Armand Rosamilia and Authors Supporting Our Troops

Armand Rosamilia has written over 150 stories in a variety of genres and hosts two podcasts. We will talk to him about his writing and podcasts another day, but today we're talking to him about Authors Supporting Our Troops. Armand runs ASOT which collects author-signed books and sends them to soldiers in remote areas.

Armand, this is such a great idea! What sparked this idea?
Author Joe McKinney had done a smaller version of it in 2013, sending a few boxes to a soldier he knew. In late 2013 I asked if he was going to do it again. When he said no because the soldier was back home I asked if I could pick it up.
  
How many years have you been doing Author Supporting Our Troops?
It started in January 2014 and I just put the word out, expecting to collect a couple hundred books. I started asking people for addresses of soldiers in remote areas of the world with little or no access to electronics. Men and women a book would be invaluable for. The first year we collected 3,000 author-signed books, right from the authors and publishers themselves. In 2015 we recently broke 3,100. The goal for 2016 will be 3,200 and see what happens.
 
Do you ever hear back from soldiers?
Yes, a few. Last year I was able to post pictures the soldiers sent back holding books and smiling. Unfortunately, most of that had to stop with security concerns. I still get a few privately but can’t share them. It is the best part: to see a soldier holding and reading a book we donated.
 
Do you get requests from soldiers? Do they request specific genres?
I don’t deal with a company or USO. I do this all myself (with help from my wife). The soldiers we get are from people who usually know them like friends and family, so it’s even cooler because we’re helping a friend of a friend in most cases. There are no specific genres they want as they’ll read anything they can get their hands on at this point. I try to give a good mix in each box I ship over. I usually put about 50 books in a box and send 2 boxes per address.
Describe the logistics of getting the books packaged and overseas. Do you do it all yourself or do you have people who help you?
I mostly do the heavy lifting myself. My wife will keep me organized since there are piles of books and boxes in my office and her office all year now. Once an author sends me a package of their signed books, I take a picture and tag them in it. I put it up on my personal Facebook page and the Authors Supporting Our Troops permanent FB page. It is a small thanks for doing what they’re doing to help. I then sort the books into boxes and when I get a box filled I tape it up, slap some #ASOT2015 stickers on the box and drive them down to Change Jar Books in Flagler Beach Florida, who have made the shipping part easy for me.
 
What if someone reading this loves the idea of sending books to our troops but isn't a writer? Do you take monetary donations?
We do accept monetary donations via PayPal. My address for it is  armandrosamilia@gmail.com and people have been very generous with donations. We will also do t-shirts again starting in January and all the profit from them goes towards the huge shipping bill, too. It costs about $25 per box to ship the books so it adds up quickly.
If you want more information feel free to send me an e-mail and definitely join the FB page to see all of the thousands of books we’ve shipped so far!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ASOT2014/
Thank you!
Armand Rosamilia