Your Self Publishing Questions Answered

Why Should I Join A Self-Publishing Association?

Professional associations exist for almost all industries and employment sectors. Such associations encourage members’ collaboration and mutual learning, working together for each other.
Here are four reasons why you, a self-publishing indie author, might join a self-publishers’ association.

• To Receive World-class Information and Advice
  To receive best practice advice from a trusted source. Learn about the latest developments and resources in the self-publishing industry, attend free online seminars and conferences, become part of our closed forums and groups, access our self-publishing services database and directory. You gain insider advice that shortcut your learning how to make great books, reach more readers and become a profitable self-publisher.
• To Save Money
  Like all membership organizations, ALLi negotiates discounts for its members on self-publishing services mean you recoup that money immediately and go on to save a great deal more than the annual fee. There’s even an earning opportunity if you spread the word about the organization.
• To Enjoy Connection and Community
  Professional association provides opportunities for you to network with other authors, publishers and book industry professionals.
• To Gain Respect
  Professional organisations encourage high standards and ALLi's mission is ethics and excellence in self-publishing. Membership says “I am serious about my writing and publishing”, which encourages others to take you seriously too. ALLi members and advisors are prominent in the media, book fairs, literary awards, and online. Members receive a badge which can be displayed on websites and author blogs.

Why *This* Self-Publishing Association?

There are other associations but ALLi is a nonprofit, founded and run by indie authors for indie authors.

ALLi’s outstanding achievements were recognised last year when founder, Orna Ross, was named “One of the 100 Most Influential People In Publishing” by publishing trade magazine, The Bookseller, alongside people like JK Rowling and Tom Weldon, CEO of Penguin/Random House.

Am I eligible to join?

The Alliance (ALLi) has four grades of member, from Associate/Students to Professional:

• Author Membership
  For authors who have self-published a full-length book for adults (50,000+) or children or substantial collection of shorter works/poetry. Also for writers who have trade-published who are now preparing to author-publish.
• Professional Membership
  For full-time author-publishers, earning their living through book sales, or supplementing their author-publishing income with service to the writing and reading community e.g. editorial, design, creative writing instruction etc.
  Applications for Professional Membership are carefully assessed. Send an email, telling us why you’re eligible, including your social media links and any other supporting evidence.
• Partner Membership
  For sole traders or organisations offering necessary services to author-publishers (e.g. editing, design, publicity, printers, distribution etc.) Partner Members are vetted by our watchdog service.
• Associate/Student Membership
  For creative writing, multimedia or publishing students with an interest in author-publishing or a not-yet-published writer preparing a book for author-publication.

Full details and pricing for all our memberships are available on the JOINING PAGE.

How do Partner Members work with Author Members?

ALLi wants to commend good author-services while alerting writers to rogue providers and those who overcharge, under-deliver, or in any way exploit writers. Author services (including, but not limited to, manuscript assessment, editorial, design and formatting, printing, distribution, book-selling, marketing) are, therefore, invited to join ALLi as partner members, that adhere to our Code of Standards and to being vetted by our watchdog service.

Once accepted as a Partner Member, service providers can reach out to Author Members in a variety of ways. You get a listing in our ‘Find A Service’ database in the member area and in the Partner Member Directory in our guidebooks. You can chat with Author Members and offer service in our private member groups on Facebook and LinkedIn. You can feature on our blog and news updates and you can offer discounts and deals to author members on our page for that purpose.

Good author-services are a highly valued strand in our alliance.

How are members assessed?

Associate and Author Memberships are open to all who meet the eligibility criteria (see above and on joining page).

Potential Partner and Professional Members are assessed by the Alliance team on joining, taking into account information supplied on application, feedback from other members and our watchdog services, other community word-of-mouth, research, Google rankings, social media presence and our Code of Standards. If we find something that doesn’t fit, we discuss it with the new member, offering them a chance to explain and make changes if necessary. If improvement or alignment is not forthcoming, membership is reneged and full fees refunded. If we haven’t contacted you within four weeks of joining, your membership has been approved.

How often do I pay?

Your membership fee (see joining page) is annual.

How is my membership fee used?

We are a non-profit. All funds go into the organisation for the benefit of our members, helping to run our campaigns, advocacy and education programmes and keeping our joining costs low and almost all our services free to members.

What if it’s not right for me?

We want our members to benefit from membership and are confident that you will. You can cancel your membership, with full refund, anytime in the first three months.

I have an offer from an agent/publisher/author-service. Can ALLi help?

Yes. We have a number of advisors who can look at our member’s contracts and agreements and offer independent advice.

Is there a discount for groups?

If you would like a group membership (for more than 5 members), please contact the Alliance directly to discuss.

Who is involved at ALLi?

Our organisation was founded by author and former literary agent, Orna Ross, as a nonprofit endeavour, in response to her personal experience of taking her rights back from her trade publisher (Penguin) to self-publish. We have an Advisory Board of world-class authors and educators, bloggers and service providers, all of whom hold the author-publishing choice in high esteem and all of whom generously share their exceptional knowledge and skills.

Their contribution is supplemented by our Campaign Team, Watchdog Team and Literary Community Builders. And of course our members, advisors and friends, from leading indies to the writers who are just starting out on their self-publishing journey. Together, we are powerful. For more about who is involved in ALLi see: Our Team

Can’t I find what ALLi offers elsewhere free of charge?

There are many free forums and information streams online (including our own Self-Publishing Advice Blog) but ALLi brings together a dedicated team that helps to promote and elevate our members’ books as well as offering a campaigning voice and contacts within the industry. These contacts offer discounts to our members that repay the cost of subscription many times over. And many of our members earn more than they pay through our affiliate programme, by bringing their author friends into the organisation. Hear what our members have to say over here.

What is ALLi’s attitude towards trade publishing?

It is one of many services now available to the enterprising author, who will consider each book project on its own merits and make a decision about whether it’s better to self- or trade-publish. A publisher that is willing to take account of a writer’s self-publishing credentials, see the writer as the creative director of the book, and reflect a mutual collaboration in royalties and terms (not just lip service), can be a good partner for a successful indie author. Many of our members have publishing contracts for some books while self-publishing others. Some even have a trade publisher for a print edition while retaining the lucrative ebook rights for themselves.

Through our ongoing “Open Up To Indie Authors” Campaign, we are helping to facilitate mutually beneficial partnerships with the publishing industry and book trade – publishers, bookstores, libraries, book clubs, festivals, literary events and reading agencies all over the world.

What is an independent author?

At ALLi, “independent” is an inclusive description and always relative (everyone needs support to write and publish well). Some of our members are fiercely indie-spirited, as DIY as it’s possible to be. Others are happy to collaborate with a publisher where that seems advantageous, some working with paid publishing services, others with trade publishers.

So what marks out an indie from other authors? The Alliance allows that you are an independent author if:

• You have self-published at least one book.
• You see yourself as the creative director of your books, from conception to completion through publishing and beyond.
• You expect that status as creative director to be acknowledged in any partnership your negotiate, whether a paid author-service, or in a deal with trade-publisher or agent e.g. if you have an established author platform, you should receive a higher royalty rate and advance than an author who does not.
• You recognise that you are central to a revolutionary shift in publishing which needs to move from seeing the author purely as a resource (in the new parlance ‘content provider’) to respecting the author as a creative director, with much to offer — and be rewarded for — in each step of the publishing process.
• You are proud of your indie status and carry that self-respect into all your ventures, negotiations and collaborations for your own benefit and to benefit all writers.

What is the difference between a self-publisher and an indie author?

As self-publishing evolves, its terms of reference are rapidly changing.

Many authors who publish their own work are feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the term “self-published”, which gives the impression that they have done absolutely everything required to produce the book themselves, from cover design to editing. This is misleading. Good author publishing requires buying in carefully matched specialist services. New, more accurate, terms are becoming more commonplace, but have not yet taken precedence in search engines over the catch-all term “self-publishing”.

ALLi use the following (sometimes overlapping) terms of reference:

• Self-published author: any author who has published a book at personal expense. Self-publishers range the full gamut, from those publishing a one-off book for family and friends to the most entrepreneurial and productive author-publisher.
• Author-publisher: authors who make a living, or a life, from writing and publishing their own books. Those who are primarily motivated by commercial goals are sometimes called authorpreneurs. Others may supplement their writing income with service to the writing or literary ecosystem. ALLi has a professional membership category for such author-publishers.
• Trade publishing: Businesses that licence publishing rights from authors and handle the publication of their books in return for a large percentage. (Also sometimes called “legacy” or “traditional” publishing). Most of trade publishing is handled by what are known as The Big Five: Penguin-Random House; Hachette Book Group (HBG); Harper Collins, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster.
• Independent or “indie” press: A small publishing company which, like the big conglomerates, commissions books from authors and publishes at the company’s expense, not the author’s. (May or may not be run by authors who also use the firm to self-publish).
• Publishing Service: A service used by an author to help them to publish their book. Can be freelance one-person operations, like designers or editors, to full-scale services including editorial, design and marketing that get paid upfront. Payment to services can take three forms: 1. upfront payment; 2. royalty split or percentage payment; 3. licensing in return for small royalty and, sometimes, an advance on royalties.
• Indie author: authors who see themselves as the creative director of their own books, who are independent in attitude and responsible for their own publishing choices and destiny, no matter which type of publishing service they use — paid or trade.

Why are more writers choosing self-publishing?

Author-publication served only a tiny number of writers before digital technology enabled print-on-demand and the direct distribution of ebooks. This technology has revolutionised writing and publishing. It simultaneously does four things that are very good for authors:

• It gives us a global readership, instead of confining us to specific territories.
• Our books are continually available — there is no such thing as ‘out-of-print’ any more.
• It takes away the necessity for ‘middlemen’ like agents, publishers and distributors (though we still may choose to work with such partners — see above). And:
• It gives our readers a point-of-purchase just at the moment they discover they want our book.

As the creative possibilities of this revolution make themselves felt, the author-publishing option is attracting more and more writers.

But I love print books.

So do we. We’re all writers and readers and we all love books in every format.

It is true that most author-publishers make most of their income from ebooks but most also choose to produce print editions, generally through POD (print-on-demand). Others work with publishing houses for their print editions. More and more indie authors now produce audiobooks too. ALLi encourages our members to produce their work in as many formats as possible and to distribute widely.

What about standards and quality?

ALLi is helping to raise them. As author-publishing goes mainstream, more and more of us are producing books that are indistinguishable in quality from those produced by trade publishing houses. In many cases, we are hiring the same freelance editors and designers. And some indies are going way beyond the standard book, experimenting technologically and artistically.

It is one of ALLi’s key objectives to encourage excellence and success, through example, advice and information, and our upcoming Book of The Month Award. While recognising that “quality” is a relative term, meaning different things to different people, we have a Code of Standards. We encourage our members to aim high and commit to continuous creative development in writing, formatting and promotion.

I can’t afford to hire an editor.

You can’t afford not to. Editing is an essential for all writers, at every stage of development. In order to author-publish a book that will sell well, you need to budget for editorial, proofreading, cover design and, if you intend to publish a book with complex design features, probably a formatter/typesetter. You will also need a good website and social media set-up to market yourself and your book. These are the expenses of being in this business (and while your writing may be art, successful author-publishing is business).

As a member of ALLi, you will connect with other writers like you who are just starting out and those who are further along the author-publishing path, who will help, support and guide you.

Discussions in our member-only groups is co-operative and collaborative and we also provide a database of reputable and reasonably-priced service providers who are vetted ALLi Partner Members.

If I self-publish, can I still attract an editor?

Despite those who like to create a phoney war between author- versus trade-publishing, many of our members move happily between the two. Writers can now choose different pathways for different projects, and in different phases of their writing lives.

The stigma that once surrounded author-publishing is evaporating, as more indies experience commercial and creative success. Agents and publishers now trawl author-publishing sites (including this one) looking for writers with proven talent and fan-bases.

It’s all part of a growing movement towards author empowerment, which ALLi is proud to foster and encourage.