Self-Publishing with ALLi

What can ALLi members do to prepare for Coronavirus? That's among the questions answered in this month's Members Q&A and Self-Publishing News Salon with Michael LaRonn in the co-presenter seat with Orna Ross, ALLi director, followed by Dan Holloway's news roundup. Other questions this month include: Where can I find ALLi's Watchdog list of service providers? How do I vet a service provider that ma...

My guest this week is Urban Fantasy Author Holly Lyne, who discovered that indie publishing isn't just about writing books. She weaved an entire fantasy world for her readers to enjoy, and then began to give back to the indie community through podcasts and workshops. Indie publishing, to Holly, is all about freedom. Every week I interview a member of ALLi to talk about their writing and what inspi...

Are you using content marketing to promote your fiction and nonfiction books? If not, why not? In this week's #AskALLi session, ALLi director Orna Ross (stepping in for Adam Croft) and blog and conference manager Sacha Black talk about how content marketing is a necessary skill all authors must develop. They drill down into how content marketing differs for fiction and nonfiction. And they introdu...

My guest this week is Canadian author Sandy Day, who took everybody's advice and tried to go the traditional publishing route with her novels. But she discovered the hard way that it just doesn't pay to listen to conventional wisdom. As soon as she self-published her books, she proved everybody wrong by selling thousands of copies. But it's been a long road for Sandy Day to get to self-publishing...

Do you want to take your nonfiction book to the next level? Are you keen to learn how digital tools are changing nonfiction publishing for authors? In this session Orna Ross and Joanna Penn focus on advanced nonfiction considerations for authors. Both believe that almost all writers, including poets and novelists, benefit from including non-fiction in their publishing mix. In this revealing podcas...

My guest this week is Christine Reynebeau, a children's author who used the experience she gained working in youth development to write books that teach lessons often missed by traditional books aimed at kids. Along the way, she went through some horrific experiences with vanity presses before she finally found the right formula for self-publishing success.  Every week I interview a member of ALLi...

This week's AskALLi session with Orna Ross and Dalma Szentpály will show you how to work with a poetry editor and how to find the editing process that's right for you. The editing process is as essential for poets as for all writers. So what kind of editor do you need as a poet? Does the usual trio of developmental editing, copyediting and proofing apply or is it different? How do you find a good...

My guest this week is Sara Easterly, an adoptee who wrote a book, Searching for Mom, about her quest to find her birth mother. But, more than that, her book is a spiritual and emotional search that tries to come to terms with something experienced by many adoptees, a feeling of abandonment. Along the way, Sara learned many surprising things about her adopted mother, her birth mother, and herself....

Why Do I Need an Author Website? That's among the questions answered in this month's Members Q&A and Self-Publishing News Salon with Michael LaRonn in the co-presenter seat with Orna Ross, ALLi director, followed by Dan Holloway's news roundup. Other questions this month include: Is 99Designs worth it for designing your book cover? Amazon price matches print books, but do any of the other big reta...

My guest this week is Brenda Felber, an American author who just can't seem to sit still. In fact, she's making a career of not sitting still, visiting all 50 states to write middle-grade, paranormal fiction about each one. She originally did it to teach her grandchildren about their country, but along the way, other kids began to enjoy taking these journeys with her. Every week I interview a memb...

If you've hung around ALLi long enough, you'll know multiple streams of income are a core principle we follow. But what does it really mean? What do those streams look like? And how can you create those streams around both your fiction and nonfiction books? Join Sacha Black and Adam Croft as they discuss building a sustainable business with multiple streams of income around your books, no matter t...

My guest this week is Chris Calder, a writer who discovered his voice later in life. In his 70s, in fact. He had been diagnosed with cancer and, during his treatment, decided that there really wasn't any more time to put off a writing career. So, he penned his first novel in the hospital. Now, at the age of 82, there have been four more and he shows no signs of slowing down.  Every week I intervie...

In this session Orna and Joanna go back to the source to talk about creativity: what it is, how to sustain and nurture it and the challenges of overcoming resistance, beating block and sustaining a creative life over the long term.  Sharing their own creative practices and process, and what they've learned over decades of writing and publishing, they explore creative approaches not just to writing...

My guest this week is English author Julie Carter. When she's not writing, you'll see her doing something called fell running, which is sort of what it sounds like. She runs through craggy hills, trying not to … fall. But when Julie does it, it's about more than running. It's about finding joy, sorting things out in her head, and dealing with chronic pain.  Every week I interview a member of ALLi...

Interested in writing and publishing love poetry? In advance of Valentine's day, this week's AskALLi session with Orna Ross and Dalma Szentpály will discuss How to Self-Publish Love Poetry. If you're an indie poet, or aspire to publish poetry books, this AskALLi salon is for you. You'll learn: Why love poetry is always popular and who is reading it in these digital days Latest trends in poetry pub...

My guest this week is Jude Lennon, an English children's author who does so much more than write books. She is a traveling storyteller, going from school to school to instill in children a love for books, covering topics from pirates and astronauts to mindfulness and autism. She's the full package when it comes to indie publishing. She's not just selling books, but she's sharing her stories in uni...

This week it's the return of our Members Q&A and Self-Publishing News Salon with Michael LaRonn in the co-presenter seat with Orna Ross, ALLi director, followed by Dan Holloway's news roundup. Our questions this month include: Do I need a different copyright page for each country my book is published in? Where can I find information on starting my author business? How aggressive should I be in pur...

My guest this week is Thomas Lloyd Qualls, whose personal quest for meaning took him from a law career to becoming a self-described vagabond who backpacked throughout the world. Along the way, he gathered material for two books of dreamlike, transcendent fiction that echo his own spiritual search.  Every week I interview a member of ALLi to talk about their writing and what inspires them, and why...

As audiobook sales continue to grow, so too do the platforms for sales and marketing. But how do you actually sell an audiobook? And how do you know what marketing opportunities are boom and what are bust? Join Sacha Black and Adam Croft as they discuss the different platforms for audiobook sales and the ever growing marketing opportunities for both your fiction and nonfiction audiobooks. Our fict...

My guest this week is Brad Borkan, who wrote a book about failure. OK. Not exactly about failure, but about explorers, specifically polar explorers. They have a very distinct goal in mind. Reach the North Pole or the South Pole. Sometimes they make it, sometimes they fall short. And, through their successes and failures, we mortals who are not polar explorers can learn something about how to deal...

Things are moving fast for indie authors, with new advances in voice first technology, artificial intelligence, and other tools, together with a growing sense of author empowerment. Orna and Joanna discuss their predictions about what indie authors can expect, the trends to watch out for in the year to come—and across the 2020s. Our advanced salon is brought to you by specialist sponsor IngramSpar...

In the final AskALLi podcast of the year, Orna Ross and Joanna Penn round up the top self-publishing shifts of 2019 but also look back at the past decade. What have been the most pivotal moments for authorpreneurs in that ten years and what does it mean for indie authors today? Our advanced salon is brought to you by specialist sponsor IngramSpark . Find more author advice, tips and tools at our s...

My guest this week is Orna Ross, who many of you know as ALLi's founder and director. But there's another Orna Ross you may not know. This is the one who has taken a long journey from her childhood steeped in the storytelling culture of Ireland to her career as a journalist and then traditionally published novelist, a cancer survivor, and a poet. That's the Orna Ross we're going to meet today.  Ev...

Building on the basic marketing poetry book marketing plan established last time, Orna Ross and Dalma Szentpály move on to choosing some specific actions that feel right for you. Emphasizing a spirit of experiment and exploration, they suggest a number of options available to poets, from book promotion websites to social media. And they show how poets are reaching readers in a variety of niches, w...

My guest this week is Phyllis Cole-Dai, whose work spans topics as disparate as homelessness and the plight of American Indians. For Phyllis, here's what they all have in common. She is able to totally immerse herself into these topics that tend to divide us and come back with stories about how they impact individual humans. If we see individual people, learn their stories, then maybe we can all f...