Debbie Young & Hugh Howey at the launch of “Opening Up to Indie Authors”, London Book Fair 2014
It’s been quite a year for all of us at ALLi – and as we take time out for the holidays, it’s also a good excuse to take stock of the past year, before 2014 becomes 2015.
Opening up to Indie Authors
APRIL 2014: This was ALLi’s second anniversary, and over at the London Book Fair (where we launched in 2012), we were delighted to introduce our first big campaign of the year, Opening Up to Indie Authors. A petition (which you can still sign and share here) and guidebook, co-written by Debbie Young and Dan Holloway has been the cornerstone of a campaign that behind the scenes has allowed us to forge links with the wider world of books. We extended the campaign into the US at BEA in May.
ALLi's Self-Publishing Directory
Summer 2014: At BEA, we also presented with our first award to a self-publishing service. It went to Smashwords. The ALLi award does not say Smashwords is No 1 in the self-publishing services market or a must-do for all self-publishers (as always, that depends on the needs of the individual author) but is an acknowledgement of Smashwords’s achievements as an ebook distributor. Other commended services included Amazon KDP, Createspace and Audible; Apple iBooks; Ingram Spark and Lightning Source; Kobo Writing Life and Nook Press.
Arising out of this work at the trade fairs of the spring, in summer, we set to work on ALLi’s prototype Self-Publishing Service Directory – an approved list of service providers across the spectrum of author-publishing services. Listings allow you to pick and choose your perfect book team alongside editorial advice and features from our team and vetted partner members. We’re looking forward expanding this project, with the first official issue coming early next year.
Orna & ALLi Ambassador Lara Nance at the launch of Choosing A Self-Publishing Service in The Author Hub, BEA
This summer also saw us launch Ask ALLi, a monthly member service, where your publishing questions are answered in live Google Hangout on Air by Orna Ross and Joanna Penn and our ALLi Insights Seminars, interviews with self-publishing experts on key issues for author-publishers.
Upgraded Membership Site
September/October 2014: Onto the end of this year, and alongside a busy Frankfurt, we were plugging behind the scenes to create a website that can take ALLi into the future. If you’ve not yet taken a look, please head over, and take some time to explore our resources and campaigns, connect with our community and, if you are not already a member, join us. We’re always happy to hear any feedback you may have, so do get in contact with us and we’ll be happy to respond.
Ethical Author
November 2014: saw us launch Ethical Author – a campaign spearheaded by ALLi Member Jane Steen from a post on this very blog. The campaign, which includes a protocol that can be voluntarily adopted by any author (or publisher, or service provider) and a downloadable badge received plenty of coverage at it's launch – and we'll continue to advocate on behalf of Ethical Authors everywhere.
Rights and Representation the
December 2014: Finally, we rounded off the year with a fantastic partnership with Toby Mundy Associates, which will provide another means for our authors to reach more readers by selling their rights (in addition to our partnerships with IPR License and Pubmatch). There’s more on that here, including criteria for submitting – which you’ll be able to do come January 2015.
The holiday season is one to reflect – on the past year, on where you are now and on the year to come. It’s a well deserved break from the usual routine of life, and one which we hope you’ll be making the most of however you see fit. With this in mind, we’ll also be taking some time off, with the ALLi office closed from the 24th December through to the 5th of January.
The Self-Publishing Advice Centre will continue to run posts over the coming weeks, with catchups from the archive as well as our predictions for the coming year. In the meantime, we would like to wish you all a happy and peaceful holiday season, and hope you’ll join us in 2015 for ALLi’s biggest and brightest year yet.
It was my own two-year anniversary since self-publishing yesterday, and I joined ALLi’s members this summer (a bit of a latecomer) and am delighted to be on board. So many great initiatives. Here’s my round-up of a year in self-publishing. http://jane-davis.co.uk/2014/12/17/2014-year-self-publishing-came-age/