Welcome to Ask ALLi, the Self-Publishing Advice Podcast from the Alliance of Independent Authors. This week it’s our monthly Member Q&A where ALLi Members’ have their most pressing self-publishing questions analyzed and answered. Join your regular hosts for the Member Q&A: Michael La Ronn and Dan Blank.

Michael La Ronn is the author of over 30 books of science fiction and fantasy and authors self-help books. His books include the Galaxy Mavericks series and Modern Necromancy series. After a near-death experience in 2012, Michael decided to dedicate himself to writing, and he hasn’t looked back.

Dan Blank is the founder of WeGrowMedia, where he helps writers and artists share their stories and grow their audience. He is the author of the book Be the Gateway: A Practical Guide to Sharing Your Creative Work and Engaging an Audience. He has worked with hundreds of individuals, and amazing organizations who support creative people such as Penguin Random House, Sesame Workshop, Hachette Book Group, , Workman Publishing, J. Walter Thompson, Abrams Books, Writers House, The Kenyon Review, Writer’s Digest, Library Journal, and many others. Dan’s work has been featured by Poet’s & Writers magazine, the National Endowment for the Arts, Professional Artist magazine, and 99u. You can find Dan on his blog at or on Twitter and Instagram at @DanBlank

Questions answered this week include:

• If I use an editor who does a bad job, should I hire another one?
• What are the copyright issues around quoting a work from 1885?
• Should I hire someone to begin illustrations when my book is only 2/3 complete?
• A publisher has republished my self-published book because I signed a deal. Should I remove original book from the market?
• When do I need to use different ISBNs for my book?
• How can I connect with other authors in my genre?
• Do Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) ads allow you to target different countries other than the US (as of Feb 2018)
• How and where can I connect with other Alli members?