Every once in a while this wave of… complaint and despondence goes through right side twitter. (The right side being understood as “To the Right of Lenin” in this case.) “Alas, alas,” they say. “No one promotes us on the right. We have no power. No one discovers us.”

Part of this is nonsense. The left isn’t doing that well on the discoverability and sales front. They are, yes, still getting money. Translation money for one. Partly this is because most of the large publishing houses are now owned by foreigners, and yes, foreigners trend far to the left of Americans. Besides, they think that the prestige is in trad pub, and this is what trad pub is publishing. They are also getting money from Hollywood, but you know that also is coming to an end. (It won’t be long now until Indie film making is cheap and decent enough to end their free ride.)

The other part… is true. There is a true problem with discoverability on the right, and none of the magazines or big sites on the right do much for us.

Though I’d like to except here Ace of Spades, which has a book thread every Sunday. And my friend Charlie Martin at PJM who certainly reviewed No Man’s Land and who might be willing to do a couple of others here and there. Also Epoch Times, and their amazing book reviewer and occasional reader here, Mark Lardas. He has reviewed me and some of you. And he does it well, eloquently and fairly.

However, my great news to you is that we don’t need the big boys to do it for us. you have the power in your hands.

Years ago with just two friends retweeting each other, we found our reach increasing day over day. It’s that simple.

Yes, social media is rigged against much reach for any but the biggest names. But you don’t need the biggest names. You, yes, you with a hundred followers can make a difference.

I make it a policy to retweet any of my friends’ books when they come across my feed at least every couple of days. I make it a point to write something about one of my writing friends whenever I get a chance. Just a little push. Because that might be only thirty pair of eyes that see my retweet, and maybe three sales, but that’s three sales my friends didn’t have before.

We don’t have the big numbers; our big names are limited. But we have a lot — a lot of small names — and the numbers of people willing to retweet are a strength on their own. If they are willing.

Look, the left organizes. We…. the individualists failed to organize, no? But you don’t need organization. You need a willingness to help.

If you have twitter, retweet someone’s promo. Mention an indie writer you enjoy — so many of them, like all of us here at MGC — if you have facebook, share someone’s promo. Mention an indie writer, now and then. Do it at least once a week. Once every couple of days, if you use social media a lot. Commit yourself to doing that. Yes, sure, promote yourself too, but help the others along.

If you have a blog, no matter how tiny, and you read indie books, do a review a month of an indie book you enjoyed (no point doing it for the books you didn’t enjoy. The point is to help people.) I don’t care how small your blog is. That is eyes on the book that weren’t there before. And you know what? if you send me a link to that blog post at bookpimping at outlook dot com and I’ll try to give you a link at instapundit, which is publicity for the person you reviewed AND your blog.

Also if you can do nothing else, review the books you read. Remember that Amazon only recognizes five stars. Anything else to them means the book is trash. It doesn’t have anything to do with what you THINK you’re saying, it’s what Amazon recognizes. And write something. It doesn’t have to be great. It can just be “I enjoyed this book. It’s unusual.” or “It reminds me of Tolkien” or– whatever. This is also the place to put your qualms that normally would have you give the book only four stars, such as “I loved this book. Woman, learn to spell gryphon ONE way. So confusing to have it spelled five ways.” Reviews matter. Trad pub can and does buy reviews. Amazon turns a blind eye. Indies can’t. Your review is a force multiplier, meaning that our book will be pushed at people who wouldn’t see it otherwise.

And that email above? If you send me an amazon link to your book at that address, (bookpimping at outlook dot com) I will put you in the next Sunday’s promo post (I rarely miss, unless I’m very ill or traveling. And not often then.)

The rules are don’t send me the same book every week or even every month. I don’t care if you send me a book every week, if you have a large enough backlog. Just don’t repeat a book closer than six months unless you’re related to me.

Don’t wait for someone to organize a publicity push, though. Don’t wait for the big names to notice you. Don’t wait for someday when you have more pull to help others along the way.

You can help people now. You can make a difference on discoverability now. Sure, none of us has much power, but there are many of us. And that’s a power on its own.

Go right now and make a pledge to make a difference. And then do it.