Self-Publishing with ALLi

On this week's Self-Publishing News podcast, ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway digs into Audible's new Nielsen IQ study of 18,000 listeners, which finds audiobook fans buying the same books in multiple formats — and still seeking out human narrators. He also covers Smashwords adding pre-orders and pre-sales through Draft2Digital, and a Bookseller report on how AI is splitting the ghostwriting market in two. 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.

My guest this episode is Liz Harris, a historical romance author whose path to publication took her from a lifelong love of reading and writing through teaching, travel, traditional publishing, and eventually self-publishing. She talks about how history and place shape her fiction, the freedom she found as an indie author, the importance of treating publishing as a business, and why she chose to remain indie even after returning to traditional publishing. We invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. About the Host Howard Lovy is an author, developmental editor, and writing coach with a long career in journalism and publishing. He works with writers at many stages of their careers, with a focus on helping them develop their ideas and strengthen their work while preserving their unique voices. He lives in Northern Michigan. About the Guest Liz Harris is an award-winning author of 30 novels, most of them historical. Her latest series, set in Scotland in the 1880s, was a joy to research for someone who loves to travel, as Liz does, and took her to Scotland for several weeks. After graduating with a law degree in the UK, Liz moved to California, where she led a varied life—from cocktail waitressing on the Sunset Strip to working as secretary to the CEO of a large Japanese trading company. Upon returning to England, she earned a degree in English and taught at a secondary school for a number of years before developing her writing career. Liz now lives in Windsor, Berkshire. Her two sons have left the nest and now have families of their own. In what little free time she has, she loves to travel, go to the theater and cinema, do cryptic crosswords, and, above all, lose herself in a novel. To learn more about Liz, visit her website. Sign up for her newsletter to receive a free full-length novel.

On the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, host Howard Lovy talks to poet and editor Anna Davidson about the art of editing poetry. They discuss what editors look for in a poem, why every word, line break, sound, and even blank space matters, and how editors can help poets strengthen their work without losing their individual voice. Anna also explains why trust between poet and editor is so important and how indie poets can find the editorial support that best fits their work. 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 is an author, developmental editor, and writing coach with a long career in journalism and publishing. He works with writers at many stages of their careers, with a focus on helping them develop their ideas and strengthen their work while preserving their unique voices. He lives in Northern Michigan. About the Guest Anna Davidson is an editor, editorial trainer, writer, and poet who publishes under the name A. K. Davidson. She studied modern languages at the University of Oxford and has worked in trade book publishing for three decades. Her past in-house roles include head of editorial management at Faber & Faber and publishing manager at DK Books. Anna writes poetry and fiction as A. K. Davidson. Her poems have appeared in Good Housekeeping, Pennine Platform, and other magazines, and her debut collection, Poetry for Life and Other Chronic Conditions, is available from all good bookshops. Anna is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading and a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors and the Society of Authors. She runs the Writer Meet Editor community on Substack, which offers information and connection for writers and book editors across traditional and indie publishing. For more information, visit Writer Meet Editor or The Right Word.

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 Register for SelfPubCon26 Enter the SelfPubCon Prize Draw Purchase a SelfPubCon access pass — scroll to the bottom of the page Learn more about Orna Ross's Indie Author Lab Join the Alliance of Independent Authors About the Host Author Howard Lovy has been a journalist for 40 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. About the Guest Kayleigh Brindley is a virtual assistant who started Admin Angels UK in 2013 with the aim of helping small business owners and authors achieve a better work-life balance. Kayleigh joined the ALLi team in 2018 as a social media administrator. She now works on ALLi comms and the annual Self-Publishing Advice Conference. When she's not working or spending time with her family, Kayleigh spends most of her time reading, running Dungeons and Dragons games, and writing stories about magic.

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 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 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: What should authors know about selling foreign translation rights, and which sub-rights should they try to keep? How long a term should you license, and why are translation contracts stretching from five years to seven or ten? Can you send out ARCs before you have a cover design? What do you do when KDP blocks your account without explanation? How do you find an ALLi partner who is good at marketing, and which marketing services are actually worth paying for? Should authors learn to market themselves before outsourcing it, and could AI make keywords and categories obsolete? 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. 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 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 our organization and become a self-publishing ally. About the Host Howard Lovy is an author, developmental editor, and writing coach with a long career in journalism and publishing. He works with writers at many stages of their careers, with a focus on helping them develop their ideas and strengthen their work while preserving their unique voices. He lives in Northern Michigan. About the Guest Sheila M. Averbuch is the author of middle-grade thriller Friend Me (Scholastic Press New York) and Pitch Your Book (ENNclick Editions) and is the UK's first pitching champion for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI.) She holds degrees from Harvard and Stanford universities and a New Writers Award from the Scottish Book Trust, and she co-founded the SCBWI network in Scotland. Sheila lives with her family near Edinburgh, Scotland. You can find her on her website and Instagram.

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 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 is an author, developmental editor, and writing coach with a long career in journalism and publishing. He works with writers at many stages of their careers, with a focus on helping them develop their ideas and strengthen their work while preserving their unique voices. He lives in Northern Michigan. About the Guest Roz Morris is ALLi's editor in chief. She is also a novelist, memoirist, and professional story whisperer. She is the author of acclaimed literary novels with big emotional canvases and memoirs that find meaning in unadventures. She is also a developmental editor and writing coach and has helped shape books that have sold more than four million copies, some of them from behind the scenes as a ghostwriter. She is the creator of the Nail Your Novel series for writers and the blog of the same name. She has judged literary prizes, including the Amazon Kindle Storyteller Award and the Vine Leaves Press New Voices Competition, and has taught master classes for The Guardian in London and Jane Friedman's online academy. Find her at her website.

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. About the Host Howard Lovy is an author, developmental editor, and writing coach with a long career in journalism and publishing. He works with writers at many stages of their careers, with a focus on helping them develop their ideas and strengthen their work while preserving their unique voices. He lives in Northern Michigan. About the Guest David Barbur lives in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. He can often be found wandering the forest with a longbow in his hand, tracking animals and trying to figure out what happens next in his latest story. His latest release, Time of Ashes, is the seventh Tye Caine Wilderness Mystery. You can find him on his website.

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. Sponsor 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 confidently. Gatekeeper Press — Where Authors Are Family. About the Host Anna Featherstone is ALLi's nonfiction adviser and an author advocate and mentor. A judge of The Australian Business Book Awards and Australian Society of Travel Writers awards, she's also the founder of Bold Authors and presents author marketing and self-publishing workshops for organizations, including Byron Writers Festival. Anna has authored books including how-to books and memoirs, and her book Look-It's Your Book! about writing, publishing, marketing, and leveraging nonfiction is on the Australian Society of Authors recommended reading list. When she's not being bookish, Anna's into bees, beings, and the big issues of our time. About the Guest Dr. Bee Teng Lim is a clinical psychologist whose work explores the subtle wounds of trauma: the fracture of identity, the inheritance of silence, and the ways we adapt to survive. Born in Malaysia, trained in New Zealand, and now based in Australia, she is fluent in Mandarin and several Asian dialects and is known for her commitment to inclusive, trauma-informed care. She is the author of Welcome Home: Healing Trauma and Reclaiming Wholeness. She is the cofounder of Mind Health Collective, a Sydney-based psychology practice that serves clients internationally, and BeTuned, a game-based therapeutic and performance platform.

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. Show Notes How Claude's text watermark works Sponsor Self-Publishing News is proudly sponsored by PublishMe—helping indie authors succeed globally with expert translation, tailored marketing, and publishing support. From first draft to international launch, PublishMe ensures your book reaches readers everywhere. Visit publishme.me. 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. 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.

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 you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. About the Host Howard Lovy is an author, developmental editor, and writing coach with a long career in journalism and publishing. He works with writers at many stages of their careers, with a focus on helping them develop their ideas and strengthen their work while preserving their unique voices. He lives in Northern Michigan. About the Guest Linda L. Garnett writes gothic supernatural thrillers for readers who want to be emotionally wrecked at 3 a.m. Her debut novel, Red Falls, reached No. 1 in New Releases in Occult Suspense and climbed to No. 7 on Amazon's Best Sellers list in the category, earning 4.8 stars from early readers. It was named to the 2026 Shelley Book Awards longlist for paranormal fiction. Linda writes dark, atmospheric fiction in which the ordinary unravels and something unspoken takes hold. When she's not writing about small-town secrets, she's probably building playlists for books that don't exist yet or researching obscure vampire folklore. The second book in the Veritate Triumphat trilogy, Red Falls: Bloodlines, is forthcoming. You can find Linda on her website, download her free Red Falls bundle, find her books on Amazon, or visit her links and social media page.