Indie Book Collective discussion

I have been looking at so many Indie groups and how they help market that I'm about to go cross-eyed. I know everyone else is doing or has done the same. What I'm finding mostly here and in other author forums is more of a "one on one" level of introduction. "I'll put you on my blog and maybe you can put me on yours," more or less. That, and specific posts about specific questions hoping to be provided specific answers. I think that's great, and helping each other out in any capacity is certainly welcome. At the same time, I'm not seeing any kind of mass cooperation or group power in these efforts, more of a comprehensive marketing tool as opposed to these one time perks.

Maybe I'm missing something. If so, please feel free to correct me, because I certainly don't mean to sound ungrateful for the work people have put in to make this and other sites so valuable.

What I had in mind was a group of authors who work to promote the works of the collective. If an author puts out a new book, everyone with a blog includes it there, or everyone with an email list offers to submit it there rather than just discussing and advising where to list it next (as we, obviously, already have that here).

An example tool might be a Facebook group where if one author puts out a book, the collective is responsible for sharing that post with all their friends. I have 567 friends on FB and about 300 followers of my books and food pages, for example. If I hit share, your book is introduced to at least 500 people. If it's a food book, I can share it on my food and book pages bringing the total introductions up to 800. This obviously takes me three seconds, so if others are willing to do it in return, it couldn't possibly hurt and the potential help is worth it. If there were a hundred or so of us all doing this same thing, keeping introductions reasonably timed and the group small enough that we don't annoy the heck out of our friends, I think something like this could be valuable and provide a global exposure, albeit on a small scale.

Does anyone have any interest in or thoughts on this? I would be happy to take the time to administrate the group and research additional "we can all do this every time a book is introduced" options for that group if people are interested.

Gordon

Something like this: https://www.facebook.com/groups/indie...

This is a test group to define the concept more strictly. Read the intro to get starting details.

I like the idea.

Gordon - I just requested to join. I think it is a great idea. Most of my sales when launching come from Facebook over all other outlets.

Great idea! I just requested to join!

This is worth a shot, a go. Being in a group we can get some insight on what genre and find out our target audience and go from there?

Great idea, Gordon. It's exactly what I had been looking for as well as a small indie publisher. Would you be open to allowing indie publishers to join the Facebook group as well? I manage 3 authors to date (hope to grow but am a very small company thus far) and have a Facebook page for the company, each book has a Facebook page, have a personal Facebook account, twitter feeds and a website mailing list (our website will also be blogging indie book reviews and has a section for indie authors to plug their books).

Jasmin
www.penpadpublishing.com

Sounds interesting. I requested to join. How will this show up on my FB page? Will there be an easy click-on-link thing so I can check your site from my FB page easily? Then I share the book you've chosen with those on my FB page?

Since it will be a group it will show up on your left hand side a little lower for an easy click. You can choose to get notifications in your top or not. If your name is mentioned in the group, being private nobody except the group members see that name. I hope that helps.
With the sharing of books, I think that has not been determined although I just got up from a nap so I'm a tad fuzzy

Count me in!

Thanks. If it's a group in the left list, it'll be very easy to remember to click on it to check things. My memory is terrible so the easier the better. Just tell me what to share and I'll do it. When you're ready.

Gordon, I agree one hundred percent. If you begin such a group, I would love to participate.