So… sat me down with a soya latte around 11, as is my wont, and the browsing material this morning was The Bookseller's “100 Most Influential People in Publishing”. I was enjoying the read when I suddenly found myself nearly spitting out my coffee.

For there, on the page of Rs, (alphabetical order) was…  me?

Sharing space with the likes of Charlie Redmayne, CEO of Harper Collins; Amanda Ridout, Head of Zeus, and a certain Ms Rowling.

Huh?

It was for the work done by The Alliance of Independent Authors, of course.

I'm still stunned, but also of course, so chuffed. This is a real recognition of the dedication and determination of the ALLi team — Nerys Hudson, Karen Lotter, Philip Lynch, Geraldine Somerset and Debbie Young — and our volunteers and our amazing advisors.

And, of course, the ALLi members: that exceptionally fine band of writers and their exceptionally fine books.

All our hard work and our support of each other has won this recognition by the premier books trade magazine that author-publishing is now an important part of the industry.

And that the Alliance is now , in The Bookseller's words, the “key voice for self-published writers”.

If you haven't joined us yet, maybe now's the time?
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