I know it’s a little early, but I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, so here it is.

If you’re an indie/small press author, please read on. If not, well just read on because this isn’t overly long, and that shitty video game that you got for Christmas can wait another five minutes. This isn’t just about me and my 2015 resolution. It’s about working together, as authors, by supporting others by reading, reviewing and supporting their work.

To start out, I need to clarify that I’m not talking about Twitter “support”. I’ve ranted about twitter already in past blogs, how I believe it’s superficial, for most at least. For those of you unaware of how it works for authors in the Twitterverse, it usually goes like this:

I promo my book, you re-tweet it, I reciprocate and so on and so forth until we’re all merry and jacked up on adrenaline with our five or six re-tweets. Then what we all deny is that all that work, all that time and effort re-tweeting and tweeting was actually wasted on creating some fake sense of self-worth that doesn’t, and never will, turn into book sales. Authors on twitter are a ravenous pack of hungry vampires looking for sales and reviews (mostly the latter), yet we tend to add other like-minded vampires into our following. For some reason we expect our fellow authors, who spend 2-3 hours a day marketing, to actually go out and buy our book and read it, when all they really care about is that you buy theirs. It’s enough to make us all go downright crazy, and I swear if my 2015 is full of these kinds of interactions I’ll end up with a bloody stake in my heart by Easter.

So no, I’m not talking about that fake support on Twitter. I’m talking about actually supporting indie authors – buying their book, reviewing it on Amazon, and even doing reviews on my blog and Goodreads.

Therefore, my 2015 resolution is to support authors who approach me asking for a review, or authors who plan on buying and reading my own book. I will put out a call every so often looking for recommendations, and I will choose novels that might appeal to my tastes. This way I can actually use Twitter and other social media to engage with authors, and I can build connections and potentially create valuable friendships and support that will help me and others in the future.

This is EXCITING to me, and I hope some of you out there reading this can get excited with me and join the mini-movement. Because there are some beauty books out there floating around on Amazon like a trunk of lost treasure, and if I can help an otherwise unknown author move up in the bestsellers and make a name for his/herself, then that in itself is an accomplishment. It’s OK to be a fan, and as authors we need to remember that.

So this year I’m not going to promise myself I’ll lose fifteen pounds, go to the gym, cut down on the drinking and slow down on the fucking swearing. Those are all entirely unrealistic and if the barbarian, Logen Ninefingers, has taught me anything, it’s that you have to be realistic with these kinds of things. So I’m going to read your book, or your friend’s book, or your dog’s scrapbook of unintelligible pawprints that you’re trying to pass off as art (again), and I’m going to honestly review it and get you some exposure.

So that just means you need to leave me a comment below with your e-mail (preferable) or add me on Twitter and send me a Twitter DM and we can hook up. Oh, and if you’d be so kind, follow the blog and I’d be happy to do the same for you.

Cheers, and Happy New Year’s fellow authors!