I love the work we do with authors because I love books.

I’ve always, always loved to read. My mama likes to tell this story of me at age 3, going into my brothers’ room to ask them if they had a book appropriate for a 3-year-old girl.

If you love reading like I do, you’ll understand my passion for the new division of our company, Hometown Reads.

Through Hometown Reads, I hope to help people who love reading connect with great books and authors in their own hometowns. And I want to help authors, who often lack resources and know-how about marketing, to harness the power of their networks (local and online) to socially share their books.

We want to tap into the desire people have to connect to their local communities while igniting a #readlocal movement. We also want to help authors learn from each other and share resources, forming local marketing co-operatives of mutual support and pooling of resources to make a bigger impact for each book and message.

We’re starting in my hometown, Toledo, OH, with plans to expand to other Midwest communities and across the country to every hometown you can think of. Imagine the great reads we’ll discover! Hometown Reads will take us out of our niche of business books and allow us to make a difference in helping authors of all genres market their books more effectively.

Imagine the great reads we’ll discover, one hometown at a time. I hope you’ll join us!

If you’re an author, you can sign up and tell us your hometown here. If you’re a Toledo author, you’ll want to sign up here. If you’re an author from Cleveland, Cincinnati, or Columbus, Ohio, we’ll be rolling out in your town soon. We also have Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor, Michigan, on our short list, as well as Indianapolis, Indiana.

Have an idea of another market you’d like to see us open? Send me a note and share your ideas.
We’ll also be looking for readers in every hometown! Follow us on Facebook for more details.

Here’s what’s coming next:

• On March 1, we’ll roll out our first city-specific site to feature authors. We’ve already connected with several authors in the Toledo area who will be featured through free author pages.
• Once we roll out the Toledo site, we’ll begin outreach to other cities and will begin providing free marketing resources and ideas to people who sign up to be a part of Hometown Reads in any city.

Tell me something! Are you an author looking for marketing resources? Are you a reader? If you read, would you be interested in discovering great books from authors in your hometown?

Becky Robinson

I am the founder/CEO of the Weaving Influence team, the author of Reach: Creating the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book, or Cause, and the host of the Book Marketing Action Podcast. I’m a wife and mom of three kids, and I enjoy running, reading, writing, coffee, and dark chocolate.