Five ways to support your friendly neighbourhood author
A lot of books are published every year. In fact the UK publishes more books per capita than any other country. So from an author’s point of view, no matter how good your work is, its success will depend entirely on whether it gets noticed.
I’ve been in Writers Unchained for a few years now, and whenever someone’s work finally hits the shelves, we are all delighted to see it, aware of how many years it has taken to achieve. We also know its shiny new cover will be competing with countless others. None of us have money to burn on marketing, so we try to do what publicity we can, often relying on our lovely readers to help spread the word.
So if someone who has written a book you really love, and you want others to find and enjoy it too, here are some ways to support your local authors…
1 Review it
Much as we’d all prefer that Amazon had not cornered the market, the reality is that people buy books there and a certain number of reviews can help boost a title’s ranking.
There’s a jokey adage going around among authors that if you get fifty reviews then Amazon ‘gives you a unicorn’ (ie the algorithm shows it to more potential buyers). I’m not sure how much truth there is in this, but a decent number of reviews is certainly going to improve a book’s performance on the website.
You don’t have to have bought the book from Amazon to review it there, though it will only let you do so if you’ve made other purchases.
If the thought of Amazon brings you out in a rash, it’s also really useful to leave reviews on Goodreads, Google Books, Bookbub, or other bookshop sites like Waterstones and Foyles. Or for a gold star, copy and paste your review to more than one!
2 Recommend it to a friend
Who would enjoy this book? Tell your bookish friends about it. If you use social media, post a picture of it. If you’re in a network such as Mumsnet that has discussion forums about books, mention it. People are more likely to buy a book if they see its cover more than once, so exposure is something that will really help an author.
3 Suggest it to a book club
If, like me, you’re in a book club (or three) then you may get the opportunity to suggest a title. Or perhaps your mum is in a book club and might be thinking about the next read.
Word of mouth is the most powerful form of publicity, so if you think the book raises some interesting topics and would make for a lively discussion, please do mention it.
If you’re a member of one of the many online book clubs (especially on facebook), then there are often ‘recommendations’ threads where you can post pictures of books you like.
4 Request it at the library
With several hundred thousand books published in the UK each year, libraries have a lot of choice. Most libraries give people the chance to request new books – you can often fill in a card at the desk, or request it using the online system. Library sales are of great importance to authors, and even the 8 pence or so that the writer gets from someone borrowing their book all helps.
5 Buy it
Sounds simple, but if people don’t buy books there’ll be no publishing industry and we’ll all end up staring at our phones in between clubbing each other to death (can you tell I’ve written a lot of dystopian stuff lately?!)
If you have money, please do consider buying books. If you don’t, you can always tick off number 4, and support your local library into the bargain.
Consider using hive.co.uk which supports independent bookshops and allows you to collect your book from a shop of your choice. If you really must buy from Amazon, authors often have affiliate links from their websites.
