The Bookseller 100 is a listing of the 100 most influential people in the UK book business  and I'm honoured and thrilled to be included again this year.

I believe this is a measure of self-publishing's increasing acceptance within publishing and the book trade — and a wonderful recognition of the ALLi team and members, and their commitment and dedication to author publishing.

The accolade singled out ALLi's new ethical author code and our organisations “many schemes to further improve relationships  between independent authors and indie publishers and retailers”.

“Looking back at the first Bookseller Century (as it was then known, in 2009), is like viewing another country,” says Bookseller editor Philip Jones. “Borders/Books Etc was on the cusp of administration, Stieg Larsson was peaking… [and] … the Kindle was just beginning its worldwide roll-out, with UK publishers reportedly keen to prevent Amazon dominating digital sales in the UK, as had already happened in the US.”

At that time, I was having a major hiatus from publishing and thought I was going to write full time… and never have a day-job again.

What a difference five years makes!

My thanks to The Bookseller and of course to the ALLi team —  Nerys,  Debbie, Karen, Geraldine and Philip —  our ambassadors and advisers and all our members.