How to Help an Author's Career

[truepenny]

Back when my career with Ace went belly up, a number of people asked what they could do to help. At the time, although I desperately appreciated the support, I didn't know what to say--and in any event, at that juncture the horse was already over the hill and far away and there was no point to mending the barn door. But now, I've got books out again, and I SWEAR TO GOD I AM GOING TO FINISH THIS NOVEL, and I have a couple things I've learned that readers can do to help any author's career.

1. Buy their books.
I know this looks obvious, but it doesn't hurt to say it again. If you like the author, buy their books. Or ask your local library (or libraries) to buy their books. And--and this is important--if they're writing a series, don't wait until the series is complete to buy their books. I understand the logic from the reader's end, but the problem is that publishers can't tell the difference between going to buy the book when the series is complete and not going to buy the book. It all looks the same in the sales figures for Book I. Which means that if you wait to buy Book I until Book V is out, odds are good that (a.) Book I won't be in print anymore and (b.), even worse, Book V may never get published at all. Buy the books when they're new, even if you don't read them right away. This benefits the author, whose numbers look better; this benefits the publisher, who is, hey, selling books; and in turn this benefits the reader, because Book V will get published after all.

2. Talk about their books.
This also looks obvious, but it also bears repeating. Because, actually, the one thing we know about how book-buying works is that it works best by word-of-mouth. People buy books because they hear other people (friends, relatives, bloggers, two guys on the bus, whatever) talking about them. So if you like a book, tell your friends. If you have a blog, blog about it. Share your enthusiasm. I don't mean this in a scary you-must-drink-the-Kool-Aid kind of way, and I'm certainly not saying that everyone who reads this must go out and proselytize MY books. But if you like an author enough that you want to help them keep authoring, spread the word. Give their books as gifts, even--which loops neatly back to Rule 1 and makes this a good place to end this post.

If you want to help an author's career, this is what I know about doing it.

Comments

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

It may be worth noting that The Bone Key was in Indigo in Montreal as of mid-last week. And I bought a copy.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you!

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

don't wait until the series is complete to buy their books.

That's a really interesting point. I tend to buy things as they come out and then hoard them, because I am obsessive that way, but I hadn't thought about that being a good thing to do as far as the author's sales. I shall continue doing it and not feel guilty about making my TBR pile bigger!

[mastadge.livejournal.com]

That's what I do too -- buy them as they come out and just wait to read them until the series is complete.

[larryhammer]

This.

[oceankitty1.livejournal.com]

Which probably is why I bought and read The Virtu before I managed to find a used copy of Melusine. I held on to The Virtu for weeks and I was desperate to start reading so I finally gave in. Then I bought The Mirador and Corambis before I was half finished. No way was I going to chance that they'd be out of print!

You are right. I work in a bookstore and I hate it when customers say: Oh, I love that author but I'll wait for the paperback. Or: A trilogy? And book two isn't due until next year? I'll wait.

And being a bibliophile I have a hard time understanding how they can be so incredibly patient.

[comrade-cat.livejournal.com]

I have all your other books, but I bought Somewhere Beneath Those Waves a couple weeks ago....amazon seems to be having trouble with the shipping (or the USPS does) though, in that from the tracking history it's stuck somewhere between Kentucky & New York & isn't on schedule. (Not a complaint to you, don't worry! Just a grumble to the universe.) And I am getting Bone Key for my friend for Yule. :)

[melonaise.livejournal.com]

It's been so exciting to see your books on the shelves at stores! I bought the Tempering of Men there even though I don't really like hardbacks, just so the store would know your books are in demand.

[marycatelli]

Buy their books for gifts when appropriate.

(Me, I buy books of webcomics that I read online. To encourage them.)

I did!

[annhed.livejournal.com]

I bought each Labyrinth book when it came out, and they are among my real favourites (and I have been reading fantasy/sf since the 1960s, so I have something to compare them to). I will buy the latest book as well, but I must admit that I prefer novels to short stories. So I really hope that there will be more novels! But thank you for the ones so far - I will reread them now and again.
/Anna

[tesseract-5.livejournal.com]

I feel so damned lucky in that I don't have to write to my senators since they both are way ahead of me on the issues that are important to me (go Al Franken!) AND my local library has the complete set of Melusine through Corambis with Corambis on display face out on the Sci-Fi shelves. <3 ! When I was a bookseller in a retail store, I rec'd the series right and left, and was pretty successful with The Bone Key. Easier to get people to pick up a book of Lovecraft-esque stories than ti try a new fantasy series. grr..

If publishers did a tenth of the promotion for authors that they do for their prize pigs, maybe they'd get a wider audience. Also, more local author promos would do some good I'd think. In the Twin Cities at least, local indies such as Magers and Quinn do a lot of local authors events. Uncle Hugo's is the sci-fi fantasy book specialists, but their space is so teeny.