Founder, Orna Ross has kindly answered my questions:-
Tell us a little about the history of the ALLi
ALLi (pronounced "ally") was founded by me and my husband and co-director Philip Lynch at London Book Fair 2012.
It born out of my own experience as a trade-published author, creativity facilitator, and literary agent, and Philip’s prior work as a company director at a large multinational.
In the years before landing a good deal for my first novel, I had been through 54 rejections. Though I was thrilled to sign that two-book contract, and needed the substantial advance, I was soon frustrated by the processes of corporate publishing through Penguin, especially having no input into branding, marketing and reaching readers.
Where I saw my book as page-turning, thought-provoking novel about family and national histories and the ties that bind, they saw what was then called “chick lit”. They made the book an instant bestseller… but at a price. A headless woman on the beach wafting about among neon pink lettering did not attract my ideal readers. Landing a contract with a trade publisher was not the golden ticket I'd expected.
How lucky we all are that there is now another way.
I was sceptical about self-publishing starting out and was astonished when my first effort--a poetry chapbook- started to sell. I realized immediately: this changes everything. I loved being the creative director of my own books and business, gaining great creative freedom through commercial control.
Soon I was getting my fiction rights back from Penguin and earning far more money from books than I ever had before.
I searched for a professional association to join but there wasn’t one with a focus on the two aspects of self-publishing were most important to me: excellence and ethics.
I 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.
Then Philip said he was in too, which gave the organisation the business underpinnings the project 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. And so, at The London Book Fair 2012, ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors was born. And my enthusiasm for author-publishing continues to grow with each passing year.
- How does membership of the ALLi work?
In return for an annual membership fee, we provide independent authors with trusted and unparalleled self-publishing advice, support, and resources within a welcoming and active community of thousands of authors.
As the only non-profit representing independent authors globally, with members on all seven continents, our campaigns and outreach education programs have had an impact at every level of the wider author community.
Our profits are reinvested back into our organisation for the benefit of our members and the wider indie author community.
- Can you tell us who a few of your members are?
Our members can be found on our author search page here. We have three categories of author member, across fiction, nonfiction and poetry, from those just setting out (Associate Members) to million sellers like Joseph Alexander (nonfiction, UK) and CJ Lyons (Fiction US), what we call our authorpreneur members. 10% of our membership has sold more than 50,000 books, or KU equivalent, in the past two years.
- Does ALLi run events for authors?
We run a Facebook Live online event weekly. We also do live events at the London Book Fair in the UK in Spring and Digital Book World in the US in fall and our online Self-Publishing Advice Conference brings many of those live events online for those who cannot attend.
Many of our members or advisors also run real-life events. e.g. Sydney Indie Con is happening next week and many ALLi members are involved in the organization of the event, on panels etc. Like many such events, it arises out of existing events not understanding the needs of indie authors. - How else do you support your authors?
We have a daily blog, a bi-weekly podcast, a quarterly member magazine, a directory of approved self-publishing services, and an affiliate program. On the advocacy front, we run campaign across eight publishing territories globally, working with creative industries and governmental organizations to encourage the literary and bookselling world to open up to indie authors.
We offer general legal, contractual, and business advice through a series of downloadable guidebooks and templates. We also have an active watchdog desk that produces ratings and reports about the best and worst self-publishing services and their contracts.
And we offer a variety of discounts and deals and special offers for members which, if they use them, gives them their money back as soon as they join.
When you join the Alliance of Independent Authors, you’re not just joining an advocacy organisation – you’re joining a movement. Our members are the kind of authors who see themselves as the creative directors of their books and their author businesses, who consider trade publishing to be just one route to market, and who value creative and commercial independence above validation from others.
- What should authors do if they’d like to find out more?
