In this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Orna Ross and Joanna Penn discuss how book marketing is changing—and what still works. Drawing on their experiences updating their own marketing guides, they explore the growing role of AI, alternatives to social media, the renewed importance of print and in-person marketing, and why email lists remain essential. They also discuss how authors can develop marketing strategies that fit their goals, personalities, and resources, rather than trying to do everything.

About the Hosts

Joanna Penn writes nonfiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F.Penn. She's also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker.

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 democratizing, empowering potential of author-publishing. For more information about Orna, visit her website.

My guest this episode is Liz Harris, a historical romance author whose path to publication took her from a lifelong love of reading and writing through teaching, travel, traditional publishing, and eventually self-publishing. She talks about how history and place shape her fiction, the freedom she found as an indie author, the importance of treating publishing as a business, and why she chose to remain indie even after returning to traditional publishing.

We invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.

About the Host

Howard Lovy is an author, developmental editor, and writing coach with a long career in journalism and publishing. He works with writers at many stages of their careers, with a focus on helping them develop their ideas and strengthen their work while preserving their unique voices. He lives in Northern Michigan.

About the Guest

Liz Harris is an award-winning author of 30 novels, most of them historical. Her latest series, set in Scotland in the 1880s, was a joy to research for someone who loves to travel, as Liz does, and took her to Scotland for several weeks.

After graduating with a law degree in the UK, Liz moved to California, where she led a varied life—from cocktail waitressing on the Sunset Strip to working as secretary to the CEO of a large Japanese trading company. Upon returning to England, she earned a degree in English and taught at a secondary school for a number of years before developing her writing career.

Liz now lives in Windsor, Berkshire. Her two sons have left the nest and now have families of their own. In what little free time she has, she loves to travel, go to the theater and cinema, do cryptic crosswords, and, above all, lose herself in a novel.

To learn more about Liz, visit her website. Sign up for her newsletter to receive a free full-length novel.

On this week's Self-Publishing News podcast, ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway previews SelfPubCon 2026, running free over the weekend of October 17–18 with a Jane Friedman keynote, sessions on Kickstarter crowdfunding and local marketing, and an indie author lab for pass holders. He also opens the Written Word Media Indie Author Survey — whose past results tied higher earnings to bigger backlists — and reports on OpenAI's bid to have a key market dilution study thrown out of court.

Show Notes

• Written Word Media Indie Author Survey
• SelfPubCon26

About the Host

Dan Holloway is a novelist, poet, and spoken word artist. He is the MC of the performance arts show The New Libertines, He competed at the National Poetry Slam final at the Royal Albert Hall. His latest collection, The Transparency of Sutures, is available on Kindle.