Self-Publishing with ALLi

In this special episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Howard Lovy interviews Kayleigh Brindley, ALLi's conference and communications manager, about what authors can expect from SelfPubCon26, taking place online October 17–18. Kayleigh discusses this year's theme, "The Future of Self-Publishing: What's Working Now & What's Next," and highlights sessions on AI, book marketing, crowdfunding, European markets, and building an author team. She also explains the conference's expanded networking opportunities, this year's prize draw, and the Indie Author Lab workshop with Orna Ross following the conference on October 19.

Show Notes

My guest this episode is Luke Richardson, a former journalist, nightclub DJ, and English teacher who turned his love of travel and adventure into a career as a full-time indie author. Luke visits the places he writes about, drawing on their history, atmosphere, and people to create globe-trotting thrillers. He also approaches publishing as a business and builds a close relationship with his readers.

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 n...

On this week's Self-Publishing News podcast, ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway covers Spotify's Partner Program expanding to 35 more markets, a self-published audiobook making the Speakies shortlist — and what the sponsor list says about Audible's standing. He closes with "AI in the Wild," a new study of 500,000 prompts showing readers are using AI to write fiction for themselves, raising the question of whether the biggest AI threat to writers comes from readers.

Show Notes

AI Fiction in the Wild

About the Host

Dan Holloway is a novelist, poet, and spoken word artist. He...

In this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, internationally renowned glass artist Mark Eliott joins Anna Featherstone to show how a published book doesn't need to stay in a fixed format over the years. Mark's Essence of Cloud project began as improvised glass cloud sculptures, grew into a novel and an art exhibition, and now, years later, has taken on a new form as a special-edition e-book with new nonfiction and visual elements. You'll hear about working with artistic collaborators and about flexibility and fluidity in production and distribution decisions.

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In this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi Member Q&A podcast, hosts Michael La Ronn and Sacha Black discuss whether a pricey Kirkus review is worth it for an author trying to get into bookstores, or whether that money is better spent on ads, a stronger cover, or a small print run for influencers.

Other questions include:

On this week's Self-Publishing News podcast, ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway sorts through new Authors Guild clarifications on the Anthropic settlement: payments should still begin trickling through from November, but rights-reversion disputes are clouding who gets paid what, and authors whose rights reverted by August 10, 2022 are advised to claim their full 100 percent share. He also covers Spotify taking its ElevenLabs-powered audiobook creation tool out of beta for all US authors — free for five titles, with no exclusivity — and a new Frankfurter Buchmesse report finding that only 15 percent of audiobooks are made with no AI at all.

Show Note...

My guest this episode is Sheila M. Averbuch, a former journalist and technology publisher who spent years pursuing her dream of writing for children. More recently, she embraced independent publishing as a way to share what she learned from her own long and sometimes difficult path to publication and to help other writers along the way.

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 o...

On this week's Self-Publishing News podcast, ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway looks at the retro tech boom driving an unexpected CD revival — and what Gen Z's love of physical media means for print books. He then digs into a contested new study, cited by the AAP and Authors Guild, that links rising library e-lending to falling print sales, and reminds indie authors they set their own library pricing through OverDrive. He closes with an invitation to take Gotham Ghostwriters' second AI and Writing survey.

Show Notes

AI Writing Survey

About the Host

...

On the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, host Howard Lovy talks to editor and author Roz Morris about what professional editing really costs and what authors get for their money. They discuss how editors set their rates, hourly versus fixed pricing, why some manuscripts require more work than others, choosing the right editor for your book, and why using AI before hiring an editor can sometimes prove to be a false economy.

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 f...

On this week's Self-Publishing News podcast, ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway brings two updates on the Anthropic settlement: an appeal by the class lawyers over their reduced fees that could considerably delay the $3,000-per-title payouts, and an Authors Guild survey finding that 93 percent of publishers contractually required to register copyrights failed to do so — a problem that reaches well beyond indie authors. He closes with Google Play Books' new Expert Intelligence feature, an AI tool trained only on books readers have purchased.

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My guest this episode is David Barbur, a former law enforcement officer who now writes wilderness mysteries inspired by his interests in hiking, tracking, survival skills, and the natural world. Since 2017, he has published a novel every year while balancing writing with a full-time job and family.

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.

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On this week's Self-Publishing News podcast, ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway — battling a summer sore throat — rounds up a busy week for indie authors: the rise of "Summerween," BookTok's new blend of sunny settings and Gothic dread; Kobo's return to big box retail through Best Buy; and the report that Amazon has been ripping up and shredding books, including rare out-of-print titles, to train its AI. He also digs into KDP trend data showing dystopian fiction bouncing back and self-published titles claiming 38 percent of the US top 100, and closes with Ingram's new Covered platform, which puts digital advance copies in f...

Clinical psychologist Bee Lim knew her illustrated book on trauma, Welcome Home: Healing Trauma and Reclaiming Wholeness, couldn't be a standard paperback—and that she wasn't willing to give up her IP, therapeutic arc, or choice of illustrator, her husband, concept artist Joel Timpson. In this episode, Bee shares why she chose the custom publishing route, hired her own publicist, and planned a multicountry launch. She also discusses the constraints of marketing a book as a regulated health professional.

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This podcast is proudly sponsored by Gatekeeper Press — your partner in premium independent publishing. Empowering auth...

In this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi Member Q&A podcast, hosts Michael La Ronn and Sacha Black discuss whether it's acceptable and safe for an author to use AI in place of a $2,000 line edit, and where to draw the line between supplementing a human editor and replacing one.

Other questions include:

On this week's Self-Publishing News podcast, ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway reports on the collapse of Self-Publishing Partnership, a UK-based service provider that ceased trading at the end of June, leaving authors waiting on royalties and raising questions about why no administrators were brought in. The Society of Authors has launched a campaign to help affected members recover what they're owed. Then Dan turns to Anthropic's announcement that it will watermark all text generated by Claude — a move driven in part by the EU's AI Act, and one that could eventually help platforms like Amazon identify AI-generated books.

On the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Joe Solari warns authors that a big crowdfunding win isn't the same as a payday. He breaks down the three cash traps that sink successful author businesses — the lag trap, frozen cash, and the shrinking slice — and shows how to dodge them with a few practical habits: tracking committed versus paid money, knowing your inventory value, and setting margin floors before you launch.

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The Publishing for Profit podcast is proudly sponsored by Tertulia for Authors. Build a beautiful author storefront in minutes, showcase your books, send newsletters, and sell...

My guest this episode is Linda L. Garnett, a gothic supernatural thriller author who came to fiction after seven years in independent music journalism. We talk about how that experience shaped her approach to publishing, marketing, and building an audience, as well as the writing process that helped her turn years of unfinished manuscripts into a professional author career.

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 y...

On this week's Self-Publishing News podcast, ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway brings two pieces of good news for indie authors: the launch of the Indie Manga Alliance, a new US-based group representing manga creators and publishers outside the mainstream, and Libro.fm's expansion into e-books, giving readers another way to support indie authors and bookstores at the same time. Then he digs into a new Cambridge University Press study, "Bot or Not?", which found that readers not only struggle to tell human-written stories from AI-generated ones — they may actually prefer the AI versions.

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On the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, host Howard Lovy talks to novelist, poet, and educator Elizabeth Gauffreau about beta readers — what they actually do, how they differ from developmental editors, and why their real job is reader response, not critique. Drawing on decades of giving and receiving feedback as a writer and teacher, Gauffreau explains how authors can set clear expectations, choose the right readers, sort through conflicting feedback, and know when a reader's gut reaction matters more than being factually right.

Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a hug...

On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway covers a turbulent week for AI and publishing: the Association of American Literary Agents updating their Canon of Ethics to allow closer work with indie authors; a seven-figure publishing deal shelved within hours of an AI allegation; and a peer-reviewed study of 14,419 self-published Amazon titles finding that AI-generated books are commercially viable but outsold by human authors — while the number of titles grows twice as fast as revenue.

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Self-Publishing News is proudly sponsored by PublishMe—helping indie authors succeed globally with expert translation, tailored marketing, and p...

In this member-first partner webinar at the Alliance of Independent Authors, ALLi Director Orna Ross presses Draft2Digital CEO Kris Austin on the $20 activation fee and $12 annual maintenance fee that landed on indie authors in April with no advance warning. Austin explains what the fees are meant to stop, why authors weren't consulted first, and whether the era of free, open access to publishing platforms is drawing to a close.

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 k...

My guest this episode is Julie Day, an autistic author and advocate from London who writes children's books featuring autistic characters finding confidence — the kind of books she never had growing up undiagnosed. Her path to indie publishing began with a recurring dream she had to write down, and it carried her through a late Asperger's diagnosis and a life-threatening heart illness she turned into a book to help others.

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...

On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway reports that the Anthropic settlement has received its final legal approval, with nearly half a million titles eligible for a payout of around $3,000 — and legal fees cut to just over $100 million. He covers Simon and Schuster's second new imprint for indie authors, Simon Stream, offering 50 percent net ebook royalties, alongside the previously reported Pocket Books relaunch. And he closes with Canadian survey data showing readers are already paying an average of US$8.74 for ebooks — neatly vindicating KDP's recent royalty cap rise to $12.99.

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In this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi Member Q&A podcast, hosts Michael La Ronn and Sacha Black discuss whether an author can safely use a real band's name in a novel title, including how to check for trademarks, why disclaimers won't shield you from lawsuits, and when it's worth consulting an intellectual property attorney.

Other questions include:

On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway covers three stories pointing in the same direction: books are everywhere. He reports on AI search engine Perplexity launching an ebook store, adding yet another major platform to the growing list selling books directly to readers. He examines the Library of Congress's initiative to acquire indie and self-published titles — and explains why copyright registration and deposit matter more than ever in the age of AI lawsuits. And he closes with Spotify's announcement that it has passed 100 million audiobook listeners, now dwarfing Audible in audience size.

Show Notes

Anna Featherstone talks with author Sarah Martin about the production and distribution of her two purpose-led nonfiction books, Dear Psychosis and Dear Carer. Sarah explains how she built a professional publishing team, changed her approach for her second book, secured consignment with a local bookstore, and used speaking engagements—including one that generated a 260-book order—to reach readers.

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This podcast is proudly sponsored by Gatekeeper Press — your partner in premium independent publishing. Empowering authors with expert guidance, 100% rights, 100% royalties, and global distribution. From editing to marketing, their all-inclusive services help you publish professionally and co...

My guest this episode is Michelle M. Pillow, a bestselling romance author who has published more than one hundred books during a career spanning more than twenty years. She talks about her early love of reading, the unexpected path that led her to indie publishing, the fictional worlds she has built, and the challenge of managing a large backlist while staying connected to her readers.

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 y...

On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway covers three positive stories: KDP raising the upper price limit for its top royalty bracket from $9.99 to $12.99, effective July 7th; Bookshop.org launching audiobooks for UK readers on a £12.99 monthly subscription designed to deepen ties between readers and their local indie bookstores; and the rise of dystomance — the blend of dystopia and romance trending on BookTok, with a self-published title helping drive the wave.

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Self-Publishing News is proudly sponsored by PublishMe—helping indie authors succeed globally with expert translation, tailored marketing, and publishing support. From first...

On the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, host Howard Lovy talks to Pablo Yáñez, founder of BeYourCover, about how artificial intelligence is changing book cover design. A professional book cover photographer for more than fifteen years before building AI tools, Yáñez explains where AI can help authors create marketable covers, where it still falls short, and why genre conventions matter more than many writers realize. He also discusses the ethics of AI, the continuing value of human designers, and how authors can decide which approach is right for their books.

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Orna Ross, founder and director of the Alliance of Independent Authors, discusses the development and purpose of Indie Author Lab, explaining how it was created in response to changes in the indie author community—particularly the rise of AI. An ongoing monthly program designed to help serious authors address their specific challenges, it is based on Orna's Alliance of Independent Authors guidebook, Creative Self-Publishing, and focuses on four measures of success: productivity, platform, profit, and pleasure. With live monthly sessions, a community chat room, and access to resources and tools, the program is flexible enough to work for authors at...

On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway covers four stories: a new EU tariff that will affect authors shipping books directly to European readers; The Economist's striking data showing book publishing volumes have doubled since ChatGPT launched in 2022; the Commonwealth Short Story Prize awarding its top prize to the very story accused of AI authorship; and the relaunch of Simon and Schuster's Pocket Books imprint, which is specifically targeting successful indie and hybrid authors for a romance-first print list launching in January 2027.

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In this member-first Q&A on the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, host Michael La Ronn talks with Alliance of Independent Authors Business Adviser Joe Solari about how indie authors can think more clearly about the business side of writing. Joe explains why authors should focus less on revenue and more on profit, how to approach pricing without undervaluing their work, when going wide makes sense, and why intellectual property and audience are the real foundations of an author business. He also offers practical advice on print distribution, direct sales, and when it may—or may not—make sense to form...

My guest this episode is Diane Hatz. Diane spent years in the music industry, working at major and indie record companies, managing a band, and co-founding a fanzine on The Who that ended up in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Years later, she drew on those surreal experiences and turned them into fiction. After decades of putting off her dream of being an author, she published a four-book series in five years.

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 b...

On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway reports on a revealing piece by Rakuten Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn, who explains why Kobo rejected 45 percent of self-published submissions in 2025 — most of them suspected AI-generated — and frames the decision as a "book community first" choice over a "readers first" approach. Dan also returns to the Commonwealth Short Story Prize controversy, where organizers have taken a strikingly different and very human approach to AI detection: gathering notes, drafts, and timestamped evidence from authors rather than relying on AI detection tools. He closes with news of a BISG and BookNet Canada surv...

Artificial intelligence is changing how readers discover books, and few people have a broader view of that shift than Rob Prime. An indie author, founder of Publishing.co.uk, co-owner of LoveReading, and head of an Amazon marketing agency, Prime joins Orna Ross on the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast to explain how AI-powered search is reshaping book discoverability. They discuss Amazon's evolving search tools, AI-friendly metadata, author websites, direct sales, and the practical steps authors can take to make their books easier for both readers and AI to find.

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In this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi Member Q&A podcast, hosts Michael La Ronn and Sacha Black discuss whether it is legal to use real people's names in nonfiction, including the limits around copyright, defamation, and writing about deceased public figures.

Other questions include:

On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway covers a week dominated by new tools for authors and readers alike. He reports on BookFunnel's new WooCommerce plugin for self-hosted WordPress sites, Substack's rollout of paid sponsorships for writers with 100 or more paid subscribers, and the launch of the Book Carbon Calculator, which lets print-focused authors generate a certified carbon footprint for their titles. He closes with the long-awaited launch of Kindle's Story So Far feature, an AI-generated recap tool that raises familiar questions about training data and copyright.

Show Notes

Book Carbon Calculator

Most indie authors know print-on-demand. Pop-up and movable books inhabit a very different world — one of hand-assembly, specialist printers, and minimum print runs that make the economics unlike anything in standard publishing. In this episode, Anna Featherstone talks with Kelli Anderson, paper engineer and author of Alphabet in Motion, about what it actually takes to bring a movable book to life. They cover the manufacturing process, working with printers, using Kickstarter to fund a 25,000-copy print run, and where a curious author might begin if this form is calling to them.

Find more author advice, tips, and too...

My guest this episode is Annabel Youens, a novelist who left a long career in tech to return to her first love: writing fiction. Her work explores midlife reinvention, creativity, nature, and the courage it takes to stop putting off the life you meant to live. She also brings a business founder's discipline to indie publishing, treating authorship not just as a creative act but as a serious enterprise.

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 i...

On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway reports that audiobook sales grew 9 percent in the US and 10 percent in the UK in 2025 — a return to double-digit growth — but cautions that active titles grew even faster, meaning many individual authors are getting a smaller slice of a bigger pie. He also questions a suspiciously low 0.03 percent figure for AI-narrated audiobook sales, and examines an Authors Guild survey finding that only a quarter of readers paid for the book they were reading last month, with library lending and "other sources," including piracy, making up much of the rest.

Sp...