Opinion Archives

Encore Opinion: Why I’m Dreaming of Becoming a Mid-List Author

Do you feel under pressure to strive for bestseller status? Is the endless competition draining your creative reserves and sapping the joy out of your writing? Don't worry, it doesn't have to be this way. Nor do you consign yourself to hobbyist status if you don't reach for the top. Becoming a mid-list author is something to be proud of.

Encore Opinion: Why AI & Blockchain Will Be Game-changers for Indie Authors

What can artificial intelligence and blockchain do for you? Kathy Meis of Bublish gives a clear summary and a link to a free webinar on 13 February. (Can't make the event live? Register anyway to access post-event recording.)

July 15, 2019
Kathy Meis
Business & Planning, Opinion, Process 3 & 4: Production & Distribution
3 Comments

Encore Opinion: Be a Tolerant #IndieAuthor

It's vital that we support each other if we want to continue to grow the indie community. In today's encore post, Barb Drozdowich says indie authors need to be more tolerant of each others' strengths and weaknesses, especially with regard to technical skills. From the perspective of a technical trainer, she explains how it's too easy for those with strong IT skills to inadvertently bully, belittle and upset those who struggle, and reminds us of the need to be more sensitive, especially when responding to comments on social media.

Book Marketing from a Standing Start as an Indie Author

The longer you're in an industry, the more knowledge and information you build. But, in a way, the more blinkers you wear too. It's hard to remember those early days of no readers and single sale days. But there's a huge number of debut authors publishing every day. Author member Alastair Crombie has just launched his first book and is here to explain what marketing from a standing start is like in the current market.

June 24, 2019
Alastair Crombie
Business & Planning, Opinion, Process 5 & 6: Marketing & Promotion
13 Comments

Self-Publishing Solutions to Low Author Earnings: ALLi Members Respond

Another month, another report about poverty-level author incomes. Boni Wagner-Stafford, ALLi's Communications Manager shares ALLi voices participating in the discussion of the UK's All Party Writers Group report's recommendations. Does the APWG report miss the point? Are there self-publishing solutions to low author earnings?

How Indie Authors Set Paperback Prices

Recently on the closed ALLi Member Facebook Forum there've been a couple of active comment threads with questions about how indie authors set paperback prices. Here's a compilation of the responses so you can see for yourself what some of the options are for pricing your own books.

June 12, 2019
ALLi Editorial
Opinion, Process 3 & 4: Production & Distribution, Process 5 & 6: Marketing & Promotion
0 Comments

The Psychology of Success For Authors: Do You Secretly Think Self-Publishing is Second Best?

Is there a psychology of success for indie authors?Recently I found myself, as I often do, at a writers' conference. It was a mixed event, with about half of attendees aspiring to publication and the other half evenly divided between trade-published and self-published authorsYou can always tell which is which at these get-togethers. The indies are animatedly swapping tips and tools, ideas and insights. The trade-published authors are swapping stories of the latest problem with their agent or publisher.

How to Get an Author Photo Readers Will Love

Many indie authors struggle with how to handle their author photo. They’re shy, or modest, or frugal, and don’t want to hire a professional photographer “just” for their author photo. Here’s why Boni Wagner-Stafford, ALLi's communications manager and co-founder of ALLi Partner Member Ingenium Books, believes you should.

May 23, 2019
ALLi Editorial
Opinion, Process 5 & 6: Marketing & Promotion
0 Comments

Is it Characterisation or Cultural Stereotyping?

As authors, it's important that we're free to write the things we feel most strongly about. Whether that's the travel and cultures we've experienced or the made-up fantasy worlds of our imaginations. But we also need to be sensitive to the nuanced differences between our own culture and the ones we write about. Virginia King discusses the boundary between characterisation and cultural stereotype.

What’s Happened in Ten Years of Nonfiction Publishing?

There's one thing we can all be assured of in our industry, and that's that there will always be changes. Whether it's to platforms, algorithms or technology change shows no signs of slowing down. ALLI Partner Member Karen Williams from The Book Mentor is here today to talk about the changes she's seen in the nonfiction industry over the last decade.

Opinion: Book Marketing is Less Daunting in Baby Steps

Feeling overwhelmed by the need to market your book? Try breaking the process down into baby steps - a system that Cathy Dudley found worked for her, as she describes with a case study here.