Self-Publishing with ALLi

My guest this week is A. A. Abbott, a British author who loved telling stories as a child, but never thought she could write professionally until she broke out of her accountant's cubicle and gave it a try. Today, she researches her crime thrillers with the mathematical precision of a CPA, making sure every detail is perfectly accurate.  Find more author advice, tips and tools at our  Self-publish...

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...

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....

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...

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 Ingr...

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 e...

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...

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 sessi...

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. List...

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 t...

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, se...

Creative business is not business as usual. Authors often define success very differently from your average business owners, work from different drivers, and find most planning methods are too one-dimensional and mechanical. This session from ALLi Director Orna Ross provides a simple creative planning method designed for febrile creative minds . This is a post from SelfPubCon (The Self-Publishing...

My ALLi author guest this week is Margaret Skea, who lives in Scotland and writes historical fiction about violent periods in Scottish history. It is a subject that hits closer to home for Margaret than you'd think. She spent her childhood in Northern Ireland, where sectarian violence was a daily fact of life, and Margaret is able to convey this sense of danger and uncertainty in her fiction. Find...

In this session, Orna and Sacha talk about the value of getting help with your author business when you're feeling overworked, overwhelmed or stuck. Where do you find good help? Do novelists need the same kinds of assistance as non-fiction authors?  This session will help you to decide when to hire help and how to ensure it improves your situation What is the value of your time and expertise? Assu...

My ALLi author guest this week is Robert Roseth, who spent his career at the University of Washington, helping to make scientific and technological breakthroughs understandable to everyday readers. After retirement, he embarked on the second part of his career, writing a combination mystery and satire called Ivy is a Weed. Robert also discovered that the best way to publish his vision is to do it...

How do I manage my privacy as an author? 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 kind of contracts should I consider for crowdfunding my book? Where can I find free images to use on my book cover? What is the best way to advertise my book on Barnes & Noble? What is A...

Print sales are up, so how can indie authors make better inroads into local bookstores? That is 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. On this show, they will discuss: R...

My guest this week is Lindsay Mayer, an author of middle-grade fiction who is defying the standard tropes to create unique characters that explore the dark side of imagination. Lindsay was born in the United States but lives in Paris, where she is an IT worker by day and lets her imagination loose as an author by night. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our  Self-publishing Author Advice...

In this month's #AskALLi Advanced Self-Publishing Salon, Orna Ross and Joanna Penn discuss the topic of creative flow. From the necessity for creative rest and play, to the value of deep research and immersion, to using social media as a stimulator for ideas and words. Along the way, they answer some pressing questions for authors: What are the best tools and techniques, to stimulate and capture i...

My guest this week is Karen Hill Anton. She is a black woman married to a white husband, living in a small community in Japan. But Karen would be the first to tell you that none of those descriptions really matter. Karen would tell you that she has traveled the world, and lived in many places, and in the end all we have is our shared humanity. She wrote a memoir about her travels called The View f...

Joining Orna Ross in this month's #AskALLi Self-Publishing Poetry Salon is Jon Davis, Bookfox's Poetry Editor and author of five chapbooks and six full-length poetry collections. Jon received the Lavan Prize from the Academy of American Poets, a GE Younger Writers Award, the Off the Grid Poetry Prize, and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships. He also served as the City of Santa Fe's fou...

My guest this week is Michael Sean Comerford, who spent the first part of his career as a journalist, moving from town to town. Turned out, life on the road was perfect preparation for what came after his newspaper career, which was writing a book about carnival workers. He traveled with them, worked with them, talked to them, lived among them. In the end, he emerged with his book, American OZ; An...

In this session, ALLi Director Orna Ross and author Sacha Black talk about lessons learned about current trends in self-publishing fiction and nonfiction from taking part in two key indie author events that are just over, the Self-Publishing Advice Conference (SelfPubCon) and Amazon UK's Storyteller Award. They discuss about the experience of judging the award and overseeing the conference and inv...

My guest this week is Mytrae Meliana, whose story is both painful and beautiful. She came to the United States from India as a teenager, and not only faced prejudice from the outside, but also, within her own family, a culture that left few choices for women. After years of emotional and physical abuse, Mytrae at last found peace and a way to use her story to help others. Her book, Brown Skin Girl...

Orna Ross interviews Dan Holloway on creativity. Self-Publishing Advice Conference October 2020