ALLi is the Alliance of Independent Authors, the professional association for self-publishing writers. They host an EXCELLENT self-publishing advice blog HERE.
Award-winning Jamaican indie author Ezekel Alan pens an article for ALLi’s ‘Top Tips from Top Indie Authors’ series. From the article:
“My novel Disposable People became the first self-published book to win a major prize.” Jamaican indie author Ezekel Alan shares the story of his groundbreaking achievement.
What’s the secret of your success?
I wouldn’t as yet consider myself successful, but I hope I am getting there. Winning the Commonwealth Book Prize Regional Award gave my novel a major boost and drew a lot of attention not only from readers but also publishers and agents. I hope this will not only propel the existing novel to greater success, but also future novels.
In terms of what I think worked well for me it is the voice in my writing. Readers say they enjoy the uniqueness of the voice, it is compelling and refreshingly different. It is also very blunt and real. I try to push boundaries a bit, and I combine different forms of story-telling into a novel. I think this helps to set my work apart and creates interest. Some writers write with the reader in mind and it works for them; I come at it from the point of view of what I would like to read. I read a lot, and much of what I read, while good, is generally conventional. I aim to do something innovative. Continue reading
With their usual regard for conservation and the environment, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP)continues to display their professional ineptitude and scandalous behavior. All efforts to protect and restore Mono Lake have been undermined by the DWP since they made a unilateral power-grab of lake monitoring operations and started diverting $10,000,000 in water per year. Everything the DWP is doing is directly in violation of the rules set in 1998 by the State Water Board.
ALLi is the Alliance of Independent Authors, the professional association for self-publishing writers. They host an EXCELLENT self-publishing advice blog 
Self-publishing can be an uphill battle. If you’re an author – not a publisher – you’ve had to either develop a whole new set of skills, or settle for only selling your work to relatives. That is, until now.
Yep, even as ebook prices take a weekly tumble – or momentary rise – on the rollercoaster of retail sales, American publishers are reporting that the revenues coming in from ebook sales continues to rise.