Jill Williamson is a chocolate loving, daydreaming, creator of kingdoms. She writes weird books for teens in lots of weird genres like, fantasy (Blood of Kings trilogy), science fiction (Replication), and dystopian (The Safe Lands trilogy). Find Jill on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or on her author website.
I am officially declaring this February “Love an Author” month. We do what we can to support authors here on Go Teen Writers, but this month I want to get you all thinking about those books on your shelves, the ones you’ve read multiple times, and what you can do to show those authors a little love.
And stay tuned. The love will bounce back to you, just wait and see. ♥
WAYS TO HELP THE AUTHORS YOU LOVE
-Buy a new copy of their book. Money spent tells stores that you want more like this. Authors make nothing off used book sales, so when you can, buy the book new. Whenever possible, buy new books in physical bookstores to keep bookstores alive.
-Pre-order when you can. Pre-ordering a book is great for the author because you’re telling their publisher that you are excited about the upcoming title.
-Write an Amazon.com book review. Nothing helps a book more these days (besides buying it new). The review only needs to be a couple sentences. Even if the book has 3000 reviews, another won’t hurt. The more reviews a book has on Amazon, the more Amazon shows that book to others.
-If you have time, paste that Amazon review on Goodreads, Barnes&Noble.com, iTunes, Shelfari, and/or any other site you frequent.
-Vote! On Amazon and many other online stores, there is the option to vote whether or not a review was helpful. When you’re looking at some of your favorite author’s book pages and see a helpful review, vote. It really helps authors to have positive reviews in the top three or four.
-Visit their website. If they have a newsletter, ezine, or blog, subscribe to it. If the author blogs, understand that this takes a great deal of time. Time away from writing books. If you see a blog post that interests you, click “like,” share the post, or leave a comment. It will really encourage the author.
-Become a fan of the author on Goodreads and add the author’s books to your To Read list.
-“Like” or follow the author on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, etc. When you do this, all your friends/followers see the author’s name or picture. This helps the author get more exposure.
-On Pinterest? Pin book covers of your favorite books. You can either pin to your own blog posts, to Amazon’s sales page, or to the Goodread’s book page. Anytime someone sees the book cover helps your favorite author get more exposure.
-Write a fan letter. Email can be difficult to keep up with, but even if J.K. Rowling doesn’t write you back, she likely did get your email and read it. And these words of encouragement can really help a busy author. You can also write the author’s publisher and rave about the book. That’s like telling an author’s boss they did a good job.
OTHER IDEAS
-Talk about those books. Tell your friends about them in person or online. This generates buzz and keeps the word-of-mouth going strong.
-If a line from the book strikes you, quote it online and cite the author and book title. This is a great way to share things that matter to you and help your favorite author get more exposure.
-Post pictures of books, you holding the book, your cat reading the book, the book driving your car… whatever strikes your fancy. Post these pictures on your social media outlets.
-Buy your favorite author’s books as gifts for friends or family.
-If you’re in a book club, suggest your current favorite book for the next title. If you’re not in a book club, consider starting one.
-If you blog, write a post about your favorite author and tell your followers why you love that author’s books.
-Support your favorite author in whatever they’re working towards. Keep an eye on their blogs or social media outlets to see what’s up. It’s important that they know they have readers who care.