Self-Publishing with ALLi

On this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Dan Holloway examines the controversy surrounding AI-generated romance novels after a New York Times report revealed one author producing hundreds of titles and earning six figures. He also looks at AI's growing presence in cultural institutions, new legal pressure from UK publishers, and data suggesting piracy remains a major threat to the book market.

Sponsor

Self-Publishing News is proudly sponsored by PublishMe—helping indie authors succeed globally with expert translation, tailored marketing, and publishing support. From first draft to international launch, PublishMe ensures your book reaches readers everywhere. Visit publishme.me.

Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need.

And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.

About the Host

Dan Holloway is a novelist, poet, and spoken word artist. He is the MC of the performance arts show The New Libertines, He competed at the National Poetry Slam final at the Royal Albert Hall. His latest collection, The Transparency of Sutures, is available on Kindle.

On the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Joe Solari explores why publishing success formulas so often fail. Drawing on a landmark study of cultural markets, he explains how randomness and social feedback loops mean that even books of similar quality can have wildly different outcomes. The good news? The market isn't locked—new winners emerge constantly. Rather than chasing guaranteed recipes, Solari argues authors should focus on building durable advantages and staying in the game long enough for luck to find them.

Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of 2,000+ blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need.

We invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.

About the Host

Joe Solari assists authors in developing successful businesses as the managing partner of Author Ventures LLC. In his role as a business manager, he supports his private clients, who collectively achieved gross royalties of twenty-two million in 2023, with an average pre-tax profit of 44%. This remarkable success results from implementing disciplined business strategies and maintaining an unwavering dedication to enhancing the customer experience.

My guest this episode is Mike Carden. He's an author from England who came to writing in midlife. He has independently published six books. Many of them are humorous cycling travelogues. They mix history, conversation, and self-deprecating humor. Readers connect with his warmth and honesty.

Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of 2,000+ blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need.

We invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.

About the Host

Howard Lovy has been a journalist for 40 years and now amplifies the voices of independent author-publishers and works with authors as a developmental editor. Find Howard at howardlovy.com, LinkedIn, and X.

About the Guest

Mike Carden lives and works in Dorset on the south coast of England and began his writing career around the start of the millennium, after years in marketing and sales for the textiles industry. He has since independently published six books, starting with a series of quirkily funny cycling travelogues, including The Full English: Pedalling through England, Mid-Life Crisis, and Truly Rampant Man-Flu. He later returned to a long-delayed project, a trilogy of historical novels based on the life of Alfred the Great, and successfully brought it to publication on his own terms. He is currently working on a new whodunnit set in the English Lake District.

On this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Dan Holloway focuses on a wave of developments around Bookshop.org, including its new partnership with Draft2Digital that makes it far easier for indie authors to sell e-books through the platform. He also looks at expanded audiobook options via Libro.fm's new annual subscription model and a major new partnership with Spotify that connects audiobooks, physical books, and indie bookstores through seamless format switching.

Sponsor

Self-Publishing News is proudly sponsored by PublishMe—helping indie authors succeed globally with expert translation, tailored marketing, and publishing support. From first draft to international launch, PublishMe ensures your book reaches readers everywhere. Visit publishme.me.

Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need.

And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.

About the Host

Dan Holloway is a novelist, poet, and spoken word artist. He is the MC of the performance arts show The New Libertines, He competed at the National Poetry Slam final at the Royal Albert Hall. His latest collection, The Transparency of Sutures, is available on Kindle.

Many literary fiction authors feel caught in the middle, shut out of a traditional literary establishment that foregrounds their genre, but also out of indie advice urging marketing methods that feel misaligned. Orna Ross explores the psychology of literary writers who feel uneasy about selling their work, shares her own marketing shifts as a literary novelist and poet, and explains why literary fiction is not a special case—simply another genre with its own reader psychology and buying behavior.

Sponsor

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Bookfunnel. Do you have reader magnets, ARCs, and direct digital sales? Want to join multi-author promotions? Thousands of authors trust BookFunnel for seamless delivery and real human support. Visit BookFunnel.com.

Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.

About the Host

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 democratizing, empowering potential of author-publishing. For more information about Orna, visit her website.

In this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi Member Q&A podcast, hosts Michael La Ronn and Sacha Black discuss how to evaluate the legitimacy of marketing companies approaching authors, particularly those claiming to feature books in book clubs for a fee.

Other questions include:

• Can Amazon print author copies in Australia for local book tours, or must they be shipped from the US
• How can authors get their print-on-demand books into independent bookshops when distributors list them as "firm purchase"
• Where can authors find reliable ratings for contests and awards to determine which are reputable
• What should authors consider when planning their year, including setting achievable goals and maintaining flexibility
• How can authors balance business growth with personal health and sustainable creative output

And more!

Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-Publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.

About the Hosts

Michael La Ronn is ALLi's Outreach Manager. He is the author of over 80 science fiction & fantasy books and self-help books for writers. He writes from the great plains of Iowa and has managed to write while raising a family, working a full-time job, and even attending law school classes in the evenings (now graduated!). You can find his fiction at www.michaellaronn.com and his videos and books for writers at www.authorlevelup.com.

Sacha Black is a bestselling and competition winning author, rebel podcaster, speaker and casual rule breaker. She writes fiction under a secret pen name and other books about the art of writing. When Sacha isn't writing, she runs ALLi's blog. She lives in England, with her wife and genius, giant of a son. You can find her on her website, her podcast, and on Instagram.

On this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Dan Holloway reports on the Selfies Awards opening to indie authors worldwide, marking a major shift for one of the most respected indie-only prizes. He also highlights a new Publishing Perspectives survey asking authors, readers, and publishers what they really want from book prizes, looks at Libro.fm's new annual audiobook subscription model supporting indie bookstores, and notes developments in artist basic income schemes and fresh details emerging from the Anthropic lawsuit.

Sponsor

Self-Publishing News is proudly sponsored by PublishMe—helping indie authors succeed globally with expert translation, tailored marketing, and publishing support. From first draft to international launch, PublishMe ensures your book reaches readers everywhere. Visit publishme.me.

Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need.

And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.

About the Host

Dan Holloway is a novelist, poet, and spoken word artist. He is the MC of the performance arts show The New Libertines, He competed at the National Poetry Slam final at the Royal Albert Hall. His latest collection, The Transparency of Sutures, is available on Kindle.

In 2020, Bookshop.org disrupted the bookselling space with a mission to support independent bookstores while enabling readers to buy print books online. That mission has now expanded to ebooks, with titles distributed through Draft2Digital. In this conversation, Orna Ross is joined by Kris Austin of Draft2Digital and Nick Hunt of Bookshop.org to examine what this shift means for authors. Indie authorship is not the same as indie bookselling. Where do those interests overlap, and where do they diverge? And how can self-publishers make the most of this opportunity?

ALLi nonfiction adviser Anna Featherstone speaks with Anna Borzi AM, chair of the First Nations Writers Festival and its publishing imprint, First Nations Publishers. They discuss how the volunteer-led charity has grown from a literary festival into a global publishing and distribution platform for Pacific writers, often where no other option exists. The conversation covers publishing in an authentic voice, professional production on a lean model, print-on-demand and direct sales, and a strategic move away from costly festivals toward sustainable social media marketing.

Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-Publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.

Sponsor

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Gatekeeper Press — your partner in premium independent publishing. Empowering authors with expert guidance, 100% rights, 100% royalties, and global distribution. From editing to marketing, their all-inclusive services help you publish professionally and confidently. Gatekeeper Press — Where Authors Are Family.

About the Host

Anna Featherstone is ALLi's nonfiction adviser and an author advocate and mentor. A judge of The Australian Business Book Awards and Australian Society of Travel Writers awards, she's also the founder of Bold Authors and presents author marketing and self-publishing workshops for organizations, including Byron Writers Festival. Anna has authored books including how-to and memoirs and her book Look-It's Your Book! about writing, publishing, marketing, and leveraging nonfiction is on the Australian Society of Authors recommended reading list. When she's not being bookish, Anna's into bees, beings, and the big issues of our time.

About the Guest

Anna Borzi AM is director and chair of First Nations Publishers. She is a former international investment banker, entrepreneur, and award-winning author who has advised ultra-high-net-worth individuals, major fund managers, global financial leaders, governments, and industry bodies. Over the course of her career, she broke numerous glass ceilings in the financial services sector. Borzi has worked internationally and has longstanding ties to First Nations cultures. She was raised in Papua New Guinea, from village settings to the capital city, and has family connections to the PNG Highlands and Southern Region. Her great-grandfather was Aboriginal. She was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 2005 for her contribution to financial services.

My guest this episode is Jacqx Melilli. She is an Australian author, playwright, and writing coach. Her work grows out of a long connection to performance and storytelling. Her novel, When the Glitter Fades, explores Australian entertainment history through fiction. That same interest led her to create memoir-writing workshops.

Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of 2,000+ blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need.

We invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.

About the Host

Howard Lovy has been a journalist for 40 years and now amplifies the voices of independent author-publishers and works with authors as a developmental editor. Find Howard at howardlovy.com, LinkedIn, and X.

About the Guest

Jacqx Melilli is an author, playwright, and writing coach who helps people tell the stories they have carried for years. She holds a Master of Arts in Writing and Literature from Deakin University and has worked across film, television, theatre, and youth drama education. Her award-winning stage plays led to the Lights, Camera, Action educational drama series, and she later produced and directed two of those plays as short films. She is also the author of the Australian historical novel When the Glitter Fades, inspired by showbiz history. Through memoir and creative writing workshops, Jacqx helps writers find their voice and leave a record of their lives. Learn more at https://www.jacqx.com.