Self-Publishing with ALLi

Ep#23: Orna Ross and Joanna Penn answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books.

Here's the questions posed to Orna and Joanna this month:

• Q: If I get a Bookbub, what other promotional activity should I be doing?
• Q: Has anyone had experience with Kirkus Reviews or other paid review sites?
• Q: Is 2 books enough for a box set?
• Q: "Translating is the new black" but how do you assess the final work?
• Q: How can I copyright protect the short stories that I'm selling directly from my website?
• Q: Where should I start with publishing a printed illustrated children's book?
• Q: How do you make your characters seem unique?
• Q: What's the best way to get Amazon Reviews, and how many reviews should I aim for?

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

Ep#22: Orna Ross and Joanna Penn answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books.

Here's the questions posed to Orna and Joanna this month:

• Q: I'm writing my first book and I'm overwhelmed by all the other self-publishing and indie author tasks I should be doing like blogging and marketing. What should I focus on?
• Q: I've never written a book before, and wanted to know if I needed to hire a lawyer to look over the self-publishing contracts from IngramSpark and CreateSpace?
• Q: What are the pros and cons of using ACX?
• Q: What are the pitfalls of creating a 2nd Edition version of a currently published novel?
• Q: I've marketed my book in the UK and the US in the same way, but have had minimal sales success in the US. Is this market a harder nut to crack?

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

Ep#21: Orna Ross chats with mystery writer Elizabeth Spann Craig to discover how she's using Wattpad to expand her reader demographic. If you're looking for an uncomplicated and free way of reaching more readers, Wattpad could be the option you're looking for.

This month's ALLi Insights event was full of information and inspiration about why and how you can leverage your existing content to reach a broader audience.

Here's Wattpad Insights to whet your appetite:

• Wattpad users are very mobile savvy and skew towards a younger demographic.
• Authors don't have to write serially, they just need to publish serially.
• The Wattpad mobile app for free, and a Wattpad account is also free.
• Set a consistent publishing schedule for your chapter releases.
• If you already have a free book, it makes sense to leverage it on Wattpad. Use it as a funnel to your other books.
• At the end of each Wattpad chapter you can add an author call to action (e.g. sign up to the author's mailing list, or letting your readers know where to buy the book if they can't wait for the next installment).
• A demographics tab gives you insights into the age demographics of your readers and their geographic location. Authors can add images or a video to each chapter to increase engagement.
• It'll take about 4-6 chapters to get some audience traction. Wattpad increases your opportunity of reaching your share of the 40 Million global readers.

Our weekly Self-Publishing Advice broadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors.

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

Ep#20: Joanna Penn and David Penny answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books.

Here's the questions posed to David and Joanna this month:

• Q: Is there an Indie Book Fair event planned in Australia?
• Q: The Legal Deposits Library has requested 5 copies of my book, do I need to send them?
• Q: I've written 5 short stories, how many should I have in a Collection?
• Q: What is the typical length of a book blurb?
• Q: What Writing Craft Resources would you recommend?
• Q: How should Authors leverage a Mailing List?
• Q: I'm a new author and published my book 3 weeks ago. How long does it take to see Kindle Sales on Amazon?
• Q: When is the Showcase up and running again?
• Q: When should you start thinking about promoting and marketing your book?

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

Ep#19: Orna Ross chats with Katie Donelan from BookBub to reveal how to increase your chances of getting your book selected for a BookBub Promotion. Competition to be included in the daily BookBub email is fierce, especially in popular categories like Romance, so if you want to increase your chances of being "BookBubbed" it's best to familiarise yourself with the selection criteria process used by the BookBub editors. Historically publishing has not been a direct to consumer market, but BookBub knows what Indie Authors have known from the outset; the most important element of marketing and promotion is reaching readers.

Our weekly Self-Publishing Advice broadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors.

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

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

Katie Donelan is the Director of Business Development at BookBub, a service that helps millions of readers discover new books and authors. Katie's team works with all the major publishing houses, mid-size and smaller publishers, and thousands of independent authors to help market their ebooks.

Ep#18: Orna Ross and Joanna Penn answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books.

Here's the questions posed to Orna and Joanna this month:

• Q: How should authors deal with lines from songs… what is fair use?
• Q: For a 1st time self-publishers, how many months out should you advertise your first release
• Q: How can I boost my sales? Releasing a new book in January with a preorder in October. First book didn't do well, how can I promote my second book better?
• Q: Why aren't my keywords working for me? Interested in Joining ALLi?

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

Ep#17: Orna Ross chats with Helen Sedwick discuss copyright to add clarity around what a writer owns vs. what they don't.

Other topics being discussed are:

• How authors can protect their work.
• How to keep others from taking more than their fair share by understanding the nuances between licenses vs. assignments, exclusive vs. non-exclusives and termination clauses.
• Author scams and what red flags indie authors should look out for.

Our weekly Self-Publishing Advice broadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors.

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

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

Writer and lawyer Helen Sedwick has thirty years of experience representing businesses and entrepreneurs. When she self-published the novel COYOTE WINDS, she could find no handbook to help writers deal with the legal issues of self-publishing. So she wrote that book: Self-Publisher's Legal Handbook. Her goal is to keep writers out of court and at their desks.

Ep#16: Orna Ross and Joanna Penn answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books.

Here's the questions posed to Orna and Joanna this month:

• Q: I'm toying with the idea of using Facebook ads for 1) collecting email subscribers by offering some free content and 2) promoting my books directly. I've been through Mark Dawson's 3 free videos and probably have enough information to try this .. should I do it?
• Q: Google Play: What is it? Should I put my books in there or not? What royalty revenue could I expect?
• Q: Now that I've published my first book, I am getting contacted by book promoters who promise to publicise my book for a fee. How can I tell which are effective and which are not?
• Q: After hitting some technical problems loading my books onto Ingram Spark, I missed the promo offer (open to everyone). Can you advise when and if a new offer for Alli members will be launched soon?
• Q: When hiring a proofreader is it best to engage them for two sets of proofreads – digital and print or just digital?
• Q: As a self-publisher/writer should I purchase my ISBN's directly from Bowker? I see there are other sites offering ISBN's for less money, but are they legitimate?
• Q: Are there any book cover designers available who can format a color design for a modest book who do not charge lots of money to do so?
• Q: How can I get review copies of my book at a discount?
• Q: What publisher would you recommend to do a self-published non-fiction book that has both black and white and color pages?

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

Ep#15: Orna Ross and Joanna Penn answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books.

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

Ep#14: Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) Director Orna Ross and Joanna Penn, of The Creative Penn, answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books.

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