Askalli: Self-publishing Advice Podcast

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 Dan Blank. Questions this month include Should I republish a longer book into smaller books? Where can I learn to setup a Facebook page, YouTube channel, blog, etc? What do I do if the KDP dashboard isn't working as it should? Where can I find native speakers of another language to review translations of my book? Should I write my novel in the present tense or past tense? Should I be using social media, a blog, or both? And what/when should I be posting? 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

In this month's Advanced Self-Publishing Salon from the Alliance of Independent Authors, Orna Ross and Joanna Penn discuss five tips for growing your author business. Plus, lessons learned at Novelists INC and Digital Book World. The AskALLi podcasts are sponsored by Damonza: Books Made Awesome. Topics discussed this week include: Orna updates us on what ALLi is up to, and on her poetry publishing. Joanna updates us on her print and hardback books. Joanna just got her very first advance as an indie author—for Korean rights. Embrace Self-Publishing 3.0. How to make the most of what you have. Embrace the rise of audio. Embrace publishing wide; do not rely on any one outlet. Market in a way that you love, and don't feel guilty about it. Keep as many rights as possible and think long-term. 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.

Welcome to AskALLi, the self-publishing advice podcast from the Alliance of Independent Authors. This week it's our monthly beginners' self-publishing salon with advice, tips, and tools for indie authors just starting out. Topics discussed this week include: Jyotsna co-authored a book with 23 other authors called Write and Grow Rich, which is now a best-seller. What is the right price for an ebook? $9.99? $2.99? $0.99? Free? How much will KDP and Kobo pay in royalties and for which price points? What does "permafree" mean and why do authors do it? How do countdown deals work in Amazon KDP Select? What is the price for paperback bookstore distribution? 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 

Welcome to AskALLi, the self-publishing advice broadcast from the Alliance of Independent Authors. This week it's our monthly IndieVoices' self-publishing salon with interviews conducted by ALLi Managing Editor Howard Lovy and updates from News Editor Dan Holloway. This Month's IndieVoices Back in 2009, Angelique L'Amour received news that she had cancer. But her first thought was not for herself. It was for her family, particularly her children. How was she going to hold things together for her kids while she went through the ordeal of chemotherapy? Cancer and parenthood are both all-encompassing. Can the two coexist? Well, Angelique literally wrote the book on how it's done. She published Chemo, Cupcakes and Carpools: How to go Through Chemo With Your Marriage, Your Family and Your Sanity Intact. And, if you think the last name L'Amour sounds familiar to you, you're right. She's also the daughter of author Louis L'Amour. I ask Angelique how and why she kept up a "normal" family life in an abnormal situation

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 Dan Blank. Questions this month include Are book teasers a good marketing tool? Could ALLI recommend a reputable producer of book trailers?  How can I better publicise my self-published book The Trivial Tragedy of Hilda the Vegetarian Vampire Bat?  How do I find podcasters / bloggers / reviewers to whom to pitch a book for interviews / coverages / reviews? Is Santa Claus copyrighted? How do I copyright a book? Should I create an LLC or PLC to protect myself and my family? Where can I find a good cover designer?  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 i

Welcome to AskALLi, the self-publishing advice podcast from the Alliance of Independent Authors. This week it's our monthly beginners' self-publishing salon with advice, tips, and tools for indie authors just starting out. Topics discussed this week include: How important are categories for selling ebooks on Amazon? Are readers still looking at bestseller charts? How to pick the right categories. How does Amazon set up categories? What is the importance of keywords? What is the best software for choosing categories? 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://allianceindependentauthors.org. Now, go write and publish! About the Hosts Jyotsna Ramachandran is the founder of Happy Self Publis

In this month's Advanced Self-Publishing Salon from the Alliance of Independent Authors, Orna Ross and Joanna Penn discuss tips and tools for how to launch a book. The AskALLi podcasts are sponsored by Damonza: Books Made Awesome. Topics discussed this week include An update from Orna Ross on ALLi's activities. Joanna Penn updates us on her writing and editing process. Orna is working on her creativepreneur (creative entrepreneur) work. What's going on with EU copyright and what does it mean for indie authors? French/Israeli author wins award; French booksellers won't stock the book because Amazon published it. Orna is outraged. The importance of developmental editors: Get one! Challenge your assumptions about marketing. Don't keep doing what is not working. How much are readers willing to pay? Build profit into every transaction. 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 or

How to Launch Your Book: Bump Up Sales with the Best Book Launch Ever Are you ready to have the best book launch ever? Shayla Raquel—editor, marketer, and publishing mentor—guides you through her one-of-a-kind plan to launch Amazon bestsellers for her indie authors. You'll learn how: to build a launch team to use social media as a lifeline to your readers to pitch to influencers and book bloggers to use your email list and preorder incentives to increase sales to plan an out-of-the-park online launch party to tell the world about your book without feeling salesy to stay on top of things after the launch and a few more marketing strategies! So are you ready to have the best book launch ever? This podcast is part of London Book Fair Self-Publishing Advice Conference (SPACon), an online author conference that showcases the best self-publishing advice and education for authors across the world — harnessing the global reach of the Alliance of Independent Authors’ network. Our self-publishing conference features w

Welcome to AskALLi, the self-publishing advice broadcast from the Alliance of Independent Authors. This week it's our monthly IndieVoices' self-publishing salon with interviews conducted by ALLi Managing Editor Howard Lovy and updates from News Editor Dan Holloway. This Month's IndieVoices I’m about to say something with which just about every other person in the publishing industry will disagree. In fact, most will strongly, passionately, with much snooty sarcasm, disagree with what I’m about to say. Ready for it? Everybody has a memoir in them. Not only that, but everybody should write one. There, I said it. Every life is unique, and everybody has a story that only they can tell. As a journalist, what I enjoy most is getting people's stories in their own words. As a book editor, I can help them tell it in a way that brings out their own voice, that will invite others to relive their unique lives with them. With the rise of self-publishing, authors don't need to put up with rejection by acquiring editors who

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 Dan Blank. Questions this month include Amazon has made an error in my royalty reports. What do I do? Two part question: 1. In my book, I have included links to YouTube Jazz recordings by jazz greats like Dizzie Gillepsie. Do I have permission to do that? and 2. If I want to copy a website address into a link, does that infringe on copyright? How do I make it easy for a bookstore to carry my book without bearing the financial burden of returns? How do I convert a PDF to a fixed layout ebook? When I launch my book, should I change my spelling to American English? How long should my novel be? Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center: https://selfpublishingadvice.org, with

In this month's Advanced Self-Publishing Salon from the Alliance of Independent Authors, Orna Ross and Joanna Penn discuss the latest news in author-publishing, including the latest publishing trends and opportunities. Topics discussed this week include ALLi is getting ready for Digital Book World and its online advice conference. ALLi is in the middle of its Self-Publishing 3.0 campaign. Joanna is finishing Valley of Dry Bones. What's it like to co-write with your mom? Orna launching two books: poetry and GoCreative! What about Foreign Rights Deals? Is that significant income? CreateSpace is being rolled into KDP Print. What does it mean? Walmart partners with Kobo. How does this impact authors? How many platforms should you use? 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.o

Welcome to AskALLi, the self-publishing advice podcast from the Alliance of Independent Authors. This week it's our monthly beginners' self-publishing salon with advice, tips, and tools for indie authors just starting out. Topics discussed this week include: What is crowdfunding? Is it a good way to test the viability of your book? Will you get funded if nobody knows you or your work? Is there a financial risk in crowdfunding? What are the different crowdfunding services? How do extra incentives work for crowdfunding donors? 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://allianceindependentauthors.org. Now, go write and publish! About the Hosts Jyotsna Ramachandran is the founder of Happy S

Welcome to AskALLi, the self-publishing advice broadcast from the Alliance of Independent Authors. This week it's our monthly IndieVoices' self-publishing salon with interviews conducted by ALLi Managing Editor Howard Lovy and updates from News Editor Dan Holloway. This Month's IndieVoices You or your kids are going back to school now, but as we all know, the excitement comes with anxiety. Financial anxiety. Among the many costs of a college education, one thing that many parents fail to account for is the high cost of textbooks. My guest today is David Harris, editor in chief of OpenStax, based at Rice University, which has a solution to the problem.  David and I discuss how more colleges and universities are using free, open-license textbooks. At OpenStax, they all go through a peer-review process. Students enjoy them because they're free and instructors like the way they can be tailored to individual lessons. Free, open-license textbooks are changing the way we think about educational publishing. News edit

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 Dan Blank. Questions this month include How do I get other well-known authors to endorse my books? How do I build relationships with other authors? Is there a standard form and/or process for setting an embargo date when sending out ARCs for reviews? I'd like to translate my book. How would I go about that Crowdfunding my book: should I do it? What tools can I use to format my book for ebook and paperback formats? If I copy-edit my book, do I need a proofreader as well? What about apps like Grammarly for proofreading? Do middle-grade readers prefer to read ebooks or paperbacks? Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center: https://selfpublishingadvice.org, with a huge archi