Ep#56: Welcome to Ask ALLi, the Self-Publishing Advice Broadcast from the Alliance of Independent Authors. This is our monthly Beginners' Self-Publishing Salon, with advice, tips and tools for indie authors just starting out. And here are your regular hosts for the beginners' salon: Jay Artale and Michael La Ronn. Each month Jay and Michael will share self-publishing tips for each segment of the author journey, including: writing, design, book cover design, book production and distribution, marketing and promotion, and how to set up and maintaining your indie author platform. In this introductory session our hosts chat about their indie author experience with fiction and non-fiction, and the layout of this new ALLi broadcast. Each show would feature one of the stages of self-publishing as its primary topic, and this topic would be supplemented by first hand experience from both presenters and other topical news items that have happened in the previous month that are relevant to beginners. Our weekly Self-Publishing Advice broadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This beginners salon is one of four regular shows, which include a more advanced salon, a member Q&A 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 show hosts: Jay Artale is a project manager who swapped corporate life for a nomadic existence as a non-fiction writer. She's written and self-published a series of travel guides, travel writing books, and poetry collections. Jay is also one of the co-organizers of the Indie Author Fringe, an online conference for indie authors who self-publish. Connect with Jay on Twitter: @BirdsOAFPress Michael La Ronn is the author of over 30 science fiction & fantasy novels and author self-help books. To date, he has published over 1.5 million words of fiction and nonfiction. Since publishing his first book in 2014, he has produced a prolific writing portfolio while raising a family and working a full-time job in the insurance industry. Connect with Michael on Twitter: @MichaelLaRonn