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About ALLi: The Alliance of Independent Authors

The Alliance of Independent Authors is a non-profit professional association for authors who self-publish. Our mission is ethics and excellence in self-publishing.

ALLi has a global team who, together with ambassadors and advisors worldwide, provide trusted, best-practice information and advice to the author community and provide our members with an extensive suite of benefits.

ALLi is global and growing. We have members on all seven continents, and our outreach campaigns, self-publishing services center, guidebooks, livestreams, podcasts and blog reach far and wide, and have had an impact at every level of the wider author community.

The name ALLi is pronounced “ally” (al-eye), as that’s what our alliance aims to be: the self-publisher’s ally. And it’s spelt with a small i and big ALL because its members are like the three musketeers in Dumas’s eponymous novel: all working for each individual ( the “i” in our name) and each for the larger all.

The organization launched at the London Book Fair 2012 (see below) with a mission of fostering excellence and ethics in self-publishing.

We have a membership level for authors at each stage of their publishing journey: associate membership for those preparing to self-publish, author membership for those who have published a book, and authorpreneur membership for those who have sold 50,000 books or business equivalent in the past two years.

ALLi’s work is fourfold.

  • We advise, providing best-practice information and education through our Self-Publishing Advice Center, which offers a daily blog, weekly live streams and podcasts, and a bookstore of self-publishing guidebooks.
  • We monitor the self-publishing sector through our watchdog desk, alerting authors to bad actors and predatory players, and running a self-publishing service ratings list, and approved partner program, so you can assemble a trusted, vetted publishing team.
  • We campaign for the advancement of indie authors in the publishing and literary sectors (bookstores, libraries, literary events, prizes, grants, awards and other author organizations) globally, encouraging the provision of publishing and business skills for authors, and furthering the indie author cause.
  • We serve our members through various member tools and resources:
    • A range of self-publishing guidebooks, free with your membership.
    • A watchdog desk that monitors the self-publishing sector, alerting authors to bad actors and predatory players, and running a self-publishing service ratings list and approved partner program, so you can assemble a trusted, vetted publishing team
    • Author forums (a group sharing general publishing advice, and a business and rights focus group for authorpreneur members). In both forums, ALLi team, ambassadors, advisors and other author members are all on hand to help. We're all working indie authors who've been where you are now, or know another author who can help. We hold nothing back, freely offering knowledge, tips and techniques that are tried and tested.
    • Advice on contracts you may be offered
    • Sample agreements you can use in your dealings with editors, designers, publishers and other rights buyers,
    • Literary agency representation. ALLi works with a dedicated agent who helps our members license publishing and subsidiary rights
    • Member care desk. Just tell us what's up and we'll find a way to help you.

    And more.

Our real strength is our membership. When you join ALLi, you’re not just joining an organization, but a movement. A chaotic, kaleidoscopic, liberating, exciting and self-organizing movement that is transforming publishing.

As a self-publisher, you are part of a great flowering of creative expression in the literary arts. Whether you’re just starting out, or you’re an experienced authorpreneur, ALLi aims to be with you every step of the way.

Origin

ALLi was founded by Orna Ross and her husband and co-director Philip Lynch at London Book Fair 2012, born out of Orna’s prior work as a poet and author, creativity facilitator, and literary agent, and Philip’s prior work as a company director at a large multinational.

Orna: Before going indie, I published fiction through Penguin, and non-fiction and poetry through smaller publishers, in the only way that was then available: by exclusive contract.

I appreciated my publishers but a generous contract from Penguin was not the golden ticket I had thought it would be in the days when I was writing my first novel. I was particularly frustrated by not being in the room when the big marketing decisions were being made.

Where I saw books that were page-turning but thought-provoking explorations of histories and mysteries, and wanted to build my readership mindfully, my publisher saw what was then called “chick lit” and wanted to throw the net as wide as possible.

They made my first novel an instant bestseller… but at a price. A price I found  even harder to pay with the second book.

How lucky we all are that there is now another way.

For my first attempt at self-publishing, I decided on a poetry chapbook. It would be shorter and easier than a novel and, I reasoned, as nobody bought poetry anyway, I could make all the mistakes I was undoubtedly going to make without too many people noticing. I was astonished when my little book started to sell. 

Soon I was getting my fiction and non-fiction rights back from my publishers and earning far more money from books than I ever had before. Even more rewarding than the money, for me, was the joy of being the creative director of my own books and business. Of gaining the creative freedom that can only be had through commercial control. 

I searched for a professional indie authors'  association but there wasn’t one with a focus on the two aspects of self-publishing were most important to me: excellence and ethics.

Philip was up for us forming an association and working together, which would gave the organisation the business underpinnings it needed. We wanted it to be a nonprofit and he discovered the option of forming a  community interest company (CIC), which was the ideal structure.

I then had a heart and soul-searching night or two. I’d just been through a serious illness and time was precious. I had many books I wanted to write. Did I really want to do this?

Turned out I did.

When the coming generations would ask me where I was during this transformative period in publishing, I wanted to be able to say: Right at the heart of it, beating the drum for authors. And so, at The London Book Fair 2012, ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors was born.

And our enthusiasm for author-publishing, and our admiration for the innovative, dynamic, pioneering, authors who make up ALLi's membership, has grown with each passing year.

Alliance of Independent Authors: About

Below are two bios to use when approaching organizations or for ALLi-related articles.

About ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors: In Brief

The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) is the professional association for authors who self-publish. A global, nonprofit organization that brings together the world’s best indie authors, advisors, and services, ALLi offers contacts and campaigns, education and collaboration, benefits and bonuses — together with trusted guidance on how to self-publish well.

Join The Alliance of Independent Authors here: http://allianceindependentauthors.org/members/join

More About ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors

The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) is the professional association for authors who self-publish. Rapidly growing, this global, nonprofit organization brings together the world’s best indie authors, advisors, and self-publishing services. ALLi offers contacts and campaigns, education and collaboration, benefits and bonuses — together with trusted guidance on how to self-publish well.

ALLi is global, headquartered in London, UK but with members all over the world, organized across seven key English-language territories. It runs a directory of approved services, a watchdog desk, a code of standards for authors and services, book promotion and rights selling opportunities for its members, alongside a growing range of resources for emerging and experienced self-publishers.

ALLi also widely champions the interests of author-publishers, through its campaigns and projects and director Orna Ross has been named “one of the 100 most influential people in publishing” (The Bookseller) for its advocacy, as the organization becomes an ever more established and credible force in global publishing.

Join The Alliance of Independent Authors here: http://allianceindependentauthors.org/members/join

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