This regular post from the Alliance of Independent Authors celebrates ALLi member successes to inspire our indie author community. Our ALLi Member Milestones, December 2025, celebrate the successes of author members William Brinkman, John C. A. Manley, Kevin Hwang, Ann Fairway, Brian Thompson, and Jennilynn Wyer. Congratulations to all those featured in this month’s roundup and to everyone in our community who has hit a milestone!
Do you have a member 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. Whatever your achievement, if you are a member of ALLi, please tell us about your success stories using this form. We will share a selection each month with our members and our wider indie author network.
William Brinkman
William Brinkman
William Brinkman is an urban fantasy author who lives in the Chicago area with his wife and their two cats. His current series, the Bolingbrook Babbler Stories, centers on a tabloid covering the unbelievable events unfolding in suburban Chicagoland. You can find William on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Member Milestone
I was a finalist in the 2025 American Writing Awards Fantasy category for my book, Revenge of the Phantom Press: A Bolingbrook Babbler Story. Revenge of the Phantom Press is the fourth book in the Bolingbrook Babbler series and the longest novel I’ve written. To have a panel of judges appreciate the novel without having read the other books in the series is a compliment.
What Have You Learned?
That it is possible to write a series of books that can stand on their own, but also be a part of a longer series.
John C. A. Manley
John C. A. Manley
John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All the Humans Are Sleeping, and other works of philosophical fiction described as “so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life.” You can find him at blazingpinecone.com.
Member Milestone
I’ve submitted to Audible the completed MP3 files of the audiobook adaptation of my first novel, Much Ado About Corona, after three years of work and $6,000 CAD in recording and editing fees. The final audio was 18.5 hours long and likely took forty to fifty hours of studio time and retakes to record. It also involved German and French dialogue and songs, which I had zero fluency in and required about one hundred hours of tutoring and practice.
What Have You Learned?
To make sure future books don’t have as much foreign language dialogue.
Kevin Hwang
Kevin Hwang
Kevin O. Hwang, MD, is a professor of internal medicine in Houston, where he sees patients and teaches residents. His debut novel, The Regression Strain, is a fast-paced medical thriller with psychological suspense. You can find Kevin at kevinhwang.com and on Instagram.
Member Milestone
My novel, The Regression Strain, has won multiple awards, including first place in the Thriller category in the 2025 Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards, Gold Medal for General Thriller in the 2025 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards, and Medical Thriller of the Year in the 2025 BestThrillers Book Awards. The novel also earned second place in both the Medical Thriller and Dystopian—Viruses, Plagues & Zombies categories at the 2025 BookFest Awards. These awards have encouraged me greatly that the years of planning, writing, editing, and producing my novel have resulted in a story that readers and judges enjoy.
What Have You Learned?
Some goals seem unattainable, but you never know unless you go for it.
Ann Fairway
Ann Fairway
Ann Fairway is a contemporary romance writer known for heartfelt, humorous stories featuring personal growth, forced proximity, switched identities, and more. You can find her on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Goodreads.
Member Milestone
I’ve launched my first special-edition hardback of The Big Day Deceit, complete with sprayed edges and a ribbon bookmark, and made it available for direct sale to UK readers from my website. It’s my first time handling printing, fulfilment, and all the logistics myself—none of which were included in the “romantic comedy author starter pack,” as it turns out. Placing a big print order from abroad felt like committing to hundreds of copies before I’d fully convinced myself anyone would want copy number one, but I took the leap anyway. I’m proud because I finally bet on myself instead of waiting for perfect certainty, even if my kitchen table and living-room corner are still doing most of the heavy lifting.
What Have You Learned?
It was scary at first, but once I broke everything into manageable steps, the whole process stopped feeling like Everest and started feeling like a long but walkable hill. I also learned that even the prettiest editions don’t magically sell themselves—sadly, the sprayed edges haven’t started doing my marketing for me. And on the practical side, I now know exactly how much stock the space under a kitchen table can reasonably hide.
Brian Thompson
Brian Thompson
Brian Thompson is the award-winning, best-selling author of the Spirit Saga, a supernatural urban fantasy series where waking up dead is only the beginning of the trouble. His debut novel The Observer and its sequel The Demon blend soul-deep stakes, sharp humor, and inventive worldbuilding. You can find him on TikTok, Instagram, and Goodreads.
Member Milestone
I've published two books, hit No. 1 bestseller status in Kindle for Inspirational Spiritual Fiction, and was runner-up for Paranormal Fiction in the 2025 PenCraft Book Awards. Before I published, it was just close family and friends saying they liked my books. Now I have some independent confirmation of that as well.
What Have You Learned?
Sometimes just putting your writing out there is the best thing to motivate you to keep going.
Jennilynn Wyer
Jennilynn Wyer
Jennilynn Wyer is an award-winning author of small-town and dark romance. You can find her at jennilynnwyer.com, on Linktree, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky, and Pinterest.
Member Milestone
I was named a 2025 Contemporary Romance Writers Stiletto Award winner for Seraphim Rising. I was also a 2025 Independent Author Network Award finalist in Romance for That Girl and in Young Adult fiction for The Boyfriend List, as well as a 2025 Kindle Book Review Award semifinalist in Young Adult fiction for The Kiss Wish. When my books receive an award, it’s a mixture of humbleness, gratitude, and pride that I was able to write a story that connected with readers. My job as a romance author is to provide an escape into a world where readers can fall in love right along with the characters.
What Have You Learned?
To be grateful for every word I’m able to write and have gratitude for this amazing journey that I’ve been lucky to experience as an author.
Not yet an ALLi member?
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. All the membership options and benefits, including free access to our collection of self-publishing advice ebooks, are on our website. Take a look and join us today.
Thoughts or further questions on this post or any self-publishing issue?
If you’re an ALLi member, head over to the SelfPubConnect forum for support from our experienced community of indie authors, advisors, and our own ALLi team. Simply create an account (if you haven’t already) to request to join the forum and get going.
Non-members looking for more information can search our extensive archive of blog posts and podcast episodes packed with tips and advice at ALLi's Self-Publishing Advice Center.
