As an independent author, I know the importance of finding a good quality writing or publishing resource. Whenever I find one, I’ll review it so you can decide if you want to try it. Today I’m reviewing ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. I originally wrote this post before I published my first book. In the three years since then I’ve grown to appreciate ALLi even more. I’m editing this post on October 3, 2021, to make sure it’s up-to-date, and it’s contents reflect my current status as a published author and knowledge of ALLi’s benefits.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to ALLi. If you use my links to sign up with them, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Doing this will help supplement my income as an independent author, but you are under no obligation to use my affiliate links.
The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) is a professional author’s association that offers expert advice and vetted resources. But it’s so much more than that. Behind that little logo is a world of information and resources that would take you a lifetime to completely explore. Since it would take to long to go over everything they have to offer, I’m narrowing it down to just my favorite things.
Independent doesn’t mean alone.
I don’t remember where I first heard of ALLi, but I’m so grateful I did. The difference between an independent author and a self-published one is subtle, but they both mean one important thing: You’re on your own. There is no publishing house behind you, with its cover designers, marketing gurus, and editors. There’s just you.
Don’t get me wrong, you are awesome. You can be a successful author all by yourself, but it will be much more difficult and take a lot more time without an ally in your corner.
As an ALLi member you have access to their Facebook group, where any question is answered by knowledgeable and friendly people who get you. They understand because they have been there. They once were writers who agonized over plot and character. They once were authors who worried that their independent titles couldn’t compete with the big publishing giants. They persevered and gained the experience and expertise to beat the odds. And the best part is, they can help you do the same. Just jump in and ask your question. You won’t feel alone for long.
There’s also a huge website with pages for everything from contract advice and publishing rights, to guidebooks and a directory of approved services.
They have experts in everything.
Well, everything writing and publishing related. ALLi is full of experts willing to help. Help with what, you ask? You name it:
- Their free guidebooks explain everything from getting your book into bookstores to author rights.
- Their Self-Publishing Advice Center has sections on: Writing, Editing, Design, Promotion, and more.
- When you know you need to hire a professional, but don’t know where to even start looking, ALLi’s Services Directory, of vetted, ethical professionals, can shine a light to guide you.
- Every year, ALLi hosts the Self-Publishing Advice Conference. 24 hours of expert speakers and offers to help your author business.
If all else fails and you just can’t find what you’re looking for, you can always submit your question to the member Q&A. Each month Alli’s director, Orna Ross, hosts a special guest who is an expert in their field, to answer questions live on YouTube. And if you miss it you can simply download it as a podcast later.
They help you save money.
There are three levels of membership, covering everyone from someone who hasn’t published yet to professional authors with thousands of books under their belt. Yes, an ALLi membership will cost some money, but it’s well worth it considering the money you’ll save:
- You’ll have access to discounts and deals for everything from editing and design to marketing and coaching.
- Their yearly conference gives you access to offers on even more products and services.
- My favorite savings: If you use Ingram Spark you’ll save a ton. ALLi membership allows you to wave their fees. As of writing this, that’s $49 for every print book title you upload and any changes you need to make afterward are additional fees each time.
Reputation matters.
There’s nothing like spending years working your butt off to make your book the best it can be, only to be looked down on because you don’t know how to follow traditional publishing conventions, (in other words, your ‘self-pub” is showing.)
The struggle for indie-authors to receive the same respect as traditionally published authors is real, and it probably won’t go away anytime soon. Fortunately, ALLi is one of those groups who are fighting every day to help improve our standing in the author community. One of the ways they do this is by having a Code of Standards, for both their author members and the companies who provide services for them. You can read it here: ALLi Code of Standards.
I am following this example by also following ALLi’s Ethical Author Code (which you can read here) and displaying their badge on my site.
If you’d like to know more, check out ALLi’s member benefits page.
If you’d like to become a member, feel free to use my Affilliate link: 
Overall, I give ALLi 5/5 stars.
So:
What do you think of this post?
Have you heard of ALLi before?
Are you self-publishing and think this would be helpful?
If you decide to join I’d love to hear your thoughts on it as well. Feel free to leave a comment below, I read all of them.
Happy reading/writing
This is an excellent article about The Alliance of Independent Authors. I look to them to evaluate self publishing publishers.
Thanks so much. I’m glad you liked it.
I recently fell for the copyrightsnow waste-of-money app. It’s made me realize (again!) that I need a community that provides guidance. Do you find the website’s yearly fee well worth it? Is there a trial period? How many years have you been a member?
Thanks so much for the comment Jennifer 🙂
I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I think most indie authors have wasted money at one point or another, I know I have.
To answer your questions:
They don’t have my sign up date listed anywhere, but I know it’s been years. Probably pretty close to when I became an author, so around 2016?
I absolutely love ALLi. The cost of the lowest tier membership (Associate $89 if you haven’t published yet, as of today) would cover the cost of 2 books on Ingram Spark! But even if you don’t use Ingram, there’s lots of other discounts for ALLi authors. For example, they put on a virtual self-publishing conference twice a year with dozens of expert speakers. It’s free to the public for 3 days before going behind a pay wall, but as an ALLi member you get unlimited access to all the sessions forever. Then there’s the private Facebook group you’ll get access to. I’ve never posted a question that wasn’t answered within a day. I even learn just by scrolling through other’s posts, and everyone’s so supportive of each other. There’s lots of other benefits too, so in my opinion, it’s WELL worth it 🙂
There’s no trial period that I know of, but you pay each year. I don’t think it’s automatically renewed, at least I get an email reminder and pay manually. So if you don’t like it after the first year you could always not pay again. If you do decide to get it, I’d appreciate you using my affiliate link. NO PRESSURE though. You won’t be charged more, but ALLi will pay me a small fee for referring you. Here’s the link: https://allianceindependentauthors.org/?affid=4890
If you’re just looking for a blog, podcast, or website with free info, I recommend checking out the Self-publishing Advice Center. It’s an author outreach service run by ALLi and is free. Here’s the link for that: https://selfpublishingadvice.org/
Whether you sign up or not, I wish you the best of luck on your author journey. I’m always here if you want to chat, or you can find me @mwinklerbooks on my socials 🙂
Please help me find a self-publishing company other than those like Balboa and Author’s House. I am living in Denmark but thought it would be easier to deal with a self-publishing provider in the US as I have published one book in 2013 with Balboa which was a good experience. Now I see online they have very mixed reviews. AIA cautions against them. Thank you so much.
I’m sorry I can’t help. I don’t really know any self-publishing companies. I publish my books myself as an independent author. I believe ALLi has a list of approved services which includes self-publishing companies. You would have to become a member though. You might be able to find some info on their free site https://selfpublishingadvice.org
Maybe you should stick with Balboa for now since you had a good experience with them. I wish you the best of luck though 🙂
I love ALLi and the Watchdog Desk which evaluates publishing companies (it’s a free service)! I checked each of the companies listed with a rating of Excellent – and we recently signed with a fabulous US hybrid company The Paper House Publishing! We have just had a thorough and professional final edit of our book, and are working on finalizing our front and back cover (with unlimited revisions). We are soon heading into the formatting process and have seen some of their final books which have wonderful interiors, so we are excited! This company will also be uploading our paperback and ebook to numerous platforms (and we retain all royalties), and they will be supporting our marketing efforts too! We are working with their publishing consultant who is so helpful and patient and is walking us through every stage of this process! We highly recommend The Paper House Publishing!
Hey Susan,
Thanks so much for commenting on my blog. 🙂
I’m glad you found ALLi’s service directory so useful and things are working out with the company you found through them.