My ALLi author guest this week is Joanna Penn, who many of you already know as a successful indie author, businesswoman, and podcaster for ALLi. In fact, her name is almost synonymous with the term authorpreneur. So, this podcast will not focus so much on Joanna's current work, but we'll hear more of her own backstory, what motivates her fictional characters, and what motivates her as a writer, self-publisher, and role model for other indie authors. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our...
Nov 29, 2020•18 min•Ep. 262
Creative business is not business as usual. Authors often define success very differently from your average business owners, work from different drivers, and find most planning methods are too one-dimensional and mechanical. This session from ALLi Director Orna Ross provides a simple creative planning method designed for febrile creative minds . This is a post from SelfPubCon (The Self-Publishing Advice Conference), an online author event, run free twice-yearly, in association with the Alliance ...
Nov 27, 2020•58 min•Ep. 263
My ALLi author guest this week is Margaret Skea, who lives in Scotland and writes historical fiction about violent periods in Scottish history. It is a subject that hits closer to home for Margaret than you'd think. She spent her childhood in Northern Ireland, where sectarian violence was a daily fact of life, and Margaret is able to convey this sense of danger and uncertainty in her fiction. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center : https://selfpublis...
Nov 22, 2020•15 min•Ep. 261
In this session, Orna and Sacha talk about the value of getting help with your author business when you’re feeling overworked, overwhelmed or stuck. Where do you find good help? Do novelists need the same kinds of assistance as non-fiction authors? This session will help you to decide when to hire help and how to ensure it improves your situation What is the value of your time and expertise? Assuming you are already hiring freelancers - editor and cover designer What’s next? Author Virtual Assis...
Nov 20, 2020•45 min•Ep. 262
My ALLi author guest this week is Robert Roseth, who spent his career at the University of Washington, helping to make scientific and technological breakthroughs understandable to everyday readers. After retirement, he embarked on the second part of his career, writing a combination mystery and satire called Ivy is a Weed. Robert also discovered that the best way to publish his vision is to do it the indie way. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center :...
Nov 15, 2020•13 min•Ep. 260
How do I manage my privacy as an author? Our # AskALLi Member Q&A is hosted by Michael La Ronn and ALLi Director, Orna Ross,and this month they'll be answering this question and more. Other questions include: What kind of contracts should I consider for crowdfunding my book? Where can I find free images to use on my book cover? What is the best way to advertise my book on Barnes & Noble? What is ALLi's stance on licensing and collecting societies? Find more author advice, tips and tools ...
Nov 13, 2020•33 min•Ep. 259
Print sales are up, so how can indie authors make better inroads into local bookstores? That is among the topics discussed on Self-Publishing News with Alli News Editor Dan Holloway and book editor Howard Lovy. Together, they will bring you the latest in indie publishing news, including commentary, a technology update, and highlights from indie author interviews. On this show, they will discuss: Rising print sales Bookshop.org An overview of artificial intelligence in writing and publishing What...
Nov 12, 2020•25 min•Ep. 258
My guest this week is Lindsay Mayer, an author of middle-grade fiction who is defying the standard tropes to create unique characters that explore the dark side of imagination. Lindsay was born in the United States but lives in Paris, where she is an IT worker by day and lets her imagination loose as an author by night. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center : https://selfpublishingadvice.org , with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts, and a han...
Nov 08, 2020•14 min•Ep. 259
In this month's #AskALLi Advanced Self-Publishing Salon, Orna Ross and Joanna Penn discuss the topic of creative flow. From the necessity for creative rest and play, to the value of deep research and immersion, to using social media as a stimulator for ideas and words. Along the way, they answer some pressing questions for authors: What are the best tools and techniques, to stimulate and capture ideas? How do you select the right ideas? What do you do when the ideas stop flowing? Tune in for all...
Nov 06, 2020•40 min•Ep. 259
My guest this week is Karen Hill Anton. She is a black woman married to a white husband, living in a small community in Japan. But Karen would be the first to tell you that none of those descriptions really matter. Karen would tell you that she has traveled the world, and lived in many places, and in the end all we have is our shared humanity. She wrote a memoir about her travels called The View from Breast Pocket Mountain , where she talks about her lifetime journey from New York City to Japan....
Nov 01, 2020•16 min•Ep. 257
Joining Orna Ross in this month's #AskALLi Self-Publishing Poetry Salon is Jon Davis, Bookfox's Poetry Editor and author of five chapbooks and six full-length poetry collections. Jon received the Lavan Prize from the Academy of American Poets, a GE Younger Writers Award, the Off the Grid Poetry Prize, and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships. He also served as the City of Santa Fe’s fourth Poet Laureate from 2013-2015. Together, Orna and Jon discuss editing a poem, a chapbook and a fu...
Oct 30, 2020•37 min•Ep. 256
My guest this week is Michael Sean Comerford, who spent the first part of his career as a journalist, moving from town to town. Turned out, life on the road was perfect preparation for what came after his newspaper career, which was writing a book about carnival workers. He traveled with them, worked with them, talked to them, lived among them. In the end, he emerged with his book, American OZ; An Astonishing Year Inside Traveling Carnivals at State Fairs & Festivals: Hitchhiking From Califo...
Oct 25, 2020•12 min•Ep. 255
In this session, ALLi Director Orna Ross and author Sacha Black talk about lessons learned about current trends in self-publishing fiction and nonfiction from taking part in two key indie author events that are just over, the Self-Publishing Advice Conference (SelfPubCon) and Amazon UK’s Storyteller Award. They discuss about the experience of judging the award and overseeing the conference and invite your questions about the top takeaways for authors. Our fiction and nonfiction salon is brought ...
Oct 23, 2020•30 min•Ep. 256
My guest this week is Mytrae Meliana, whose story is both painful and beautiful. She came to the United States from India as a teenager, and not only faced prejudice from the outside, but also, within her own family, a culture that left few choices for women. After years of emotional and physical abuse, Mytrae at last found peace and a way to use her story to help others. Her book, Brown Skin Girl: An Indian-American Woman's Magical Journey From Broken To Beautiful, is the story of how she got t...
Oct 18, 2020•12 min•Ep. 254
Orna Ross interviews Dan Holloway on creativity. Self-Publishing Advice Conference October 2020
Oct 17, 2020•35 min
Our #AskALLi Member Q&A is hosted by Michael La Ronn and ALLi Director, Orna Ross. Our questions this month include: If I realized I made a mistake with my first book, should I consider going back and redoing it and republishing it? Which self-publishing service is best for literary fiction? What's the best way to sell print books direct from my website? What's the best way to offer a prize drawing for one of my books? How much does a good editor cost? Tune in for the answers to these and m...
Oct 16, 2020•39 min•Ep. 253
My guest this week is Nancy Cramer, an 89-year-old author who made history by writing the history of a WWI Serbian retreat that had not been well-documented. In Nancy's long life, she has seen her share of tragedy, which made her especially attuned to this story of bravery and sacrifice amid war. And her efforts have paid off through international recognition. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center : https://selfpublishingadvice.org , with a huge arch...
Oct 11, 2020•14 min•Ep. 252
A premium product or service is a high-value item that an author sells alongside their books to expand influence and income. A well-selected premium product can more than double the profit in your author business. But what premium products work for authors? Drawing on ALLi’s ten possible business plans for authors, Joanna Penn and Orna Ross suggest premium products across fiction, nonfiction and poetry from the obvious to the unusual. Our advanced salon is brought to you by specialist sponsor In...
Oct 09, 2020•55 min•Ep. 251
My guest this week is LoLo Paige who tells tales of action, adventure, mystery, romance, all mixed together with a great deal of heat. Literally. LoLo put out forest fires before she put away her firefighting equipment and picked up a pen. Now, she can recall her real-life adventures and create smoldering page-turners. Every week I interview a member of ALLi to talk about their writing and what inspires them, and why they are inspiring to other authors. Find more author advice, tips and tools at...
Oct 04, 2020•12 min•Ep. 250
In this month’s #AskALLi Self-Publishing Poetry Salon, Orna Ross takes a deep dive into the most popular social medium for sharing poetry: Instagram, and speaks to Phoebe Garnsworthy, an Australian spiritual author, poet, meditation teacher, and ALLi member, who has grown her following to 227K, using only organic methods. Also: How you can submit your poems to Orna’s new platform for self-publishing poets #indiepoetryplease Plans for the Self-Publishing Poetry podcast in 2021 Tune in for more va...
Oct 02, 2020•44 min•Ep. 249
My guest this week is Kate Woodard, a children's-book author who did not let a language barrier stand in the way of connecting and communicating with young people. When Kate moved to Brazil, she spoke not a word of Portuguese. But through making local connections with schools and bookstores, her readers were able to find her and the language barriers were broken down. Every week I interview a member of ALLi to talk about their writing and what inspires them, and why they are inspiring to other a...
Sep 27, 2020•12 min•Ep. 248
In this #AskALLi Self-Publishing Fiction & Non-Fiction Salon, Sacha Black will be interviewing Orna Ross about the concept of ACCESS Marketing from her new book, Creative Self-Publishing. ACCESS stands for Attract, Captivate, Connect, Engage, Subscribe, Satisfy, Sell and ACCESS marketing is a carefully crafted sequence of communications--which you also use to get words for your work-in-progress--that gives you direct access to the right readers for your books. Our fiction and nonfiction salo...
Sep 25, 2020•38 min•Ep. 247
My guest this week is Darryl Lansey, who has a kind of love/hate relationship with his former employer, the US Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA. As an analyst and adviser to presidents, he loved making a difference for his country. As black man, he hated the institutional racism that was baked into the organization. He writes about his experiences in his new book, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate: A Black Man's Journey Through Life and the CIA . I spoke to Darryl about his experiences at th...
Sep 20, 2020•24 min•Ep. 246
Our usual AskALLi Members Q&A is taking a break for this month and being replaced by an Amazon special salon on Amazon advertising. From understanding the customer journey to the benefits of sponsored products, this ALLi podcast is for authors who are getting started with Amazon advertising and want to learn how to set themselves up for success. Joining ALLi Director Orna Ross is Darren Hardy, Amazon’s UK manager for Kindle Direct Publishing, and his colleague Suzanne O’Kelley, senior manage...
Sep 18, 2020•59 min•Ep. 247
My guest this week is Janét Aizenstros, a Canadian author, entrepreneur, and publisher. Janet's own story is an inspiring one because she began with a series of children's books and built a series of growing multimedia companies. Now, she's making it her business to help other authors, especially other women, find their own voices and their own audiences. Every week I interview a member of ALLi to talk about their writing and what inspires them, and why they are inspiring to other authors. Find ...
Sep 13, 2020•22 min•Ep. 245
In 2008 Kevin Kelly wrote about the value of a creator having 1,000 true fans (you can read the updated version of the essay here ). The idea is that you don’t need to be an influencer with a million followers to make a living from your work. All you need are 1,000 true fans each spending $100 a year on your products or services, for you to make $100,000 a year. But does the concept hold true for authors? Are books, a low cost item, enough or do you have to add on more premium products? And how ...
Sep 11, 2020•51 min•Ep. 244
My guest this week is Dr. J. D. Remy. Well, that's not his real name, but as you'll hear in this program, he has changed it to protect not only his own identity, but that of his children. Dr. Remy had an ideal life for a little while, until what he calls Implosion Day, when he lost everything. He writes about it in his new book, but I'll let Dr. Remy tell his own story. Every week I interview a member of ALLi to talk about their writing and what inspires them, and why they are inspiring to other...
Sep 06, 2020•22 min•Ep. 243
Creative self-publishing is when indie authors approach our publishing tasks, and our author business, with the same creative mindset that we bring to our writing. It focuses not just on what we do, but how we do it, as we publishing our books and establish our author business. In this presentation, based on her new book Creative Self-Publishing , ALLi Director, Orna Ross, demonstrates how creativity can be embedded in every task we do, across the seven stages of the publishing process. The resu...
Sep 04, 2020•50 min•Ep. 237
My guest this week is Dave Tamanini, who at the age of 72, has spent a lifetime studying relationships. That is, relationships between races and genders as a civil rights enforcer, and relationships between family members as a lawyer working in family courts. After retirement, he found the perfect way to unite all these studies into one book about a slave during the Salem Witch trials. We'll talk about that book in a moment, but first a little more about Dave Tamanini. Every week I interview a m...
Jul 26, 2020•16 min•Ep. 242
What are the best time management tips for authors? Our Member Q&A is hosted by Michael La Ronn and ALLi Director, Orna Ross. Other questions this month include: What are resources to help publish a children's book? Will KDP ever distribute books to libraries? What's the best way to market a translation? How do I find the right literary agent? And more! Also, News Editor Dan Holloway updates us on expansion at Ingram and Netgalley, and what the continued growth of audio means for indie autho...
Jul 24, 2020•50 min•Ep. 241
