Every Wednesday ALLi will tell the world about our members' latest book launches, news, awards, freebies, workshops and updates on the writing life and take a look at the projects and businesses of our partner members.
ALLi News
Reporting Back from London Book Fair
By all accounts, London Book Fair was another massive success for ALLi and for authors, provoking much laughter, tears and hope for indie publishers descending on Earls Court, London for the final time.
We'll have a full round-up on all the videos and media from the festival soon, but for a quick run-down, we'd like to point your attention to ALLi Director Orna Ross, and her excellent and moving account of the fair, including the launch of our Opening Up to Indie Authors campaign and guidebook with the always-wonderful guidebook authors Dan Holloway and Debbie Young.
There will be more on the guidebook launch as we go global in the coming weeks with our members and Kobo Writing Life, so do stay tuned to the SPA blog and this newsletter for more updates. And in the meantime, don't forget to keep spreading the word by using our #publishingopenup tag on Twitter, sharing our petition with friends far and near, and by downloading your copy of the guide.
PubSmartCon and Book Expo America… coming soon!
A headsup for our Stateside friends – ALLi will be shifting focus away from London and towards the USA over the next month. First up is the PubSmartCon (running from April 16th -18th), followed by Book Expo America in May. There'll be a confirmed list of events for Book Expo America in the next few weeks, which you can easily access via the ALLi events calendar – including news on the new and updated ALLi publication, Choosing A Self-Publishing Service 2014.
If you are going, we look forward to seeing you there!
A Word on this Blog
Finally, we wanted to let you know we are hard at work on making the Self Publishing Advice blog even better than before. You may notice some changes whilst we are streamlining, and there may be a few minor hiccups, so we thank you for your patience whilst the changes we need to make are put into place.
John Yeoman
£500 Bursary Offered For Indie Novel
A £500 cash prize can be won for a debut novel in the new Writers' Village Foundation award, closing 30th June. Novels that have previously been self-published are eligible. The winning novel will also be assessed by top literary agency A. M. Heath for possible representation, if the winner wishes.
The top eight contestants will receive personal feedback on their novels by the judge, novelist Michelle Spring, Royal Literary Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Tom Evans
How To Channel Your Book ecourse
If you are writing a book for the spiritually aware reader or one with a metaphysical bent, this new ecourse is for you.
It doesn't matter if you channel angels, guides, fairies or just the universal consciousness (or your bed post). This course from esoteric author Tom Evans will show you how to get your conscious mind out of the way and how to tap into your Creative Muse.
It comes in 8 lessons delivered by email weekly. Each lesson contains explanatory videos and mind-opening audio visualisations.
ALLi members can use the code HERMES333 to get 25% off the introductory price of just £99.
Janette Currie
I'm pleased announce my involvement with a new initiative called The WoMentoring Project, which is being organised by the author Kerry Hudson. The project is bringing together women writers, agents, and editors, to offer free mentoring to up and coming female writers. Details of the project and how to apply are given below and can be found on the new website which is launching on the 15th April.
The WoMentoring Project exists to offer free mentoring by professional literary women to up and coming female writers who would otherwise find it difficult to access similar opportunities.
The mission of The WoMentoring Project is simply to introduce successful literary women to other women writers at the beginning of their careers who would benefit from some insight, knowledge and support. The hope is that we’ll see new, talented and diverse female voices emerging as a result of time and guidance received from our mentors.
K. Makansi
K. Makansi's first novella, The Prelude, written by Amira Makansi of the writing trio, comes out today April 16.
The Prelude is set in Okaria, the world of the Seeds trilogy, and is meant to be a companion piece to K. Makansi's debut novel, The Sowing, which was released in July of 2013, and The Reaping, which will be released in August of this year.
The Prelude tells the story of fan-favorite character Soren Skaarsgard, and how he came to be a member of the Resistance.
The novella is available on Amazon for Kindle, and on www.theseedstrilogy.com for Kindle and in PDF format.
Stephen Morris
Author Stephen Morris took Prague as the backdrop for his trilogy of novels called Come Hell or High Water. The historical fantasy books begin with a witch’s curse in 1356 that has implications all the way through Czech history to real events in 2002 including he massive floods that devastated several low-lying neighborhoods.
My recent visit to Prague was a great success! I went to Prague primarily for the 15th annual Conference on Evil and Human Wickedness, the same conference featured in the Come Hell or High Water trilogy!
The conference was well-attended and the delegates were all enthusiastic to discuss all things WICKED and EVIL from a variety of viewpoints
As long as I was in Prague, I was also able to introduce the CHoHW trilogy to the city that inspired it. So I was able to
- visit my daughter and grandchildren (they live in Germany and came down to spend a few days with Grandpa in the Czech capital);
- held two reading-signing events (one was held in a 15th century crypt in the Old Town! — this space is now called “Propaganda” and is a vodka-theme bar during the later evenings);
- an interview on Radio Prague (listen here); and
- met with Prague bookstore owners who have begun to stock the trilogy in their stores;
- the Prague Post printed two stories about me and the trilogy, which you can read here and here.
It was a very busy 9 days that I was there! Whew! But an exciting, fun-filled time was had by all!
If you are a member of The Alliance of Independent Authors and you would like to showcase your work on our ALLi Showcase, please send it to [email protected] to reach me no later than the Friday proceeding the Wednesday you would like it published.
