Askalli: Self-publishing Advice Podcast

Welcome to AskALLi, the self-publishing advice podcast from the alliance of independent authors. Today, we present a special edition of our podcast for the launch of our Indie Authors' Copyright Bill of Rights. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, http://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 http://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. For more information about Joanna, visit her website: http://thecreativepenn.com Orna Ross launched t

Welcome to AskALLi, 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 Orna Ross. Questions this month include: What are the best and ethical methods to do a giveaway without using Goodreads or Amazon giveaways? If I've self-published my business advice book but want to submit it to a publisher, do I still need to write a book proposal? What is the best way to brand a nonfiction self-help series? And more! 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 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. You can do that at http://allianceindependentauth

ALLi Director Orna Ross and Author Dan Blank survey seven ways to be a productive writer so you can write and sell more books. Expect lots of research-based advice about how best to prepare body and mind, setting daily priorities, Block out time and shut out distractions. Plus: ways to map and log your progress and give yourself rewards. Here are some highlights: Orna on Surrounding Yourself with Support "Surround yourself with other people who get it, who understand what you're trying to do. It's hard to do this stuff in complete isolation. It really does help to have a supportive group around you who get it, who understand and who are there to pick you up when you fall down and give you a pat on the back if things go well." Dan Blank on Setting Your Own Expectations "Then there's that endorphin rush of, "Let me please them. Let me live up to that expectation. Let me be a good person." And the expense is almost always your writing, your editing or publishing and that's very depressing. So I think that wit

Joanna Penn, of TheCreativePenn.com, and Orna Ross, director of the Alliance of Independent Authors, explain copyright in this edition of the AskALLi Advanced Self-Publishing Salon. Think copyright is boring? Think again. Copyright controversies have seen people take to the streets in recent months, sign petitions, boycott certain companies, and even black out Wikipedia. As big content, big tech and big legal fight court battles, Joanna and Orna talk about what it all means for the independent author, and ALLi’s new Copyright Bill of Rights. Plus: should authors try to stop piracy? And more! Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, http://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 http://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 fo

Howard Lovy interviews Maggie Lynch, who writes a series of science fiction books she shares with eight other indie authors, called Obsidian Rim. Their goal is to produce a new book in the series every couple of weeks. Howard and Maggie discuss how the group is appealing to a growing demographic of sci-fi readers: women. Maggie's new book is called Gravity and it has all the elements of space opera, but with "a romantic twist." Maggie talks about what that means. Inspirational Indie Authors is a biweekly feature within our AskALLi series of podcasts.  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 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. You can do that at http://allianceindependentauthors.org. About the Host Howard Lovy has been a journalist for more than 30 years, an

Welcome to AskALLi, the self-publishing advice podcast from the Alliance of Independent Authors. This week, it's our monthly Self-Publishing Life Salon with Alli Director Orna Ross and author Dan Blank. They discuss the importance of finding your rhythm and balance across the days and weeks.  Orna proposes a three-part planning system that takes account of processing, promotion as well as production. And Dan explains why he doesn't believe in balance, but obsession, and discusses firm schedules and accountability. Also, on Inspirational Indie Authors Howard Lovy interviews Maggie Lynch, who writes a series of science fiction books she shares with eight other indie authors, called Obsidian Rim. Their goal is to produce a new book in the series every couple of weeks. Howard and Maggie discuss how they are aiming for a growing demographic of sci-fi readers: women. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center: https://selfpublishingadvice.org, with a huge archive of nearly

Welcome to AskALLi, 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 Orna Ross. Questions this month include: How do you go about finding a translator for your book? How would you recommend that I reach my target audience of teachers and educators? What is the recommended way of copyrighting a book by multiple authors? Is it better to send my readers to Book 1 in my series or my series page on Amazon? What is the difference between an ASIN and an ISBN? A 10-digit ISBN vs a 13-digit ISBN? And More! Also, News Editor Dan Holloway and Howard Lovy bring you the latest self-publishing news. They talk about changes that are making Patreon creators and Mailchimp customers unhappy. Also, the audience for audio content continues to grow.  Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Sel

Hello and welcome to Self-Publishing Poetry the online open-mic and advice clinic from Orna Ross, poet, author and director of the Alliance of Independent Authors. Every month, Orna hosts a poet who is doing remarkable things, offers advice on self-publishing poetry and facilitates an eclectic open mic.  The featured guest this month is Helen Eastman, director of LiveCanon.co.uk, who talks about courses, events, and publishing poets, offering sage wisdom and introducing us to some Live Canon poets. Are you a poet who would like to reach a wider audience for your work? Do you want to learn how to publish and sell your poetry books? Then this event is for you — and the readers who will love to hear your work.  This is a warm and welcoming space for poets of all kinds, at every stage of development, and for everyone who loves the spoken and written word.  Follow Orna's Patreon Page for updates if you'd like to perform next month. Show Notes Richy Campbell's website is richycampbell.com. You can also follow him

On the AskALLi Beginners' Self-Publishing Salon, ALLi Director Orna Ross and Monash University Associate Law Professor Rebecca Giblin look at copyright matters.  "What's really essential here is how we divide up the pie," Rebecca says. "The copyright is all of the financial, the economic rights that an author has in their work and that needs to sustain them and it needs to protect their interests. That includes the interest in being paid, but it also includes their interest in continuing to be read, which every author that I know is keenly concerned with." Indie publishing, she says, has been instrumental in bringing about a change of thinking about what publishers should get in exchange for the services that they offer. Also, on Inspirational Indie Authors Howard Lovy interviews SELFiE-Award-winning author Jane Davis. We don't have very many rock stars in the indie publishing world, but a few have risen to the top with a reputation for producing wonderfully written, compelling books that stand out as great l

On today's Inspirational Indie Authors, Howard Lovy interviews Selfie-Award-winning author Jane Davis. We don't have very many rock stars in the indie publishing world, but a few have risen to the top with a reputation for producing wonderfully written, compelling books that stand out as great literature, no matter what label you put on it. One of them is Davis, who was recently recognized as one of the best self-published authors of the year with the new SELFIE awards for her book called Smash All The Windows, which is also smashing all the preconceptions many people have about self published books. Smash all the Windows is based on a real disaster in a football stadium in 1989. Jane discusses how fiction can help humanize big disasters, placing them in perspective while assigning what she calls "unblame." Inspirational Indie Authors is a biweekly feature within our AskALLi series of podcasts.  Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center: https://selfpublishingadvice.o

Joanna Penn, of TheCreativePenn.com, and Orna Ross, director of the Alliance of Independent Authors, explain how to scale your author business without compromising your creativity or giving up on your life. Topics discussed this week include: What you really want Diversity of products Multiple streams of income How to build positive routines Tools and teams And more! Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, http://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 http://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 b

Welcome to AskALLi, the self-publishing advice podcast from the Alliance of Independent Authors. This week, it's our monthly Writing Salon, where we discuss the craft of writing with author Dan Blank and ALLi Director Orna Ross. This week, Orna and Dan talk about managing all of a writer's assets. As writers, we think about the work we need to do to create our books but perhaps not enough about the writing we do to build other assets that are very important to our author business. In this salon Orna chats with Dan about the value of websites, branding, processes, teams, and other intellectual property. How to evaluate these assets, and our book projects, through the lens of profit and pleasure. And how, in a busy creative life, we need to look after our most important asset: ourselves. Also, on Inspirational Indie Authors On today's Inspirational Indie Authors interview, journalist Howard Lovy talks to Steff Green. She's a paranormal romance author, teaches self-publishing courses, and is also a children's au

On today's Inspirational Indie Authors interview, journalist Howard Lovy talks to Steff Green. She's a paranormal romance author, teaches self-publishing courses, and is also a children's author who just Kickstarted a Gothic Picture Book. It's a book about bullying called Only Freaks Turn Things Into Bones.  Steff talks about how she was bullied as a child due to her blindness, which gave her a deep understanding of how a bullying victim feels. And, like the main character in the book, she was a Goth kid. Howard and Steff also discuss how she successfully launched a Kickstarter drive to fund the book. The New Zealander is a successful indie author with many interests and talents. Plus, she talk about her previous life as an Indiana Jones-style archaeologist (sort of). Inspirational Indie Authors is a biweekly feature within our AskALLi series of podcasts.  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

Welcome to AskALLi, 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 Orna Ross. Questions this month include: Is it worth displaying my book at BookExpo? Which is better for book promotion: Bookbub or Goodreads? Which of the assisted self-publishing companies are best for marketing? And More! Also, News Editor Dan Holloway and Howard Lovy bring you the latest self-publishing news. They talk about the expansion of StreetLib, an Unbound book shortlisted for a Folio prize, and an update on copyright protections. 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 handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. And, if you haven’t already, we invite you to

On the AskALLi Beginners' Self-Publishing Salon, Orna Ross and Tim Lewis look at editing. Money spent on editing is not just a necessary investment in your book but also in your writing and publishing future. Every writer needs an editor, but getting the most from your investment can be challenging, especially when you’re starting out.  Orna and Tim explain how to decide which type of edit you need, how to choose the best editors for your books and how to work with them to get the best creative and business return on your investment. Also, on Inspirational Indie Authors Howard Lovy interviews Yvonne Caputo, author of Flying with Dad: A Daughter, A Father, and how his World War II Stories Brought them Closer.  Growing up, Yvonne did not have a very close relationship with her father. A member of the WWII "Greatest Generation," her dad was very brusque with her and did not show very much emotion or affection. That was what was expected of fathers of his generation. They were also expected to simply put the war

Howard Lovy takes a close look at Inspirational Indie Authors. This isn't about their business model, their marketing, or even how many books they've sold. It's about their writing, and what indie authors have to say. Today's interview is with Yvonne Caputo, author of Flying with Dad: A Daughter, A Father, and how his World War II Stories Brought them Closer.  Growing up, Yvonne did not have a very close relationship with her father. A member of the WWII "Greatest Generation," her dad was very brusque with her and did not show very much emotion or affection. That was what was expected of fathers of his generation. They were also expected to simply put the war behind them and move on with their lives.  It was not until Yvonne was sixty years old, and her father near the end of his life that he finally opened up about his experiences, both humorous and sad, during WWII and about the nightmares he had ever since. At last, after nearly a lifetime, Yvonne found a sense of closure with her father. It took her about

In this month's Advanced Self-Publishing Salon from the Alliance of Independent Authors, Orna Ross and Joanna Penn talk about the lessons learned and key takeaways for indie authors from The London Book Fair and ALLi's online Self-publishing Advice Conference, including the most up-to-date advice on making and selling books and running a successful indie author business. The AskALLi podcasts are sponsored by Damonza: Books Made Awesome. Topics discussed this week include: New staff additions at ALLi Orna read her poetry at London Book Fair Lots of buzz about audiobooks at the LBF "Going wide" as an indie author. And more! Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, http://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 http://allianceindependentauthors.org. Now, go write and publish! About the Hosts Joanna Penn is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author,

In this presentation, author Sacha Black focuses on the creation of villains. Why? Because villains are vital to your novels. They create conflict, drive tension and up the pace. Without a solid villain, your novel will fall flat. In this presentation you’ll learn what clichés and stigmas to avoid, as well as the major factors of villain creation. Sacha says: "Behind every successful hero is a villain. Think about it. Would Metropolis have needed Superman if it weren’t for Lex Luthor and his plans for world domination? I don’t think so. Likewise, think about Gotham and Batman. Would Gotham have needed Batman if it weren’t for the Penguin or the Joker? "There’s a big debate over what’s the most important aspect is when creating your novel, is it characters? Is it plot? It could be either and I know supporters of both those camps. However, I think there’s something even more fundamental than either of those things, and that’s conflict. "Conflict gives your characters an aim and a purpose." Listen to Sacha's pre

Welcome to AskALLi, the self-publishing advice podcast from the Alliance of Independent Authors. This week, it's our monthly Writing Salon, where we discuss the craft of writing with author Dan Blank and ALLi Director Orna Ross. This week, Orna and Dan talk about collaboration. For a writer, collaborations can come in many forms: co-writers, coaches, mentors, ghostwriters, editors and accountability partners. But is collaboration for you? And how do you choose the best writing partner?  Also, on Inspirational Indie Authors Today's interview is with Frankie Picasso, an author who just released a book called For Want of 40 Pounds: From Persecution to Perseverance, What Would You do For Freedom? It's the story about her father, the patriarch of her family, who escaped the Holocaust and then went on to become a successful immigrant and entrepreneur. Frankie says the book is about "resilience. independence, freedom, courage. It's about being an immigrant, an entrepreneur, his rise and fall and rise again. It’s ab

Howard Lovy takes a close look at Inspirational Indie Authors. This isn't about their business model, their marketing, or even how many books they've sold. It's about their writing, and what indie authors have to say. Today's interview is with Frankie Picasso, an author who just released a book called For Want of 40 Pounds: From Persecution to Perseverance, What Would You do For Freedom? It's the story about her father, the patriarch of her family, who escaped the Holocaust and then went on to become a successful immigrant and entrepreneur. Frankie says the book is about "resilience. independence, freedom, courage. It's about being an immigrant, an entrepreneur, his rise and fall and rise again. It’s about love and family." Inspirational Indie Authors is a biweekly feature within our AskALLi series of podcasts.  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 handy search box to find k