How to Support Your Favorite Authors

We readers love books and the authors that write them. Because the process of writing and revising a novel is difficult, reader support and encouragement means so much. Here are ten ways you can support your favorite authors and encourage them to keep sharing their stories.

Financial Support

1. Buy your favorite author’s books, courses, and other products.

We writers create our art to share our stories and ideas with the world, but it is not cheap to produce a book. So if you want to support an author, buy their stuff.

Already own a copy? Buy one for someone else! A signed copy of a book makes an excellent gift.

2. Buy direct.

If an author has a store on their website, consider buying directly from them. They will get a larger percentage of the royalties, and will receive payment much quicker.

If they aren’t set up to sell directly yet, you can support them by using their affiliate links. When you use an affiliate link, they earn a small fee for referring you. Bonus, it costs you nothing extra to use the link.

3. Request a book from your indie bookstore.

Another way to support your favorite authors is to purchase their books through your local bookstore. Not only will the author receive a royalty from the sale, if the bookstore receives enough requests, they may stock the book.

With luck, the bookseller may even write a review or put it in an “Employee Pick” section which will lead new readers to it.

4. Become a Patron.

Another way to support your favorite authors is joining their Patreon community, contributing to a Kickstarter or GoFundMe campaign, or leaving a tip via Ko-fi or Paypal. While tossing creatives a couple of dollars here and there might not feel you’re doing much, the impact is cumulative.

I support several authors on Patreon, and my small contributions, along with a small contribution from a couple of hundred (or thousand) other people, add up to a lot of encouragement.

No-Cost Support

No cash? No problem! Here are six more ways to support your favorite authors that won’t cost you a dime.

5. Write a Book Review.

Book reviews are the number one way you can support your favorite writers.

For authors, every review of our books helps to increase their visibility, which means we can spend more time writing and less time marketing. So if you want your favorite author to get more books out faster, writing book reviews is one way to make that happen!

There are some marketing opportunities that aren’t even open for books with fewer than 50 reviews, so if you love a book, tell the world. You can post reviews on Amazon or the retailer where you purchased the book, Goodreads, on your personal blog, on your Instagram account, or via your library’s catalogue. Even better, copy and paste that review in all the places!

Today, I received my first two-star rating on Amazon. There was no text to accompany the rating, so I don’t know why they didn’t like the book, but I still appreciate that someone took the time to consider my art and provide feedback.

6. Share your thoughts.

What you think matters, so after you’ve written your review, tell your friends about it! Social proof goes a long way to convincing other people to pick up a book, so if you tell your friends about a book you loved, and they tell their friends, your actions create a ripple effect of support for the writer.

Nominate a book to your book club, recommend it to your friends and colleagues, or create and share fan art inspired by the story or characters.

7. Join Their Email List.

Most authors cultivate an email list of people interested in our work. We use these email lists to send out newsletters, offers, and otherwise interact with our readers. Joining an author’s email list is a great way to support your favorite authors, ensuring you’ll see when they have events, when they are speaking, when they have new books or stories out, and when they hold giveaways.

My newsletter goes out monthly, and in each one I ask a question. I enter everyone who answers into a drawing for a $10 Amazon gift card. My subscribers have also helped picked my profile shots, received a free prequel short story, and even got a sneak-peek of my book cover.

8. Follow authors on book-related platforms.

Bookbub, Goodreads, and Amazon all allow you to follow authors. These platforms use this metric to decide how relevant a particular writer is to other patrons. For example, if you follow a number of thriller writers, and a new thriller author comes onto the platform, the system may suggest you might also enjoy their work. Likes and follows can affect an author’s visibility, so be sure you follow your favorite writers.

9. Library Requests.

One of the simplest things you can do is search your library’s catalogue to see if your favorite author’s books are available. If they aren’t, request them!

Many libraries purchase books based on patron requests, and authors receive royalties from these sales. But even better, once the book is available in the library, there’s a much greater chance other patrons will read the stories. With luck, these new readers will also write reviews and provide support and encouragement.

If your favorite book is already available, check to see if you can request it in another format. Many libraries will pick up the ebook version first, but patrons can request additional formats, such as paperbacks, hardbacks, or audiobook versions of the book.

10. Engage.

When you are a new writer, it really feels like you’re creating content for no one. Blog posts go unread, email newsletters are unopened, podcasts have no subscribers, and book sales may flounder.

Guess what? Your support matters.

So, reply to the emails your favorite authors send out. Comment on their blog posts. Consider joining their beta reader or ARC teams. Subscribe to their podcast and email list. Follow and engage with them on their social media accounts.

My readers help with my creative process because they help create the positive and supportive environment that allows me to keep writing the books and series my readers love.
— Kailin Gow

As a new author, all the things listed above have encouraged me. It’s so much easier to keep creating and sharing your art when you feel supported. So if you value the time and effort your favorite authors put into creating content, show them! How do you support your favorite authors?

Header Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash