Top Five Ways to Keep Your Favourite Authors Writing
My writing partner and husband got back from the wonderful event that is Authors After Dark which this year was held in New Orleans. We got to meet a bunch of awesome book bloggers, readers, and fellow authors. We both highly recommend this convention if you write fantasy, horror, science fiction, romance…or any combination of the above. Seriously, as a writer you don’t get to have this kind of quality interaction with readers. This convention is one of a kind in that very important regard.
However, the point of this post is about something else. It is about supporting authors, and helping them keep writing. Tee and I were both on a panel about this very topic, and it turned out in a reverse of the usual way things go, that we learned a heck of a lot, rather than disseminating what we know.
Writers are creative people, but I know of far too many who have had to give up their creativity because the realities of providing for themselves and their family have taken precedence over doing what they love.
After meeting the people we met in New Orleans, I realized that readers are just as invested in the careers of their favourite writers as the writers themselves. So, the panel I attended was all about feeding that desire to keep reading what they love.
Here they are in no particular order
Amazon. Click the Like button under the title of the books you love. The Amazon folk use this in their magic algorithm, and it helps the book show up higher on a list.
Amazon. Scroll down and click on the tags that the book has. Or make new ones yourself. This will also help people find your friendly author.
Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Smashwords/Kobo/Goodreads/any other social network. Leave a review. It doesn’t have to be long. Apparently the least it can be is twenty words—but that is not too much. In the end the reviews all add up.
Blog or Facebook. If you have a blog and can write a paragraph or two, then spread the word. Also imbed images or video files so that it can be pinned on Pinterest.
Tell a friend. Honestly, Fifty Shades of Grey didn’t become popular because of marketing, it became popular because all the mums in the world talked about it at the playground. Unlikely anyone will be able to replicate that success, but still word-of-mouth does really help.
What do you think? What are your best ways for helping out your favourite authors?
newest »
When I find a book or author that I love I do all the things mentioned above. I also make sure to promote purchasing books "legally". I am all about encouraging reading and people don't always have money to purchase books, but that is what libraries are for. I've also been known to loan a book or four to my friends as well. The book club I belong to is all over the nation, and they make arrangements to exchange books. But blogging/liking/pinning doesn't mean anything if a person/reader then goes and acquires an illegal ebook or audio book. I always make the joke that I work to keep up with my book and shoe addiction. ^_^
Illegal...no...no good- but I love libraries and sharing. I think they introduce new authors to people who might not otherwise find them...and the books are bought legally! :)
Book clubs are fun too. Not in the sense of "here's a book let's all read". Its more "here is a list of books I've read, how about you?" FB and other free communities support this new kinda book club.
You are right, I haven't thought about it in that perspective before. Thanks, I will keep these in mind, after all I do want my authors to keep writing!
Very good list!I am still in the phase of having the day job to keep my passion alive. Hopefully I can start getting in some of the conventions at some point.
I'll be going through and trying to update my Amazon and B&N account now :)
