Welcome back to Member Milestones! This regular post from the Alliance of Independent Authors celebrates indie author success stories from across our members. A big congratulations to those featured in today's post, as we kick off 2024.
Do you have a milestone to share?
We are always looking to hear from our members about your achievements; from those of you who are just setting out, to our most experienced Authorpreneurs. We celebrate every success on our member's author journeys, and we are particularly keen to hear about unusual or significant milestones that can inspire our ALLi indie author community.
Whatever your achievement, tell us using this form. We will share a selection of stories each month. Please note that entries are posted as submitted on the form. Please submit the information in a way you'd like shared. Stories may not be posted in the month they are submitted, depending on how many stories we have received.
Author Member: June Gilbank
Author Member: June Gilbank is an accomplished crochet pattern designer, writer, blogger, and multicrafter. She has designed and published hundreds of unique nature-inspired crochet patterns at planetjune.com and is the author of several books including ‘The Essential Guide to Amigurumi' and ‘Everyday Crochet'. You can follow June on: Facebook , Instagram, and YouTube.
Member Milestone:
After a year of full-time work, I've distilled all my knowledge in my field of amigurumi (crocheted toys) into a comprehensive full-colour reference book; The Essential Guide to Amigurumi. I've had to level up my skills to learn how to lay out a book professionally, from page design to cross-referencing and indexing. And self-publishing has allowed me to achieve my dream of publishing two separate versions of this book: for right-handers and for left-handers.
What have you learned?
There's so much more that goes into publishing a photo-rich book than just the writing and photography! Every page has to be laid out individually, and there's a balance of content and style to make each page look good and still clearly convey all the important information within a fixed space.
Associate Member: Jerry Vanschaik
Jerry is America’s premier coffee novelist, perhaps because he is the only one. He has written two full length novels with titles too coffee centric for most, Tripio and The Trier. You can find out more about Jerry on his website.
Member Milestone:
I reached a book sales financial milestone at the Cincinnati Coffee Festival over the weekend of October 21st & 22nd. The figure I reached was one I set close to eight years ago.
What have you learned?
It sounds corny, but just keep at your writing; day after day.
Author Member: Dan Bailes
Author Member: Dan loves to create fun, heartwarming tales that offer valuable life lessons. His books help kids learn about friendship, self-reliance, problem-solving, courage, resilience and embracing our differences.You can follow Dan on Facebook.
Member Milestone:
My book, Marlon and the Wide World, just won its third award, the B.R.A.G Medallion. This is the third book in my award-winning series, Marlon's Marvelous Adventures. I'm honored that my books are getting such a wonderful reception.
What have you learned?
Honor your vision, do your best work and keep going.
Author Member: Camilla Fellas Arnold
Author Member: Camilla Fellas Arnold is an executive coach and mentor, creativity facilitator and an international bestselling author with over a decade of experience in the creative industries. You can follow Camilla on: Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X).
Member Milestone:
I've been chosen as one of ten indie authors to launch my book at the Big Festive Indie Book Launch at Foyles, London in December. Since writing my book, my confidence has grown so much that a few years ago I would never have even put my book forward so I'm proud to have this opportunity. For an indie author it's a massive platform to showcase my book and I'm proud to have been chosen. There's only ten of us, so it's a huge deal.
What have you learned?
I've learnt to be brave about putting myself forward!
Not yet an ALLi member?
Not yet an The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) is a global membership association for self-publishing authors. A non-profit, our mission is ethics and excellence in self-publishing.
Everyone on our team is a working indie author and we offer advice and advocacy for self-publishing authors within the literary, publishing, and creative industries around the world.
Take a look at all the membership options and benefits, including free access to our collection of self-publishing advice ebooks, on our website and join us today.
Congratulations to each of you!
June, I remember my grandmother (a lefty) trying to teach me (a righty) to crochet, and how difficult it was to flip the instructions. So bravo! And what a difference that will make! My husband and I publish guitar method books for both right-handed and left-handed players because we too believe it’s important that everyone is included.
Jerry, that’s a quite an accomplishment, and I applaud you on sticking with it until you achieved it. Bravo!
Dan, congratulations on the B.R.A.G Medallion. It looks like this is one of many awards your series has been given. I love the messages you are spreading with the help of your adorable companion!
Camilla, that is quite an honor, and a lesson we all have to keep practicing everyday. Such a great reminder to each of us. You set an inspirational example.
Thank you all for sharing your stories to encourage and inspire all of us!
Great news and great stories. Congratulations, all. (And good for Foyles recognising Indie authors.)