I’ve gotten lots of questions from friends asking about how they can be supportive of the new book. So here are some suggestions. If you want to keep it short and sweet:
- buy their books
- read the books
- rate and write reviews
- boost their signal by interacting with social media content
- attend their book signings and other events (workshops, panels, etc.)
The Exhaustive Details
In more detail, here is an exhaustive list of the ways you can support your favorite author (whether or not that is me 😊). Please don’t feel the need to do everything on the list, picking even just one item that you feel is a good fit is truly helpful!
Buy Books
First, the obvious – buy the book. Sales the first day and week the book comes out are especially helpful. If it’s an option, pre-order the book. If you are feeling generous, consider buying multiple copies and giving them to friends as gifts or putting them in local Little Free Libraries for other readers to discover.
Does it matter where you buy? Well, this will vary by author. We love local independent bookstores – if you want to order online consider buying a signed copy from my publisher. Or go to Bookshop.org because they support your favorite local bookstore when you buy.
If you use Amazon, many authors have an author page where you can follow them on Amazon which let’s Amazon know you are interested in the author. It’s also a way to find out about new releases.
If your favorite author has merch, buying that will also help support them and will also be another way to help advertise their book.
Bookstores
Help make it easier for others to buy the book. If the book is already in local stores, ask a salesperson where the book is on the shelves. This introduces the salesperson to the book. They might decide to read it, then recommend it to other readers and/or put it in the employee’s picks section. Plus, buzz about a book can help the bookstore decide to order more copies.
Once you find the book on the shelves (if you can do it without being a jerk and messing up the shelves – seriously don’t make work for the store staff) turn the book so its cover is facing outward. It’s more likely to catch other reader’s attention that way.
If the store doesn’t have copies, then ordering through the store can help add sales channels.
Library
Ask your local library to buy the book. Most libraries have a place on their website or through Overdrive/Hoopla to request a book (just FYI, you can’t do this in Libby just yet). It might be called a variety of things including “book acquisitions,” “recommend a title,” or “purchase requests.” Make it easy for the library and have all the information on hand – title, author name, isbn. [For my book, its Sub Rosa by Auden Llyr. The ISBN for the paperback is 9798218014568 and for the epub it’s 9798218014575]
Can’t find where this request is? Ask a friendly librarian for help with the task. If it is possible at your library, put a hold request in for the book before it has been ordered. It can help nudge libraries decisions towards ordering the book if they are sure someone already wants to read it.
Once the book comes in, please check it out! This will help keep the book in circulation and keep it from getting culled from the shelves.
Read the book
Next, read the book. If you want to go wild, read it in public. Tell people how awesome it is if they ask you about it. You could also read the book with others. Read along with a friend or maybe it would be a great option for your book club! Many authors even have book club guides.
Rate and Write Reviews
After you read the book – please talk about it. When books come up in conversation, tell people about the book you enjoyed. RATE AND LEAVE A REVIEW online! Even if you love shopping from a local indy bookstore, if you have an Amazon account a review there is much appreciated. Reviews should be honest and do not have to be long or detailed. It can truly be as simple as, “I really enjoyed this book.” If you want to get fancy, you can add: “I would recommend it to people who like [major TV show/book you think is appropriate here].” When a book reaches 50 reviews, there is theoretically some magic that happens and Amazon will often start promoting the book. You can also click the “helpful” button on 4 and 5 star reviews.
NOTE: If you are friends with the author in real life, please don’t say that in the review – it will get taken down. Also, do NOT try to help by creating fake accounts to leave multiple reviews – that can get your legit review taken down and hurt the author.
Next, please go to Goodreads if you have an account and rate/review the book there. You can copy and paste your Amazon review even. If you feel extra generous with your time, go and drop your review on another major bookseller site you have an account for – Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, Chapter/!ndigo, Thriftbooks, Powell’s, Waterstone, Target, etc.
Social Media
Unfortunately, authors can’t be reclusive misanthropes that hide away and spend all their time writing anymore. Authors, even those with big publishers, have to spend a lot of time and effort on social media platforms. Anything you can do to boost our signal means that we have more time to spend writing that next book you are waiting on…
Find us on whatever social media platform you are on. Follow the account and interact with the content being posted. The more you interact the better the algorithms think the content is and the more people it gets shown to. Likes, comments, sharing, and saving all help. Just even dropping a gif in the comments section is useful.
You can also create content for social media yourself. Options include: snapping a picture of your cozy reading chair with a mug of coffee and saying you are excited about reading the book, posting a quote that resonates, sharing how it reminds you of another book/show/song, having the book in any “shelfie” challenge pictures you post, commenting about how the book is an option for any reading challenges you are participating in, sharing fan art you create, or even sharing a short video or list of this month’s/year’s favorite reads.
Now, on to the specifics…
In addition to following and interacting with content, if you want to make sure you don’t miss a post:
- For a PERSON – go to your friends list and click on the three dots to the right of a person’s profile picture and make them a favorite
- For a PAGE – click on the following button on the page and change your setting to favorite, sometimes you may have to click on the … menu on the page to find the following settings (don’t forget to hit “update” to save!)
- Consider writing posts about the books, not only on your own feed but also reviews in reading groups you are in, if someone is searching for a book and you favorite is a match bring it up
- Find their publisher on social media and like their posts about the book/author too, this lets the publisher know there is interest and that they should keep publishing that author In addition to following and interacting with content, if you want to make sure you don’t miss a post:
For a PERSON – go to your friends list and click on the three dots to the right of a person’s profile picture and make them a favorite For a PAGE – click on the following button on the page and change your setting to favorite, sometimes you may have to click on the … menu on the page to find the following settings (don’t forget to hit “update” to save!) Consider writing posts about the books, not only on your own feed but also reviews in reading groups you are in, if someone is searching for a book and you favorite is a match bring it up Find their publisher on social media and like their posts about the book/author too, this lets the publisher know there is interest and that they should keep publishing that author You can find me here: Auden Llyr on Facebook.
Goodreads
- Follow the author on Goodreads
- Update your status as you read – list the book as “want to read,” “reading,” and “read”
- Put the book on shelves you make, especially things like “best of” or “my favorites”
- If you are a list maker, make a list like “Books like…” or “Best of [Genre]” or “Must Read Books of 2022” or vote to increase the rankings of the book on a list somebody else has made
- Nominate the book for the Goodreads Choice awards when the time comes, then vote for the book You can find me here: Auden Llyr on Goodreads.
Websites/Blog/Podcast
If the author has a blog or podcast, commenting and reading the blog are helpful. If you have a blog or podcast, you can post a review of the book or interview the author. If you have a favorite book influencer you follow, you can suggest the book be reviewed. If they have ads on their site, and you see something you are interested in – go ahead and click on it. If they have sponsored links and you are interested in buying an item – use the link.
Find my blogs here: Auden Llyr’s Blog.
The usual applies here, follow and engage with their content. In addition, try to boost any specific hashtags the author is using.
Find me here: Auden Llyr on Twitter.
The usual: follow the author, engage with their content. Share pictures or videos including the book yourself.
Find me here: AudenLlyr on Instagram.
TikTok
The usual: follow the author, engage with their content. Like, comment on, and share their videos. Create and share your own videos giving a shout out to your favorite books and authors. TikTok for Auden Llyr exists (Auden Llyr on Tiktok) and will theoretically have content at some point, but is not active just yet.
See if the author is on Pinterest. If they are, follow them and repin their pins.
- If you have any book boards, TBR lists, etc. on Pinterest, add the book to those lists.
- If it is appropriate, share the author’s pins with others or on other social media platforms.
- If you are a person that creates pins, create one including the book. Find me here: Auden Llyr on Pinterest
P.S. Just the fact that read this reeeaaallly long blog means you are already being supportive! Thank you! I really appreciate everything you do to encourage me along this writing journey!