5 gifts for readers to give to authors

Authors love it when readers buy our books. It's expensive to be an author, probably more than you would think. We're business people. Manufacturers of stories. We want our customers to enjoy our products--books--and we know that, for readers who have a serious "book addiction", it can be expensive for you, too.

So I'm going to suggest 5 things you can do that have no cost but your time. And they're easy. All they take are a few words or the click of a mouse.

Tell a friend. If you enjoyed a book, tell a friend who might enjoy it, too. Let them know why. You could say things like...

• I know you love American history, and this time-travel story is so well-researched.
• I have another Pride & Prejudice retelling to recommend.
• I think you'd really like this new mystery author, with all his twisty plot points and none of the gore.

Tell a teacher or a book club.  Do you know any people in book clubs? Any middle or high school English teachers? They are looking for good books to read or for their students to read. Suggest the books you love, especially if the books have lower "discoverability." Hundreds of thousands of titles release each year. Books from authors with a big fan base will be noticed. Books with big marketing pushes behind them will be noticed. But many great books will get lost in the noise. So if you enjoyed a small book, a quiet book, a book that deserves to be noticed more than it has been, recommend it to people who are actively seeking new and amazing stories.

LIKE a positive review. This one is so easy. Go on a site with reviews, such as Amazon or Goodreads. Find a positive review that seems to reflect a story well, and click LIKE. Simple, no cost, and helpful. That positive review is more likely to be seen now. That's because the number of LIKEs influence where the review appears by default. Reviews with lots of LIKEs "float to the top." You could really be helping an author by helping that good review to leave a first impression on potential readers.

Request it from the library. Libraries have limited budgets, so they have to make careful choices on how to spend them. They have to predict what their patrons want to read. If you request a book, you are telling them what you want to read--and they don't have to guess any longer!

Be social. Let us know you're there. Send us a fan letter through email; we all have contact forms on our websites. LIKE us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Find us on Bookbub or Instagram. Subscribe to our newsletters. With all of the way there are to control what you see on social media, you won't get overwhelmed with content. (Well, there is a gotcha with Facebook. FB generally only sends an author's postings to 10% of her followers, so you might not see them often.)

There you are. 5 ways to give back to your favorite authors--and they don't cause anything but time.

Opinions from readers - what jacket copy should reveal

Readers, I'd love to know your opinions about how much you want revealed in jacket copy (the blurb on the back cover that hopes to interest you in the book).

If something happens in the book that could be a trigger for you (for instance, abuse), would you want the jacket copy to hint at that? Or do most readers check out reviews to see if there are any trigger warnings?
 
I'll assume that you wouldn't want spoilers for the book. But if it's in a series--and it's not the first book--should the jacket copy stay away from spoilers from previous books? Or do readers expect that spoilers from earlier books might pop up and, therefore, only read the copy if they don't care about spoilers?

my new favorite readers

I am in revisions for the second book in the I Wish series.  Four beta-readers have given me fabulous feedback on Wishing for You, and it's now in the hands of my editor.  One more round of revisions and that book might be done!

Two of my teen beta-readers live nearby.  We met for ice cream this weekend, and we talked about books (usually mine) and relationships and what makes a YA story good. When I asked them for suggestions for the final book in the I Wish series, their ideas were so good.

One of the best parts of the visit, though, was seeing how smart, articulate, polite, and knowledgeable teens can be.  I have two daughters (formerly teens) and I've always thought they were pretty special. But it's lovely to know that maybe--just maybe--their whole generation is pretty special, because the teens I've met since I became an author have been truly amazing. (Thank you, E&S!)

Rest easy, America.

My first fan letter

I have received my first fan letter. It was written by the 20-something granddaughter of a long-time colleague and friend. (I suspect I've known him about as long as she's been alive.)

Sarah received a copy of my book for Christmas. I'm not sure what she must've thought as she opened that gift. (Really, Grandpa? A book?) She tells me (through her letter) that she has not read much for pleasure in recent years.

I totally get that. My two daughters struggled with the same problem in middle- and high-school. Novels assigned to them in English classes were often long, slow-paced, and boring. It frustrated me as a parent because, while I understood the goal of having kids cover 'the classics,' I hated that my girls were so turned off by books that they simply stopped reading.

Sarah says that Whisper Falls helped her experience the joys of reading. Wow. I'm delighted, honored, and humbled to learn that she feels that way.

I won't copy her entire letter here (because I love it and I don't like to share. :) But there are a few quotes I don't think she'd mind if I passed along.

"For the first time in my life while reading, I laughed, cried, got angry, felt warm inside ... I didn't want it to end."

"While I was reading the book, I seemed to realize how much we take for granted, such as ice cream, a warm bath, and a bed with sheets and blankets. I lay in the bed now, thankful for all that I have ..."

"It was amazing to me that I could get so involved in words on a piece of paper, but it felt great."

Sarah's letter made me a little teary-eyed when I read it this morning. It makes me teary-eyed now.  It's thrilling to know that she enjoyed this book and that she wants to read more.

Most authors don't make all that much money on their stories. 85% of us have to show up at our day jobs to afford to keep writing. But we do it anyway, because we are compensated in ways too glorious to miss. Like our first fan letters.

Thank you, Sarah. Readers like you are the reason I write.