With the rise of audio-visual media, books are losing their popularity as time goes by. It has become difficult for many publishing houses to survive past that. Especially with the pandemic shutting everything down, man authors have also struggled to keep themselves afloat. Here is a guide on how to support your favorite authors, so that they get the recognition that you think they deserve.
How to Support your Favorite Authors
Read the Books
The reason your favourite author is your favourite is because of their writings and books. The sale of books is one of the primary means of the author’s income. The sale not only helps them with the monetary aspect but with the more copies of a book sold, there are better chances of that book ending up on the best-selling list. The best-selling list is where a lot of people get their reading recommendations as well. It will help the author gain media popularity with news outlets and blogs writing about the book.
Post on Social Media
Social media is a powerful tool in today’s day and age. The best-selling lists and conventional media take time in covering certain news, or they are done on a monthly or a weekly basis. The opposite happens on social media, anything can be popularized within minutes. In cases like these, posting about the book on your social media profiles and accounts will encourage other people to look up more about it. There are also chances that some people might pick up the book to read and end up liking the author as well. You can also tag or interact with the author on the website, as it creates better engagement opportunities for them as well.
Write Reviews
Books reviews are a popular means of communication and passing on information about new books, etc. Many authors even send a copy of their books before the release dates to certain reviewers so they can write about the book. These reviewers are not always professionals, they are simply people who are invested in a particular author and genre. It is not necessary that only people who are professionally trained can review literature. It is read and enjoyed by many, hence, anyone can write a review. You can post these reviews on a blog you have, or on the Goodreads, StoryGraph, etc. section of the book.
Pin the Cover
Pinterest is growing as a social media app more and more. People usually visit this site for inspiration on various things, such as lifestyle, aesthetics, architecture, clothing, etc. While it is not a primary source for writings of anything, book covers are often posted by the authors or their publicist or promotion team on Pinterest. The posts here are known as ‘pins’ that can be pinned on anyone’s profile. This will help the books grow as the algorithm notices when a lot of people are pinning the cover. It will appear on more people’s explore pages and they could use that pin as a recommendation for them.
Add on Goodreads
Goodreads is and has been the most popular platform for book-related things. It lets you review books, add them to your virtual to-read shelf, make lists with them, get recommendations for books, etc. Adding a book to your Goodreads Shelf increases the chances of it being shown on people’s feeds. People also tend to read and refer to things that more amount of people
Tell Your Friends
The best way to encourage people to read anything is by asking them to do it directly. If you know friends who are into reading and do it as a hobby, you could ask them to give the book a try. There are chances that they would also end up enjoying the book, and you will get someone to talk about your common interests. You will get something to bond about.
Commercial
Advertising and promoting something is the most traditional and classic way of getting something to do well. Making a commercial video for the book, or designing images of the book, and posting them on social media can help spread the word a lot. People respond to advertisements a lot better. If you can, make a banner or a poster of the book, or distributing flyers around can also be helpful for the author. If the author is a small one without much strength from the publicist area, this will be beneficial for them.
Give a Copy
If you have the financial means for it and can afford to do it, buy extra copies of a book or books by your favourite. This will help the sales increase directly. You can use the extra copies as a gift to give to your friends or family or can donate them as well. If not that, even lending a book to a friend to read will encourage them to read it. Having a physical copy of a book around the house can force people into reading it faster.
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