3 Reasons Every Author Needs a Support Group

I love social media – especially Twitter. Twitter can be super useful if you don’t waste time following idiots or replying to idiots/trolls. In the last few months, I have become a part of a strong support network of authors. Some of us in our Twitter group are both traditionally published and indie authors, while others have been purely self published authors for a while. Our Sisterhood of Running Pens as I call it, has become a major part of my daily life. Here’s why I am grateful to be a part of this network and here’s why you shouldn’t think of a writer’s life as being one of complete solitude.

1) Authors are not competing. We are producing content that entertains or informs readers but I doubt that anybody can produce the exact same book or story. Once you realise this, you can spend quality time together, learning new things about the self publishing process such as what works in book promotion and what doesn’t.

2) Love it or hate it, social media is important. Once you have author friends with an audience each for their books and social media posts,  you have yourself new potential readers! Sharing each other’s work takes no time and only genuine support.

3) Word counts matter. Sitting down and hammering out a regular word count takes lots of discipline. Once you have author friends telling you that they’ve written X amount of words each day, you get your butt/fingers moving too. That’s how my last manuscript got written in May.

I’m not a people person, but these fellow authors have me focused and way more productive than last year!