SUPPORTING FELLOW AUTHORS

There’s nothing that makes me feel better than supporting fellow authors. I do it through mentoring and through my blog here at Fred Central. I do it by plugging them wherever I feel appropriate on social media and elsewhere.

I do it by also buying and reviewing their books.

However…

BUYING BOOKS

As much as I like to support my fellow authors, for practicality reasons, I have to be choosy about which books I buy. I can’t afford to buy every book by every author friend I know.

To be blunt, some books I know aren’t going to be very good. I’ve either heard or read parts of these books and know what they’re going to be like.

On the other hand, there are those that are in a genre or point of view I don’t read. Nothing against the person, but even though I support them, I won’t buy their book because it’s written in first-person, it’s heavily omniscient, it’s present-tense, or it’s a subject matter I’d never EVER read.

There’s just so much money I can afford to fork out for books.

Besides, I could not in good conscience give them a glowing review for something I clearly don’t like.

I WOULD EXPECT THE SAME FROM THEM

I expect the same from my fellow authors as well. I know most of them don’t read what I write. Besides, many of them have already heard my stories at the writer’s group meetings. Plus, certain of them I’ve given copies of my books as thank you’s for their support, knowing full well they’ll never actually read it.

On the other hand, I have lots of writer acquaintances and I don’t expect them to buy my book and review it just because I know them. I’m pretty sure they don’t expect the same from me either.

On the other hand, I DO support and plug my fellow authors whenever I’m out and about. It’s all part of networking.

When I hear from readers looking for a particular genre and I know of a fellow writer that has one in the can, I’m sure to mention their book before I cite the well-known authors. They can always look the big ones up on their own. It’s a lot harder to find those of us in the trenches!

WE’RE NOT IN THE BIG SIX

We’re not in the big six of the publishing world, so we need to support each other any way we can. I always try to do my part.

If you have a book with a subject I’m interested in, it’s written in solid third-person, past-tense, and is NOT omniscient, I may just buy it from you. If it has a good positive ending, I’ll probably give it a great review as well. If it’s bad, I’ll more than likely not review it at all. That doesn’t mean I won’t support you in other ways, though.

We’re all in this together and the worst part of this whole process is the marketing. We have to help market each other. Just by giving a good word or mentioning each other now and then does a world of good, even if we don’t read what you write, or particularly like your style.

SUMMARY

I buy books at the bookstore all the time. Granted, they’re usually from the big six. However, I’m supporting them as fellow authors as well, because even though they have a big machine behind them, they’re still just like us. If you happen to write something I’m interested in and it’s written in the style I read, I’ll certainly give it a try as well.

Happy writing!