Self-Publishing with ALLi

Ep#50: Orna Ross and Joel Friedlander answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books. Each month, Orna Ross, ALLi Director, invites a special guest into the indie author hot seat to answer ALLi Members' self-publishing questions.

This month's special guest was self-publishing pioneer Joel Friedlander. "Self-publishing gives you an opportunity to change the world, one reader at a time, but you have to treat your work with the respect it deserves." "Keep learning and don't give up, book publishing is a marathon, not a sprint."

Our monthly Ask ALLi broadcasts are an ideal way to keep learning about being an indie author and the skills you need to acquire to become a successful self-publisher.

Here are the topics we covered:

• Author Collaboration.
• FREE Writing Technique.
• How important is it that non-fiction copy editors have familiarity with the topic they're editing?
• Will the new Amazon KDP Paperback service replace Createspace?
• How do we find a publicist we can trust?
• What is your experience with Bookbaby? Good, bad, or indifferent?
• The strategy of using Amazon and IngramSpark together, and what direction to take on my ISBNs.

Our weekly Self-Publishing Advice broadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This ALLi Member Q&A podcast is one of four regular shows, which include an an Advanced Salon, a beginners' salon and a special guest highlight presentation from the Indie Author Fringe, ALLi's free online author conference.

Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.selfpublishingadvice.org. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at www.allianceindependentauthors.org.

Now, go write and publish.

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 democratising, empowering potential of author-publishing. Connect with Orna on Twitter @OrnaRoss

Ep#50: Orna Ross and Joel Friedlander answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books.

Each month, Orna Ross, ALLi Director, invites a special guest into the indie author hot seat to answer ALLi Members’ self-publishing questions. This month’s special guest was self-publishing pioneer Joel Friedlander.

“Self-publishing gives you an opportunity to change the world, one reader at a time, but you have to treat your work with the respect it deserves.”

“Keep learning and don’t give up, book publishing is a marathon, not a sprint.”

Our monthly Ask ALLi broadcasts are an ideal way to keep learning about being an indie author and the skills you need to acquire to become a successful self-publisher.

Here are the topics we covered:

Author Collaboration

FREE Writing Technique

How important is it that non-fiction copy editors have familiarity with the topic they’re editing?

Will the new Amazon KDP Paperback service replace Createspace?

How do we find a publicist we can trust?

What is your experience with Bookbaby? Good, bad, or indifferent?

The strategy of using Amazon and IngramSpark together, and what direction to take on my ISBNs.

Visit our Self-Publishing Advice Center for more helpful indie author advice: http://selfpublishingadvice.org

Find out how to become a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors:

https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org

Ep#49: Welcome to Ask ALLi, the Self-Publishing Advice Podcast from the Alliance of Independent Authors. In a monthly salon type discussion, Orna Ross, Director of the Alliance of Independent Authors and Joanna Penn, of TheCreativePenn.com, talk about the latest tools and trends of interest to emerging and experienced self-publishing authors.

Topics discussed this week include:

• Orna and Jo are back from travels (in San Francisco and New Zealand) and they discuss the international scene and what they experienced while touring
• The latest report from Author Earnings.
• News of Kobo Plus launching in the Netherlands
• The purchase of Bookouture by Hachett
• The importance of author self-empowerment.

Our weekly Self-Publishing Advice broadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Advanced Self-Publishing Salon is one of four regular shows, which include an ALLi Member Q&A, a beginners' salon and a special guest highlight presentation from the Indie Author Fringe, ALLi's free online author conference.

Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.selfpublishingadvice.org. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at www.allianceindependentauthors.org.

Now, go write and publish.

About the Hosts

Joanna Penn is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author, as well as writing non-fiction for authors. She is also a professional speaker and entrepreneur, voted as one of The Guardian UK Top 100 creative professionals 2013. She spent 13 years as a business IT consultant in large corporations across the globe before becoming a full-time author-entrepreneur in September 2011. Connect with Joanna on Twitter @thecreativepenn

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 democratising, empowering potential of author-publishing. Connect with Orna on Twitter @OrnaRoss

Orna Ross and Joanna Penn launch the first episode of their Self-Publishing Salon. This month we welcomed the launch of our Self-Publishing Salon with Orna and Joanna. Usually this duo hosts our month Ask ALLi Q&A event to answer Member's self-publishing questions, but this Salon has a new format and instead of answering Member questions, they're having a conversation about what's going on in the publishing industry and about their own indie author events and experiences. Whereas our month Ask ALLi Q&A is aimed at emerging and experienced indie authors, the topics discussed in our Salon events will be skewed towards the more experienced authors who have already mastered industry terms and are familiar with the basics of self-publishing. Topics discussed this month are Digital Book World, The Data Guy, ISBNs, Audio books, Niche Markets, Box Sets, Pronoun, Microsoft, and Kobo. Visit our Membership site: http://allianceindependentauthors.org Visit our Self-Publishing Advice Centre http://selfpublishingadvice.org

Ep#49: Orna Ross and Joanna Penn launch the first episode of their Self-Publishing Salon.

This month we welcomed the launch of our Self-Publishing Salon with Orna and Joanna. Usually this duo hosts our month Ask ALLi Q&A event to answer Member's self-publishing questions, but this Salon has a new format and instead of answering Member questions, they're having a conversation about what's going on in the publishing industry and about their own indie author events and experiences.

Whereas our month Ask ALLi Q&A is aimed at emerging and experienced indie authors, the topics discussed in our Salon events will be skewed towards the more experienced authors who have already mastered industry terms and are familiar with the basics of self-publishing.

Topics discussed this month are Digital Book World, The Data Guy, ISBNs, Audio books, Niche Markets, Box Sets, Pronoun, Microsoft, and Kobo.

Visit our Membership site:

http://allianceindependentauthors.org

Visit our Self-Publishing Advice Centre

http://selfpublishingadvice.org

Ep#48: Self-Publishing Advice Podcast: Indie Author Fringe Highlight with Dan Blank In this interview with David Penny of ALLi, Dan Blank discusses the psychology of writing, how to find alternative outlets for your books, and how writers can use available resources to research their reader audience. Selling a book is a business. It doesn't mean that the process of writing your book has to be approach as a business, but when it comes to reaching readers you need your business head on.

In this podcast we share how to:

• Make the most of Amazon and Goodreads.
• Create valuable Connections.
• Leave yourself a planning window.
• Consolidate Newsletter Research.
• Plan using Baby Steps.

Our weekly Self-Publishing Advicebroadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Indie Author Fringe Highlight is one of four regular shows, which include an ALLi Member Q&A, a beginners' salon and an advanced self-publishing salon. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.selfpublishingadvice.org. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at www.allianceindependentauthors.org. If you're not familiar with our Fringe event, it's three-times a year, online conference for self-publishing authors, brought to you by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and fringe to the major global publishing fairs; London Book Fair, BookExp, and Frankfurt Book Fair. ALLi brings together the most up-to-date self-publishing education and information available and broadcasts it to authors everywhere. Running 24 sessions over 24 continuous hours allows our members, and other authors round the globe, to attend sessions, no matter where they're located. For more information, visit our Conference Home Page. Now, go write and publish.

Ep#47: Orna Ross and Joanna Penn answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books. Each month, Joanna and Orna answer Members' self-publishing questions during our regular Ask ALLi event. If you missed our live Q&A session you can watch the video and listen to the podcast here.

We've also included a summary of the questions that were asked and answered this month.

• How do you assert copyright if you're intending to self-publish under a pseudonym? And how does this pseudonym link back to the real-life person?
• How can you benefit from Foreign Rights requests but protect yourself from potential scams?
• I'm close to publishing my first novel. I'm confused about the ISBN, what pricing should I ask my designer to put on my book's cover?
• If I'm publishing via Amazon for Kindle, can I also publish via other services like Ingram Spark and Lulu?
• I'm having trouble getting PR opportunities for my books. How can I find a publicist?

Listen to Orna and Joanna as they provide updates on the exciting activities planned for their author brands for 2017. There are also continual updates to existing ALLi guidebooks and plans to create new self-publishing ALLi tools throughout the year. Time waits for no ... indie author.

Our weekly Self-Publishing Advice broadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Advanced Self-Publishing Salon is one of four regular shows, which include an ALLi Member Q&A, a beginners' salon and a special guest highlight presentation from the Indie Author Fringe, ALLi's free online author conference.

Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.selfpublishingadvice.org. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at www.allianceindependentauthors.org.

Now, go write and publish.

About the Hosts

Joanna Penn is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author, as well as writing non-fiction for authors. She is also a professional speaker and entrepreneur, voted as one of The Guardian UK Top 100 creative professionals 2013. She spent 13 years as a business IT consultant in large corporations across the globe before becoming a full-time author-entrepreneur in September 2011. Connect with Joanna on Twitter @thecreativepenn

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 democratising, empowering potential of author-publishing. Connect with Orna on Twitter @OrnaRoss

Ep#46: Orna Ross and Joanna Penn answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books. Each month, Joanna and Orna answer Members' self-publishing questions during our regular Ask ALLi event.

We've also included a summary of the questions that were asked and answered this month.

• Is there an advantage to using both Create Space and IngramSpark, and why, does one offer something the other one doesn't?
• Should you purchase your own ISBN numbers, even if the first book is an e-book?
• And if someone submits a PDF to Ingram, do they generate an ePub, should you use IngramSpark for e-books?
• I'm finding it hard to get any writing done with so many tasks. Any tips for that?
• I write music based fiction or many books in my series follows series or songwriters and includes lyrics I've written. I want to bring other named titles and songwriters/singers into this story line. Is it legal to do this?
• I've bitten a bullet, commissioned an audio version of my first book. What advice do you have about going wide or exclusive with Audible bearing in mind different royalty rates and contract terms?
• How long before you publish should you start your marketing plan?
• I don't have time to write and schedule my own Facebook ads, can you recommend someone to do this for me?
• What is your advice to a first time author with one book hitting the market in the next few months, does KDP Select make sense as a strategy or does that set up KU reader expectation that your remaining books will be free?
• What is the best way to make a review e-book copy of your book from a word document?
• What are some of the innovative ways Indie authors of YA are attracting young readers? Are those authors also targeting adults and if so what is the strategy?
• I have an edited manuscript, I plan to self-publish, what is the next step to get me from computer to bookstore?

Our weekly Self-Publishing Advice broadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Advanced Self-Publishing Salon is one of four regular shows, which include an ALLi Member Q&A, a beginners' salon and a special guest highlight presentation from the Indie Author Fringe, ALLi's free online author conference.

Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.selfpublishingadvice.org. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at www.allianceindependentauthors.org.

Now, go write and publish.

About the Hosts

Joanna Penn is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author, as well as writing non-fiction for authors. She is also a professional speaker and entrepreneur, voted as one of The Guardian UK Top 100 creative professionals 2013. She spent 13 years as a business IT consultant in large corporations across the globe before becoming a full-time author-entrepreneur in September 2011. Connect with Joanna on Twitter @thecreativepenn

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 democratising, empowering potential of author-publishing. Connect with Orna on Twitter @OrnaRoss

Ep#45: In this insightful Indie Author Fringe podcast, Jane Friedman takes us through seven critical elements that are foundational for any author who is serious about their writing career. I've summarised some of the key takeaways that resonated with me, but listen to this broadcast yourselves to delve into the subject in greater detail.

• Have your own Website.
• Make sure your website is mobile friendly.
• Have consistent bios on social media and website platforms.
• Improve the imagery and videos you use.
• Explore your entire demand curve.
• Mine information that is useful to connect with readers.
• Make important Marketing efforts trackable.

Our weekly Self-Publishing Advicebroadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Indie Author Fringe Highlight is one of four regular shows, which include an ALLi Member Q&A, a beginners' salon and an advanced self-publishing salon. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.selfpublishingadvice.org. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at www.allianceindependentauthors.org. If you're not familiar with our Fringe event, it's three-times a year, online conference for self-publishing authors, brought to you by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and fringe to the major global publishing fairs; London Book Fair, BookExp, and Frankfurt Book Fair. ALLi brings together the most up-to-date self-publishing education and information available and broadcasts it to authors everywhere. Running 24 sessions over 24 continuous hours allows our members, and other authors round the globe, to attend sessions, no matter where they're located. For more information, visit our Conference Home Page. Now, go write and publish.

Ep#44: Indie Author Fringe Highlight with Joel Friedlander and Nick Stephenson. As authors, we all know the role that social media plays in our ability to connect with readers, but the most beneficial ways of establishing a 1:1 relationship with your potential customers is via your email list. Start your list building early: Between them, Joel and Nick have lots of indie author and self-publishing knowledge and expertise, and although their email marketing approaches may differ, they both agree authors need to establish their email list as soon as they start their indie author journey. This is the most crucial factor in your long term success as an author. Not only is it the ideal way to establish a direct line of communication with your readers, but it provides an opportunity to cultivate relationships, it extends your reach and exposure, and helps you raise awareness for your books (or other products).

Size doesn't matter!: When it comes to lists, size doesn't matter. What's important is the quality of your list, and how responsive your email contacts are to your communications. Your goal is to compel your list to act, even if it's in their self-interest (e.g. downloading a free book). The concept of permafree is a well known way of using your book as a promotional tool, but you don't have to give a book away to have it working on your behalf. Nick includes a large graphic at the front and back of each of his books, offering a free download to anyone who joins his list.

Other topics covered:

• How to attract traffic to your website.
• Engage with your Audience.
• Use your Writing Skills to build your email List.

Our weekly Self-Publishing Advicebroadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Indie Author Fringe Highlight is one of four regular shows, which include an ALLi Member Q&A, a beginners' salon and an advanced self-publishing salon. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.selfpublishingadvice.org. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at www.allianceindependentauthors.org. If you're not familiar with our Fringe event, it's three-times a year, online conference for self-publishing authors, brought to you by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and fringe to the major global publishing fairs; London Book Fair, BookExp, and Frankfurt Book Fair. ALLi brings together the most up-to-date self-publishing education and information available and broadcasts it to authors everywhere. Running 24 sessions over 24 continuous hours allows our members, and other authors round the globe, to attend sessions, no matter where they're located. For more information, visit our Conference Home Page. Now, go write and publish.

Ep#43: Orna Ross and Joanna Penn answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books. Each month, Joanna and Orna answer Members' self-publishing questions during our regular Ask ALLi event.

We've also included a summary of the questions that were asked and answered this month.

• Q: I'm investing in editors for my first book, do I send to multiple editors one at a time?
• Q: What's the difference between trade paperbacks and mass market paperbacks?
• Q: What are the different book cover design considerations when you're planning an ebook and print book launch?
• Q: Are Amazon getting rid of the Table of Contents in their books, and when I upload my book, what should I choose for the DRM (Digital Rights Management) setting?
• Q: I've been offered a contribution-based publishing contract – what are your thoughts on these types of agreements?
• Q: I'm trying to avoid losing money with my book launch, and am considering a Book Launch service to help me learn the process.
• Q: How to I go about finding an agent that will represent my subsidiary rights?
• Q: At what point does an author's social media following grow organically?
• Q: I have 1 book out / 10 books out. How should I adjust my marketing activity for these two different approaches?
• Q: Has ALLi got an insider contact at Amazon, like Andy for Ingram Spark?
• Q: Can you upload to KDP and make your book available to pre-order?
• Q: I used a free ISBN when I released via Createspace. Can I release via Ingram Spark with a different ISBN? And should I even bother with Ingram Spark?
• Q: What are the most important decisions an indie author has to make to transition from writing as a hobby to an authorpreneur?

Our weekly Self-Publishing Advice broadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Member Self-Publishing Q&A is one of four regular shows, which include a more advanced salon, a beginners' salon and a special guest highlight presentation from the Indie Author Fringe, ALLi's free online author conference.

Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.selfpublishingadvice.org. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at www.allianceindependentauthors.org.

Now, go write and publish.

About your hosts

Joanna Penn is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author, as well as writing non-fiction for authors. She is also a professional speaker and entrepreneur, voted as one of The Guardian UK Top 100 creative professionals 2013. She spent 13 years as a business IT consultant in large corporations across the globe before becoming a full-time author-entrepreneur in September 2011. Connect with Joanna on Twitter @thecreativepenn

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 democratising, empowering potential of author-publishing. Connect with Orna on Twitter @OrnaRoss