There’s a strange discussion going on over at David Gaughran’s site about an organisation I myself feel honoured to be a member of, Alliance of Independent Authors. David published an interview with Orna Ross, the founder of ALLi, which has (strangely) caused a bit of a stir on the site. The organisation was even accused of being a scam. You can read the post here.
Having read the many comments, I wanted to air my views on ALLi too.
I’ve spoken before about what a difference my membership of ALLi has made to me as an Indy author. Writing is a lonely business, so having a community of other Indy writers to call upon for advice, support and a laugh is invaluable.
I joined ALLi after I’d read about it in The Bookseller in the weeks following London Book Fair 2012. At the time there was no other organisation (that I could see) which would fight the corner of the Indy writer. What I didn’t realise at the time was, what a forcefield of support for writers the organisation provides, especially through its Facebook group. You ask a question (any question) and not only is it answered incredibly quickly, it’s also answered in a professional and friendly manner. There is no one-upmanship, no spamming with your own titles; at the same time a certain amount of self PR is allowed. All of this amounts to a lot of saved time, and as any writer knows, time most certainly is money.
On top of this ALLi also offers a range of other tangible financial benefits – you can read about them here.
I’ve been a member of many non-profit organisation in my time (I even work for a Finnish charity), but rarely have I found an association, which has such a straight-forward, honest and energetic approach to its cause.
Long Live ALLi!
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