Support Your Fellow Writer

I'm on Facebook networking with other writers, one of which is Tom Piccirilli. Recently, Mr. Piccirillii started asking people to review at least one book a week and support other writers. He also gives writers a platform on his Facebook page each week to ask questions and to discuss books and promote their own writing, which is a great idea.

In that spirit, I am urging you, writer, whether, small press, large press, no press and just for fun, all bloggers, writers everywhere, to promote someone else's work this week besides your own.

There are a number of ways you can do this:

1) If you have a blog like mine, it's really simple. Write a book review or an article about a particular author's life. Post a blogroll. Add someone new to an existing blogroll. Invite another author to do some guest blogging; cross-promotion can be beneficial to them and you. The possibilities abound! You could even start your own blog today, if you've been procrastinating.

2) Join a book review site. There are plenty out there to choose. I am a member of Goodreads. I keep track of all the books I read and review them on there. There are also lots of reading groups and forum discussions where you can promote a writer on these sites.

3) Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are also great ways to share your favorite authors with your friends.

4) If someone's birthday or another important gift-giving day is coming up, consider purchasing them something thoughtful that will last. Buy a book to celebrate their day. If you love book shopping as much as I do, then you have my permission to book til you drop! Buy a new book for yourself this week, whether in paper, audio, or digital format.

6) Another way to support your fellow writer is to check out books from your local library. Many people may not be aware of this, but if a book sits for too long on the shelf, it eventually makes it way to the book sales and out of circulation. Libraries have limited space and cannot afford to keep books around that aren't checked out year after year after year. So save your favorite author's place at the library and make sure you check out their books!

7) Attend a local poetry reading or a book signing in your area. There's nothing worse than reading at an empty coffee shop.

8) If you are a t-shirt geek like me, you can find lots of book related shirts on Cafepress. My two favorite writing shirts in my dresser are from Hamlet and Edgar Allan Poe. While Shakespeare and Poe are both six feet under, I'm still a fan and support their work! There are other items book related. Perhaps, a little gift shopping is in order. You can also check out your favorite author's site and see if they have merchandise for sale. (I'm a big fan of the Kim Harrison's burning bunny pins.)

In the spirit of this article, I posted a list of writing/book blogs yesterday.

If you have other suggestions you would like included, please feel free to either post them in Comments or email me and I will add them here.

As always, happy writing and happy reading to all!