The end of the year is almost upon us, and if you've hung around Alliance of Independent Authors blog for any amount of time, then you'll know we like to round up the best posts of the year. Today, we're bringing you a round up of the “Ultimate Guide” posts we brought you in 2021. It's time to review your business plans, examine your tools and think about 2022. Here are the best Ultimate Guides for indie authors from 2021.
Business Problems and Opportunities
While the aim of many indie authors is true independence, at the moment, many of us still rely heavily on one particular store: Amazon. Which is why when you receive a threat from them, like having your publishing account closed, or your affiliate account shut, or your book pulled unless you can prove you own the rights, it’s scary. In this post, we look at what you should do if Amazon asks you to prove your publishing rights. Read more here.
Ultimate Guides on: Book Rights
For many authors, it’s their dream to sign a contract with a publisher and see their work on the shelf of their favorite bookstores. But what happens after publication when your “season” is over, the book doesn’t sell the way you want and you’re not making the money you want? Sure, you can ask your publisher to promote your books, but for most authors, it’s up to you to do a majority of the promotion. With advice from ALLi member Katlyn Duncan and ALLi advisor and literary agent Ethan Ellenberg, this post goes into the detail of rights reversion.
Photo by Raul Varzar on Unsplash
The moment you receive an email from a publisher or licenser pitching you for a potential rights deal, is an exciting moment. While there are also lots of scammers in the world, there are also many genuine publishers and licensers out there who really do want to partner with you. But how do you work out if it's genuine and what do you do if it is? We look at what you should do when you’re approached by an overseas publisher in this post.
The Indie Author Mindset
In the vast majority of industries, but especially creative ones, much of our success comes from mindset and grit. This year we covered one mindset topic in particular: rest. We dived into what rest is, why you might need multiple types of it, and why it’s crucial for maintaining peak performance. Read more here.
Last, we ask how you should find comparison authors – people whose work is aimed at the same readers as yours. It’s a great way to learn about the industry and your genre, from how to write it to how to sell it. That’s what we discuss in this article.
Ultimate Guides on: Business for Indie Authors
As the indie publishing world evolves, so does its business environment. One important topic we covered this year was What to Do if Amazon KDP Asks You to Prove Your Publishing Rights – a situation that is more common than it should be. It can also be terrifying. In the post we explain some of the ways you can prove your rights.
If you’ve been publishing for a while you might be making some money and possibly be a full-time author. In this post, ALLi director Orna Ross explores advanced self-publishing strategies and how to create business growth and development – read it here.
The Ultimate Guide to Brexit for Indie Authors
Brexit was on everyone’s lips in the UK for years. Now it’s over, there are implications everywhere, including for authors. ALLi news editor Dan Holloway explains what the most important changes are impacting indie authors, here.
Ultimate Guides on: Book Distribution
How library distribution works for indie authors
We all know the value of having our books in a library, namely we can find more readers and often in a segment of readership we can't always reach. There’s also additional income in some territories. But how do you get your books into a library and how does the distribution system work? Find out in our ultimate guide here.
The indie author’s ultimate guide to book distribution
Writing a book is quite an endeavor, but once you’ve got it edited, how do you release it into the world? Authors today have a huge range of options for selling e-books, print books and audiobooks. This post explains the variety of options available to you here.
Are bookstores worth the hassle for Indies?
For many indie authors the prospect of having your book on display in a traditional bookstore fed our writing dreams and our love of reading as children. Most writers would be thrilled to see their books on display in bookstore windows, display tables and shelves. Despite the continued boom of ebooks and audiobooks, and especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, physical bookstores are still a significant marketplace for readers to discover and buy books. However it is much more challenging for the indie author to sell books via bookstores than online. What are those challenges and does the benefit of reaching bookstores’ customers justify finding a place for bookstores in your business plan? This post asks the question: are bookstores worth it for indie authors? Read all about it here.
Photo by @felipepelaquim on Unsplash
Ultimate Guides on: Publishing Topics
How to publish an e-book
While print books have always been the backbone of traditional publishing, that’s not the case for indies. Typically, for indie authors the e-book comes first, then audio and print. But how do you actually publish an e-book? e-book production specialist Linh Thoi presents an ultimate guide in this post here.
Ultimate Guides on: Tools, Tech and Resources
Tools and Tech for 2022
With the dawn of every New Year, new habits, hobbies and skills get picked up. Then there’s the bargains to be had with sales and discounts. Or perhaps you’re more of a gadget and software fan. When it comes to the latter, there’s a lot of tech and software at the indie author’s disposal, so much so it can be overwhelming. Fear not, at the beginning of 2021, Tim Lewis, science fiction and fantasy author, social media specialist and host of ALLi’s weekly #indieAuthorChat on Twitter, pulled together a definitive list of 100 must-have tools for writing, editing, design, production and distribution based on the membership's usage. You can find the list here.
ALLi's Resources for Indie Authors
As the Alliance of Independent Authors has grown, so has its resources. Thousands of blog posts, hundreds of podcast episodes and 20+ books, guides, campaign documents and more. Some of these are member only, and all ALLi members can download all of our ebooks, in the member zone. Others are open to non-members or for sales in the ALLi bookstore. But because there's so much, we decided to round up an information guide on what ALLi can do for you. This is the ultimate guide to ALLi indie author resources read here.
