About ALLi

Mark founded Smashwords in 2008 to change the way books are published, marketed and sold. Smashwords has grown to become the leading ebook distributor serving indie authors, small presses and literary agents and The Wall Street Journal has named Mark one of the "Stars of Self-Publishing." Mark is co-author along with his wife, Lesleyann, of Boob Tube, a novel that explores the behind-the-scenes world of daytime television soap operas. It was Mark's experience trying to get Boob Tube published that inspired him to start Smashwords. Mark is a long time angel investor and advisor to technology and media startups and a contributing columnist for the Huffington Post, where he writes about ebooks and the future of publishing.

Joel is an award-winning book designer, a blogger, and the author of A Self-Publisher’s Companion: Expert Advice for Authors Who Want to Publish. Joel is the proprietor of Marin Bookworks in San Rafael, California, a publishing services company where he’s helped launch many self-publishers since 1994. He also writes a popular blog on book design, book marketing and the future of the book at theBookDesigner.com and is the creator of the new online training course, The Self-Publishing Roadmap.

Jane is a former publishing & media exec who now teaches e-media full-time at the University of Cincinnati. 

She has spoken on writing, publishing, and the future of media at more than 200 events since 2001, including South by Southwest, BookExpo America, and the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. Visit her blog for writers at janefriedman.com.

Steven is a journalist, podcaster, ghostwriter and self-publishing Kindle author with two Amazon Top 10 bestselling guides to Sydney, among other ebooks.  His website, Taleist For Authors, "helps writers to become published authors".  Steven also gives talks about publishing to Kindle and draws on his background in journalism, PR and marketing in enabling writers to find the most effective ways to promote their ebooks. 

An industry veteran with 17 years of publishing experience, Dana helps authors and indie publishers learn how to sell more books through her acclaimed Savvy Book Marketer blog, newsletter, how-to guides, and private coaching. She is the author of eight book marketing guidebooks, including How to Get Your Book Reviewed and How to Sell More Books on Amazon. Dana also develops book marketing plans for authors, conducts training programs, and speaks on publishing and marketing topics.

Mark is a poet who earns his living as a coach to artists, indie writers and other creative entrepreneurs. He is an esteemed blogger at his own websites Lateral Action and Wishful Thinking as well as The 99%, Copyblogger and other important blogs for creatives.

Vanessa runs The Inkwell Group, Ireland's leading and most comprehensive publishing consultancy, and is the founder of writing.ie the national Irish writing resources website. 

Working closely with Dublin UNESCO City of Literature on projects such as The National Emerging Writer Programme and the Great Writing, Great Places series, Vanessa aims to bridge the gap between aspiring and published writers bringing Ireland’s top authors to guide and inspire new writers. As a literary scout she has launched the careers of many new writers.

Joanna is the independent author of action-adventure thriller novels, Pentecost (Feb 2011) and Prophecy (Jan 2012). Both books have been Amazon bestsellers in the Action-Adventure category and Pentecost has sold over 22,000 copies. Joanna is an international speaker and consultant on digital publishing and online marketing. She also runs TheCreativePenn.com which helps people write, publish and market their books with useful articles, video, audios and multimedia training packages. The Creative Penn was voted one of the 'Top 10 Blogs for Writers' in 2010 and 2011. 

Victoria is the author of eight novels for adults and young adults, including the /Stone/ duology and, most recently, /Passion Blue/, a historical fantasy for teens. She has written hundreds of book reviews for magazines and ezines, including SF Site, and her articles on writing have appeared in /Writer’s Digest/ and elsewhere. In 2006, she served as a judge for the World Fantasy Awards.

An active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Victoria is co-founder, with Ann Crispin, of Writer Beware, a publishing industry watchdog group. She maintains the popular Writer Beware website (writerbeware.org), blog (accrispin.blogspot.com), and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/WriterBeware). She received the Service to SFWA Award in 2009 for her work with Writer Beware.

Rebecca Swift is a biographer, poet, librettist and editor and Director of The Literary Consultancy (TLC). She has appeared at numerous literary festivals and panels talking about the relationship between writers and the publishing industry, and has taught poetry at West Dean College of Further Education, life-writing for the Hackney Music Development Trust and ‘Approaches to Publication’ for Skyros Writers’ Lab and TLC’s Literary Adventure holiday. She has written and reviewed for The Independent on Sunday and The Guardian.

David Vandagriff is an intellectual property attorney who works with contracts – negotiating them, writing them, analyzing them and helping clients understand them. He has experience, including litigation experience, with a wide variety of contracts, including contracts with some of the largest technology companies and financial institutions in the world. Currently, in addition to software licensing and general business contracts, David has a particular interest in the types of contracts authors have signed and may be asked to sign, including contracts with publishers and agents. David blog about book contracts and other topics of interest to authors on The Passive Voice — http://www.thepassivevoice.com/.

S.R. Johannes is the award-winning author of the Amazon bestselling teen wilderness thriller series, Untraceable, Uncontrollable and (forthcoming) Unstoppable. After earning an MBA and working in corporate America doing marketing for over 15 years, S.R. Johannes traded in her expensive suits, high heels, and corporate lingo for a family, flip-flops, and her love of writing. She organizes the highly successful indie author online conference, IndieRecon, and is a founder member of author co-operative, The Indelibles.