In association with Inspirational Storytellers I am trying to form an alliance of like-minded authors who are willing to support their fellow writers, and who in turn, will receive support as and when they need it. My thinking behind this project is that we live in changing times, with regard to publishing, and the term “indie author” is no longer a stigma to be sneered at. Thanks to the internet and social media there is a multitude of tools available that enable more and more would-be writers to realise their dreams of becoming published authors. However, it is also becoming more and more apparent that, as authors, we need to be taking responsibility for our own marketing. What hasn’t changed is the fact that the majority of published authors sell very few books, if any at all. It is also apparent that you cannot sell books simply by shoving them down people’s throats. The idea is to build a brand, so that people will buy into you as a person. Once a reader feels comfortable and confident with you as a person, there is a good chance that they will take the next step and buy a book. It is also a great endorsement for an author to be promoted by fellow authors.

I am trying to keep the project as simple as possible, and purely business. What I mean by “purely business” is that there is nothing personal here; as an author you are either in or out. All that is required, if you would like to participate, is for you to agree to adhere to the few very simple and achievable criteria listed below. It works on the principle that if you are not prepared to support your fellow authors in the project then you should not expect your fellow authors to support you. If, after perusing the list, you feel this is something you would like to be involved in, please contact me or Inspirational Storytellers by one of the methods shown. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

1. You will need to write in one of the following genres: Spiritual, Self-Help, Health & Well-Being, Philosophy or any Non-Fiction category that inspires (i.e. your book should tell a story that speaks of turning adversity into something positive). Please note Inspirational Storytellers does not promote institutionalised religion, cults or sects.
2. When an author has a book launch (or re-launch) you should be prepared to take to twitter during the course of the launch day and send a total of 12 tweets in support of the respective book.
3. You should give the author an @ MT in each tweet making it easy for the author to retweet your tweets.
4. You should use a hash tag common to the group and relevant to the launch so that all of us can search out your tweets and retweet them.
5. You should be prepared to post info/links relating to the launch on your facebook wall. (No one is expected to flood their wall, one share is enough).
6. You should be prepared to host the relevant author on your blog as part of a blog tour to coincide with the launch. The launching author is responsible for providing all links/pics/info etc. to the host. The day of the hosting should be mutually agreed and care should be taken so that the author is not appearing on multiple blogs on the same day and no blogs on other days.
7. With regard to promos, i.e. free giveaways on Amazon Kindle. The same criteria apply as per book launches. Except that the least amount of tweets expected is six and not 12, and blog hosting is at the discretion of the potential hosts.
8. It is acknowledged that people become ill and they take holidays etc. In these cases it is only fair to your fellow authors that, if you do miss a launch or a promo for some reason, that you catch up as soon as you are able.
As you will have seen, it is not rocket science; very achievable and minimally time consuming. Thanks again for reading and feel free to get in touch via one of the following methods.
To contact me personally: email devoted2sai@yahoo.co.uk or via the contact form on the “About” page on this blog.
Or Inspirational Storytellers via the website at http://inspirationalstorytellers.com