Supporting authors when your heart is bigger than your wallet

As we look forward to a new year, I'm thinking about all the books I'm anticipating in the coming year.

I'm sure you know there are a LOT of great books for kids and teens coming out in the coming months. A lot as in hundreds and hundreds, many of them by debut authors who need all the help and support they can get. Unfortunately, most of us can't really buy hundreds of books each and every year. So I thought I'd post a list of ways we can support our fellow authors in other ways besides purchasing the book. When we can buy the book, wonderful! But when we can't, we can do other things that will help the author in the long run. I'm sure you know most of these, but I thought it might be a nice reminder for all of us, me included!

Lisa's Top 9 list of ways to support your author friends

1. Ask your public library to order a copy. There's a box at my library where you can request titles for purchase. Some libraries have it on-line. It really only takes a minute to do it. Usually you can request that the library reserve the title for you once they order it. That way you're first on the list to read it!

2. If you see an interesting interview or a great review about an author you know, tweet about it or put the link in your blog and point people there. Stuff like this is much more interesting when it comes from someone besides the author herself.

3. E-mail the author and ask if he/she has any bookmarks or postcards you could pass out to teachers, librarians, friends, etc.

4. If you can take a couple of minutes to write even a short review after you've read a book, and then put that review up on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, those reviews can be incredibly helpful to an author, especially if you liked the book.

5. Have a few book lists ready in your purse or wallet, in case a conversation comes up where you have a chance to give some recommendations. This happened to me just the other night, when a girl said she was done with BREAKING DAWN and didn't know what to read next. Word of mouth is HUGE, especially for authors that aren't well known, so be ready when the opportunity strikes!

6. If you go to an author's event, take a picture and post it to social media. If it's a really good picture, maybe try submitting it to the Publisher's Weekly Children's Bookshelf on-line newsletter.

7. Make a list on Amazon, and put your favorite books in a certain genre, or favorite books of the year, or ten books you're really excited about in the coming year, whatever. People DO read those lists!

8. If you have a kid's birthday party to go to, give a book! Combine it with something else, if you'd like, to make it more fun and interesting, but buying books as gifts is really a win-win situation, right? Good for the kid, ultimately, if he/she ends up reading it, and good for the author and publishing industry.

9. Respond to questions on Goodreads, Amazon, twitter, etc. and recommend new titles. I often see the same titles being recommended over and over again, and while I know that's because they are GOOD books, there are other books, not well known, that could be getting some well-deserved air time too.

Are there any other good ones you can think of?