Welcome to ALLi’s Self-Publishing Directory!

We’re delighted to announce the first public viewing of ALLi’s new Self-Publishing Service Directory. Available online for any author to access, we hope it serves as a useful resource when it comes to your next book project.

The Self-Publishing Directory showcases ALLi Partner Members, who are vetted by our Watchdog and comply with our Code of Standards.

We are currently in the process of scheduling feedback sessions for this directory, in preparation for the launch in January. If you are an ALLi Partner Member or ALLi Author Member and interested in contributing, drop me an email – [email protected]. Or, if you’re not a Partner Member but would like to discuss inclusion in the next issue, also drop me a line for more information.

In the meantime, here’s is the introduction to the Directory, explaining its rationale and function, by Orna:

Hello!

The self-publishing services sector is, on one hand creative, innovative and exciting; on another, idiosyncratic, illogical and incoherent. Some services are run by people who are knowledgeable, dedicated, helpful and fair; others are clueless, greedy, callous and manipulative.

Authors make their self-publishing choices in an unregulated environment where the same service can cost $500 against $15,000, for pretty much the same thing, depending on where you shop. Where services that are absolutely useless are sold at inflated prices. And where one large operation with many imprints, and controversial practices, dominates the information stream, including Google Ads/search.

And so one of the first jobs ALLi took on after its inauguration in April 2012 was to try to guide our members, and other authors, in how to safely navigate what Victoria Strauss, one of our Watchdog team, describes as “shark infested waters”.

We want to encourage all sectors of the self-publishing world – from aspiring author-publishers to global service providers – to aim for the highest standards of ethics and excellence.

That’s what readers deserve.

Writing and publishing is an awesome responsibility — and that’s a word that I don’t use lightly. People turn to us for information, for entertainment, for inspiration. Their default is to trust us, because we are writers, because we are publishers, because we are the ones who put the written word on the record.

That should make us proud and it should also make us humble. There’s a particular corner of creative hell reserved for those who renege on the responsibilities that go with the privilege.

This Directory is the first step to creating a current, coherent and most importantly, credible and trustworthy guide to the global author services market. It will enable authors to assemble a crack team of publishing professionals so they can write and publish books of outstanding creative excellence.

Each service has been vetted by our watchdog, and adheres to our code of standards. We have also included selected articles from our Self-Publishing Advice Centre, to get authors thinking about some of the issues raised by the new creative freedom of author-publishing.

Mainly, it’s about empowering you, dear author, to select the perfect service for the particular project you’re currently working on.

We say “first step” as this directory will be an ongoing, growing and unfolding project. We will have a new issue every six months.

Its aim, always, will be to connect indie authors with author-services so we can make, and deliver, great books.

If you would like to join us as we walk the indie way, we’d love your feedback and suggestions. Do get in touch.

And if you’re not yet a member of our Alliance, isn’t it time you joined?

ORNA ROSS

Directory Preview

More Information and Download

Download the directory here

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