How can I support a book?

I have had lots of questions from lovely family and friends about how best they can support my book when it’s published, and books in general! So I thought I would write a blog post to help everyone spread the word about books they have loved.

Buy, Buy, Buy!!

Obviously the main way you can support an author is to buy their book! Pre-orders are really helpful because they help retailers decide how many copies to order into their stores, they can raise a book’s ranking on sites like Amazon so the site might place the book in a more prominent position and they also help publishers see how well a book might do and they might promote it even more as a result!

If you can afford to then buying more than one copy and gifting it to friends and family is a great way to raise sales and also spread the word about the book. Which leads us nicely to the next thing you can do to help …

Tell the world!!

If you’ve enjoyed a book then the best thing you can do is tell people about it! So, let’s talk reviews. Reviews are REALLY important because they help people make buying decisions but they also make a book more visible. Let’s use Amazon as an example – once a book achieves a certain number of reviews (I think it might be 20 plus) then they make the book more visible on their site so they might suggest it to people when they buy something similar or they might include it in their recommendation emails. It’s like the saying that money makes money – the more reviews and sales a book has, the more it will likely get!

So, you can leave a review on the site you bought the book on (Waterstones, Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, WH Smith all let you leave reviews), or if you have a Goodreads account you can leave one there, if you’re a book blogger you will post on your own site or a simple tweet or Facebook status or Instagram photo of the book can do so much to make the book more visible online. The more people see a book being well received, the more likely they are to want to read it for themselves. I buy so many books based on people I follow on Twitter talking about it – it really works.

Word-of-mouth is still probably the best way that book can reach the bestseller lists. If you love a book – tell the world that you love it!

Help others buy!!

The more visible a book is, the more people will discover it so you can help by going into your local bookshop and suggesting they order it in because you loved it, for example. If you’re a bookseller yourself, then making a prominent display or inviting the author to sign copies / do an event is a brilliant way of helping the book be a big success!

Another really helpful thing you can do is visit your local library and ask them to order it in so people can borrow it as well.

If you’re in a book club then suggest your group reads that book one month. This means more copies sold but also more people talking about it too.

Show the author!!

A lovely way of showing your support for a book is to keep your eyes peeled for it and then take pictures. Authors love seeing their book ‘out in the wild’ so if you spot the book in a bookshop or a supermarket or at a train station or airport then take a picture! Then you can share the photo on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc so show how excited you were to spot it.

The same goes for author interviews in the press or if you see the book being reviewed in a magazine or newspaper. Telling the author you’ve seen it will be really appreciated. Plus you’ll be showing your family and friends that you’re not the only one who loves this book!

And don’t forget a simple message to the author telling them that you loved their book will no doubt make their day!

Do you guys have any other ideas for supporting a book?

Victoria

xoxo