Sell More Books

‘Sell More Books’: Sneak Peek and Pre-Order with Orna Ross

Orna Ross, director of the Alliance of Independent Authors, introduces ALLi’s new guidebook, Sell More Books, now available for pre-order. The book focuses on practical, sustainable book promotion and challenges the idea that promotion is only for loud authors with big budgets. Ross explains how authors of all styles and temperaments can design promotional strategies that suit their work, their readers, and their energy. From direct sales and crowdfunding to newer AI-assisted tools, she looks at what’s changing in book promotion and why, even in an AI-driven landscape, human connection remains central.
Read more
Indie Author Lab

News Podcast: Indie Author Lab Tickets Go on Sale, TikTok Tests Serial Drama, and Publishers Join AI Lawsuit

On this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Dan Holloway opens with news that early bird tickets are now available for the Indie Author Lab, taking place alongside London Book Fair in March. He then looks at TikTok’s launch of short-form serial video drama as a new outlet for episodic storytelling, before turning to fresh legal developments as major publishers move to intervene in the ongoing lawsuit against Google’s Gemini AI, signaling a push toward collective licensing talks.
Read more
Copyright Lawsuit Against Google's Gemini AI

News Summary: Publishers Seek to Join Copyright Lawsuit against Google’s Gemini AI

AI lawsuits are in the news again. And it's not Anthropic this week, but the large ongoing lawsuit against Google's Gemini. It takes the form of a motion to intervene, as I believe it's called (you can read the motion in question here to fill yourselves in). The motion is brought by two major publishing groups, Cengage and Hachette. It requests, as I understand it, that the two publishing groups join the case brought by writers and illustrators in 2023 and currently before the Northern California judiciary, intervening as class representatives.
Read more
New Takes On Marketing Must-Dos

New Takes on Marketing Must-Dos — Insights from ALLi’s ‘Reach More Readers’ Guidebook: Self-Publishing Advice Conference Highlight

In this Self-Publishing Advice Conference highlight, Orna Ross revisits classic book marketing must-dos and updates them for 2025. Grounded in ALLi’s Reach More Readers guidebook and the organization’s Ethical AI policy, the session cuts through content overload, shifting algorithms, rising ad costs, email deliverability problems, and growing concerns about reader trust. Ross offers a human-first, values-based approach to marketing that helps author-publishers make clear, ethical choices without burning out. Writers leave with a simple mini-audit of their current marketing and a short, realistic upgrade list to help them reach more readers on their own terms.
Read more
Inspirational Indie Author Interview: Diana Colleen

Inspirational Indie Author Interview: Diana Colleen Explores Psychedelic Healing, Climate Responsibility, and Writing Urgent Fiction

My ALLi author guest this episode is Diana Colleen, a Canadian-born, Seattle-based writer whose work is shaped by a life of activism, public service, trauma, and healing. Drawing on her experience with meditation and psychedelic-assisted therapy, her fiction explores climate responsibility, wealth, power, and the possibility of personal and societal transformation. 
Read more
Three Trends For 2026

Advice Podcast: Three Trends for 2026 — Transformation, Trust, and the ‘Agentic’ Shift with Orna Ross and Joanna Penn

Orna Ross and Joanna Penn compare notes from the indie front line, drawing on Jo’s new novel and her renewed focus on business basics for ALLi’s Indie Author Lab at the London Book Fair, alongside Orna’s shift to Substack and a clear-eyed look at what is changing fastest for authors. In this forward-looking conversation, two self-publishing veterans unpack agentic AI, the challenge of staying discoverable in a sea of content, and how permission-based audiences, reader trust, and real-world connection can make authors harder to replace.
Read more
HarperCollins France Adopts AI Translation

News Summary: HarperCollins France Adopts AI Translation; Manga Industry Turns to Machine Learning

The uncomfortable relationship between AI and translation has been in the news again this week. HarperCollins in France has hired the services of Fluent Planet to help it save money by reducing the labor-intensiveness of the translation process. Fluent Planet will, it seems, be using machine learning to achieve this. The reaction has been exactly what, in short, you would imagine.
Read more
Agatha Christie Enters The Public Domain

News Podcast: Agatha Christie Enters the Public Domain, Anthropic Settlement Shifts, and Audio Platforms Embrace Video

On this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Dan Holloway reports from a literary conference setting as Agatha Christie’s The Body in the Library enters the public domain. He unpacks new reporting on the Anthropic settlement, including unresolved issues for textbook authors and questions over how much claimants may ultimately receive. Dan also looks at a shift toward video in audio discovery, with Audible testing in-app video promotion and Spotify lowering the bar for podcast monetization.
Read more
Older Posts →
Back To Top
×Close search
Search
Loading...