My guest this episode is Biba Pearce, an award-winning author with more than fifty novels across crime, romance, and cozy mystery. She's built a six-figure career as an author and now mentors writers who want to build sustainable careers of their own.

Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of 2,000+ blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need.

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

Biba Pearce is an award-winning, internationally bestselling crime author known for her gripping, atmospheric thrillers. She writes across multiple genres and pen names, including gritty crime as Biba Pearce and romance as Gemma Ford. A hybrid author published by Joffe Books and Liquid Mind Media, as well as independently through her imprint Mortlake Press, she has built a global readership across more than fifty novels. She is also a mentor, publisher, and founding executive committee member of Sisters in Crime UK/EU Chapter. You can find her on her website, Substack, Instagram, and Facebook.

On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway examines Draft2Digital's decision to introduce fees for the first time — a $20 account activation charge for new accounts and a $12 annual maintenance fee for low-activity accounts — and considers both the rationale and the concerns. He also reports on Bookshop.org's record $70 million in sales last year, a 55 percent increase, and explains why the two stories are closely connected.

Sponsor

Self-Publishing News is proudly sponsored by PublishMe—helping indie authors succeed globally with expert translation, tailored marketing, and publishing support. From first draft to international launch, PublishMe ensures your book reaches readers everywhere. Visit publishme.me.

Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need.

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.

On the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, host Howard Lovy talks to Allyson Longueira, associate director of publishing at the graduate program in creative writing at Western Colorado University, about what authors need to understand about book design, from typography and interior layout to covers and branding. They discuss how design choices signal genre, how authors can better communicate with designers, and where to draw the line between creative control and trusting the experts. Longueira also explains how thoughtful design supports readability and market positioning, giving authors practical ways to approach the visual side of publishing with more confidence.

Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of 2,000+ blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need.

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

Show Notes

• Long Valley Press
• Western Colorado University MA in Creative Writing
• Allyson Longueira MA

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

An award-winning writer, editor, and designer, Allyson Longueira has worked in fiction and nonfiction across multiple media, including newspapers, magazines, and books, for more than twenty years. She now works as a developmental editor, line editor, copyeditor, proofreader, cover and interior designer, and publishing consultant for authors of fiction and nonfiction through her company, Long Alley Press. As associate director of the publishing concentration at Western Colorado University's graduate program in creative writing, she teaches and mentors the next generation of publishers, writers, editors, and designers. Longueira is a strong advocate for preserving author voice in the editing process and trains editors to approach their work with the same focus through craft talks, conference lectures, and graduate-level classes. She has designed hundreds of book covers and interiors and has a deep interest in typography, including a willingness to discuss favorite and least favorite fonts at length. To learn more about Western's publishing MA program, contact her at alongueira@western.edu. You can also find her on LinkedIn and Facebook.