Every so often, we like to offer a quick recap on what's happening with one of our major campaigns of the year: Opening Up to Indie Authors. Our campaign, which highlights the benefit of including self-published work to the wider world of books and shows indie authors how to approach these institutions, businesses and associations is garnering plenty of momentum, with our campaign petition now well over 1,000 signatures.
Sign and Share
We are aiming for 10 times that amount, so make sure you add your name to the list, and that you spread and share with your friends, family and associates and anyone you think may be interested. Every single name counts, and the more we have, the bigger an impact we can make when we take this petition to the libraries, reviewers, awards bodies and associations.
The OUTIA Reviews are In
Elsewhere, we are getting our first reviews in for the Opening Up to Indie Authors” (OUTIA) guidebook, authored by Debbie Young and Dan Holloway – and so far, we are delighted with the feedback our readers are offering.
It's especially important to us because although OUTIA is a campaign, the guidebook is as much a resource, and is filled with ways to help indie authors find new ways to reach new readers.
Festivals, awards, libraries, bricks and mortar bookstores and writing associations all are traditional bastions of the world of letters and with good reason. Finding ways to build positive connections and relationships with these places can be of huge benefit for you and your books – as they offer your work the crucial exposure to readers who are just waiting to discover their next good read.
Debbie Young reads an excerpt from “Opening Up to Indie Authors” at the London Book Fair
When Opening Up to Indie Authors was launched at London Book Fair this April, we were proud to offer authors a book that is a clear, concise and useful resource that can help authors build these relationships. So it nearly goes without saying that we're thrilled to see the guidebook resonating with writers and author publishers.
Let Us Know What You Think
But of course, we want to continue building upon that success, and who better to explain why we want your opinion than Debbie herself, who you all know as the editor of this very blog…
It's very rewarding to see positive reviews starting to flow in for ALLi's latest handbook, “Opening Up To Indie Authors”, written as part of our #publishingopenup campaign for greater acceptance of self-published authors.
The guidebook does this in two ways:
- By helping indie authors better understand how the book trade operates, including retailers, events organisers, libraries, awards programmes and reviewers
- By making clear that the best modern self-published books meet the quality standards expected from the best trade-published work
T J Cooke's detailed analysis indicates how helpful the book can be to authors:
“Change is happening at a break-neck speed, and what ‘Opening Up To Indie Authors’ does is encourage the industry to keep pace. There are quite a few guides available now on the actual process of publishing your novel, but this takes a look at the other side of the coin. How do you go about getting your book in your local library or bookstore? How do you get reviews in magazines and papers? How do you get to be included in literary events or become eligible for literary prizes? This guide addresses those issues and will help you open doors.”
We want the book to continue gaining visibility before the rest of the publishing industry, so it can encourage others to recognise and value indie authors everywhere.
So, if you have already read OUTIA, please do try to spare a moment to post a brief review on Amazon, Goodreads or any other review platform of your choice.
If you haven't read it, please do! You can find the book on Amazon,Kobo, Smashwords and even via our Self Publishing Advice Shop . If you'd like to read a little more, we've put together a special OUTIA preview, with plenty of information and a sample excerpt for you if you'd like to find out more.
For ALLi members, don't forget, you can still download your free copy via the resources section of the main ALLi website, or through the discounts and deals section.
And finally, if you're looking for the paperback, it'll be available to purchase by the end of the summer via all the usual book retailers.
Thanks for an informative blog re Indie publishing. I started writing query letters to agents well before most of them accepted email. I never was accepted as a client after exhausting numerous lists of agents’ interests. I honed my writing skills from constructive criticism on an HC site in UK that offered my submissions to other writers/readers. I researched the business of publishing by reading nearly all the self-help books in my local bookstore. Then, by observing the employees while they worked and customers’ actions within the store, I wrote the novel, Slush Pile Inspector (Amazon & Kindle). Being an Indie allowed me to present my work to the public. Otherwise, my brand-building among agents and publishers would have continued until the time publishers started using agents to filter submissions. I write mostly fiction because of a handwritten (in pencil) letter from a kind agent on the reverse of a rejected query. “Charles, without celebrity and platform in your own right, forget it.” I was attempting to sell a memoir that mentioned Big Bands of jazz-swing era.
Hello Nerys:
The recent surge of openings for Indie Authors is satisfying for the moment, thanks to Alli, but it is far from the broad acceptance we deserve. Indie Authors work hard at our trade. We wear four hats: Author, Editor, Publisher and Marketer. The Marketing platform begins before the biook is written, and continues after it is published.
Best of continued Success…
Warren.
Thanks Warren. Yup, it’s an ongoing process to get to a stage where there’s a lot less “conscious integration” of indies into the wider literary world and it’s only about good books (oh the dream!)
But each day, we’re getting closer, and working together and working professionally is only going to help that happen quicker. We’re pleased to keep fighting the good fight so to speak!
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