Dear members, I’m not supposed to tell you about this so keep it under your hat … I have it on good authority that the Featured Author idea will be replaced in May 2020 … oh my goodness, that’s only weeks away. The other Admin don’t know I’m telling you so for heaven’s sake don’t discuss it publicly.

The Featured Author for April is the final appearance of this particular promotion. Since December 2015, fifty authors have enjoyed the privilege of the ‘top spot’ and the group has been highlighted four times but the idea has run its course.

Your Admin team have come up with featuring: New Releases and Titles on Pre-order which in both cases would allow for multiple titles and authors. Other possibilities would be Writing Tips (i.e. five items) or Resources.

We could have a rolling list of three or four topics so that it’s something different at least every third or fourth month.

What could be better than throwing this out there to our membership?

Have you got any ideas for the top spot on our Facebook page?

The criteria are not hard and fast but please consider:

– The feature should be monthly. I suggest monthly because weekly is too regular and quarterly isn’t often enough. Whatever we choose as a replacement will require experimentation with the format, planning, preparation, implementation and revision.

– It can be about authors or titles but if so, IASD-based.

– It must be kept as simple as possible to allow rapid implementation and renewal.

– To many, this will sound obvious but it should be meaningful/useful to the group.

If you see something which has been mentioned already, by all means, make a comment here or on Facebook and simply write the idea as a reference point, i.e. New Releases, Resources, Tips, and so on as your preference. It would be better to avoid the idea of a poll because invariably they increase in length rather than in straightforward selections.

In the first instance if you have an original idea you may leave a ‘reference’ in one of two places:

1. The thread where this Update appears on Facebook.

2. Here, onsite in the comments on this post.

Comment, for example, ‘New idea – will use Contact page’.

This will let us see that you’ve had a brainwave. Be warned, I will hunt you down if you don’t follow up with an incredible but simple idea.

In order to retain a centralised control, please use the newly-added Contact page here on the IASD website so that any lengthy explanation will come to me and I can pass it on to the other Admins.

Please do not write a full explanation of an original idea on the Facebook thread or this post.

Use the Contact page for the explanation of a new idea.

Thank you for your attention and thanks in advance for your participation.

Tom