon and an advanced self-publishing salon. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.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 www.allianceindependentauthors.org. If you're not familiar with our Fringe event, it's three-times a year, online conference for self-publishing authors, brought to you by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and fringe to the major global publishing fairs; London Book Fair, BookExp, and Frankfurt Book Fair. ALLi brings together the most up-to-date self-publishing education and information available and broadcasts it to authors everywhere. Running 24 sessions over 24 continuous hours allows our members, and other authors round the globe, to attend sessions, no matter where they're located. For more information, visit our Conference Home Page. Now, go write and publish.

Ep#39: Orna Ross and Joanna Penn answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books. See allianceindependendentauthors.org for more details. Here's a summary of the questions and a brief synopsis of the answers in this month's Ask ALLi with Orna and Joanna (for more in-depth answers – you should watch the video or listen to the podcast): Q: What exactly makes a piece of fiction, Literary Fiction? Q: Should you use Scrivener to get your books accepted by distributors? Q: How can you generate an ebook review copy? Q: What's the difference between pre-orders and a soft launch? Q: What are the advantages of using both CreateSpace and IngramSpark for creating your POD print book? Q: Why does Joanna only use CreateSpace for her POD books, and not IngramSpark? Q: When you get really burned, how do you stay motivated enough to keep writing? Q: What is the best way to promote a novel that doesn't fit into a specific genre? Q: How useful is it to participate in KBoards? Our weekly Self-Publishing Advice broadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Member Self-Publishing Q&A is one of four regular shows, which include a more advanced salon, a beginners' salon and a special guest highlight presentation from the Indie Author Fringe, ALLi's free online author conference. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.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 www.allianceindependentauthors.org. Now, go write and publish. About your 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. Connect with Joanna on Twitter @thecreativepenn 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. Connect with Orna on Twitter @OrnaRoss

Ep#38: Orna Ross and Joanna Penn answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books. Here's the questions posed to Orna and Joanna this month: Q: How did you find your beta readers and how many do you have? Q: What should I instruct an editor or line editor to look out for in my manuscript? Q: Past, Present or Future - which tense is most appropriate? Q: Is it ok to self-publish before you go to school? Q: I'm designing my own book covers. If I download photos from the internet, am I breaking copyright? Q: Is there funding to help an independent publishers? Q: Are Bookbub Ads and Goodreads Deals worth the effort? Q: Are review bloggers and guest blogging still a powerful marketing strategy? Our weekly Self-Publishing Advice broadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Member Self-Publishing Q&A is one of four regular shows, which include a more advanced salon, a beginners' salon and a special guest highlight presentation from the Indie Author Fringe, ALLi's free online author conference. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.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 www.allianceindependentauthors.org. Now, go write and publish. About your 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. Connect with Joanna on Twitter @thecreativepenn 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. Connect with Orna on Twitter @OrnaRoss