Being a new author can feel rather like being a single star in a vast expanse of sky. Everyone seems to be doing it, but only the well known ones stand out. On the other hand, to quote from the 2004 film ‘Pride’ – On our own we sparkle, but together we shine.’

That’s indeed been the case for me this month. Thanks to social media, I’ve managed to connect with some really great people who want to help authors to shine.

Crowd the Hour is a new website looking to feature new authors, artists and entrepreneurs each week.  I was lucky to find out about it early enough to be featured for free as part of its launch.

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Raspberry Sassafras is a series of children’s books by Allison Holland.  Allison has a fabulous website where she not only showcases her own stories, but helps to shine the spotlight on others. It’s a fabulous way for authors to help support other authors.

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One of the most exciting Facebook groups I discovered recently was ‘Authors In The News’ which is run by Kristin Spiers. Kristin uses her expertise to help others use the media to their advantage.  With the help of her free template, I was able to create the above press release for our local newspaper and to do so to the right standard for them to paste it straight in without changing anything. Her advice to be newsworthy rather than trying to sell books through the newspapers could well help to sell books anyway.

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It’s been a busy month and I have a feeling it’s not over yet. Here’s hoping that by supporting one another, we can all shine a little brighter with time.