Member Self-Publishing Q&A w/ Joanna Penn & Orna Ross: June 2016

Ep#38: Orna Ross and Joanna Penn answer members' questions on writing, publishing and promoting books.

Here's the questions posed to Orna and Joanna this month:

• Q: How did you find your beta readers and how many do you have?
• Q: What should I instruct an editor or line editor to look out for in my manuscript?
• Q: Past, Present or Future - which tense is most appropriate?
• Q: Is it ok to self-publish before you go to school?
• Q: I'm designing my own book covers. If I download photos from the internet, am I breaking copyright?
• Q: Is there funding to help an independent publishers?
• Q: Are Bookbub Ads and Goodreads Deals worth the effort?
• Q: Are review bloggers and guest blogging still a powerful marketing strategy?

Our weekly Self-Publishing Advice broadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Member Self-Publishing Q&A is one of four regular shows, which include a more advanced salon, a beginners' salon and a special guest highlight presentation from the Indie Author Fringe, ALLi's free online author conference.

Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.selfpublishingadvice.org. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at www.allianceindependentauthors.org.

Now, go write and publish.

About your hosts

Joanna Penn is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author, as well as writing non-fiction for authors. She is also a professional speaker and entrepreneur, voted as one of The Guardian UK Top 100 creative professionals 2013. She spent 13 years as a business IT consultant in large corporations across the globe before becoming a full-time author-entrepreneur in September 2011. Connect with Joanna on Twitter @thecreativepenn

Orna Ross launched the Alliance of Independent Authors at the London Book Fair in 2012. Her work for ALLi has seen her named as one of The Bookseller's "100 top people in publishing". She also publishes poetry, fiction and nonfiction, and is greatly excited by the democratising, empowering potential of author-publishing. Connect with Orna on Twitter @OrnaRoss