The organisation was founded at the London Book Fair in 2012,[1][2] by Orna Ross and Philip Lynch.

The Alliance runs several campaigns on behalf of independent authors.

In May 2013 they started the "Open Up To Indies" campaign,[3] which called on literary and book trade organizations to recognize independent authors, allow them to join organizations, enter competitions, etc.

In 2014, the campaign was relaunched as "Open Up To Indie Authors" in conjunction with Kobo,[4] with the release of a guidebook, Opening Up to Indie Authors[5] by Debbie Young.

[7] All the services were approved and adhered to a code of standards set by the alliance.