I do understand that your favorite author might not be me and you might’ve just accidentally stumbled upon this random website. In that spirit, I will do my best to write objectively (and just keep my fingers crossed that I’ll be your favorite soon).
We’re going to ignore the obvious like buy the book or borrow the book from Kindle Unlimited…because, duh. I’m also very sure we know about how wonderful libraries are and how bad pirated book sites are. I think we can skip over those too. Right?
So you love the book and want to support your favorite odd introvert?
-The first thing you can do is to find a way to tell them that they’re your favorite…or that they’re great and you loved their newest book. Email them. If you’re friends on Facebook, join their group and say something nice or comment on a post. Seeing those wonderful words gives your favorite writer the biggest boost and you’ll never know how much you made their day.
Want to do more than tell them they’re fabulous? (Or maybe the idea of talking to them gives you hives?)
–Sign up for their newsletter (and actually read it lol).
–Review the book you love. A short comment about how you felt about the book and what you enjoyed most is literally all you have to do. Review on Amazon, or Goodreads, or Bookbub, or where ever else the author sells the book (like Barnes and Noble).
–See if they have a Patreon. (Only if you’ve got the money.)
–If you’re a member of book groups on Facebook, tell people about the new book you read that you loved. If you’re on other social media platforms, talk their books up there. If you’re really not into social media, look at the platforms you do like…maybe you recommend it on Bookbub or create something about it on Pinterest.
–Check out their website and interact with any polls or questions they ask. Authors need information and filling out surveys is incredibly helpful.
–Interact with their posts, videos, or anything else you see from them on social media. Say you’re on Facebook…You see a post from your favorite author. Like it. Comment on it. Heart it. The more you interact with the posts, the more Facebook will show it to other people. That is a huge help.
-I know I said I wasn’t going to talk about buying the book…but I lied. If you have KU and you know you’re going to buy the book, read it in KU first and then go back and buy it. Your favorite author gets paid twice that way.
-If you see one of their books free on Amazon or one of the other sites your author sells it on (not pirates, that’s a no no) then grab the freebie and tell the computer brains behind the scenes that readers want that book.
The more you interact with your author on social media and do simple things like review the books, it will make a big difference for them in the long run. We really appreciate every reader and we love hearing what you love about our books. This is not an exhaustive list, but I think it’s a good start.
Comment below: What do you think should’ve been listed here? Readers: How have you supported your favorite authors? Authors: what are your favorite ways for readers to support you?
Places to support me:
Private Reader Facebook Group
Newsletter Sign Up
Shaw Montgomery on Amazon
MA Innes on Amazon
Shaw Montgomery on Goodreads
MA Innes on Goodreads
Shaw Montgomery on Bookbub
MA Innes on Bookbub
Instagram