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.

Support For Indie Authors is Growing.

Since making the momentous decision to become an indie author, I've become more aware of the number of writers who are choosing to take this road to publication. It's not that we've never been offered a publishing contract - many of us have - it's that we simply don't want it!
Traditional publishing is on the reject pile, and the old stigma once associated with self-publishing is fast disappearing as professionally written and produced books are beginning to equal the number of traditionally published ones.
And what is more exciting, is that respected organisations, such as the RWA (Romance Writers of Australia), the ARRA (Australian Romance Readers Association) and Dark Side DownUnder, are now actively supporting indie authors. Why? Because they realise readers don't care how an author is published, as long as the story grips their imagination! And if it does, than they keep coming back for more and eventually develop into a loyal fan following.

Lately, I've been impressed by the number of indie author interviews and book reviews on both these well known sites, and as far as I'm concerned, they're now my source for finding some great reads. I tend to trust the veracity of reader reviews from organisations such as the AWA and the ARRA more so than the ones on Amazon. Why? Because they tend to weed out the trolls.
Only recently I've seen one such nasty troll attack a fellow author's work, out of - what I consider - pure spite; a sick-minded individual who enjoyed tearing down another writer in order to enhance their own twisted identity. And, unfortunately, there's a lot of them out there.

What do readers look for?

1. A great cover -  That old adage, "Never judge a book by its cover" was never more wrong, for it's precisely that which initially attracts a reader.

2. A great story - If an author is in love with their story, chances are, so will their readers. Better still, if it's part of a series.

3. Well written - A professionally written - and edited - book will attract and maintain a loyal fan base. Some readers may overlook bad writing, poor grammar, endless typos and a plethora of adverbs, but the majority won't.

So, to all the indie authors out there I say, keep writing and entertaining us with great books.
As for me, I'll be joining the ranks very soon - now that all the final proofs have been completed.
My debut book, Bloodgifted, Book 1 of The Dantonville Legacy, is due for release at the end of July on Amazon.