Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Help save an author...

Readers, you can make a great difference and help writers keep writing. If you like a writer and their work, please buy their book. The sale of books is the measure the bookseller and publisher use to gauge the writer's value. They are commercial businesses and must sell sufficient product to keep their doors open. If you want to keep reading work from a particular person, buying their product will potentially help them keep writing and keep being published. If you really like them telling others about them will also help. If you cannot buy the book, talking about it is hugely helpful. Recommending it is even better.

If you are on the bones of your arts it is understandable if you would rather borrow from the library then buy a new book. If the library does not stock a particular title perhaps asking for it will encourage them to buy it. This is better than borrowing the book from a friend. In NZ every copy of a book held by a library potentially contributes to the total payment of the Public Lending Right to the author of the book (if they are NZers). Payment of this will also help them keep going.

Writer's can work hard on marketing and promotion of their books with little result. Their best advertising is you, the reader. If you like something, please talk about it. If you don't like a particular book, you don't have to say something negative about it. Saying nothing at all is probably more effective.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

On the other hand , saying something critical but constructive in a well thought out review process can be helpful - although one would hope the editorial staff at your publisher would do that.
Bookbrainz

Melinda Szymanik said...

Totally. I think bad press can almost be as helpful as good press. But no mention at all can result in the silent death of a book.

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