The Perfect (Free) Holiday Gift from Readers
Books.
Or course you knew I’d say that.
We all owe a debt to the publishing industry and its
sidekick, the indies. And probably most of us single
out at least a couple of people on our holiday lists
to give a book to.
But how many of us have an author on our
holiday list? Isn’t there something you could
give an author—even one you don’t know personally?
Even if you have a serious holiday budget you must stick
to.
The holidays are a time to let your spirit
of giving overcome any reticence you may have about
contacting a favorite author. I promise you, there is
no gift greater for authors than hearing from a reader.
Well, OK. There is one. That is when a reader writes
a review for a book without being prompted to do so.
So drop a note to an author, or write
a review of that author’s book and post it on
a blog or on one of the online bookstores. It’s
free and it’s a full-of-love gift.
And here are the easy to do steps to make
sure your author gets full benefit of your generous
(yes, it is!) gift!
•
Write your review.
-
Google your author’s name and go to his or
her Web site.
- You
should find a contact feature, perhaps on the About
the Author page.
- Copy
your review and then paste it into an e-mail with
a quick personal message to the author.
- Alternatively,
you could post your review on your blog. If you
do, let your author know with a thank you note and
then use that same link to promote your post on
Twitter, Facebook, and any other social networks
you belong to.
Once you have done this, it becomes easy. If you
can, do it one more time with another author, preferably
one who writes in a different genre.
If giving a review doesn’t get you into the
holiday spirit, maybe this will: You are contributing
to an industry that provides you with something you
love—books!
Writers'
Tidbit: Everyone is a writer these
days. They write on social networks. They
blog. They may even write books. My multi
award-winning The
Frugal Editor will help them with all
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Tidbit
for Readers: I recently reviewed Herodotus’
Histories (published by Penguin) here
on MyShelf.com. If you’ve tried to read
it and put it aside, now is the time to try
again. If you’ve always wanted to read
it and haven’t, now is the time to do
it. The translation and foreword are truly
remarkable and the paperback is a special
edition worthy of placing on a coffee table
to impress fellow readers. |
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