3 Ways You Can Support Aspiring Authors
In lieu of my usual romance book review (coming back next week), I’m taking a small detour to talk about the world of the pre-published author and what you, the amazing, creative book-loving community, can do to help us get our books out into the world.
The author platform
My first romcom manuscript is in the hands of editors at various traditional publishers, where it will be for an undefined amount of time before I either get a rejection or an offer. In the meantime, I continue to write and, more importantly, grow my platform. An author platform is my social media presence and my newsletter reach.
The author platform is critical because, whether a writer goes the indie or traditional publishing route, much of the promotion falls to the author. In addition, for those like me hoping to convince an acquisitions editor not only that my book is worth taking a chance on, but also that I am, followers, likes, and subscribers could make or break a deal.
So here are three things you can do to help an aspiring author (like me) grow her platform and get her work out into the world.
1. Follow on social media
My agent has a story about an author whose book got the last slot on a publisher’s schedule and was bumped for someone who had 400 followers on Instagram. Not every author will be an influencer (though publishers love working with influencers), but it’s crucial to be able to show social reach. So please follow, friend, like, and share our posts.
I know it’s less exciting to follow an author if they don’t have published content for you to check out, but you’re doing a major mitzvah when you do.
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and BlueSky.
2. Subscribe to their newsletter
Newsletter subscriptions are another crucial metric in publishing. I publish my newsletter on Substack, so people can read it without subscribing, but subscriptions that put each newsletter into someone’s inbox are much more impressive.
Most published authors and some of us in the pre-published community have free newsletters. Some of them are entertaining and enlightening.
My Substack is always free, plus I plan to offer subscriber-only content as soon as I get over my perfectionism and publish one of the short stories I’ve been working on.
3. Become a beta reader
This is a bigger commitment than following or subscribing, but if you’re interested in helping new authors launch, we’re always looking for beta readers who aren’t members of our immediate family (and therefore biased!).
Before you offer to be a beta reader, make sure you have the bandwidth to provide useful feedback. Provide specific feedback about scenes you particularly liked, anything that confused you or took you out of the scene, or anything else that stood out to you about the book. Just saying, “This is really good!” is not helpful. We already heard that from our spouses. If you’re willing to chat on the phone to talk about the manuscript, let the author know.
Thank you for being part of the bookish community. The emerging authors of the world are grateful for you!
