This is a guest post provided by Renee Metzler, author of Total Home Makeover: A 20-Day Plan to Renew Your Space and Spirit.

I happen to really love my publishing company.  Sometimes I feel led to pray that God will use them in a mighty way.  As I was praying for Ambassador International, God inspired me with an idea on how we as authors can help each other, our company, our readers, and ourselves spread our message even more effectively:  Expanded Ambassador Bookstores.

As Ambassador International authors, we all have one thing in common, we already have a Mini Ambassador Bookstore, that is, we are in the business of selling an Ambassador book.  It occurred to me that my Mini Ambassador Bookstore is actually pretty small, it only contains one book.  You guessed it, my book.  Now, I also happen to really love my topic, home management.  However, I am aware that most people need more than just one message or one book in their lives.

So, with the help of a nifty little tool called the aStore at amazon affiliates (which by the way also gives affiliate sales commissions), I’ve decided to expand my Mini Ambassador Bookstore to 10 books or more.  My audience is primarily women and mothers ages 25-65 and I think they would enjoy a few of the great titles created by some pretty amazing authors at Ambassador.

I can still feature my book and focus on creating posts and content around the subject in which I’m called to speak, but with an Expanded Ambassador Bookstore, I now have a chance to help spread our message, the love of Jesus Christ, even more effectively.

Why an Expanded Bookstore?

Well, because it pretty much benefits everyone.  Take a look at who benefits:

• My Readers can experience other great Ambassador Books and authors.  A potential reader might never read my book, but your book could prove invaluable.  I helped make that connection.  This may meet a real need in their lives, plus they will see that I’m trying to meet their need.
• My Fellow Authors can experience greater audience reach, helping them to connect with those who need their message, and finding more financial success so they can continue to afford doing their call (a little less time on marketing and a little more time on writing that next book).
• My Publishing Company can experience greater success through sales thus giving them room to grow and spread the message of Jesus Christ more.
• Myself.  I will gain an expanded bookstore with quality Ambassador Books bringing more value to my website.  My website now expands beyond my topic and offers other valuable resources.  By helping a reader make a connection with God through your book, I ultimately reached my goal to be an Ambassador.  Financially, I will benefit with an affiliate sale increasing my monthly commission.  Now, I too, will spend a little more time writing that next book.

Okay, the benefits seem clear.  By expanding and banding together, Ambassador Authors could have more reach.  Let’s take a look at the potential reach in numbers.

I’ll call this the Lone Rider and Posse Scenarios.  Please note that these numbers don’t represent actual statistics.

The Lone Rider.

1 Ambassador Author, alone, might reach an audience of 1,000 in a year.

That’s a 1:1,000 author-audience ratio.  The Lone Rider is lonely.

The Posse.

100 authors, together, each sharing 10 books (that’s 1,000 messages all together) reaches an audience of 100,000 in one year.  That’s a 1,000:100,000 author-audience ratio.  That’s powerful.

Just by banning together and helping one another, through an Expanded Ambassador Store, we can reach so many more.  And that’s when we add just 10 books to our Expanded Ambassador Bookstore.  I have to tell you though, when I sat down to expand my Ambassador Bookstore, I couldn’t stop at ten!  You have all created some wonderful books!  No, I continued to add until I was at 20, 30, and beyond.  Those additional books increases the total reach as well.

I’m proud to be an Ambassador International author, but even more so an Ambassador for Jesus Christ.  My avenue is words.  It’s my hope that by expanding my bookstore with your books more people will be reached for Him.

An Invitation

Of course an Expanded Ambassador Bookstore might not be right for everyone, but I wanted to share this idea with others at Ambassador, and if you feel inclined, you’re invited to join the Posse!  It’s inspiring to think that our publishing company could gain more reach, have more impact for Jesus Christ, and help more people, just because we helped one another.

How to Create an Expanded Bookstore Quickly + Video Tutorial

Creating an Expanded Ambassador Bookstore is actually a pretty simple process.  Start with an affiliate account with Amazon.  After starting your affiliate account, follow the seven steps below to set up an expanded Bookstore for your website or view the video tutorial for instructions.

1. Log in to your affiliate amazon account.
2. Click on aStore.
3. Add Category Pages for easier shopping for your readers such as fiction, non-fiction, and children.
4. Add products.  In the search box add the title of an Ambassador International book.
5. Save and name your store.
6. Link your store directly to a page on your website or embed your store on a page.
7. Announce and share your Expanded Ambassador Store to your friends, family, and readers.

P.S.  Ambassador Author:  If you feel your book is a great fit for mothers, and it’s not on my bookshelf at http://totalhomemakeover.webs.com/manage, please send me a note at http://totalhomemakeover.webs.com/contact-us and I’ll be sure to add it.  Blessings as you discover more ways to reach more for Him.