5 (More) Ways to Support Your Favorite Authors

Photo credit: Carlos Porto on Flickr

So back in July 2013 I wrote a post about five ways to support your favorite authors. And now that time has passed and I’ve learned a lot more about publishing and things involved in authoring, I thought it might be a good time to expand the list.

So without further ado! Five (more) ways you can support your favorite authors.

1. Cross-post your reviews. Goodreads is a great place to post reviews where bookish people will see them—but not all readers are Goodreads-savvy people. It is super helpful to cross-post your reviews to major retailer sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, because that’s where regular people shopping for books will look. As a bonus, it’s super super easy and takes maybe five minutes to copy/paste your reviews to other sites. :) 


2. Pre-order books. Lisa Schroeder broke down why pre-orders are so important better than I can, so I will refer you to her post. But the short version is pre-orders make publishers and bookstores more confident about the book, which ultimately means more book deals, support, and sales for the author. 


3. Request their books at your local library. I totally understand that buying books isn’t always possible at all times—but this is a way you can support authors without spending money. Requesting books at libraries encourages the library to purchase said book, especially if they get enough requests. And more requests or checking out of a book means more orders for the book, which is good news for authors. 


4. Read their book in public. Visibility s a great thing for books, because the more people who see a book, the more people are likely to get curious enough to check a book out. Which can lead to sales. Which are yay. 


5. Attend their events (when possible). Again, I completely get this is not always possible, but if you hear one of your faves is going to be near you, it can be very awesome to go to events. Both for you (because fun and signed books!) and for the author so the event is not lonely and awkward. 

Have you done any of these to help support your favorite authors? What other suggestions would you add to the list?

Twitter-sized bite:

Want to show some author love to your faves? @Ava_Jae breaks down five (more) ways to support them. (Click to tweet)