Founded by indie bestselling author Marie Force, the nonprofit organization already has nearly 1,000 dues-paying members
More than a century ago, the Authors League of America was founded in New York City in an effort to protect the rights of all authors. It became the Authors Guild in 1921 and is the oldest and largest professional organization for writers.
But if you’re a self-publishing author, who is advocating for you? It’s not uncommon for indie authors to pride themselves on being exactly that—independent—and in discussion boards and social media comment threads, you don’t often find a lot of amity between indies and traditionally published authors. No surprise, then, that the Authors Guild, best known for advocating for the rights of the traditionally published, doesn’t attract many indies to the fold, although it has opened membership options for them. And while the Independent Book Publishers Association and the Alliance of Independent Authors serve self-publishing authors, both focus more on education and resources, not advocacy.
Recognizing a need in the community, bestselling author Marie Force decided to put her organizational resources and networking power behind the Indie Author Support Network. The nonprofit group is devoted to addressing the unique challenges indie authors face. Force tells us, “Other professional organizations are charged with serving a wide variety of author needs. Our group will focus only on the indie author experience. We hope to work with our retail partners to share common concerns and advocate for solutions that improve the experience for all indie authors.” Force has already spoken to a number of retailers, including Amazon, who have indicated they’re open to working with authors to discuss issues of concern.
Indie author David Gaughran wrote at his blog that there’s a need right now for a group exclusively focused on high-level advocacy for indies. While Force’s organization has yet to set forth a specific agenda, Gaughran indicated, unsurprisingly, that many of indie’s concerns today stem from lack of transparency and continuous fraudulent activity in the Kindle Unlimited program. The comment thread on Gaughran’s post—which Force herself joined—indicates some of the debate already emerging about what an advocacy organization for indies should prioritize and what it can realistically achieve.
The organization’s website went live at the end of April, and the group already has nearly 1,000 founding members. Becoming a founding member requires completing a membership application at the website and paying $20 by midnight EDT on May 31.
Bottom line: If you’re a professional, self-publishing author, it’s worth joining the related Facebook group (free), which Force moderates. There you can find more discussion surrounding urgent issues—many of which are marketing and Amazon driven—for indies. Force says that the first focus of the Indie Author Support Network will be putting together a steering committee to help set priorities and an agenda for the next few months. She emphasizes the group is all about high-level advocacy and tells us, “We are not planning to get into the conference or contest business or to take on individual concerns. We are approaching this from a macro level.” While Force did not single out Amazon as the motivating factor in organizing this group, we have to assume that frustration with Amazon KDP and Kindle Unlimited over the past couple years has led to a logical desire for a unified lobbying front with Amazon. We hope the group can be successful in its aims, but of course it’s no small challenge to organize a group of authors that, even if all indie—or perhaps especially because they’re indie—may have a hard time agreeing with each other and acting in concert. In the long term, the success of such a nonprofit may require a full-time, paid director who is not also keeping up a full-time author career.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
