What an amazing time we, as indie authors, find ourselves living in. We have the very world at our fingertips. From our homes we can communicate messages to every part of the world. An author in Los Angeles can alert readers in the U.K. of his/her upcoming ebook giveaway. A brand new short story can be posted on any given website and read by hundreds or thousands of readers by day's end. But all of this can only be beneficial to the author if those who would read this work are aware it exists. This is where Twitter, Facebook, and other social media come into play.

I've read the frustrating laments writers post on their blogs concerning lack of readership. The numbers just aren't there. What can be done? Well, here's what I found to be quite helpful: Use those social media sites you've taken the time to set up. Facebook is fine, but if nobody outside of your circle of friends is aware of your page, few people will know of the work you're promoting.

Twitter, as far as I've seen, is by far the best place to draw attention to your various sites. A short burst of 140 characters, complete with a link, will be seen by anybody following you or following those who generously retweet your message. The potential audience is limitless.

This, however, doesn't necessarily translate into book sales. What it does do is it gets author and book title into the public conscience on a larger scale than a simple blog post would. Because, after all, if your blog is read by just a handful of regulars, how can you expect to grow your brand? Write your blog, post a link to it in your tweets, and watch how your number of views grows.

This brings me to the title of this blog piece. I recently set up a Twitter account using the handle @voiceofindie. Yeah, I know, pretentious, right? The truth is, I wholly expected that handle to be in use already. It wasn't, so I took it. That doesn't mean I'm claiming to be the one true voice of the indie movement. Far from it. I am one small voice among many. But the whole idea behind this @voiceofindie is to support and promote independent creativity of all sorts.

An author will tweet me a message or they'll retweet one of my messages. In return, I'll post a link to their site, their book on Amazon, or I'll retweet some of their previous messages. From there, other of my followers retweet my tweets, reaching an even bigger audience. I'm seeing the results. And it's not just indie authors, either. I have many fantastic indie musicians, photographers, artists, and bloggers following me. As my following grows, the audience potential grows. And I follow everybody who follows me.

The point of @voiceofindie is this: A strong indie movement is good for all of us who are involved in it. So join me in this network of indie promotion and let's build our audiences together.