Self-Publishing with ALLi

Self-Publishing with ALLi is produced by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), a UK-registered non-profit advocacy body for indie authors founded in 2012. With 895+ episodes and 3–5 new releases per week, it is the most prolific and institutionally credible podcast in the self-publishing space — the only show produced by a major author advocacy organisation rather than an individual author or platform company.

A major 2025 restructure formalized the show into eight distinct content streams, each with a specialist host. The result is a podcast that covers more of the indie author landscape than any single-host alternative.

What You Get#

• Self-Publishing News (Friday, weekly) — Dan Holloway breaks down each week's publishing industry developments, platform changes, AI policy updates, and indie author news. The only weekly news show dedicated exclusively to self-publishing.
• Editing & Design (Wednesday, monthly) — Matty Dalrymple on manuscript editing, cover design, and pre-production best practices for indie authors.
• Production & Distribution (Wednesday, monthly) — Anna Featherstone on creating and distributing ebooks, print, and audiobooks effectively. Sponsored by Gatekeeper Press.
• Marketing & Promotion (Wednesday, monthly) — Orna Ross interviews industry experts on author platform, book visibility, and reader acquisition. Sponsored by BookFunnel.
• Publishing for Profit (Wednesday, monthly) — Joe Solari on the business and entrepreneurship side of indie publishing — revenue models, business structure, and scaling.
• Inspirational Indie Authors (Sunday, fortnightly) — Howard Lovy interviews successful self-publishers worldwide. An ongoing numbered series (episode #204 aired March 2026).
• Member Q&A (Sunday, quarterly) — Michael La Ronn and Sacha Black answer community questions on craft, publishing strategy, and author business.
• Creative Self-Publishing (quarterly) — Orna Ross and Joanna Penn on creative goals, vision, and the intersection of art and indie business.

Who It's For#

• Authors who want comprehensive coverage across all aspects of publishing: No other podcast covers editing, design, production, distribution, marketing, profit, news, and inspiration in separate specialist streams simultaneously. The breadth here is unmatched.
• Authors who value institutional credibility: ALLi's advocacy role means the show covers platform policy changes, AI copyright debates, and rights issues with authority that individual author podcasts can't claim. ALLi's position at London Book Fair and industry bodies gives it access to information and perspectives unavailable elsewhere.
• Authors who need a weekly news anchor: Dan Holloway's Friday show is the single most reliable way to stay current with self-publishing developments without monitoring multiple sources.

Pricing: Free on all podcast platforms. ALLi membership ($89–$149/year) unlocks additional benefits: contract advice, watchdog desk, IngramSpark discount codes, private community, and quarterly SelfPubCon — but the podcast itself requires no membership.

Strengths#

• 895+ episode archive (May 2026): The full ALLi archive spans a decade of self-publishing history, including reactions to major platform changes as they happened.
• Specialist hosts per domain: Matty Dalrymple on editing, Joe Solari on business, Anna Featherstone on production — each stream is hosted by a practitioner in that area, not a generalist covering everything.
• Feedspot #2 in self-publishing podcasts (behind The Creative Penn) — a verifiable signal of reach and consistency.
• News stream is uniquely consistent: The Friday news show has run weekly without gaps — a level of editorial consistency rare in podcasting.

Limitations#

• Rotating stream structure can be hard to follow: With eight streams rotating across the week, listeners seeking a single consistent show may find the format harder to track than a weekly single-host podcast.
• Apple rating lower than some competitors: 4.3/5 (58 US reviews) vs. 4.8/5 for The Creative Penn — a gap worth noting, though both shows serve different purposes.
• "Top 5% globally" claim is self-reported: This figure appears on the podcast page but cannot be independently verified. The Feedspot #2 ranking in self-publishing is a more reliable benchmark.

Alternatives#

The Creative Penn Podcast (Joanna Penn) offers a deeper individual perspective with AI/technology focus; it and ALLi's show complement each other well. For a single-host show covering news and strategy weekly, the Sell More Books Show (Bryan Cohen and H. Claire Taylor) is a strong alternative.