25 Ways to Help Self-Published Authors

If anything is closer to an indie author's heart, then this spells it out. Originally posted in This College Dropout, I just had to re-blog it here.

25 Ways to Help Self-Published Authors

Courtesy of David Melchior Diaz via Flickr/PhotoPin

1. Buy a self-published book
2. Leave an honest review. (In fact, leave a review on more than one site!)
3. Thank the author publicly on social media.
4. Recommend the book to someone else.
5. Follow them on social media.
6. Engage with them on social media.
7. Ignore critics of the self-publishing industry.
8. Write your own good book.
9. Serve as a beta reader or reviewer for a book.
10. Write a blog post about the book.
11. Enter an author’s contest or giveaway.
12. Become a book blogger or reviewer.
13. Interview an author.
14. Refer any potentially good reviewers to an author.
15. Don’t obtain an illegal copy of the book.
16. Mention a book in a group or forum.
17. Offer your editing, formatting, or graphic design skills to an author.
18. Buy a second copy of the print version for a friend or for your local library.
19. Download a copy from Amazon’s Lending Library.
20. Invite an author to speak at a local event.
21. Purchase a copy of the book for a school or organization.
22. Nominate a book for a contest.
23. Suggest a book to an editor of a magazine or newspaper.
24. Ignore the label. Skip the “self-publishing” aspect. A good book is a good book. No self-publishing disclaimer is needed, unless asked.
25. Ignore the self-publishing hate.