Four Ways to Support Other Writers

By W. Terry Whalin

Writing is a solitary profession. Alone we sit at our keyboard and write words—maybe for a magazine or a book or a website. So why would you even want to support other writers?     

Bestselling author, Zig Ziglar said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” As you support other writers, your life will be richer and you will see remarkable and often unexpected results. I’ve been working with writers for many years.

In this article, I want to give you four simple ways to support other writers. While I personally practice these ways, I encourage you to pick one or two which you can do on a regular basis.

1.      Write reviews of any book you read or hear. Depending on the book, it is often hard to get book reviews. It’s why I’ve written over 850 reviews on Amazon. Any book that I read or hear the audiobook, I take a few minutes and write a few sentences of review. As a writer, I’m always reading books and when I finish the book, it doesn’t take much time to write the review but other writers will appreciate your support.

2.      As you read the blog posts from others, make a short yet relevant comment. Sometimes with blogging, you wonder if anyone is reading and your relevant comment will encourage the writer. The key concept is to make a “relevant” comment and tie it to the content of the blog post. I often get unrelated comments for my blog which are never posted and deleted as SPAM.

3.      Use Social media retweets. When you read a solid blog post, magazine article, Facebook post or tweet, pass it onto others. Often there a simple buttons to facilitate this effort but you will help other writers when you pass on this information.

4.      Introduce writers to each other. In the writing world, who you know is often as important as what you know. A simple email introducing a writer to someone else can help that person make the right connection. It could change the direction of their writing life.

As writers, we need each other. Our writing may be in isolation but taking these actions can be a difference maker in the life of other writers.

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W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in Colorado. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook, his blog and LinkedIn.

A Great Way to Promote Your Book . . . Or

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief for Southern Writers Magazine 

Many authors are not comfortable trying to influence people to buy their books. So, what does an author do?

Promote another author’s book. Yes, you heard right.

When having lunch with a friend or coffee–– visiting, getting up to date on each other, why not bring up the subject of a book you’ve just read. Tell them how much you enjoyed the book; point out tidbits of interest. Maybe share how you didn’t want to put it down. Perhaps you hated for it to end because you fell in love with the characters, the story. Your word of mouth can prompt your friend to buy another author’s book.

The nice part of this, you are helping a fellow author. You’re not out on an island by yourself. And it is okay to promote other authors and their work.

One of the things authors could do, is to help each other. Try it. If you know an author, talk to them about being a partner with you. They promote your book and you will promote their book.

Here are some ways you can promote another author and they can promote you:

Each write a blog post about each other’s book. Tell your readers why you like the book. How you felt reading the book; about a character that stuck out in your mind and the qualities or traits that meant a lot to you. Use emotion to describe the characters, the book. Tell just enough to get their interest. “Don’t give away the ending.”

Invite each other to visit on your blogs, and ask questions about the writing of the book.

Put a copy of each other’s book on the websites and/or blogs, and link the books to the Amazon page.

Another thing you can do, each of you send emails to your friends, telling them about a book you just read. Why you thought it was great. Peak their interest in the author. Share enough emotion that will lead them to want to get the book.

If you know how, put the photo of the cover of the book, title, and link it to the Amazon page or the author’s website.

I would much rather have one of my friends tell me about a book they enjoyed and recommended, wouldn’t you? Then I feel it is worth my buying.

There is an old saying, the more you help people get what they want the more you will get what you want. The point––helping someone else first.

Now find an author friend and pair up helping each other promote each other’s books. Just think…when you get this working between just you two then you can add a third author to your group, then a fourth and, well you get the picture.

Happy Promoting!