Autobiography

Self-Publishing News: Autobiography by AI Launched and Oxford University Study Reveals Writers Conflicted About AI

One of the interesting things about the recent Society of Authors survey on AI was that it captured the complexity and what I might call practical ambivalence we have toward this growing technology as a group. By complexity, I mean that AI is not just one thing. Generative AI, such as large platforms like ChatGPT and Midjourney, is only one part of a picture that includes grammar checks, metadata optimization, and even tools to help write an autobiography. By practical ambivalence, I mean that while many of us are very worried and actively critical about some parts of the technology (especially generative AI), we nonetheless use many other parts. Even some of us use the parts we also criticize.
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Marketing Middle-Grade

Marketing Middle-Grade or Young-Adult Books and More Self-Publishing Questions Answered by Michael La Ronn and Sacha Black: Member Q&A Podcast

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.
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Deals With OpenAI

Self-Publishing News: NYT Sues ‘Confusing’ Puzzle to Protect Wordle; Other Media Companies Sign Deals with OpenAI

I’ve often said I find it fascinating how themes can emerge that make one week’s news different from another. This week, that theme is media being, shall we say, unchilled. And yes, I am very much aware that, in writing this, at the risk of evoking the spirit of Judge Dredd, I am the media. But whatever other parlousness I may succumb to, I hope I am guilty of neither of these. The first is something I’ve covered a few times and fear I will be covering a few more. And that’s the willingness of media companies to sign deals with OpenAI allowing their content to be used to train its generative AI. This week, Vox Media and The Atlantic signed deals. They join the likes of Axel Springer, News Corp, Le Monde, and the Financial Times.
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Inspirational Indie Author Interview: Roxanne Bland

Inspirational Indie Author Interview: Roxanne Bland. Mixed-Genre Author Defies Tropes in Far-Out Stories About Real-World Issues

My ALLi author 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.
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Facebook's AI Policy

Self-Publishing News: Facebook’s AI Policy Sparks Controversy Among Creatives

If a week is a long time in politics, then in the world of technology, Facebook's AI policy sparking controversy among creatives might as well be “living memory.” This means we’re going back to the times of the sagas since we last ran a story on AI. I didn’t even run a story when the whole furore following the launch of ChatGPT-4o (which I did cover) broke as Scarlett Johansson spotted that the voice of the demo sounded a heck of a lot like her, despite her having said she didn’t want to work with OpenAI.
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TikTok Ban

How Would a TikTok Ban Affect Buoyant Print Sales? The Self-Publishing News Podcast with Dan Holloway

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.
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Print Sales

Self-Publishing News: Romantasy Popularity Steadies Print Sales

Last week, we looked at the figures for electronic book sales and the ways in which they are notoriously misleading in their official format. This week, there’s an interesting glimpse into print sales, particularly the genres driving the healthy levels of those sales. Thanks to Porter Anderson over at Publishing Perspectives for outlining the details of an analysis of print sales by the entertainment analysis group Circana.
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Marketing Forever Mindset

The Marketing Forever Mindset: Self-Publishing Conference Highlight

One of the most interesting insights from the Big Indie Author Data Drop is that even highly successful indie authors maintain a "marketing forever mindset," recognizing that marketing remains their responsibility. Despite using various tools and assistance, marketing is a constant task. Many emerging or struggling indie authors expressed that they least enjoy marketing, highlighting the need for a mindset shift from reluctant to proactive marketing.
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Sustainability

Self-Publishing News: Sustainability Back in the Literary Spotlight

It has recently been impossible to ignore the fact that the literary and political worlds are intertwined in complex ways. While the geopolitical events at the heart of the most recent entanglements, from Ukraine to Gaza, are new and of our time, the nature of the entanglement remains timeless. Authors are fiercely independent and opinionated beings. We have to be. Yet the publishing industry is reliant on large corporations whose financial dealings are often at odds with many of those opinions. Sustainability back in publishing.
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Values And Stories

Values and Stories Should Drive Your Email Marketing: The Creative Self-Publishing Podcast with Orna Ross

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.
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