8 Ways to Help Your Favorite Author*

spotlights*and Get Your Fans To Help YOU

→ You’ve got a book out, and you want to tell your friends and fans how they can help.

→ Or you have friends who are authors, and you want to see them succeed.

→ Or you have favorite authors whom you’ve never even met, yet you still want to help their books find readers.

For all of those situations, here are a few simple things that can make a world of difference to an author:

1. Amazon reviews. If you have positive things to say about a book, go ahead and say them! Don’t be false; don’t rave about a book you don’t really like. But write a good review if you can. Reviews are a powerful tool on Amazon that can make a big difference in an author’s sales.

2. Reviews on other retail sites. Barnes & Noble, the Apple store, Kobo, Smashwords… it helps to leave good reviews on any of the retail sites you visit.

3. Amazon “Like” button. See that little “thumbs up” icon on the Amazon page, right below the title and author? Click it!

Please CLICK HERE to read the rest of the post on the Books & Such blog.

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My e-book How Do I Decide? Self-publishing vs. Traditional Publishing, is now available!

 

Rachelle Gardner

Literary agent at Gardner Literary. Coffee & wine enthusiast (not at the same time) and dark chocolate connoisseur. I've worked in publishing since 1995 and I love talking about books!

17 Comments

  1. Prosepasture - 8 Ways to Help Your Favorite Author* on February 23, 2013 at 1:39 PM

    […] post 8 Ways to Help Your Favorite Author* appeared first on Rachelle […]



  2. Christian. Working. Mom. | Susan DiMickele on February 18, 2013 at 5:14 PM

    […] favorite social meeting site (such as Facebook) or writing a blog post or group email.  Check out 8 Ways to Help Your Favorite Author*  by my agent, Rachelle Gardner and email me at sdimickele@gmail.com if you’d like to join the […]



  3. Christian. Working. Mom. | Susan DiMickele on February 4, 2013 at 5:31 PM

    […] favorite social meeting site (such as Facebook) or writing a blog post or group email.  Check out 8 Ways to Help Your Favorite Author*  by my agent, Rachelle […]



  4. Friday Features #41 - YESENIA VARGAS on January 29, 2013 at 3:59 PM

    […] 8 Ways to Help Your Favorite Author* – Rachelle Gardner […]



  5. Karen on January 27, 2013 at 9:46 AM

    I’m desperate for tips like this now I’m on the marketing trail (not something that comes easily to me) but those nice reviews really do make a difference!

    I tend to only review books I’ve liked as I don’t see the point of posting negative criticism – another person may well feel completely differently about the same book.



  6. […] Lists: 8 Ways to Help Your Favorite Author – “You’ve got a book out, and you want to tell your friends and fans how they can help…Or you have friends who are authors, and you want to see them succeed.” Rachelle Gardner […]



  7. Angela Brown on January 25, 2013 at 11:25 AM

    The reviews are so much help. This is definitely a post to bookmark.

    Thank you 🙂



  8. The List List #41 on January 25, 2013 at 10:15 AM

    […] at Rachelle Gardner’s blog, 8 Ways to Help Your Favorite Writer […]



  9. Andrew Budek-Schmeisser on January 25, 2013 at 3:05 AM

    Very true!

    A good review, like a kind word, can change the arc of one’s day – and a day changed for the positive, can change a life.

    Like the weighty steel door of a bank vault, opening to a touch, turning on a small jeweled bearing, so can an author’s future of hope open on the public encouragement you can offer.



    • Jeanne T on January 25, 2013 at 9:43 AM

      Great thoughts, Andrew!



    • Cherry Odelberg on January 27, 2013 at 12:13 PM

      “A good review, like a kind word, can change the arc of one’s day” Very true!



  10. Melinda Viergever Inman on January 24, 2013 at 1:49 PM

    Watching you go through this process is like a hands-on lesson in the way to launch any book, self-published or traditionally published. Authors must market. I love this first book in the series! Well done! It was very helpful to me, and I want to spread the love around. The details here are helpful, as well as the continuation at Books & Such. Now, off I go to Goodreads…



  11. Chris on January 24, 2013 at 9:26 AM

    good reminder, thanks



  12. Sheena-kay Graham on January 24, 2013 at 5:20 AM

    Definitely will make more of an effort to like author’s pages. And do even more reviews. Great tips.



  13. Clementine on January 24, 2013 at 5:17 AM

    Helping our favourite author, ok… but do we really want to help Amazon?



    • Andrew Budek-Schmeisser on January 25, 2013 at 3:48 AM

      Do we want to help Amazon?

      Absolutely. I’m down to about an hour of sleep each night. When I’m not up to writing, being able to get 1-cent books makes those dark watches pass so much more quickly.
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