It's Monday again and that usually means book review time on my site, but I am still in transit from the Iowa City Book Festival I attended this past weekend. Being that as it may, I could not leave you without a post of some kind, so I am re-sharing author advice I handed out in 2011. Think of it as recycling of classic material which never goes out of style. And I promise, I will have an extra post later this week sharing pictures from my trip!
Five Ways To Help Yourself By Helping Others
Often authors think of other authors in terms of competition. And while this is true in some sense, it is much more helpful to think of other authors as partners and support systems. The old saying what goes around comes around is very true. When you help others, they are inclined to help you also. Below are five ways that you can help yourself by helping other authors.
1. Offer to do book reviews for your fellow authors. Book reviews posted on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, Library Thing, and Shelfari not only help other authors spread the word about their book, but usually will be reciprocated.
2. Share marketing tips that work well for you. Knowledge is meant to be shared not horded. When you share tips, not only are you helping others, but you are branding yourself. You are promoting yourself as a caring individual who wants others to succeed in life as well.
3. Promote similar books by fellow authors on your website or blog. One great way to do this is to add an Amazon widget to your site. My favorite is the Amazon carousel which is a rotating collection of books with prices and links. When you sign up to become an Amazon associate and someone buys a book through your link you earn a small commission. There's even a helpful video on this subject by marketing guru Tony Eldridge.
4. Offer words of encouragement to other authors. This costs absolutely nothing and helps bolster moral. Many times a small word of encouragement has helped me to forge ahead when instead I felt like giving up.
5. Include other authors in your social networking. For those of you who belong to Facebook or Twitter, share a fellow author's link or tweet about other authors on #Writers Wednesday or #Follow Friday. Not only does this help your author friends, it also gives you a broader base of potential followers. People who follow your fellow authors may see and follow you as well.
There you have it my friends, five really simple things you can do for others that will benefit you as well. And in case you were wondering about the fabulous clip art that is a staple on my site, It is created by the wonderful Phillip Martin.
Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my sequel, Return To Fern Valley! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.
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