I have to admit something. I am a big fan of the tribal author approach of Jonathan Fields and Jayme Johnson. It’s taken a while to come to this point, but trial by fire can convert even the most skeptical. Let me take you back to the beginning.

Smart Guy Alan Shelton

You need to understand that I am a long time corporate executive and leadership consultant. So when I decided to write a book, it was obvious to me that everybody would stop and listen. Isn’t that what every author thinks? Even though only a few hundred folks even knew I existed, I had something to say. They should stand in line to hear me.  Luckily my training had taught me to research all of my own assumptions, even the obvious and best ones. So I began my journey by trying to understand what it might take to write a book and have it be successful. And guess what? The first thing I found out was that I needed a fan base.

Tribal What?

As I did my research I accessed a wonderful resource called “52 Great Blogs for Self-Publishers” by Joel Friedlander. I read all 52. When I was done there was no doubt that the best and most intelligent information could be found at tribalauthor.com. The cool thing was that for not a lot of money I could spend eight weeks with Jonathan Fields and Jayme Johnson and see if they were the real deal. Now remember I thought I was a really smart guy. So I figured I could put these two to a real skeptics test.

Delivering the Goods

In my first tribal session, humility began to set in. I was given more defined information about marketing than I could have ever considered. Strategy, audience, placement, and how to execute were all immediately addressed. And the world of social media was exposed as a possibility that no author could pass up. I knew in my bones that this was the way to go.

Jonathan and Jayme

It didn’t take long to figure out that these two are the real deal. Jonathan is a seasoned businessman that expresses his caring and concern to all those who wish to be an author. Jayme is perhaps the brightest marketing resource I have encountered in my entire career. And while I can tell you that they deliver the best in class information, I had to ask myself “are they crazy?” They are giving away all this intelligence for just a few shekels. How could that be?

Tribal Giving

I finally figured it out. They were doing exactly what they were teaching us to do. They knew that if they could expose their quality experience to those who needed it, that the tribal nature of today’s fan base would be all that mattered. It didn’t take long for the skeptic to be converted into a tribal maniac. And my family and friends could thank Jonathan and Jayme for taking the smart guy author and knocking him down that needed notch.

One month till Launch

So here I sit a month before my book Awakened Leadership: Beyond Self-Mastery launches into distribution. After the tribal author experience, I hired Jayme Johnson and Worthy Marketing to execute my book plan. And there is no doubt that they are the best. Further I count Jonathan Fields as an authentic resource that I can reach out to at any time. I have become a tribal author. Now the one thing that Jonathan and Jayme may not tell you is about the tsunami that will bury you if you follow their advice. But given the choice between sitting in dry-dock or riding the wave, I would pick to be buried anytime. I wish to give my heartfelt thanks to Jayme and Jonathan.