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What Are Some Simple, Affordable Website Builders For Authors? More Self-Publishing Questions Answered By Michael La Ronn And Sacha Black: Member Q&A Podcast

What are Some Simple, Affordable Website Builders for Authors? More Self-Publishing Questions Answered by Michael La Ronn and Sacha Black: Member Q&A Podcast

In this episode of the AskALLi Member Q&A podcast, hosts Michael La Ronn and Sacha Black discuss options for simple and affordable website builders suitable for authors.

Other questions include:

  • What is the best way to get peer feedback on alternative cover designs for a spiritual, inspirational book?
  • How does ISBN assignment work for different book formats, including audiobooks? What are effective strategies for soliciting book reviews in advance of a release?
  • How should famous sayings of politicians be treated in terms of copyright and fair use?
  • What methods can be used to determine the value of intellectual property when negotiating rights?
  • How can authors handle potential scams involving magazine interviews and awards?

And more!

Thoughts or further questions on this post or any self-publishing issue?

If you’re an ALLi member, head over to the SelfPubConnect forum for support from our experienced community of indie authors, advisors, and team. Simply create an account (if you haven’t already) to request to join the forum and get going.

Non-members looking for more information can search our extensive archive of blog posts and podcast episodes packed with tips and advice at ALLi's Self-Publishing Advice Center.

And if you haven’t already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.

Now, go write and publish!

Listen to the Podcast: Website Builders for Authors

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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.

Read the Transcripts to the Podcast: Website Builders for Authors

Michael La Ronn: Hello and welcome to the Self-Publishing Advice and Inspirations podcast by the Alliance of Independent Authors, ALLi for short.

This is the podcast where we answer your most burning self-publishing questions. I'm Michael La Ronn, joined by Sacha Black. What's up, Sacha?

Sacha Black: Hello. How are you?

Michael La Ronn: I'm hanging in there. I just battled a sinus infection. So, if I sound a little congested, that is why, but other than that, life is grand. Still writing, still reading, still doing all things ALLi. How about you?

Sacha Black: I am frantic because we are going on a very large holiday in 38 days, and I need to write a whole other book before then, as well as launch one, as well as outsource some Kickstarter stuff and do a few ALLi bits. So, it's a little bit of a bottom squeaky time at this point.

Michael La Ronn: Bottom squeaky. Oh, I haven't heard that.

Sacha Black: I usually say bum squeaky, but I thought bottom was perhaps more polite.

Michael La Ronn: A little bit more polite. Yeah, okay. The term just intrigued me. I was like, okay, what's going on here? So, the things we talk about on this show, but we're here for your entertainment. We've got to keep it interesting and engaging, and when two people from across the pond get together, you never know what's going to happen. You never know what sort of enlightened English language phrases you're going to hear on the show.

Sacha Black: Hopefully you feel better soon though.

Michael La Ronn: Yeah, I'm doing okay. I have really bad allergies and I'm sure that some people across the world can relate to this, but there are some parts of the year where I just can't go outside. I just have to live in a bubble because the pollen and everything in the air just gets so bad that I get sick. This is that time of the year for me, and it sucks because it's super nice outside. The weather's gotten nice and it's sunny and all that, depending on when you're listening to this, of course.

All right. Speaking of sunny, we've got some really good questions lined up. So, let's go ahead and queue them up.

What’s the best way to get feedback on my book cover designs?

Our first question is from member Michael, and the question is, what is the best way to get peer feedback on alternative cover designs for my forthcoming spiritual Inspirational book?

Sacha Black: I would probably try and find Facebook groups with writers who are either, I'm assuming this is a non-fiction book, so obviously it might be quite a niche area. So, there might not be a Facebook group specific to that niche. There might be, but you never know. So, I would probably look for non-fiction writing groups and ask in there, try and make friends. This is what we do. We find a community.

Michael La Ronn: Yeah, use your network. Certainly, if you're a member, see if there's anyone on our member connect forum who might be willing to offer inspiration. The reason I say that is because we've had some members that have asked specifically about spiritual inspirational books in the past.

So, if you're not a member, join on our Mighty Network, and maybe there's somebody there that can offer assistance too.

Yeah, it takes a community and I think you'll definitely be able to find somebody that can give you feedback.

Should I add a price to the barcode of my book?

Okay, next question is from Ruth. Barcodes require a price for a book. How does this work with short term or permanent price changes?

Sacha Black: I don't actually put a price on the barcode. I don't know why they think it requires it. I don't put a barcode on my books. So, I ask the designers to leave a gap and then the printers will print the barcode, but there's no price on it. So, I am then able to do discounts or change things.

Michael La Ronn: Yeah, that's what I do as well, and I think that begs another question that I'm sure people have in their heads as well, wait a second, can't I purchase barcodes? Why should I purchase barcodes? I thought I had to purchase barcodes.

Sacha Black: Not as far as I'm aware.

Michael La Ronn: The answer is, I don't think you have to. Now, I'm sure there is some benefit that you can get from purchasing your own barcodes. I don't know what those are. If anybody does know, I would love to hear that, because we get this question regularly. But the reality is that in this self-published age, you don't have to purchase barcodes.

Really the only thing we recommend that you purchase is your own ISBNs.

Assuming you live in a country where you have to purchase ISBNs. Our Canadian friends don't have to worry about that. They're free over there, but mostly everywhere else, you have to purchase your own ISBNs, and we do recommend that.

But not using your own barcodes, or if you do, if you have the option to not put a price in the barcode, that's a better option because of what Sacha said. Then you don't have to worry about doing a marketing promo or taking your books to a convention and offering a sale or something like that.

Sacha Black: A hundred percent.

How do I run Amazon ads on all of my pen names when they’re on different accounts?

Michael La Ronn: Next question is from Rory. I have two author pages on Amazon due to having seven pen names under one email, which is the maximum.

I didn't know it could go that high.

So, the question is, only one of them links to my Amazon ads account associated with my first account.

So, apparently, they've got two accounts, seven pen names under one and five under the other. So, only one of them links to my Amazon ads account associated with the first email. As a result, I can only run sponsored brand campaigns for the first seven author pen names.

Is there a solution that I can find to be able to run ads on my other pen names?

Sacha Black: I was under the impression that you could now run ads for traditionally published books, which if you can do that, you should be able to then run ads to a book that isn't on your account.

Michael La Ronn: Yeah, that's what I would think, too. Is there a clearance process for that?

Sacha Black: I don't know, because I don't have any that are traditionally published, so I'm not entirely sure, but as far as I'm aware, yeah. What I would do to test it is to go in and try and create a sponsored ad and then try, and search for the book because you can search the whole of Amazon, or you can search your name.

So, I would have thought if you search the whole of Amazon, you'd then be able to click it, and then if you can't, I would probably just email the help desk.

Michael La Ronn: Yeah, it sounds like they've tried that, and they haven't gotten anywhere. That's a really interesting idea.

Here's another thought. It might be clunky, but what if you published the other pen names under a different publisher imprint, because that way, you could say that they're traditionally published. They're not technically under the same entity, and then you could use the Amazon ads thing.

I don't know. I'm not in any way suggesting to skirt terms of service. I think you need to follow the terms of service, whatever Amazon ads terms of service are, please follow those. Don't go say, Michael La Ronn said this or that.

I'm just saying maybe there's an option there that would get your books to show up. I don't know. But that's a whole lot of pen names, I've never heard anybody have that many pen names. So, that's definitely a very unique situation.

Sacha Black: Yeah, I'm assuming they're publishing other people.

Michael La Ronn: Or they're just really adventurous and like to write in a lot of genres.

Hate to say it, but I think you have to continue to push on Amazon and get them to find a way to do this. I can't imagine Rory, that you're the only person that has this problem. So, there's got to be a solution.

Sacha Black: I think they've got to be careful though, because we're not really supposed to have more than one account, are we?

Michael La Ronn: You're not, which is why I said, you've got to follow the terms of service. This is the part where I wave my hands in the air and say, I don't know what the arrangement is, I'm assuming Amazon is aware of that. We're not going to put you on blast. So, why don't we go to the next question?

Do I need an ISBN for my audiobook?

The next question is from Simon and the question is, does the ISBN cover audiobooks, or is it just another edition of the eBook?

Sacha Black: ISBNs are per format, so you would need one ISBN for the eBook, one ISBN for the paperback, one ISBN for the hardback, and one ISBN for the audiobook.

Each of those individual ISBNs has to be different because it's a different format.

Michael La Ronn: Yes, and for audio specifically, this is important for people that are distributing through Findaway Voices or who are not exclusive to Audible, technically you need two ISBNs for audio because there is a library ISBN that you need as well.

Some people have said we don't need to do that, you can get the same one for both, but just something to think about too. Some places may ask you for two different ISBNs for your audio book.

I don't know. I just follow the rules. So, I just assigned two different ISBNs.

I don't know if you're supposed to do that, but I have a log. Every time I do an ISBN, I write down what the book is, what the format is, and so whenever I do audio, I just reserve two.

If you're on a budget, if you don't have that many to spare, maybe you don't do that, but just something to think about, something to research a little bit further.

Where can I sell an AI audiobook that was created with Eleven Labs?

Next question is from Marcy. If I create an AI audio book with Eleven Labs, where can I sell it?

That is a good question, I can take this one.

Depending on when you listen to this, Marcy, I don't know. Everything moves so quickly in the AI space. I can't remember which retailer accepts Eleven Labs books, so I'm not going to say. I think there is one of the big retailers that does, but I think most do not.

So, I guess we should start, for people that don't know what Eleven Labs is, maybe we should back up. Eleven Labs is an AI audio company that has AI voices that are very good, they're very lifelike. You can basically upload text to their models, and they will narrate them for you in very good voices.

Now, the really cool thing about Eleven Labs is that you can do a voice clone. So, I could, in theory, upload my book, or chapters from my book, and have it narrated in my own voice, and it sounds really good. It sounds really convincing. I've played around with it, it sounds great.

The reason a lot of people like Eleven Labs is because their voices are really good, but also because you can do the voice cloning. So, in theory, you could do your own AI audiobooks with your own voice. They're not widely accepted right now, so really, the only place you can sell your audiobooks with Eleven Labs is your own website. Right now.

I've heard some rumblings that maybe other retailers might open up to Eleven Labs, but we'll see if and when that happens.

Can you recommend a simple, inexpensive website builder?

Okay, next question is from Roger. Can you please recommend a not too expensive, simple website builder?

Sacha Black: I think my answer to this would have been different a little while ago, and so I suppose my question becomes, what is the purpose of your website?

So, I have two different types of websites. I've got a WordPress website that is very easy to use if you have some knowledge of technical things. So, if you are capable of drag and drop type systems, great. It does take a little bit more complexity if you want to overlay certain styles and themes onto your website. So, my Sacha stuff is under WordPress, and that is more complicated, I would say, than other ones. I'm trying to think of the name of it, but anyway, there are some slightly simpler versions of it.

Then what you can do is you can make it transactional. It can have a blog, all of this stuff. By transactional, you can sell things on there, and you would have to do some kinds of plugins for that. If that feels too complex, but you still want to have a direct store, my Ruby stuff is purely a Shopify store. I don't have a traditional website in the way that you might think. It is literally a transactional website, and that is enough for me. I don't need anything else on there because it is a website where people can come, they can find out minimal information they need to know about me, and they can buy the books. That's it. I don't think authors necessarily need these super fancy complex websites anymore, unless you are a non-fiction author selling services alongside it.

If you want a transactional website, I'd just use Shopify or something similar like that, Payhip or other ones like that.

Michael La Ronn: Yeah. It's 2024 and I'm a technical guy, but I'm not a big WordPress fan. If you hear that sound, that's the sound of me getting on my soapbox. WordPress is really not that intuitive. It's a pain in the neck, honestly, to learn if you're not technically inclined. So, I get that people don't like WordPress and you will get no arguments from me on that.

There are some alternatives, but I think it's really a matter of what you're willing to give up.

So, like you said, Sacha, Shopify, if you're willing to focus on the commerce part and not really have a whole lot of functionality outside of that, totally fine. I think that makes sense. I think a lot of people are doing that.

There's Squarespace. I know a lot of people have used Squarespace and they like it because it's a little bit more user friendly than WordPress, but there aren't as many plugins, from what I understand with Squarespace.

There's Wix. That's another site that a lot of people use, apparently that's pretty user friendly.

Then there's Ghost. I've seen a lot of people use Ghost. I don't know a whole lot about that, but building a website is really not that complicated.

If you look at an author website, there's really only a few components.

There's a homepage, there's an about page, there's book pages, there's a contact form, and in the case of authors wanting to do e-commerce, there's a shop. I just don't think it's that complicated.

I think we build up the whole concept of creating a website to be something that is way bigger than it actually is. It's just a web page with some information on it, and all of the above can help you do that. It's just a matter of which one, and I think you just have to experiment and find which one is the least bit of a pain in the neck for you.

Me personally, I don't recommend WordPress.com, and that's just because you don't own your land there, your digital land there, so to speak.

I think the rates for most of these are going to be pretty competitive. It just depends on what you want. But just remember that whatever you do, for lack of a better word, you're not tied to it forever, but you're tied to it for a long time because it's going to be a pain to change later on. So, that's why I just recommend people do their research.

Should I buy my own ISBNs for my book?

Next question is from Craig. I'm a physical therapist who is proceeding with publishing a healthcare book with one of your partner members. We are at the point where files are being edited and the manuscript is being prepared. Is it advisable to purchase my own 10 ISBN numbers from Bowker rather than having the partner member purchase it? I seem to remember that suggestion from one of your books.

Sacha Black: Do you want to take this one?

Michael La Ronn: I will, and we just answered it, so I missed that we had two questions that were like that in a row. Yes, we always advise that you purchase your own ISBNs. The main reason is because you own it and also because you show up as the publisher of record. So, when people look up your ISBNs, which doesn't happen that often, certainly when people in the publishing industry look it up, they see your name or your company as the publisher of record, which is much more desirable than seeing Amazon or whoever you get free as ISBNs from.

Are there any other benefits that you can think of Sacha for purchasing your own ISBNs?

I feel like there's others.

Sacha Black: For me, the big one was about being able to prove that I owned the copyright. So, that was quite a big deal for me. There was an AI bot issue, I assume, and I essentially had to prove that I owned the copyright to a book, which I did because I'd written it.

And having the ISBN and the account with my name, my business name, my imprint and my legal name and address, was extremely helpful.

Michael La Ronn: Yeah, that's a great point. I always forget about that. That is something that you can use to show proof of ownership.

Another thing too that dawned on me while you were saying that is you can take your ISBN and use it anywhere. So, what a lot of people do is they get the free ISBNs from each retailer. So, you publish your book on Amazon, and you take Amazon's free ISBN, and then you publish it on IngramSpark, and you take theirs, and then you publish it on every retailer. So, what ends up happening is that every format of your book has an individual unique ISBN, which makes it impossible for readers to find it. So, if you do have those readers that go to bookstores or libraries, they can't give an ISBN that will pull up your book.

So, that's more for the traditional side, but just buy your own ISBNs if you can afford them. They're not cheap, that's the downside It just makes things easier.

How do I get advanced book reviews?

Next question is from Jim. What recommendations do you have for soliciting book reviews in advance of a release?

Sacha Black: This is a question we get quite a lot, isn't it? This is a perennial question.

There are a ton of ways that you can do this. You can go into Facebook and look for reader groups that are genre specific. This is what I did when I created a new pen name, and I spent quite a lot of time looking at the Facebook rules for each of those groups, and I basically asked for advanced readers in as many sapphic and lesbian book reader groups as I possibly could. That's the first thing I did.

If you have a mailing list, that is a great place to start because you've already got people who are interested. If you don't have a mailing list but you do have social media, I would ask on social media as well.

Then there are some companies, you do need to check their reputations, you do need to check just to make sure that all the terms of services are okay. But places like NetGalley are quite expensive and they are definitely traditionally oriented in terms of traditional publishing. The readers are generally speaking, a bit tougher there, I would say, than some other places. However, you can get readers and reviewers there.

There are other places like Hidden Gems and Book Sprout. You can also do things on Story Origin and Book Funnel. So, there are lots and lots of companies and services out there, but please check all the terms of services, please ask author friends to see if they've had a good time and a good service with them before you sign up or buy any of their services.

Just to clarify, you cannot pay for reviewers, but you can pay an intermediary service. So, somebody like Hidden Gems, you pay them a fee, and they have a group of reviewers which do not get paid, but they are the coordinators essentially for a mini marketing campaign for you to get reviews, and then they dish out the books on your behalf.

Also, just remember that you need to, if you are going into Kindle Unlimited, you need to make sure that your review copies have been shut down before you put the book into Kindle Unlimited and release it there.

Michael La Ronn: Perfect. Yeah, I have nothing else to add to that.

Does ALLi have a list of vetted book publishers?

Next question is from Mike. Does ALLi have a list of vetted publishers?

The answer is no, we do not. We are the Alliance of Independent Authors. So, our focus is on self-publishing. That's our world.

That said, we do have some authors that dabble in both worlds, that are self-published authors, but also are published on the traditional side as well, but our focus is really on self-publishing services. If you're looking for a publisher, unfortunately you would have to look elsewhere.

Next question is from Bob. I'm considering four or five self-publishing companies. I'm assuming to publish his book. Does ALLi provide any insight, info, or comments about the candidates I'm considering? That is just the exact same question almost.

So, we're focused on self-publishing. If you're considering the traditional side, certainly, we're probably not the best resource for you, but certainly would recommend doing your homework.

Recommend looking at Rider Beware by Victoria Strauss, that's a great website. She does a great job of helping people understand the different scams and the different contractual obligations that you should be looking out for, and I would recommend maybe starting there.

Can I quote famous politicians in my book?

Steve asks, how are the famous sayings of politicians treated in copyright? Do they count as part of the public record? Can they be used as fair use? Or should they be treated like any other form of intellectual property that requires permission?

I guess I'd probably take that. I've been talking a lot here.

Sacha Black: I'm sorry, but this one's definitely a you question.

Michael La Ronn: I don't know for sure, but I've always thought that the sayings of politicians, the sayings of public figures, when they're doing their jobs, are public domain. Again, don't quote me on this, don't go take this as legal advice, please.

A politician's speech, for example. If you wanted to quote it, I don't think there's any harm in that because I thought that is generally considered to be public domain. Now, if that politician writes a book, you can't go and copy sections from their book because that is protected by copyright.

But if you're quoting John F. Kennedy, and he's talking about, ask not what America can do for you, but what you can do for your country, that sort of thing. I know I completely botched that paraphrase, or if you're wanting to quote a politician in your country, I think you can do that, but just give credit and make sure that there's not anything that's protected by copyright or by trademark, for example.

Some politicians, I don't know if this is the case in the UK, but some politicians have said things and then they put them on t shirts, you maybe want to avoid those sort of things, but I think if you're just quoting a stump speech or something like that, or a famous political speech, I think you're okay to just quote it and give attribution.

Long, long answer to a fairly short question.

When should I time my promo stacking when launching a new book in a series?

Let's jump to the next question from Judith. When should I time my promo stacking during the launch of my book three, before, during, or after?

Sacha Black: Oh, that is a great question. I don't think there's a right or wrong answer. I think it depends on what your goal is.

So, on the one hand, you could do it slightly in advance in order to give people time to read through. So, if you want them to read book one and book two, and you want to increase your pre orders, the I would do it a little bit in advance.

If you would prefer to impact rank and you want lots of orders on launch day, launch day for book three, I would probably do it a little bit closer to the date.

On the one hand, the whale readers who want to just binge through will order all in one go, and those who I suppose need time would do it a bit in advance.

For me, I tend to drop the price about a week before, and then shortly after launch I'll whack the price back up again, but I just don't think there is a right or wrong answer here. I think you should experiment, and I think you should see.

So, for example, do you know what proportion of your readers are whale readers? If they're whale readers, they're going to down the book in a day anyway. So, two days before the launch might work, but if you have slightly slower, more leisurely readers then you might need a little bit more time.

But there is no right or wrong answer on this one.

Michael La Ronn: Yeah, agree.

How do I calculate the value of my intellectual property?

Next question is from Abby. This is another legal question. I have a four-book series which has reached the end of its contract and I'm currently in negotiations to acquire the rights to the series back. I would like some advice on how the value of my IP would typically be determined.

This is a tough question because you can talk to a hundred different people about this, and you'll get a hundred different answers. What is the value of my intellectual property?

There are different methods to evaluate what your intellectual property is potentially worth, but short of hiring law firm to do this, there are law firms that specialize in this, and this is the only thing that they do. They look at your intellectual property, they assess a value to it, and then you can use that value in your negotiations. That's really expensive, and I don't think there are very many authors out there that probably would want to do that.

There are a few different IP valuation methods out there. Just Google intellectual property valuation methods and you'll see a couple of the different ones. There's a bunch of them. Pick the one that's least complicated, and try to assess the value yourself, and just know that whoever you're negotiating with is probably going to have a different value and you're going to have to meet them somewhere.

But if you can, don't be the first person to offer what you think the value of your books are. Let them determine it. Let them put that in writing and then that gives you the position to negotiate leverage because probably they're going to try to assess your IP with a value that's lower than probably what it should be.

So, that gives you leverage to come back and say, no, actually, I think it should be x-amount.

But if you're trying to get the rights back maybe you do want the value to be a little bit lower so you can get the rights back a little bit easier. I don't know, just depends on the situation.

So, there's no easy answer for this. I can't even tell you how many different IP attorneys I've talked to about this. This was part of a book I was writing, and I was trying to see if I could find a good concrete answer, and there just isn't.

Every attorney I ask, they always laugh at me when I ask the question. If they're laughing, then that means nobody has an answer, really, at the end of the day.

Amazon KDP is paying my royalties to the wrong account. What do I do?

Next question is from Harry. Back in August 2023, I published a book on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, KDP. A few weeks ago, I realized that I've had no royalty payments yet.

So, I checked my KDP account and found that they've been sending money to an account number that I don't recognize.

The most logical explanation here is that I made some sort of mistake when I set up the account. However, I can't seem to get anywhere with Amazon's support team. What do I do?

Oh boy, that's a mess.

Sacha Black: That's a mess, yeah.

I would go to ALLi, that's what I would do.

Michael La Ronn: That's what I was going to say. We have a pretty good relationship with KDP. Harry, I would encourage you to write us in confidence at [email protected].

Just give us some details about you and what's going on, and we will do our best to try to interface with KDP and try to help you. That's one of the great benefits of being a member of ALLi. So, it's one of the things that we can offer to our members, but yeah, this is probably not the right forum for us to answer that question.

So, write us and we'll see what we can do.

A magazine is asking me to pay them to interview me. Is it a scam?

Our final question is from Alan. I've been interviewed by a magazine, we won't say the name, and they are offering me an editor's choice award and the circulation of my review and my interview in their print magazine, but I have to spend $300 to purchase 10 copies of this magazine.

This was not made clear from the beginning, and since their emails implied that I would be expected to make a voluntary payment for a few copies as a token of appreciation, I don't know about this.

Sacha Black: My Spidey senses are screaming already. The reasons for that are that if somebody approaches you and interviews you, you shouldn't then be having to pay to receive a copy of that interview.

They have approached you, therefore you are the one they want something from, not the other way around. So, I would be inclined to go and look at the ratings to see if there's any kind of Watchdog comments about this magazine, and if there isn't, I would be inclined to maybe email the Watchdog because asking you to spend.

Look, the story changed, right?

First of all, it wasn't made clear, and then it was voluntary, and then it's a set figure. Those inconsistencies are red flags for me. I would probably email the Watchdog your experience, and I would let the Watchdog do some investigation, because I'm uncomfortable with just what's been said.

Michael La Ronn: Yeah, selfpublishingadvice.org/ratings. Start there.

I think Alan, you said it in your own words, and I hope that this was not their words, but you said that since their emails implied that I would be expected to make a voluntary payment for a few copies as a token of appreciation.

Sacha Black: Yeah, what?

Michael La Ronn: Please give us a token of appreciation for an interview. Are you kidding me? 10 copies? That's crazy, I've never heard that before. I don't know if this company is legit or not, but just the gall on that. I'm hoping that's not their words, please pay us $300.

Sacha Black: Appreciate us for interviewing you who had to give up your time to be interviewed.

Michael La Ronn: Exactly. To promote your hard-earned intellectual property. Are you kidding me? Okay.

But this is the reason why ALLi exists, right? But again, we don't name names on this show, so I don't know who we're talking about here or what was said or what was actually communicated, but this is the reason why you have to stay vigilant because the bad guys are always coming up with new ways to sell you a bridge, and at the end of the day, authors are the ones that end up getting hurt.

So, we try to avoid that, and we just really encourage you to stay vigilant and just really think things through before you make any commitment like this.

But as Sacha said, our Spidey senses are going off based on how you worded the question. So, probably your money would be better spent elsewhere.

That brings us to the bottom of the show, Sacha. So, we've got another show on the books. We will be back next month to answer your questions. Don't forget that we have quarterly live shows, but I just encourage you to, if you're an ALLi member, just stay tuned to your emails for that, because we will announce those when they're coming up.

We're so glad to have you guys listen to us every month and we'll be back next month with another exciting show. In the meantime, happy traveling, Sacha. We'll talk to you next time.

Sacha Black: Bye.

Author: Howard Lovy

Howard Lovy is an author, book editor, and journalist. He is also the Content and Communications Manager for the Alliance of Independent Authors, where he hosts and produces podcasts and keeps the blog updated. You can find more of his work at https://howardlovy.com/

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