What’s New from ALLi in 2016?

It hasn’t been all festive partying at ALLi Towers over the holiday as we get set for 2016. We’ve new developments afoot and new member services coming on steam over the coming months, which we’ll cover in more detail as we go. Valerie Shanley’s news for the New Year gives a sneak preview of what to expect from the Alliance of Independent Authors over the coming months.

ALLi Self-publishing Quarterly (SPQ)

ALLi’s new look SPQ will give members more news and analysis on self-publishing. This not an advice-driven publication (we cover that through our guidebooks and Author Advice Centre) but a quarterly focus on what’s new and happening on the selfpub scene, tied in to four key conferences during the year: London Book Fair (April), Books Expo America (May), Frankfurt Book Fair (Oct) and Author Day (Nov). SPQ will hone in on the topics especially relevant to indie and self-published authors. And that’s not all….

Free, 24-hour online fringe conferences

Can’t get to any of those literary conferences? A further exciting development by ALLi this year will be free online fringe conference over 24 hours, around each of the bookfairs listed. The Indie Author Fringe will build on the success of last year’s IndieReCon 2015, in association with London Book Fair’s Book and Screen week. Members and friends from all over the world were able to to participate in the Fair from the comfort of their own sofa (and still in their PJs in some cases). Now we’ll be offering a new and improved education and event experience, including competitions, seminars, panel sessions, debates and other delights, four times a year.

Focus on new services for ALLi Partner and Professional Members

A particular shout-out here to ALLi’s Partner and Professional Member community who fall under the ‘newbie’ spotlight with several developments this year, including a regular partner giveaway day, specific newsletters for partners and professionals, and dedicated forums in the member zone, where partners and professional full-time writers will have their own dedicated space to connect and collaborate more fully with each other.

New Rights Services

As outlined elsewhere on the blog, January sees the launch of a twice-yearly ALLi rights catalogue, a joint project with literary agency Toby Mundy Associates, aiming to leverage global rights (watch the ALLi Insights video on this here for more information.)

January also see IPR License bringing in exciting new services for all Author members and watch out also for the February launch, at San Francisco Writers’ conference, of How Authors Sell Rights, ALLi’s latest guidebook by our legal eagle, Helen Sedwick, writing with Director Orna Ross, which will tell you all you need to know about licensing your publishing rights (see below).

Other New and updated Guidebooks for 2016

Invaluable to indie authors everywhere is Choosing a Self-publishing Service 2016 by Jim Giammatteo and Orna Ross. This is where the ALLi Watchdog team give the beef on the best (and not-so-best) platforms and services in our rapidly expanding, and sometimes confusing, market.

Every indie is individual by definition, and finding out how other writers self-publish is fascinating for us all. Later this year, ALLi Director Orna Ross will bring us How I Self-publish My Books, organized across the seven publishing processes: editorial, design, production, distribution, marketing, rights and managing time and money. Each section will contains a workbook that will allow you to work out the best publication choices for you right now. “There is no right way to self-publish,” says Orna. “There is only your way. This book shares what I’ve learned through my own experience and observing thousands of ALLi members navigate the territory. It brings you through, step-by-step, how I’ve chosen to do it, across ebook, print books and audio. And, most importantly, offers checklists and planners for you to work out your own best way to publication.”

Also later this year, we’ll be publishing Debbie Young's How To Get Your Self-Published Book Into Bookstores as part of our Authors4Bookstores campaign. Like all Debbie’s books, it'll do just what it says on the tin.

NaNo and ALLi February Hook-up

Indies are well acquainted with NaNoWriMo, the annual, global November writing project which attracts massive participation. The 2015 event had almost 54,000 writers taking part. In February, we’ll be advising the good folks at NaNo about how to start knocking those manuscripts into publishable shape. In Now What? on the NaNo site, we will provide a four-part blog series that takes the writers through, step by step. Ahead of that, Orna Ross will host a special ALLi Insights session with Tim Kim of NaNo on 19th January, which will explain this new global collaboration in detail and give lots of tips and pointers on writing and publishing fiction.

Phew! And that's just for starters. If you'd like us to add a service, a guidebook or something that would be of benefit to you as an indie author, do let us know in the comments here.

Wishing you and all indie authors everywhere a happy and productive publishing year in 2016.

Dates for your 2016 literary diary

JANUARY

• Self-Publishing Summit: Jan 16 [London, UK ]
• Rock & Read Vegas Author Event: Jan 15 – 17 [Las Vegas, USA]
• Writers in Paradise: Jan 16 – 23 [Florida, USA]
• Annual Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway: Jan 15 – 18 [New Jersey Shore, USA]
• San Diego State University Writers’ Conference: Jan 22 – 24 [San Diego, USA]

FEBRUARY

• Pub West Conference: Feb 4 – 6 [Sante Fe, NM, USA]
• Coastal Magic Convention: Feb 4 – 7 [Daytona Beach, FL, USA]
• Karachi Literature Festival: Feb 5 – 7 [Karachi, Pakistan]
• San Miguel Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival: 10- 14 Feb [San Miguel de Allende, Mexico] www.sanmiguelwritersconference.org.
• Purbeck Literary Festival: Feb 14 – 27 [Dorset, UK]
• Havana Book Fair Tour: 16 – 23 Feb [Havana, Cuba]
• Amelia Island Book Festival: Feb 18 – 20 [Florida, USA]
• San Francisco Writers Conference, Feb. 11-15 [San Francisco, USA]
• Alabama Writing Workshop, Feb 19 [Birmingham, Alabama, USA]
• LSE 8th Literary Festival 2016, Feb 22 – 27 [London, UK]
• Bath Literature Festival, Feb 26 – 6 Mar [Bath, UK)

Perth Writers Festival: Feb 12 – 6 Mar [Perth, Australia] Adelaide Writers Week 2016: 27 Feb – 3 Mar [Adelaide, Australia]

MARCH

• Mountains to Sea – dlr Book Festival: Mar 9 – 13 [Dublin, Ireland]
• March 11-13, 2016 – Love is Murder Conference, mainly for mystery and romance writers, Chicago, Ill.
• March 12-16, 2016 – The Tucson Festival of Books, University of Arizona campus, Tucson, AZ. Free and excellent!
• March 25, 2016 – Tampa Writers Conference, Tampa, FL 
• March 26, 2016 – Fort Lauderdale Conference for Writers, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

• Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: 9 – 10 Apr [Los Angeles, USA]
• April 8-10 – Okanagan Valley Writers' Festival, Penticton, BC, Canada.
• April 15-17, 2016 – Pikes Peak Writers' Conference, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
• April 15-17, 2016 – Story Circle Network Women's Writing Conference, Austin, TX.
• April 15-17, 2016 – Writer's Institute, Madison, Wisconsin.https://uwwritersinstitute.wisc.edu/
• April 28-30, 2016 – Las Vegas Writers Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada.