thepublishingtimes.comEditorial

The Publishing Times

All the News That’s Fit to Publish

author-resources · Guides

ALLi Pitches Its Indie Author Bookstore as a 7,000-Title Discovery Shelf for Readers

The Alliance of Independent Authors' bookstore lists about 7,000 member titles, takes no cut of sales and sends readers to each author's chosen retailer.

The Publishing Times Editorial Desk · September 26, 2026 · 3 min read

ALLi Pitches Its Indie Author Bookstore as a 7,000-Title Discovery Shelf for Readers

What is ALLi's Indie Author Bookstore? It is a reader-facing showcase of books by members of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). In an article published September 25, 2026 in Indie Author Magazine, ALLi says the store launched in spring 2026 and now lists seven thousand books across fiction, nonfiction and poetry.

How it works

  • Browse like a bookstore. Readers can search by author, title and genre, filter by age group or award winners, and browse daily featured books, new releases and seasonal shelves. The bookstore's FAQ says five indie books are featured each day.
  • No checkout, no cut. The store doesn't take payment. The FAQ says ALLi receives "no payment, percentage, commission, affiliate fee, or revenue share" from sales. Each author picks where readers buy, whether that's Amazon, another retailer or the author's own website.
  • Open to all readers, listings for members only. Anyone can browse. To list a book, an author must be a paid-up author or authorpreneur member of ALLi, and listings go through what the FAQ calls "a light standards check."

The store grew out of an older member directory on ALLi's website. ALLi says that directory was useful to festival and event organizers but was "essentially an author directory rather than a place designed for readers."

Not just for readers

ALLi says the store is also meant for librarians, booksellers, journalists, festival organizers, book clubs and teachers looking for independently published authors. The FAQ tells reviewers, bloggers, librarians and booksellers directly that the store is for them.

How authors can use it, member or not

The article suggests browsing the store in your genre four ways:

  1. As a reader: notice which books you actually want to pick up.
  2. As a publisher: look at cover conventions, typography and color, and at which books have won awards.
  3. As a marketer: study categories, formats, author bios and where authors send readers.
  4. As a collaborator: look for authors with a similar audience for newsletter swaps, podcasts, events or anthologies.

ALLi has published a checklist for getting the most out of the store, available to members and non-members.

Desk takeaway

Big retail sites aren't built to let a reader search only for self-published books, and ALLi says that's the gap its store fills. For readers it is a free place to browse indie books. For authors outside ALLi it is a free source of market research, and for members it is a showcase that takes no commission.

Sources