Self-Publishing with ALLi

To celebrate National Novel Writing Month, (NaNoWriMo), ALLi Director Orna Ross and Partner Liaison and US Ambassador Michael La Ronn answer writing questions. Among them ... What's the best app to write my novel? How do I conquer writer's block? Help! I'm stuck in the murky middle of my novel! Where do I find beta readers? What are the best tips for editing my novel? Also ALLi News Editor Dan Hol...

My guest this week is Sue Stern, who at the age of 80 is hitting her stride as an author. When she wrote The Child Who Spoke With her Eyes , a memoir of the all-too-short life of her daughter who suffered from cerebral palsy, she called forth a great deal of pain mixed with the joy of her memory. Along the way, she found a spiritual path through the journey she took with her daughter.  Every week...

All the foundations of book marketing begin with knowing your audience. And that is your reader! How do you identify who your reader is? How deep do you need to dig? What difference does knowing exactly who your target reader is affect your overall book marketing approach? Join Orna Ross and Sacha Black as they discuss the differences and similarities of identifying readers of nonfiction versus fi...

My guest this week is Robert Dinsmoor, a writer who has seen his share of sadness and addiction, yet is able to find ways to write about them with both wisdom and wit.  Robert talks about his journey as a comedy writer whose alcoholism landed him in rehab, where he was able to not only find healing, but also inspiration for his writing.  Every week I interview a member of ALLi to talk about their...

Should you consider self-publishing in Germany? As Amazon opens its ads dashboard in the UK and Germany, and a number of the authors on the ALLi Indie Author Translation Rights project turn their attention there, Orna and Joanna consider the options for Indie authors around the world who'd like to reach the 29.1 million ebook readers in Germany, in English or in translation. Joanna reports from Fr...

My guest this week is Ruth Badley, whose book, Where Are The Grown-Ups? chronicles her grandmother's short, troubled life and makes sense of her own family history. Ruth is  a journalist who discovered long-withheld family secrets about her grandmother that sent her searching for the truth in London's old Jewish East End. Every week I interview a member of ALLi to talk about their writing and what...

Do you want to know how to properly market self-published poetry books? Many poets spend a lot of time submitting to literary journals and competitions, but the new way to reach poetry readers is through digital social media and book publishing. In this session poet and ALLi Director Orna Ross, and Business Developer at book distributor PublishDrive, Dalma Szentpály, discuss some of the many ways...

My guest this week is Phil M. Cohen, whose new novel creates a dystopian future of uncooperative machines, a messianic Jewish cult, and the quest for control over a powerful new drug. He uses humor and scifi to discover the meaning of being Jewish in a chaotic world. Phil's book,  Nick Bones Underground , combines the Jewish wit of Michael Chabon with the sci-fi absurdity of Douglas Adams. The bac...

Has ALLi ever heard of certain shady publishers? That is among the questions answered this month on our monthly Member Q&A, where ALLi Members' have their most pressing self-publishing questions analyzed and answered. Join your hosts for the Member Q&A: Partner Liaison and US Ambassador Michael La Ronn and ALLi Director Orna Ross.  Questions this month include: I published my book with a publisher...

My guest this week is Victoria Noe, whose experience working with AIDS patients in the 1980s prepared her to write a series of "Friend Grief" books on dealing with loss when somebody close to you dies. 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-publishi...

Going wide and being selectively exclusive is definitely the safest way to a sustainable and scalable author business. But is it the same for fiction and nonfiction? And what is the best approach at different points of an author business? Boni (sitting in for Orna) and Adam discuss going direct to retailers or using aggregators — what are the pros and cons of each, which are worth the effort of go...

My guest this week Freddie P. Peters, whose background in law and high finance was perfect preparation for her series of financial crime thrillers that also involve espionage, terrorism, and the nature of greed. 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  Sel...

Orna and Joanna attended the Brand Licensing Show in London and bring back advice and information on publishing rights, deal-making, negotiation, and collaboration for everything from stationery to video, TV to merchandise. Discover new trends and ideas and learn how to build partnerships and secure brand rights. Our advanced salon is brought to you by specialist sponsor IngramSpark . Find more au...

My guest this week is Mari Howard, whose books are about finding ways to reconcile science and religion, and about the personal and ethical gray areas between the two. It's not an easy thing to write about during these polarized times, but whether she's writing about in-vitro-fertilization, cloning, or gender transitioning, Mari successfully navigates through questions of prejudice, and the place...

Sometimes called pamphlets, poetry chapbooks are short collections of poems, inexpensively and usually independently published. They are typically in ebook or paperback format—though indies are now producing print-on-demand hardbacks and audiobooks of their own readings, too. ALLi Director Orna Ross publishes chapbooks regularly, whenever she has ten publishable poems, for her "Poems to Inspire" s...

My guest this week is religious fantasy author Brandon Wilborn, who combines the epic fantasy of J.R.R. Tolkien with the religious allegory of C.S. Lewis to create books with action and adventure, yet grounded in lessons on how to handle moral dilemmas of good and evil. Every week I interview a member of ALLi to talk about their writing and what inspires them, and why they are inspiring to other a...

What is hybrid publishing and should I consider it? That is among the questions answered this month on our monthly Member Q&A, where ALLi Members' have their most pressing self-publishing questions analyzed and answered. Join your hosts for the Member Q&A: Partner Liaison and US Ambassador Michael La Ronn and ALLi Director Orna Ross.  Questions this month include: I'm struggling with formatting my...

My guest this week is Scottish author Barry Hutchison, who has found great success as an indie author writing comedy science fiction and crime thrillers. These two genres might seem to be unrelated, but to Barry it was about combining topics that interested him with a market that needed to be filled. The result has been a successful transition from traditionally published author to indie, and he h...

Orna Ross, Adam Croft, and Boni Wagner-Stafford discuss the similarities, differences, and key elements in your book blurbs. What must every indie author include in their blurb? What should they never include? What are the differences between fiction versus nonfiction book blurbs? Tune in for this session on book blurb best practices. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our  Self-publishing...

My guest this week is Helena Halme, a writer of Romantic Nordic Mysteries. She lives in the United Kingdom, but is originally from Finland. Before she became a novelist and ALLi's official Nordic ambassador, Helena played a small, but important, part in Cold War history as a translator for the BBC. In addition to her Nordic Mysteries, Helena writes nonfiction on how to turn your life into fiction...

Orna Ross: Creative Self-Publishing: Optimising Platforms, Formats and Income Streams Self-Publishing Advice Conference, Digital Book World 2019

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 b...

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 fulfilli...

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 inspir...

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 brough...