Ways To Help Out Your Favorite Authors

I've been struggling to come up with a topic this week, probably because I've been loving the Olympics so much. Go, USA! It's amazing what all those athletes have accomplished. It's been quite a ride. :) So, I finally decided to do a post on something I've been thinking about for a long time. How to help promote our favorite authors.

Some of my suggestions you may have thought of already or may seem obvious, others may not. Hopefully, something here will spark an idea and you can take it from there. 

As a writer, I've done my best to support and promote new authors, since I know some day I will be in their shoes. What I've learned from doing this is that it really is all about marketing and word of mouth. Those authors that are out there, meaning online, promoting their books are the ones I see being successful. Those authors that have teams helping them are the books we know the best, whether we've read them or not. So, how can we help our favorite authors, especially those that are not "well known" as of yet?

• Buy their books. This may seem obvious, but consumers spend money on what they like. It's as simple as that.
• Along with that, once you've discovered an author you like, try to purchase their book directly from the publisher. That way, the author gets a bigger portion of the pay, whereas if the book is purchased through a third party, their cut isn't as big. This may not be possible for everyone, but Indie authors you should be able to get the book directly from the publisher. I've been surprised at what I've been able to find from a publisher, and the cost isn't all that different.
• Post a review. Whether that be on your blog, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, Facebook, really anywhere. It lets people know the book exists and that you liked it. One of the most powerful tools for an author is positive word of mouth. I'm amazed at how many people are now coming to me directly for reading suggestions just because I've been vocal about the books I've read.
• Post an interview or have the author do a guest blog post. Again, it's exposure and gets the name out there.
• Participate in blog tours. Your blog is one more stop that the book gets to make which makes it known to how many more people. You never know how far the word can spread.

There are many more things I'm sure others have thought of, but this is what I've found as worked for me. It doesn't take too much effort to do any of these things, and I'd like to think that I've been able to help out some of the authors out. And hopefully, when I'm published others will return the favor. In the meantime, Happy Writing, Reading, and Promoting!