15 1/2 Ways Readers Can Support Indie Authors

Lonely Indie Author

Several people have caught onto BUY LOCAL slogans, and supporting Ma & Pop Shops. How much has supporting Indie Authors caught on? How can we expedite and support that? I tend to try to find an Indie Book over other books. I have vowed to buy one Indie Book a month. I just bought two Indie Books this month.

There are several sites to connect Indie Authors, but I wonder if the word is getting out to readers. Do readers even care? As an Indie Author, of course, I do think they should care. Just one blog, Twitter, post at a time we can encourage people to help an author out!

Encourage your friends, families, and fans to not only follow you but another Indie author. I will write another post on Indie Authors Supporting Indie Authors.

Here are some easy ways that readers can support Indie Authors:

1. Buy their Books. Most of the time ebooks are have the right price $.99 to $3.99. You spend more on breakfast. When I was first marketing my ebook I had family members, and so-called good friends say, "I don't have an ereader" or "I only read real books." Then another friend pointed out to me, "Umm it is only $2.99. They can buy it to support you, and not even read it." I would do that for a friends, family or acquaintance. Wouldn't you? I challenge you. Set a goal to buy a certain amount of Indie Authored Books a year.

2. Read their book.

3. Leave a review on the site from which you bought it and cut & paste to put on all of these sites that apply: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobi, Diesel, etc.

4. Leave feadback on GoodReads. Put the book on your book shelf.

5. Comment on Facebook, Twitter, StumpbleUpon, and/or your blog about the book before, during, and after the book.   You might draw other readers into the book.
5.5 Write about the progress on your book on #FridayReads.

6. Write a review in a newspaper, newsletter, magazine, or other periodical. This takes some more time and effort, but would help-out the author.

7. Highlight a quote or passage on your Kindle and let it go public.

8. Read the book in public. If is a hard copy of the book, the cover will speak for itself. If it is an ebook, people might ask you what you are reading. Tell them the book and the author. Laugh out loud and say things like, "Wow, I did not see that coming!" "This is brilliant." "When is her next book coming out." Okay, you don't have to be THAT dramatic . . . just reading it should be enough.

9. Contact the writer and give feedback. Was there a mistake in the book, do you have a suggestion, and/or are you a fan for life?

10. Offer to help with marketing. This could be in the form of helping on a book tour, handing out flyers, handing out book marks, putting a bumper sticker on your car, etc.

11. Do an interview or feature about the author on your blog.

12. Reserve the book at your library. Recruit friends and strangers to do so. If there are many people requesting the book, this could prompt the library to buy more.

13. Buy the book and give it away as gifts. You know you get stuck on what to buy people. Just have it be your signature gift. You know otherwise you will end up buying another mug, scarf, sweatshirt, picture frame, or  ENTER ANY OTHER TOKEN GIFT. If you contact the author he/she might even sign them and personalize them for your family, friends, Secret Santa at work, etc.

14. Talk about it with everyone.

• Friends- "If you were a good friend you would buy this book."
• Family- "This reminds me of the summer we spent by the lake and I punched you in the face."
• Co-Workers- "How was your weekend? Mine was spent in the year 1872 . . ."
• Doctor- "I would feel better if I could just find out a way that Clyde would fix that time machine before the Zombies take over the planet."
• Partner- "I am not mowing the lawn until you read up to Chapter 22."
• Cashier- "You haven't read this book? You have to. . . "

15. EVERY TIME you go into a bookstore ask an employee to help you find it. Chuck Sambachino had this great idea in a Writer Unboxed article HERE. This is a great idea. This way the employees get to know where the book is, you can talk to them about the book and why it is so great as he/she is helping you find it, and he/she might promote the books to others.

Here are other great posts on the subject.
20 Easy Ways Readers Can Help Promote Authors
Writer Unboxed: Helping Authors
How to Help Your Favorite Authors
10 Ways Readers Can Help Authors

Coming soon! Stay tuned for my post on Indie Authors Supporting Indie Authors.

How else do you recommend supporting Indie Authors?