Pen Friends ~ We have an amazing guest with us today with an amazing topic to share. Megan LaCroix is a YA author, major book & author advocate, #BookRave creator, #PitchWars Mentee, blogger extraordinaire, and an explosion of inspiration and wisdom!

In her writerly way, Megan La Croix is going to share how to hero your favorite books and support authors you know! (Can all the authors out there say, Amen?)

 

Be a Book Hero: Ways to Support Your Favorite Authors

If you read a book and you can’t stop thinking about it, consider going the extra mile to spread the word. Authors depend on word of mouth as it creates the best buzz, and this is where you can help. Here are seven ways to support authors—whether that person is a close friend, a CP, or someone you just discovered and fell in love with—so they can keep on publishing those words you crave!

Things You Can Do Goodreads (besides writing a review)

Want to Read: This is a super simple way to support your favorite author! Just log-on to Goodreads and click that little green banner under the book that says Want to Read. Not only does this add the book to your Want to Read shelf, it also lists the title in your next update feed—thereby promoting the book (and its author!) to all of your Goodreads friends!

Lists: There are lots of lists on Goodreads—everything from Murder Free Mysteries, to 2018’s Most Anticipated YA Releases. Be sure to vote for the book/author you love on these lists to help them gain a better rating and to add to their chances of being seen by people looking to add to their TBR.

Pre-order the book

While post-launch sales are always appreciated, pre-orders are a great way to up your author/book supporting game. Pre-orders create buzz by letting publishers and retailers know how many people are actually lining up to buy a new release. A book with a lot of pre-orders can even make retailers increase their initial orders because they want to have enough copies in-stock to meet expected demands.

Pre-orders also count toward a book’s first-week sales, and this definitely helps its chances of landing on a bestseller list, which is huge for any author! Bestseller lists sell even more copies because so many people base their book-buying habits purely on what’s popular. If everyone else is reading it, they want to read it, too.

Gift it!

If finances allow, get your book-loving friends on board by gifting them the book you can’t stop thinking about. Then stand back and watch—and live vicariously!—as they get sucked into the same vortex of feels.

Request it!

If your library doesn’t carry the book, be sure to request it! Lots of libraries make this easy to do online, but you can also make requests in person. And don’t forget to request a copy at your favorite indie bookstore, too! Most bookstores will order at least 2 copies in order to keep one on the shelf.

Public Displays of Affection

PDA is super important in the book world. If you want to support a book/author, then you have to do it publicly—meaning you have to love the book in full view of others. Whether than means reading the book on the train (cover out!) on your commute, or taking pictures of it to post on social media, think of yourself as a living, breathing advertisement. There’s this thing in marketing called The Rule of Seven, which basically means that a person has to see an ad seven times before they make a purchase, so saturation is essential to sales.

Reviews

Write. More. Reviews. On. Retailer. Sites.

I can’t stress this enough. The more reviews a book has, the more credible it looks to a potential buyer. If you write a review on Goodreads, take two seconds to copy and paste that bad boy over to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. Reviews have the power to increase sales, which means that your favorite author gets to keep on writing and publishing.

Earlier this year I started a hashtag and giveaway with fellow author, Tamara Girardi. We call it #BookRave, and our goal is to help educate readers on just how important reviews are to authors. For more information, check out our blog post: Why You Should Read & Rave: The Power of Reader Reviews (https://www.meganwritenow.com/single-post/2017/06/06/Why-You-Should-Read-Rave-The-Power-of-Reader-Reviews).

Blog it / Vlog it

This last one isn’t for everyone, but if you happen to run a blog, or a vlog, be sure to do a spot on your favorite author! Whether it’s a review or an interview, every bit of positive exposure helps.

Megan LaCroix is a reader, a writer, a lover of the outdoors, and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She gravitates toward lush books with literary slants and hooky voices, and is currently revising a young adult fantasy that was chosen to participate in Pitch Wars 2016. She is also one half of the team behind Be a Muse Designs (https://teespring.com/stores/beamusedesigns), which creates writer-inspired apparel & gifts with 100% of the proceeds donated to the World Literacy Foundation. You can find her online at meganwritenow.com, as well as on the following social media sites:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/meganklacroix

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meganwritenow

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meganwritenow/