How to Help an Author

Seeing our stories published is the dream most of us writers have. When our comrades realize that dream, we want to see them succeed. Some say such success is in the stars. I say take heart. We can help align those stars. Melissa Maygrove is here to show us how.

• If you’re going to buy a book, buy it on release day if at all possible.
• The second best time to buy is during a 99c or free e-book promotion. A surge of downloads in a single day boosts the book up in the rankings. And be sure to...
• Buy a new or e-copy. The author gets nothing if the reader buys used.
• Buy a similar, popular book by a big name author together in the same purchase. Some sites make suggestions based on previous customer purchases (‘Customers who bought this item also bought...’). This kind of purchase pairing gets the lesser-known author’s book and name in front of more potential customers.
• Consider giving copies as gifts (paper or e-book). You’ll make both the author AND the recipient happy.
• Don’t return a book unless it was a mistaken purchase or there’s a technical problem. The average author would starve if they had to live off the revenue from their book sales. Reading and returning is not cool.
• Like it? Leave a positive review on as many retailer sites as you can. (Amazon’s algorithms are based, in part, on the number of reviews; and some promotion options are not available to authors until their books attain a certain number of reviews.) Book reviews aren’t difficult to write, and they don’t have to be long. Just give a summary of your general impression at the beginning, then mention more specifically what you liked and what you felt the author did well (Did they create likeable characters who stuck with you? Did they pace the story in a way that kept you reading? Did they design a clever and / or fresh plot?). Do avoid story spoilers or give a forewarning. When you’re ready to wrap it up, cap it off with a short, enthusiastic recommendation at the very end.
• Tell your friends about it. Word of mouth sells books.
• Add it to your Goodreads page.
• Post about it on your blog and / or share it on social media, such as FB or Twitter.

 

Native Texan Melissa Maygrove is a wife, mother, nurse, freelance editor, and romance writer. When she's not busy caring for her tiny nursery patients or shuttling teenagers back and forth to after-school activities, she's hunched over her laptop, complicating the lives of her imaginary friends and playing matchmaker. Melissa loves books with unpretentious characters and unforgettable romance, and she strives to create those same kinds of stories for her readers.

Website / Blog / Facebook / Twitter

Sometimes a single choice

alters the course of a person’s life forever.

Release day: May 12^th!