Indie Publishing – Lessons Learned & Still Learning

by Jodie Renner, editor, author, speaker

Once we take the plunge to self-publish our books, it's the start of a never-ending learning process as we try to keep on top of new developments and learn through trial and error. Mainly, we all want to avoid (too many) negative reviews and sell lots of books, right? And find the time to promote while writing the next book!

Still trying to decide which route to go? Check out my blog post, Pros, Cons, & Steps for Publishing Your Own Book on Amazon.

I published my first book myself on Amazon in July 2012, and it’s been a steep learning curve since then. Here are some tips I’ve learned from working with other authors and writing & publishing my own nonfiction books, which other newbie indie publishers can learn from, and some pitfalls to avoid. And a few relatively new initiatives you might want to try.

~ Get your book critiqued and edited before publishing. Get some savvy reader friends to tell you where it excited and intrigued them and where it dragged. Then revise and get a professional critique and/or edit. Even editors need an editor.

~ Get your book properly formatted before publishing it. Weird formatting is annoying to readers.

~ Get a professional cover design and some opinions on it before publishing. I’ve seen some really awful or just blah cover designs on Amazon that have to be hurting sales. Post two or three possible cover designs on Facebook or your blog and get readers to vote on which one they like best. That also involves readers and creates anticipation for the book, both pluses.  

~ Be sure your title grabs readers and also tells them what your book is about (especially important for nonfiction). I've recently decided I should have chosen a different title for my Style That Sizzles & Pacing for Power, as I don’t think it immediately tells a potential reader what the book is about. So after the book has been out for almost a year and a half, I’ve decided to change the title to Fire up Your Fiction (thanks to John Kurtze for suggesting I take that from the title of my recent blog post, “Fire up Your Fiction with Foreshadowing”). I’m keeping the same cover design and also making it very clear in the first few pages that it’s the same book. I hope I
get to keep all my great reviews on Amazon (64, average of 4.8 stars) with the new title! Not to mention the two awards this book has received.
To learn from that mistake of mine, take your time choosing just the right title before publishing. Brainstorm a lot of possibilities and run them past trusted, savvy friends.  

~ To change the title of a book that's already published on Amazon, don't create a new listing. Just go into your existing book and click on "Change book details" and change the title there. That way you get to keep all your reviews and links! (I added this point later after I made the mistake of creating a new listing on Amazon-Kindle and they told me I couldn't transfer the reviews because the two books had different titles. So I changed the title in the existing listing, then deleted the new one I'd created, to avoid confusion. And of course the fact that it's the same book, just with a different title, is noted in the description and on the back cover and in the first pages, inside the book!

~ Get your own “real” ISBN for your books, rather than a CreateSpace-assigned ISBN. Because I’m changing the title of my Style That Sizzles book, I need to get a new ISBN for it. But for several other very good reasons, notably increased distribution and visibility offered by the IBPA and IngramSpark (more below), I need a universally accepted ISBN, not the limited free one CreateSpace assigns. So now I have to go through that whole process again and wait for the new ISBN before I can re-release my book under the new title.

~ To save time and money, try to  have your self-published e-books and print books formatted in a form that is editable by you. Because chances are high that you and/or your readers will find at least a few typos, inconsistencies, or other errors. This means you may need to learn more about formatting.

~ If you revise and improve your published book, notify Amazon right away. If you request it, they’ll send out an email to everyone who bought the original (slightly flawed) e-book, and those people can all upload the revised version instantly and for free. I got busy and didn’t do that last June when I did a substantial revision of my first e-book, Writing a Killer Thriller, adding lots of original stuff and expanding the book by almost 4 times, so I still received a few “outdated” negative reviews after that, based on the original version. 

~ Ignore any negative reviews you receive, especially on Goodreads! Fortunately, I haven’t personally had any bad experiences around this, but I’ve certainly heard of authors being raked over the coals by readers after they responded to negative reviews – even one unfortunate one going viral a year or two ago. Do not respond to negative reviews by readers!

~ Joining Amazon KDP can really help sales of your e-books, as they do a lot of free promoting and marketing for you. See my post on that HERE.

~ If your book is revised, edited, polished, and getting great reviews, consider entering it in some book contests. Here’s a long, detailed list of Book Contests for Indie Authors. Since there are so many to choose from, it’s probably best to pass on the ones that cost over $70 per title, unless you feel the status would be worth it. And I’d go for the ones that provide a written review, from which you can take quotes to share on your website, blog, and on social media. Or just learn from. I’ve won two awards (FAPA & Writer's Digest) for my Style That Sizzles & Pacing for Power (soon to be retitled Fire up Your Fiction), and those awards have definitely increased my sales.

~ Consider joining the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). I just recently heard about them from someone at the SDSU Writers’ Conference in San Diego, where I presented two workshops. After I got home, I checked out their website and decided to join. It looks to me like I’ll be getting a lot of benefits for the $129 annual fee, more than I’ve gotten from any other editors’ or writers’ group memberships. The IBPA Benefits Handbook they sent me is 56 pages long and includes education, support, and discounts on book awards, digital and print publishing, distribution, and marketing.

From their website: “As the largest not-for-profit trade association in the industry, the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) advances the professional interests of authors and independent publishers in the U.S. and around the world. The Independent Book Publishers Association’s (IBPA’s) mission is to advocate for, support, and educate our members and to improve the standards of independent publishing. In addition to longstanding cooperative marketing and education programs, IBPA delivers valuable discounts and networking opportunities to members.”

~ Consider registering your book(s) with IngramSpark, which looks really beneficial for increasing the distribution of both print and e-copies of your books. Costs $49 for both ($37.50 for IBPA members). I’m in the process of registering with them for my Sizzles book, but need to wait for my new ISBN before I can complete the process (which is taking longer because I’m Canadian). Of course, that means the e-book will no longer be in the Amazon KDP program, so will lose those benefits... Maybe I should see if I can just do the print book on IngramSpark, and keep the e-book on KDP...? So much to learn, so little time!

“IngramSpark is Ingram Content Group’s new Publish-on-Demand platform that enables the delivery of content worldwide to readers in print and electronic formats. The service, which is tailored to the specific needs of the small independent publisher, streamlines the sales, account setup, content management, and customer support activities through a self-service, online platform. It’s free to set up an account.” 

~ A new distribution service for indie authors to check out. I’m also thinking about enrolling one of my books in the new IndieReader In-Store (IRIS) program, “the first indie (Author) to indie (Bookstore) distribution service,” for more visibility and increased distribution and sales. This recent initiative was discussed recently here at CFC. Just another option to consider... And let’s see if anyone else jumps in to offer something similar for indie authors.

~ Finally, there are a lot of websites that promote indie books. So many the list could be its own blog post!

Have any of you had experiences to share about Amazon, Smashwords, Lightning Source, Goodreads, book contests, IBPA, IngramSpark, or the IndieReader IRIS program? Or any other initiatives for publishing, distributing, or marketing independently published books? Can you share your wisdom with the rest of us struggling along the path to self-publishing enlightenment and increased sales? Any tips gratefully accepted!



Jodie Renner has published two books to date in her series, An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction: Writing a Killer Thriller and Fire up Your Fiction (formerly titled Style That Sizzles & Pacing for Power), which has won two awards to date. Her third book in the series will be out soon. For more info, please visit Jodie’s author website or editor website, her other blogs, Resources for Writers and The Kill Zone, or find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. To be the first to hear when Jodie's next book is out and to receive links to valuable, timely blog posts, sign up for her newsletter here.

Keep the Amazon Criticism Real

by L.J. Sellers, author of provocative mysteries & thrillers

I normally don't argue with anyone online. One, I don't have time, and two, I want everyone to like me. But last night I spent an hour countering some authors who were freaking out about Amazon buying Goodreads.

If they had posted rational, thoughtful ideas about why it might be a bad idea for Amazon to own all three of the book-related (book review) social media sites, I might have even agreed with them. However, they were throwing around the word monopoly and trashing Amazon as evil, so I felt compelled to respond.

First, Goodreads isn't a retail store, so monopoly isn't an issue. Second, all those authors sell their books on Amazon, and I would bet they make a good chunk of their income from Amazon sales, even if they're traditionally published. If they really hate Amazon, they should pull their books down from the retailer and never sign with a publisher that does business with Amazon. Back up your beliefs with your actions and money!

More important, any of the big players in the publishing marketplace (Penguin, Books-a-Million, Ingram) could have bought Goodreads. But they didn't. And Goodreads could have said no. But they didn't. If you want to be mad, why not focus your anger on the founders who sold out?

Amazon is a successful business because it makes smart moves. It also wants to connect readers with the right books. Honestly, it's the most customer-centric business I've ever encountered. When I talk with the people at Amazon Publishing, they discuss everything in terms of "the customer experience" and how they want every customer to have a good experience. It's embedded in the company culture.

What do I think will happen to Goodreads? Amazon will improve the interface and make it considerably easier to use. They'll create a way to use the site from Kindle, which will make book cataloging and reviewing easier. They'll make author pages better so I can update my books to show the new covers. For inside scoop, here's an interview with people from both companies.

Will the B&N buy buttons eventually go away? Probably. But B&N is already circling the drain… because they waited way too long to get into the e-reader business and overinvested in expensive retail space. Maybe B&N should have bought Goodreads long ago and eliminated Amazon's buy buttons. I'm sure everyone in publishing would have cheered.

PS: And this morning, Shelf Awareness writes: "In one fell swoop, Amazon, whose algorithms for recommending books have shown limited effectiveness, now owns one of the major tools built to address the problem [of discoverability] it created."

I call bullshit. Amazon did not create the problem of authors failing to get discovered. There just weren't enough bookshelves to stock and display the growing number of authors. And yes, the growth of e-readers shrank print book sales and the number of bookstores. But don't blame Amazon for creating a product readers love! Further, Amazon, with its infinite "book display" space and supportive algorithms, has successfully corrected the problem of discoverability for most authors. As I said, keep the criticism real.

Amazon Ain't eBay, folks!

By:  Kimberly Hitchens is the founder and owner of Booknook.biz, an ebook production company that has produced books for over 1000 authors and imprints.

Hi, gang!  This week, a look at what forms our thinking about various aspects of authorship, and whether that's a good thing or bad.

The Tao of eBay

After four+ years of making books, and seeing the ebook "gold rush" that has ensued since the first Kindle millionaire, I have been constantly surprised by something that seems to pop up often, on the Kindle forums. There is a pervasive theme of ill-prepared books being considered, by their creators, as "good enough."  You've read me say it here before:  it's the "The World is my critique group" mentality, when manuscripts are  published to Amazon before they are ready. 

 What does that even mean? Why is work that has not been proofed, edited, or even properly written in the first place, "good enough?" This has driven me nuts for the past eighteen months, since I started to really note the onset of "good-enough-itis," as I call it. Assuming that the average author has read a number of books, may have taken some creative writing courses, etc., how does this occur?

After giving it a lot of brainpower (okay, at least 5 minutes), I had a startling thought—had the hopeful authors of self-publishing confused Amazon with eBay?  Or, perhaps that their thinking had been formed by "the Tao of Ebay."

Beanie Babies and Bedroom Sets

After all, the Internet grew up not with Amazon, or eBooks, but with garage sales; with the gold mine that was created by the truism (the "Tao of eBay") that one man's trash was another man's treasure. Isn't that how the monolithic billion-dollar empire called eBay came into being? On the back of Beanie Babies? Essentially, someone's leftovers? And if we disregard eBay—and say that Beanie Babies were collectibles, not leftovers—it's hard to overlook Craigslist, which surely survived and thrived on detritus. What person living, under the age of ninety, hasn't bought something that they found on Craigslist? Hell, I once renovated an entire house's countertops with granite slabs I bone-yarded on Craigslist, being sold by a guy going out of business.  

Maybe this, then, is the source of the virus of "good enough." If we are all accustomed to listing our garage-sale items for sale online, maybe there are some hopeful writers that think that putting second-hand (second-class) writing on sale is also the way to go.

But a new book is not, by definition, second-hand. While on eBay, a seller is rated, transaction by transaction, on anywhere from one to tens of thousands of item sales, an author on Amazon (or Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Smashwords or Wattpad, etc.), is rated by his or her book. Today's book; the book most recently published; the book of the NOW.  Granted, there will be dozens or hundreds or thousands of buyers/readers, and some percentage of those will leave reviews, but if we have learned anything over the past few years, it is that people are more likely to leave reviews when they do not like a book, or feel that they've been ripped off, than they are if they are simply satisfied with their purchase.

I wonder if this "garage-sale" mindset has influenced some of the writers I see on the KDP Forums, who say "well, I couldn't afford an editor, so I've published it, and if it sells a lot, then I'll pay for an editor to edit it."  Or, "[s]ee, this is my first book, so, I've done as much as I can, I just thought I'd throw it up there and see what happens."   It reminds me strongly of things I've actually said--about eBay, Craigslist and garage-sale items.  "Well, I don't think that old bike of Bob's will sell, but I'll just throw it up there and see if I get any takers."  And, for garage sale items, gifts you can't regift, etc., that's not a bad idea at all, because your unwanted goods may very well be someone else's treasure.

But the problem is, if an item like Bob's old bike doesn't sell, that failure won't taint my life as an eBay seller forever.  My "experiment" simply doesn't sell.  Same thing at a Garage Sale, or a Craigslist ad.  But if you slap up a book before it's ready on Amazon, and it does poorly--or worse, gets scathing reviews because it was born before its time, that can taint your life as an author forever, particularly if you have more books already up for sale, or have some ready-to-go.  Sure, you can change your nom-de-plume (and many have), but if you have a perfectly good name of your own to use, or if you really love that nom-de-plume you picked out, why abandon it in the dust? 

Goodreads, Wattpad and Other Critters

It seems that many writers today eschew the idea of writing buddies, writer's classes and writing/critique groups, as I've noted here before, using the readers of Amazon as their "critique group."  I've never wrapped my head around that--I'd rather be humiliated in a small group than by dozens of strangers, for the eyes of possibly millions of people--but then I'm chicken that way.  ;-)  Maybe the feedback of people that they can't see, or don't have to see again, is somehow more palatable.

If that's the case, then, I'd highly recommend trying other platforms, to get a sense of whether your book is ready, before you make the big step of hitting the "publish" button.  Goodreads seems to have a lively and thriving "Creative Writing" community that gives near-instant feedback on sample chapters (or your whole book, if you're feeling brave!).  Wattpad, a free site, allows you to post almost anything for feedback.  Wattpad is targeted at a younger audience--it has a lot of teens, but if you're writing YA, it's absolutely spot-on for your demographic.  There are numerous online critique groups or Writer's Forums; I particularly like Holly Lisle's Writer's Bootcamps, which is for folks serious about becoming published, successful authors, and is moderated.  And, of course, NO list of critique forums would be complete without The Critters Workshop, which is legendary.  Scribd, I've personally found not that great...it seems to attract people looking for philosophical or political debate more than readers of genre fiction, if that's your "cuppa," as they say.  But I'm sure that there are dozens more--if you leave a comment, leave a spot for up-and-comers to post their work for excellent feedback! 

So, anyway:  above and beyond Mom and Dad, and your friends, give your manuscript a whirl at one of these places first.  You may have to shop a bit, to find a good fit--but the  results are quite worth it.  LJ knows more about Goodreads than I; I'm so busy at the shop, I don't get much of a chance to drop in over there, but I have seen some pretty damn fine creative writing in progress, and I've noted that some authors, like the fellow who wrote the very successful (in terms of fans and downloads and feedback) Harry Potter fanfiction books (the James Potter books) went on to do extremely well with his writing career, due to the fan-base he built, almost solely on Goodreads, which translated to his "for-sale" books at Amazon, etc. 

And isn't that what we all want?  For you, as an author, to do GREAT?  You betcha.

###

For a total HOOT this week:  http://lousybookcovers.tumblr.com/ 

This is a DO NOT MISS.  It's the "CakeWrecks" of BookCovers.

I now visit it daily, for my daily grin, or even LOL.  Seriously, don't miss it.  I'll post other "bad cover" outlets on my next visit!

Do Reviews Matter?

A guest post by author Jordyn Redwood

Now that I am a published author, the whole world of reviewing and what it actually means has been an interest of mine.

Do you trust reviewers? Does it influence your decision to buy a book?

First, let me give my pre-published-just-a-reader point of view. I can say reviews really didn't matter me. I didn't read them unless the book was published by a well known author and poorly reviewed. I don't know. Maybe it's like when we slow down to look at the carnage from a car accident.

When I got my e-reader, I began to look more at reviews. I didn't want to junk up my reader with poorly written books that I wouldn't read through the first couple of chapters.

I found myself suspicious of reviews that were under twenty and all five star. I mean, to me that felt like family and close friends and were they really giving an unbiased review? Hard to know. If the novel had over thirty or so reviews and had a distribution amongst all the stars but most were four and five stars with a few one, two, and three stars—I was more likely to download it.

Then I began to realize there is a trust issue between the buyer and those who review. There was an interesting column by author Mike Duran that focused on this issue where he hypothesized that those who reviewed Christian books were softer and more favorable toward certain publishers’ books so it wouldn’t hurt their chances of someday being published by that particular house. You can read his thoughts here.

After I was published, I was not one of those authors who couldn't read the reviews—though I did find myself mostly focusing on Amazon and Goodreads for my primary perusing.

My now I'm-published-but-still-mostly-unknown-author viewpoint concerning reviews is as follows.

1. Reviews are important for newer authors who are building a readership. This is one of those Catch 22 situations of getting people to review your novel who don't know you by perhaps offering them a free book and hoping they follow through. Perhaps 50% of the people who received review copies of Proof actually have thus far followed through with a review. The reason I do think it's valuable in this phase of the author's life is to help with that word of mouth spread. If you look at a debut novel that's gotten over 100 favorable reviews—WOW, a lot of people are loving that book and I know it would influence me to buy the novel too.

2. Reviews from well respected sites do help book sales. Proof, my debut medical-crime thriller, got a starred review from Library Journal and I know that has definitely influenced sales.

3. Reviews don't help me decide to buy books from authors I regularly follow. For me, Dean Koontz, is my most favorite author. Do I 100% love everything he's written—no. But, what I've learned from reading Dean through his lifetime of writing books is that there are definitely highs and lows to the writer's life but I know a prolific author has it in them to produce good stories.

4. Reviews help evaluate the competition. There is one particular author who was a debut novelist that released her book the same time Proof released. She has over 100 reviews and the reason I've been reading them is to see what it is in her novel that is resonating with readers. That can help me have market awareness.

5.  I also need to review books. This is becoming more apparent to me that it helps people determine what kind of author I might be by what I like to read. A couple of people who have sent me letters have mentioned this specifically.

What are your thoughts on reviews? Helpful? Trustworthy? Do they influence your decision to buy books particularly from a newer author?



Jordyn Redwood is a pediatric ER nurse by day, suspense novelist by night. She hosts Redwood’s Medical Edge, a blog devoted to helping contemporary and historical authors write medically accurate fiction. Her debut novel, Proof, garnered a starred review from Library Journal and has been endorsed by the likes of Dr. Richard Mabry, Lynette Eason, and Mike Dellosso to name a few. You can connect with Jordyn via her website at www.jordynredwood.net. 

Dr. Lilly Reeves is a young, accomplished ER physician with her whole life ahead of her. But that life instantly changes when she becomes the fifth victim of a serial rapist. Believing it's the only way to recover her reputation and secure peace for herself, Lilly sets out to find--and punish--her assailant. Sporting a mysterious tattoo and unusually colored eyes, the rapist should be easy to identify. He even leaves what police would consider solid evidence. But when Lilly believes she has found him, DNA testing clears him as a suspect. How can she prove he is guilty, if science says he is not?

Curation Not Selection is the Future

By C.J. West
Suspense. Creativity. Action.

I read a great article by Seth Godin this week talking about the changes in what we read. before the digital revolution much of what we read was published by a select group of companies. Those publications (books, magazines, and newspapers) were read primarily because they were scarce resources.

Only so many books and newspapers were published. So, even if your local newspaper offended your political sensibilities, you had no choice but to read it if you wanted to get the weather and sports scores.  Scarcity meant that our individual preferences took a back seat to what publishers decided to produce.

It’s no wonder that when we were freed to choose a news outlet that appealed to what WE wanted, those newspapers died.

Enter the digital revolution and the long tail. Now if you want to read historical fiction about George Washington being attacked by vampires and you know where to look, it exists.

Note: while writing this blog, I made up the idea of George Washington being attacked by vampires. I searched and found two books on the subject. The first is George Washington and Werewolves. Not far off!

My point here is that we have moved into an age where curation is far more important than selection.

What’s the difference?

In a nutshell, selection is choosing what is available. The big publishers controlled selection for years by choosing which books were published. Control of selection sailed when Amazon allowed authors to publish anything they liked. Pandora’s Box is open and there is no pressing the lid back on.

You can argue that some limits on selection might be good, and you might be right, but now we have entered the age of curation or guiding consumers through the maze of what is available to find something enjoyable and meaningful to them.

The key here is finding work that is meaningful to the person searching. Millions of blogs attempt to do this by providing reviews of books in a genre or topic area. You’ve all been on Goodreads, Shelfari and Library Thing.

In the last two weeks I’ve discovered Pinterest and created boards of my favorite novels, indie novels, movies, and poker books. The great thing for me is that Pinterest takes me seconds to bookmark something of interest and my followers can come and see the things I like in a visual pin board format that works for those of us who are visually oriented.

My prediction is that digital curators will become more and more important to authors and I suspect an explosion of digital curation will be fueled by the ingenuity of digital entrepreneurs.

Trailers: Trophies or Trash?

by Peg Brantley, author of RED TIDE

For those of you who do not want to watch trailers, even hate the things, today's post is not for you.

Several people have asked me about my process and what I think the results have been. The big and most important question is this: Did my sales increase because of a trailer?

First, here's the trailer:

The pieces: 

• Music was chosen from Free Music Archive. This site allows you to search for music by category and keywords: a fast and easy way to find the right music for the mood you're trying to reflect.
• Photos were selected from both iStockphoto and Shutterstock. I used the least expensive versions available for all of the images.

The glue:

• I have a Mac and through trial and error (a lot of both) I figured out iMovie. Of course I'll probably forget everything by the time I make another trailer. (Hint: I will be making another trailer.)
• For PC users, Windows Movie Maker has produced some stunning trailers.

The cost:

• If you have the time the equipment and the talent you can create your own trailer for free. 
• A professionally produced trailer can cost $2,000 or more. 
• I don't happen to own a way to create video and I didn't want only static photos. I also wanted it done as quickly as possible. I also didn't want to have to sell a gazillion books to pay for the trailer. Mine ended up costing less than $200 and it took me about two days.

I have made my trailer available in all of the obvious places:

• My blog, Suspense Novelist.
• My author page at Amazon.
• My author profile at Goodreads.
• YouTube.
• Facebook.

L.J. Sellers provided me with this link that has a list of other places to consider posting your video:

• Book Marketing and Book Promotion.

Now to answer the big and most important question: Did my sales increase because of a trailer? Given that there's not a box readers check to indicate why they've purchased your book, it's a little bit of a guess and comparison of numbers and timing kind of thing. But I believe my sales have increased because of the trailer. I'll make another one for Book #2.

What has been your experience with trailers? What worked for you and what will you do differently next time? Feel free to post a link to your video in your comments.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Red Tide is now available through Amazon.

When I look at that sentence, I just shake my head. As long as it was in coming, it feels like it happened overnight. I talked about it, wrote about it, dreamed about it—then actually sat a target date for publication. April 2nd. What would have been my mom's 79th birthday.

The "Writer at Work, Stumbling Toward Publication" line by my signature is forever gone. Well, the last part anyway. We'll see what might take its place.

Today I'm looking at a long list of things I should do to get the word out. QR code, website, Goodreads Author program, guest posts, business cards, Twitter, Facebook, blah blah blah. I also want to begin the self-edits for my next book.

Stop.

For a few minutes, I want to tap into the feeling of accomplishment and savor it.

Before I leave to savor, I want to let you know that in honor of my mom's birthday, Red Tide will be FREE Saturday, March 31st through Monday, April 2nd. Honest reviews are appreciated.

The Care and Feeding of Authors

By Peg Brantley, Author at Work, Stumbling Toward Publication


It's gotta be chocolate, right?

Nuh-uh.

Some kind of booze?

Nope.

But what I'm about to share with you creates an even higher high for those of us who wrangle words. Since I'm not yet published (with 3.375 practice novels stuck in a drawer), I'm taking this opportunity to speak for those who are.

I was talking with a friend the other day who absolutely loves to read. And to anyone who will listen (particularly another reader) she will share her thoughts and bubble with enthusiasm about a particular book or its author. I love spending time with her, especially when I have my Kindle to download samples while we're talking.

But she doesn't write reviews on Amazon. What? She hates reviews that give away plots, doesn't want to commit the time, and can't believe that what she thinks could possibly have any impact. When I told her she could write a review that didn't need to reveal any of the plot (hello . . . Amazon . . . book description), and simply say what she enjoyed about the book, or the writing style, her eyes lit up.

Most writers won't ask a reader to write a review on Amazon, or Goodreads, or anywhere else. But I'm here to tell you that those reviews can make a huge difference to your favorite authors. Maybe even feed them for a month. Now that's power.

My sister, Lala Corriere, whose first book was released for Kindle last November and expects to have her second book released before this November, flew sky-high because some readers, people she'd never met, took the time to write her and tell her how much they'd enjoyed her first book. The fire of passion those few words lit under her butt provided her the loving care she needed at that moment. She was propelled to a higher level of energy. And that's the kind of loving care she'll be able to look back on when she's having a rough day in order to re-energize and motivate. Talk about leftovers!

So here it is:

• buy their books (duh—this definitely falls under feeding);
• write reviews. Even three-liners that say, "I liked this book. You might, too! Get it now!" Whether it's on Amazon or Goodreads or an online loop of readers. As readers, you have more power than you realize, and your author will be so appreciative;
• let the author know if his or her efforts gave you a nice escape, something to think about, or just good beach-reading. A few nice words from you equates to thousands from them. A pretty fair exchange, don't you think?

Even at the point where I am in this career, encouragement is a necessary element to my existance. Just the idea that there are a couple of people out there, ready to give my initial effort a test run, keeps me going. Can you imagine how huge the reality will be?

Feed your favorite authors. Don't be shy. Don't think what you have to say won't possibly make a difference.

I promise you, it will.

Readers, is there something else you've done to feed a favorite author? Are you willing to write a review?

Writers, what keeps you nourished and well fed?