Publishing with the Help of ALLi Partner Members: Preview of Partner Directory

Finnish author Helena Halme is ALLi's new Publications Manager

The newest addition to the ALLi management team is authorpreneur Helena Halme, a longstanding author member, who is now taking on the important role of managing ALLi's publications.

We're pleased to welcome Helena to the blog today to tell you more about her background and her work for ALLi, including the preparation of the new edition of our Partner Directory – a great resource for any indie author looking for specialised self-publishing services.

Helena Halme writes:

I’ve been a member of ALLi since before I published my first novel, The Englishman, back in 2011. Immediately upon joining, I found that this was a community that would support me in my lonely journey into publication and eventually into author/entrepreneurship. Of course the Alliance has given me much, much more:

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  Helena Halme's debut novel – the first of many fiction books that she has successfully self-published since joining ALLi

  It has provided me with accurate (and eerily timely) advice on how to navigate the murky waters of this constantly changing, and sometimes, choppy waters of the self-publishing industry.

• ALLi has given me the confidence to be my own publisher, and it has provided me with a strong community of similar minded professionals, many of whom have become firm friends.

 Writing is a lonely profession they say, but writing and publishing your own work can be even more solitary. Not so if you’re in ALLi!

New Roles within ALLi

Earlier this year, I had the honour of being appointed ALLi’s Nordic Ambassador, and now, I’m delighted (and a bit scared, I have to admit) to be given the role of Publications Manager.

My first task in this role is to produce a comprehensive list of Partners, or those people and companies who offer services to you, ALLi members. This publication, as many of you already know, is called Self-Publishing Services Directory, and its aim is to be a trustworthy guide to global author services sector, and to connect indie authors with the best services available. It is a unique publication, and free to download to ALLi members! (Just log in to the ALLi membership website – you'll find the download link in the Publications > Services Directory section on the top menu.)

As well as this valuable guide of ALLi vetted services, the Directory carries relevant and up-to-date articles on current issues in our sector, divided into:

• Writing
• Editorial
• Design & Formatting
• Production &Distribution
• Marketing & Promotional

The Directory reaches a 30,000 strong readership, so for our Partners it’s also a unique opportunity to be seen by a vast number of indie authors worldwide.

New Edition for 2017

A previous edition of the ALLi Services Directory – look out for 2017 edition, coming January!

The next Self-Publishing Services Directory will be out in January 2017, and I will shortly be contacting our Partners. So be prepared to hear from me!

There are a number of advertising opportunities for our Partners in the Directory, in addition to the standard entry.  We have also introduced a new lower-cost ad of a boxed entry. These boxed entry adverts will be very limited in number, so if you are interested, please get in touch with [email protected] as soon as possible, but no later than 30^th October 2016.

If you have any queries or wish to be included in the most visible indie author service directory, and/or become a Partner member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, please contact me here.

More about Helena Halme

Helena Halme is a Finnish author based in London. She grew up in Tampere, central Finland, and moved to the UK via Stockholm and Helsinki. She is the winner of the John Nurmi prize for best thesis on British politics, a former BBC journalist, magazine editor, bookseller and, until recently, ran a Finnish/British cultural association in London. Her articles have been published in the CoScan Magazine, The ScanMag and the Finn-Guild Magazine.

After gaining an MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, Helena began to take writing seriously, and published The Englishman, a best-selling romantic novel, which won an Awesome Indies badge, in 2012. Her other titles include The Navy Wife, a sequel to The Englishman, Coffee and Vodka, The Red King of Helsinki, and a novella The Finnish Girl. Helena’s latest novel, the fourth book in The Englishman series, The Good Officer, is out in October.

Helena lives in North London with her ex-Navy husband and an old stubborn terrier, called Jerry. She loves Nordic Noir and sings along to Abba songs when no one is around.

For more information about Helena Halme and her writing life, please visit her website: www.helenahalme.com