Podcast Archives — Page 2 of 60 — The Self-Publishing Advice Center

How to Make Your Books Discoverable by AI, with Orna Ross and Rob Prime

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.

Using Real People’s Names in Nonfiction, Pricing an Edit, and Making the Most of a BookBub Deal: Member Q&A with Michael La Ronn and Sacha Black

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.

News Podcast: BookFunnel Launches WooCommerce Plugin; Substack Opens Sponsorships; New Book Carbon Calculator; Kindle’s Story So Far Goes Live

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.

Pop-Up Books: The Production Reality Behind Books That Move, Fold, and Function, with Anna Featherstone and Kelli Anderson

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.

Inspirational Indie Author Interview: Annabel Youens on Midlife Reinvention and Creative Independence

My ALLi author 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.

June 21, 2026
Howard Lovy
Podcast
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News Podcast: Audiobook Growth Returns to Double Digits; Title Glut Shrinks Author Slices; How Many Readers Actually Pay?

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.

Audio Interview: Writing and Editing Books for Young Readers with Howard Lovy and Amelia Ross

On the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, host Howard Lovy talks to Amelia Ross, a developmental editor and children’s librarian who specializes in KidLit, about what authors need to know when writing for young readers. Amelia explains the differences between board books, picture books, early readers, chapter books, middle grade, and YA, and why age categories matter. She also discusses authentic voice, age-appropriate content, the role of illustrations, and why children’s books work best when lessons emerge naturally through story and character.

June 17, 2026
Howard Lovy
Podcast
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Self-Publishing a Book in German, with Orna Ross and Skye MacKinnon

Germany is the third-largest book market in the world, and unlike the English-language market, it is not yet saturated. Skye MacKinnon has turned her second publishing language into her bestselling one across three pen names and more than seventy translated titles. In this conversation about the newly released second edition of her book, Self-Publishing in German, she tells indie authors how to decide which of their books to translate first, where AI earns its keep and where it quietly ruins things, and how on earth you market a book in a language you don't speak.

News Podcast: Social Reading Partnerships Expand; Indie Bookstores Hit 1990s High; Oxford Gets a Romantasy Bookstore That Welcomes Indies

On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway reports on a week dominated by good news for readers and indie authors alike. He covers new social reading partnerships — Kobo with StoryGraph, and Everand with Fable — that let readers track, share, and experience books together. He reports on the American Booksellers Association's announcement that indie bookstore membership has hit its highest level since the 1990s, driven largely by single-genre stores focused on romance, fantasy, and romantasy. And he ends with a personal highlight: a new romantasy bookstore called Bad Girl Books is opening in Oxford — in the former Albion Beatnik space — with a specific welcome for self-published authors.

How to Write, Publish, and Promote Nonfiction That Sells, with Anna Featherstone and Howard Lovy

In this member-first Q&A on the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, ALLi nonfiction adviser Anna Featherstone walks authors through how to write, publish, and promote nonfiction that sells—covering how to test market demand, what makes a book stand out, and the most common pricing and production mistakes. She shares practical, low-cost marketing tactics, from direct outreach and library events to writing ready-made stories that overstretched newsrooms welcome.

Inspirational Indie Author Interview: Michael Maloof Turned Global Adventure and Tech Experience Into Award-Winning Thrillers

My ALLi author guest this episode is Michael Maloof, author of award-winning thrillers about a former CIA analyst drawn into conspiracies that stretch across continents. Michael brings to his fiction a background in technology, entrepreneurship, global travel, and real-world tactical training. His books combine action, technology, emotional stakes, and a strong female lead who refuses to back down.

News Podcast: Spotify Reports 60% Audiobook Growth; ElevenLabs Expands; AI Copyright Cases Narrow the Class

On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway reports on Spotify's investor day, where the company credited its Page Match feature for a 60 percent rise in audiobook listening hours, notes ElevenLabs' quiet expansion as a listening platform in its own right, and examines a troubling trend in AI copyright class actions — where increasingly narrow eligibility requirements around ISBN registration and Copyright Office filings are leaving many indie and overseas authors out of the picture.