Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Writers need your help. Buy their books, but here's how you can help without even buying the book

Buying the book is self-explanatory, but even if you don't buy there are some things you can do whether you know the writer or not. All of these can actually be true. (It's 2017-I have to mention that)

1. Talk about the book.
Word of mouth is and always will be a huge part of book selling. Here's some scripts to use. 

"Hey, my friend, Blob-blob wrote a book." 
"Blob-blob just came out with a new one."
"What are you reading now? I plan to start Blob-blob's book."

If you read and loved it?
"I just read and loved Blobby title by Blob-blob"

2. Host an event.

-Have your friend Blob-blob featured at your book club. If they're local they can attend. You'd be surprised who would like to come to your bookclub! Do you hear that, Malcolm Mitchell?
-If you're not in a bookclub have a party where Blob-blob could read or socialize. If you host a series and are contacted by an author or PR department, be kind or at least respond back. 


3. Post a review.

You don't have to be a professional reviewer or an award winning writer to write a review on Amazon or Goodreads. If you enjoyed the book find the author's webpage and alert them to the review. Even just offering stars without words helps. Share reviews from others. Oh, lookey at that David Atkinson review of Grand Slams. 

Customer Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars funny, tense, and even tenderDecember 8, 2016
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Grand Slams: a coming of eggs story (Paperback)
I do have a soft spot for pancake house centered fiction, but I also have high standards. Gager puts together a beautiful one in this book though. It seems so realistic of that kind of place at the time that it's funny, tense, and even tender. I cared about these people and what would happen to them as if they were really people I knew well. Very well done.


4. Add a book to your Goodreads bookshelf as wanting to read or currently reading.

Hell--you don't even have to buy the thing, When you add a book, all of your Goodreads pals but the daily Goodreads e-mails and your add, including the book's picture is included.  




5. Do ANY of the above on Social Media. 

Writers blab about their books and reviews all the time. When it is from an outside source this is 400 times more effective. (For actual proof of this number, ask Donald Trump because he'll set you straight.)


Recommendations, status updates, tweets (for the record re-tweeting is better than liking), sharing of reviews by you or others, photos the book or of you holding a book are all social media, word of mouth, tools. 



So, thanks for all your help. We couldn't be more grateful.



No comments: