How To Help Your Favorite Authors...Redux

In an earlier post I talked about how you can help authors you like simply by taking a few minutes to review their work on sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. But is that all you can do?

No.

Obviously, you can buy their books. We authors like that. We like it a lot. Still, there are other things you can do that cost no money, and just a bit of your time. I'll list some of them here.

Do you use Twitter? Yes? Then find out if your favorite authors also Tweet and follow them. I'm right here on Twitter.

Do you Facebook? Many authors have pages dedicated to their work. If they do, LIKE their page.

Do they blog? Follow them. Subscribe to them. Visit them. Leave comments on their posts. This not only shows interest, it generates links to their sites because every comment is 'crawled' by search engines.

Do they have an Amazon Author Page like mine? If so, you can LIKE the page. The button to do so is just above the author's photo.

Do they have books on Barnes & Noble? If so, you Facebookers can LIKE the books there as well. The button is right next to the cover picture.

Did you read a review of their books somewhere? Share it on Twitter, or Facebook, or via e-mail to friends you think would like the book.

Do you like to talk? Great. Blab about your favorite author. Tell family and friends.

All of these suggestions are variations on the oldest and most successful form of advertising--word of mouth. Every reader is an author's greatest asset, and every author I know appreciates even the smallest bit of help they get from the people kind enough to give their books a shot.