Self-Publishing Advice & Inspirations Alliance of Independent Authors

In this episode of the Self-Publishing News Podcast, Dan Holloway discusses the controversy surrounding Facebook AI, specifically Meta's decision to use user content to train its AI platforms unless users opt out. He highlights a helpful guide on how to opt out, examines a new study revealing authors' ambivalence toward AI, and introduces an app that helps users write their autobiographies. Dan also covers the legal battle between the New York Times and the creators of the game Worldle.
Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, 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.
About the Host
Dan Holloway is a novelist, poet, and spoken word artist. He is the MC of the performance arts show The New Libertines, He competed at the National Poetry Slam final at the Royal Albert Hall. His latest collection, The Transparency of Sutures, is available on Kindle.

In the latest installment of the AskALLi Member Q&A podcast from the Alliance of Independent Authors, hosts Michael La Ronn and Sacha Black discuss effective strategies for marketing middle-grade or young-adult books. They emphasize the importance of targeting parents rather than children and recommend networking with other authors in the same genre to maximize visibility and sales.
Other questions include:
What do you do differently to launch a perma-free story or list magnet compared to a sale for a short story? What are some promotional things to do when marketing a murder mystery besides paying for NetGalley reviews? What are the moral issues of using AI narration as opposed to a human for your audiobook? Do you have any rules of engagement for dealing with negative reviews and nasty comments? Is it okay to attach press releases when approaching media, and should you try to speak to journalists in person or on the phone? Are there any benefits or disadvantages to launching two books at the same time, especially if one is a novel and the other is a short story collection? And more!
Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-Publishing Author Advice Center, 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.
Now, go write and publish!
About the Hosts
Michael La Ronn is ALLi’s Outreach Manager. He is the author of over 80 science fiction & fantasy books and self-help books for writers. He writes from the great plains of Iowa and has managed to write while raising a family, working a full-time job, and even attending law school classes in the evenings (now graduated!). You can find his fiction at www.michaellaronn.com and his videos and books for writers at www.authorlevelup.com.
Sacha Black is a bestselling and competition winning author, rebel podcaster, speaker and casual rule breaker. She writes fiction under a secret pen name and other books about the art of writing. When Sacha isn't writing, she runs ALLi's blog. She lives in England, with her wife and genius, giant of a son. You can find her on her website, her podcast, and on Instagram.

My guest this episode is Roxanne Bland, a mixed-genre author who admits that her books are not for everyone. But if you're interested in stories that throw away all the old tropes and surprise you with elements of fantasy, science fiction, and romance, then you might want to check out her work. Not only that, but Roxanne writes with one eye on real-world problems such as bigotry.
Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of 2,000+ blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need.
We invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.
About the Host
Howard Lovy has been a journalist for more than 35 years and now amplifies the voices of independent author-publishers and works with authors as a developmental editor. Find Howard at howardlovy.com, LinkedIn, and X.

In this episode of Self-Publishing News, Dan Holloway explores the potential impacts of a TikTok ban on print book sales, particularly in the romance and fantasy genres. He also highlights the recent sale of a first edition of Tolkien’s "The Hobbit" for £31,000, discusses the latest print and eBook sales figures, and addresses the controversy surrounding OpenAI’s use of a voice resembling Scarlett Johansson.
Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, 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.
About the Host
Dan Holloway is a novelist, poet, and spoken word artist. He is the MC of the performance arts show The New Libertines, He competed at the National Poetry Slam final at the Royal Albert Hall. His latest collection, The Transparency of Sutures, is available on Kindle.

One of the most interesting pieces of data to come from the Big Indie Author Data Drop was that even when indie authors are very successful, they don't stop doing their own marketing. They use tools and assistance/assistants, but marketing remains their responsibility, always. Many of the emerging indie authors, or those not selling, said that marketing was the task they liked least. There’s an important mindset shift required to bridge the gap from reluctant or resentful marketing to marketing that is positive and proactive.
In this inspiring and mind-shifting session chaired by Melissa Addey, join Dawn Brookes, Mark Dawson, Karen Inglis, Rachel McLean, Alison Morton, Octavia Randolph, Marc Reklau, Brit Bensen, Mark Hayden, and Elizabeth Stevens all multiple bestselling authors who show what makes marketing a positive activity for them. If thinking 'marketing will be with you forever' horrifies you as an author, then you need these sessions!
This session is kindly sponsored by 1106 Design.
This is a post from SelfPubCon (The Self-Publishing Advice Conference), an online author event, run free twice-yearly, in association with the Alliance of Independent Authors.
Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, 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.

In this Creative Self-Publishing episode, Orna Ross talks about the transformative power of values-based, story-driven email marketing. Discover why aligning your email campaigns with your core values can foster deeper connections with your audience and boost engagement with your emails. Orna walks you through the essentials of crafting compelling stories that resonate with readers, build trust, and drive action. Revolutionize your email marketing approach by putting values and storytelling at its heart.
The Creative Self-Publishing stream of the ALLi Podcast is sponsored by Orna Ross's Creative Planning Program for Authors & Poets. If you’re feeling daunted by the enormity of your writing and publishing goals, or overwhelmed by your to-do list, or you’re just not sure what way forward is best, Orna can help with a proven planning process devised specially for writers. Check it out at Patreon.com/OrnaRoss.
About the 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 democratizing, empowering potential of author-publishing. For more information about Orna, visit her website.