I have found the writing community very helpful,
especially the blogging community. Everyone is so eager to share helpful
writing tips, writing resources and other writing related information. When a
blogging buddy’s book is released, we all share in the happiness. It always
feels nice to see a writer friend’s book reviews, blog tours and interviews on all
our blogs.
There are many ways we can help writers. I know that we all have time constraints and cannot afford to critique many books (I feel bad when I say no to authors who want me to critique their books). I already have a couple of critique partners and between critiquing their books and writing my own and my teaching and free-lance writing, I have no time. And I won’t be able to do justice If I take on more work.
But I am always eager to help other writers in my own
small way. I am ever ready to critique a few chapters, their synopsis, query
letters and pitches. As these require less time, I do it often especially via
Twitter and Facebook. Many writers when they enter Twitter Pitch contests DM me
their pitches and I help them tweak and polish the pitches.
And if an Indie writer Tweets about their book release
I Retweet them. It’s so important to help other writers, especially the ones
published by small presses, as they don’t have the marketing budget of the Big Six.
I read on Twitter that its very helpful if we leave
book reviews on Amazon and other sites. I have done a few. Favourable book
reviews is a good way to promote books. And I am big on word of mouth
publicity. If I have liked a book I recommend it to everyone I know (except
stopping people on the roads and telling them about it).
I also make it a point to give books as gifts. It’s so
important to help the publishing industry survive.
As I know for a certainty that you all help other writers, I
will just ask you all, are there any other ways in which we can help writers?
Support and advice are my preferred way of helping writers, but I also buy their books when I can.
ReplyDeleteYou've covered most of it. I don't do a lot of reviews, if only because I am a very slow reader. I do buy my blogger buddies' books though. And spread the word.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're doing a great job helping writers. I do what I can to help on my blog too through sharing advice and the agent query critiques.
ReplyDeleteI like to try and leave supportive and encouraging comments on blogs. Sometimes, we need people to celebrate with us, other times we need people to commiserate.
ReplyDeleteRachna, you're definitely a positive presence in other people's lives. I felt it strongly when you were a guest on my blog. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI try to help other writers by featuring their guest posts on my blog and convincing more Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers members to guest post on the RMFW Blog. I do my best to post reviews to Goodreads and Amazon when I read a book I really like...but I admit I'm very far behind on that project (both the reading and the reviewing). And I buy books. I can't help it. I'm a hopeless book addict, so I try to help our local authors as well as my non-local favorites.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you wholeheartedly. The only other thing I can think of to do is to recommend specific books to people who write in a certain vein, whether that recommendation is from a small press, self-pubbed, or from a Big Five (Penguin and Random House have merged) publisher.
ReplyDeleteReviews are always great. I try to do as many as possible, but I can never keep up with the writers I'm in contact with. They are a prolific group!
ReplyDeleteYou've done a lot for writers. That's amazing. All of those things truly make a difference for writers. I do all I can as well. We all should. :)
ReplyDeleteYou've hit the nail on the head here. The writing community is wonderful. I too, feel badly when I turn down an author's request to critique or review their book. But we do what we can, even if it is simply cheering them on in the journey. :)
ReplyDeleteAll of those are great ideas. We can also request our local library carry the book and hand out bookmarks to friends.
ReplyDeleteOnce again late duie a recent travel, but always good to read the pearls of wisdom here, Rachna!
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I do my best to support other authors, and really, if we don't support each other, who will?
ReplyDeleteI believe in doing all of this. I've received amazing support from other writers and I like to think I support many through my tweets, posts, reviews, and books purchased.
ReplyDeleteB nice article on Blogging. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteNice
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