Aiding Indie Authors Spotlight

Welcome to the author details page of our exciting Aiding Indie Authors program!

Before we go any further, please note, that in order for your book to be considered for a Spotlight feature within this program, it’s imperative that you’ve been an active participant prior to submitting your own book. The entire concept of this program is for everyone to be working together – this includes authors supporting authors. If you’re not prepared to support other authors then it’s not really fair to expect them to support you.

The entire program and how it works from a member angle is described under the Readers’ Corner section here: https://panopticnews.com/bookshopbistro/readers-corner/aiding-indie-authors/

While members don’t “have” to join the Facebook Group we have setup, authors wanting to submit their book as a Spotlight at some point are expected to be a member.

You can join our Facebook Group at:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1675211409402187/

It’s also best if you signup for our newsletter, as it’s the most effective means we have of communicating with our members, and know that they will get the communication.

This program and section of our website is different from our Featured Titles section. Please see the main Aiding Indie Authors page under the Readers’ Corner for full explanations of how it works. Below you will find more of the information specific to those wanting to submit their book as a Spotlight.

 

What is the program?

It is a community of people dedicated to aiding indie authors by focusing our support on any books not published by the major publishers (often referred to as the Big 6) to help these indie authors get their writing careers onto the right foot.

If the book is amazing and the you’re organized with marketing, then it could really fly and gain a lot of traction and forward momentum.

If the book really isn’t very good and/or don’t put any effort into propelling it forward (lining up additional marketing efforts for example), then it will drop like a rock very quickly.

While we offer this program for free and it’s currently very small, please treat it as an important marketing tool. Taking that approach is what will help to spread the word and grow the group – which is ultimately what we all need.

**Author’s who participate as a Spotlight in the early days while the program is small will definitely be given another opportunity to participate down the road once the number of active members has grown.**

 

Selection criteria for titles to be considered

• Book must be available on Amazon
• Author must have an online presence: FB author page; author Twitter account and/or a website
• Author must be a member of the AIA group on FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1675211409402187/
• Author must be an active participant in AIA before submitting their book
• Book must be offered for sale at 0.99c or for free in all countries for the week of promotion
• We will not help promote any derogatory, hateful or discriminatory books
• We don’t accept pornography, but some erotica will be considered
• Only submit your title when you are truly ready with follow-through marketing to make this promo worthwhile

 

How do authors submit titles for consideration?

Submit your book here: https://panopticnews.com/bookshopbistro/authors-corner/submit-content/

Only submit 1 title per author per month and wait at least 6 months to submit the same title after it has been a Spotlight.

We strongly encourage as much interaction with the FB group as possible during the week that your book is the Spotlight. Engage readers, offer information, answer questions, give encouragement, share ranking information – whatever you’re comfortable doing, but the idea is to build excitement and engagement.

In the calendar below you’ll see the upcoming bookings and availability (it’s a colour bar, starting on Mondays, with a white text status). “Scheduled” means that we have done the work on our end and the posts are all setup and ready to go. Once a week is “Scheduled” we can’t make changes for that week. “Booked” means that we have received a submission and plan to run it that week but we haven’t scheduled all the related posts for it yet. So if a book is submitted with a date reservation request we are able to move the “Booked” ones to another week. “Reserved” (when we get any) will mean that someone has specifically requested those dates and they can’t be changed.  So when submitting books just remember that you can request dates that are blank or “Booked” but not “Scheduled” or “Reserved”.

 

How does it work?

When you fill out and submit the form, we’ll review it to make sure there’s no concerns. We’ll then setup up the post and reminders for the next available week (unless you specify a preferred start date). We’ll send you a preview of the main post and let you know which dates it will be featured.

You’re encouraged to use a global link for your book and if applicable to attach your Amazon Affiliate IDs to it. We use: http://www.booklinker.net/ – if you don’t want to do this for whatever reason, we can setup the global link for you, but it will have our Affiliate IDs attached to the link.

Members are told, that if for any reason the price of the book in their country has not dropped to $0.99-ish or free, to not feel obligated to purchase the book. We want this to be a very affordable program for our members – but we do leave the choice up to them. We do understand that there are a number of reasons a price might not reduce in some marketplaces and that neither you nor us have any control over that. But please do double check your pricing the day before your book is scheduled to be the spotlight.

There is NO EXPECTATION for members to participate. This is important. Yes of course we hope and encourage members to participate as much as possible. But to make it a mandatory requirement of being a member would put the group on the edge of being unethical – and none of us want that!

We also have to ask that please, under no circumstances should you ever contact a member privately regarding your book. If they reach out to you, that’s fine. The admins will occasionally send private messages to members to remind them of there being a weekly Spotlight and encourage their involvement – but it borderlines on being unprofessional for the authors to do that directly themselves.

Also, please do not chastise any members (either publicly or privately) if they don’t end up participating with a download of your book. Members must never feel like they could upset an author if they’re not able to participate one week or even for several weeks. There could be all sorts of reasons that would prevent someone from being able to participate one week even when they have participated the weeks before or after – it is no ones business but the individual as to why they haven’t participated. This is not to be a judgemental group and we expect complete professionalism from the authors of the group.

 

FAQs

If you’re only selecting one book per week, that’s not very good odds for an author to get selected. Why should I be a member if I risk my book never being selected?

If everyone in the world thought this way, we would live in a pretty horrible world. The idea of this community is not to be individually self-serving. This is everyone’s chance to give back. To pay it forward. To do something nice for a fellow human being. The vast majority of people easily waste far more than $1 per week on far less worthy things. In this group, your $1 could mean the difference between make or break for a fellow author. Karma does exist – what will yours look like?

Will you be looking to expand this program?

Absolutely. Ideally, we’d like to see this grow into a separate group for each specific genre with each group having it’s own dedicated support network. So ultimately, in the long run, we could end up being supportive for a lot more than one book per week. But one step at a time.

I’m so busy, I can’t possibly read a book per week!

Fear not! We can still support indie authors even if we need to save their book for later. But it’s probably a good idea to grab it while it’s being featured because life is life and we can easily forget about a book once it’s no longer being featured.

Sure we’d love you to read and write a review each week… but let’s be honest – life is BUSY! We ask that you show your support however you’re able to as often as you’re able to. Those that CAN read and review will, those that can’t won’t. PLEASE don’t feel guilty about only being able to be partially supportive.