It's our love of reading that has us visiting (or haunting) libraries, bookstores, book blogs, and online bookstores. Personally, for me, I would add visiting their websites because you can find amazing deals, excerpts, contests, and all sorts of extra goodies. If you're a writer, you first learned to love reading before you even considered writing.
What can we, readers, do to show love of our favorite author's work? Elisabeth Naughton shares some ways we can make a difference and ensure we're able to continue reading more from our favorites.
First of all, thanks so much for inviting me to
stop by during my blog tour for ENRAPTURED. ENRAPTURED is the fourth book in my
Eternal Guardians series and recently garnered a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly and was named a Top
Ten Romance for Spring 2012.
One of the things authors struggle with is how to
get their books into the hands of readers who want to read them. There are so
many books out there right now to choose from–especially with the boom in the
Indie market. Does online advertising work? Do blog tours work? Do giveaways
work? We’re constantly asking ourselves this question because all of these
things—as fun as they can be—take away from what writers love and want to do,
which is write that next book. For me the hardest part of being a published
author is balancing the promotion side of writing with the actual writing. It’s
so easy to use up a whole day (like today!) doing promo for my most recent book
when what I need to be doing is writing the next
book in the series.
I get a lot of fan mail from readers telling me
how much they love my books, and while I truly enjoy hearing from them and
appreciate the fact they’ve taken the time to email me, I’ve started passing on
information telling them what they can do to help me out. Whether readers want
to “see” it or not, publishing is a business. Publishers don’t buy and publish
books, series and authors that aren’t selling. And the only way for an author
to increase her readership and guarantee there will be additional books down
the line is to sell more books.
If you’re a reader (or a writer who also loves to
read…which we all are), there are a number of things you can do to help your
favorite author sell more books, thereby guaranteeing he/she will continue to
write the stories you love.
1. Post a Review! Reviews help new readers find and buy books. If you love a series and want to see it continue, write a review so NEW readers can find the book too. Then publish your review at Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, etc. to guarantee it will be seen.
2. "Like" books on retail sites like Amazon. Overall rankings are based on a combination of "likes" and sales. The higher the ranking, the better odds new readers have to find the book and author.
3. Tell your friends! Give them a book to borrow, tell them about an amazing story or series. Talk about it via social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and your own blog (if you have one).
4. Sign up for the Author's newsletter so you can find out when the next great book is released. If you already get an author's newsletter, forward it to a friend you think might be interested.
5. Like the Author's Facebook page. Follow the author on Twitter. Get involved in their online community and spread your interest to your friends.
6. Join the Author's readers group - if the Author has one.
7. Form a street team – a group of readers who spread promo materials like bookmarks and trading cards to readers they think will love an author’s work.
Any
and all of these things help authors spread the word about books AND guarantee
those authors will keep writing the books you love. They also help cut down on
the amount of promo authors have to do from one book to the next so they can
focus on writing that next story you’re so eagerly waiting for. If you’re a reader who wants to help an
author continue writing, you can pick and choose from the list. All efforts are
appreciated on the author’s side. Trust me!
Thank
you so much to all the readers who have found my books, loved them and spread
the word! And thanks to all the readers who have bought ENRAPTURED so far! For
those who haven’t…what are you waiting for? Run out and buy it today!
Sourcebooks is giving away two copies of
my latest release, ENRAPTURED, to two lucky commenters today.
- Simply tell me what you've done lately to help spread the word about your favorite author or series.
ENRAPTURED BY ELISABETH NAUGHTON – IN STORES APRIL 2012
Orpheus—To most he's an enigma, a devil-may-care rogue who does whatever
he pleases whenever he wants. Now this loose cannon is part of the Eternal
Guardians—elite warriors assigned to protect the human realm—whether he likes
it or not.
Orpheus has just one goal: to rescue his brother from the
Underworld. He's not expecting a woman to get in the way. Especially not a
Siren as gorgeous as Skyla. He has no idea she's an assassin sent by Zeus to
seduce, entrap, and ultimately destroy him.
Yet Skyla herself might have the most
to lose. There's a reason Orpheus feels so familiar to her, a reason her body
seems to crave him. Perhaps he's not the man everyone thinks... The truth could
reveal a deadly secret as old as the Eternal Guardians themselves. EXCERPT
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Visit her:
www.elisabethnaughton.com to learn more about her and her books. Her next book in the Eternal Guardians series, Enslaved, will be in stores in November 2012.
