Richard McMunn is a UK self-publishing superstar!

He is a former firefighter who discovered a successful writing formula and has built an entire business around his publishing success.

He's also the creator of a fabulous, free resource called 'About The Author' which is a really handy tool for all newly self-published writers.

This week's round up of my own self-publishing news.

Katja L Kaine is the creator of Novel Factory, a software created by writers for writers.

It takes care of managing characters, locations, drafts and even submissions, so writers can get on with the fun stuff.

She also writes novels and short stories and runs a writing group.

This week's round up of my own self-publishing news.

Children’s author Abiloa Bello, wrote her debut novel ‘Emily Knight I AM’ at the age of 12!

The book was independently published via Trafford Publishing and is the first book in a planned series, with book 2 in the pipeline.

Abiola is one of the few authors to self publish a book and then sign to a literary agent and she’ll be telling us all about that journey is our chat today.

She also co-founded The Author School with Helen Lewis.

Linzi Drew-Honey is a former glamour model and editor of Penthouse magazine.

She has also appeared on Page Three of The Sun. Linzi has just self-published her first book – Every Shade of Blue – which is her debut, erotic fiction novel.

The novel has been published through Matador, the self-publishing imprint of The Troubador Publishing Group.

Sarah Taylor is the Group Marketing Manager at Troubador Publishing.

That means Sarah works with Matador, which is the company’s self-publishing imprint and The Book Guild, which is their mainstream and partnership publishing company.

Sarah is a great person to speak to on the podcast because she’s very involved with the company’s Self-Publishing Conference (this year’s is on Saturday 7th May) and their Self-Publishing Experience Days.

Nina Ratcliffe has written and self-published a children’s book called ‘Dublin and Friends’.

She has another children’s story in production and there is a further book on an equine theme pencilled in for later this year.

She has also has the book ‘A New Home’ available on Amazon in Kindle format.

Nina has used some excellent marketing techniques to sell her print books to a local audience as well as some innovative Facebook strategies to build her audience.

Helen Lewis set up Literally PR which specialises in ‘creative, innovative and cost-effective PR solutions’ for authors.

Not only is she a public relations expert, Helen also runs The Author School, a training initiative for all authors to get them ‘from manuscript to book launch’.

One of the first disappointments that newly self-published authors experience is in finally publishing their book, then finding that nobody buys it.

There’s often a feeling that the biggest hurdle is in writing and publishing a book – but the real work begins after that, when it’s time to start making some sales.

That’s where Helen comes in!

Michael Holley describes himself on his blog as an indie author – a publishing consultant – a blogger and a speaker. He writes and self-publishes fiction and non-fiction titles.

Publishing as ‘Michael J Holley’, his books include The Dead Man’s Curse, The Beginner’s Guide to Self-Publishing A Book on Amazon Kindle, iBooks & Kobo, The Great Corporate Escape and Cast in the Summer of Love.