How Authors Can Help Other Authors

Another author’s success can sometimes sting. But remember: we’re all in this together – that’s why something like #WritingCommunity exists. If a writer is successful, that’s a success for everyone, as books are the underdog in the media landscape.

It can feel counterintuitive to support another author’s book, as they can seem like a competitor in your own field, and you may feel like you should be spending your time only on your own book. However, self-promotion is not normally as effective as word of mouth, so if you spend your days wondering why you’re not receiving enough attention, the same is true for other authors, and the attention you give outward may just be reciprocated – if not by the author, then a different author, a fan of that author, or someone else. With book marketing, you get back what you put into it – even if you’re promoting someone else.

That said, there is a fine line to something that’s altruistic and something that’s quid pro quo – if you promote my book, I’ll promote yours. This is a nice idea in theory, but it can lead to problems, especially on Amazon.

Here are ways to be truly supportive of other authors that can help foster a better book community overall.

Review the author’s book(s)

First off, buy the book, so your review is listed as a Verified Purchase on Amazon, which is better optically and for ranking in Amazon’s search engine.

There is a lot of confusion about reviews getting deleted on Amazon if there is a social media relationship between the author and reader, so this tip may contradict the info below about supporting an author on social media. However, this issue has been overstated.

While, yes, there have been instances of people having their reviews deleted, this is not a cut and dry issue wherein Amazon will delete a review automatically if there is a social media connection. Frankly, Amazon is not that great at tracking this kind of activity. Very often you’ll find reviews stating something like “I love this book, but that’s because I/my dad/my daughter wrote it.”

More importantly, however, is that the policy doesn’t make a lot of sense to enforce, as a fan of an author will likely follow the author on social media and review the book, so too many impassioned reviews would end up getting deleted. The reason this has become an issue is when there is a quid pro quo arrangement, where two authors are reviewing each other’s books – and that accounts for all of their reviews. This sort of activity should be banned, as these are fake reviews.

That said, Amazon isn’t infallible and sometimes reviews get deleted erroneously, and are then reinstated.

In short: write the review. If it is taken down, put the review somewhere else, which leads to point #2.

Review the book(s) on sites besides Amazon

Barnes & Noble’s review section is pretty lonely – partly because they have such a bad reviewing system. But that shouldn’t stop you from adding a review wherever you can: Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple iBooks, Waterstones and so on. Most every bookstore – whether online-only or brick and mortar – has a reviewing system, and the non-Amazon review sections are underused, so a review on a non-Amazon site can really stand out.

Finally, cross-post your review to your own blog. Here you can also link to an author’s book/website/social media accounts, which is much more than you can do with a review anywhere else, and can really help get the word out about an author. This helps with the the author’s SEO (search engine optimization) so the site ranks better in Google searches. For example, if you link to an author’s site with the tag “science fiction author” with a link to the author’s site, that helps the author rank better when someone types “science fiction author” and related searches into Google.

For example, the html code would be:

<a href="http://www.arthurcclarke.org/">science fiction author</a>

Follow/share on every social media account

Don’t stop at Facebook and Twitter – help along an author’s popularity by following them on Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads, BookBub, Amazon, and so on, and like away…

Important tip: always use hashtags when sharing an author’s book/post/interview or whatever it may be. Using a tag of #indieauthor or #scifiauthor can increase your post’s reach exponentially. Even a Twitter account with few followers can end up in the Top list, rather than Latest, which means it will have a lot more visibility:

By using hashtags you’ll reach people beyond your own follower base, thereby increasing not only the visibility for the author you’re sharing, but for yourself as well. Here’s our primer on Twitter hashtags for indie authors.

There is a limit to this. There are a growing number of authors who have a tweet history of 200,000 tweets, which basically means spamming Twitter indiscriminately. While it’s nice to be retweeted by anyone, these accounts are rarely engaging with anyone outside of clicking “retweet,” so an account will have more authority if it tweets more selectively.

Sign up for the author’s newsletter

This doesn’t necessarily help the author, unless you immediately purchase a book from the newsletter, but authors love a new subscriber. Also: if you open a newsletter, it tells gmail or other email services that the newsletter isn’t spam, so it has a better chance of ending up in everyone’s inbox.

Add a book to Goodreads lists

Goodreads has a number of ways to help authors out, but one of the easiest ones is with lists. You can either add a book to an existing lists (e.g. Best 2019 Horror Novels) or vote up a book that’s already on a list.

You can also create new lists of your own – and, yes, it’s OK to add your own book as well.

Other ways to spread the word on Goodreads.

Review and/or rate the book.
Follow the author.
Recommend the author in Groups.
Ask the author a question.

Request a book at a library/bookstore

Libraries have very limited shelf space, just like bookstores, and there needs to be some incentive to carry the book. If librarians see that there’s a demand for the book, then they will be more likely to add the book to the permanent collection. One borrow won’t necessarily mean that it’s an automatic buy for the library, but everything helps.

Many libraries have forms to recommend titles for the collection, such as the New York Public Library. You can see what libraries carry books using WorldCat.org to see if the book is in the system.

You can also donate a book to the library, but this may just end up in the library’s book sale, rather than on the shelves. By the same token, you can’t just order a book at a bookstore, never pick it up, and hope that the book ends up on the shelves. This may happen, but it’s not likely, especially at large chains – smaller bookstores may shelve the book, just as they’re more likely to sell local authors’ books.

However, if you request a book at a bookstore, this does show demand, just as it does with libraries.

Volunteer as a beta reader

It’s good to start early in the process – and the value of being a beta reader is it not only helps the author, but it can help you become a better writer. Keeping an eye on what needs to be fixed in someone else’s book can help when it comes to your own.

There are a number of places to volunteer to be a beta reader – these are places focused on long-form works, rather than short pieces:

Goodreads – Beta Reader Group
#WCRequest on Twitter, courtesy of @ReadersWriting
Absolute Write – Beta Readers, Mentors, and Writing Buddies
Facebook – Beta Readers & Critiques

Spread good karma

Without getting overly esoteric, there is some karmic value in being supportive of other authors, but there can also be some literal cause and effect: if you’re getting your own name out there by doing the above steps, you will be more likely to be seen by the author and other readers, and good things can happen when you increase your own visibility. If all you’re doing is waiting for other people’s attention, you may be waiting quite a while.

No, you probably shouldn’t be promoting an author for purely self-interested reasons, but then your book is more important to you than any other author’s, and you may just find that the more positive attention you give other people may just come back your way.