I don’t know about you all, but this journey through this pandemic has been a very powerful but very sneaky tumult of emotions for me. Most days, I feel fine, confident, hopeful. . . and others, I’m pretty sure my business will fail, no one will buy my books, and I’ll need to seek my first out-of-the-house job in 10 years. I’m grieving and confused and not sure at all what the future will look like for anything. But those are things beyond my control, and if the writing life has taught me nothing else in the past decade, it has taught me two things: focus on the things I can control and support the writers around me.
5 Ways To Help
So today, I’m bringing you a CoronaVirus-specific list of ways you can support other writers just now, even as we all worry about our financial futures. (Also, this list might be a great one to share with the non-writers you know in case they’d like to payback a little of what the artistic community has given them in these days of lots of down-time and need for escape. Just a thought. 😉 )
- Buy books. Many authors are discounting books for these times. Many are finding themselves with new books coming out in these days when book tours and author signings are impossible. Many are writing more with the extra hours in their day.* So buying books is the most direct, simplest, and most relatively inexpensive way you can support the authors you know and love.
- You might think about shopping from Bookshop, an online store that supports indie bookstores. My books are all there, and they are cheaper than you can find at many other retailers, and I LOVE THAT.
- Or you can order from the big online retailers. Most of us have our books on those sites because they provide the bulk of our business, especially if we indie publish.
- Subscribe to author’s email lists and follow them on social media. This is a no-cost, low-energy, high-impact way to support the authors you know. For those of us who want to traditionally publish, the number of subscribers and followers we have factors into whether a publisher will consider putting our books out. For those that are indie published, those numbers affect what options we have for promotions.
- Additional tip – after you subscribe or follow, click like or comment as much as possible when they post, and open those emails, even if you don’t read them. Likes and comments drive more traffic to social media posts, and open rates factor into those group promos, too.
- Review the books you read. A couple of honest sentences on any retailer, Goodreads, or BookBub can be a monumental help in the sales of books but also a huge boost to a writer’s day. And you can post the same review everywhere; just copy and paste.
- Go to virtual author events. With so many events cancelled for the foreseeable future, authors are struggling to reach new audiences and interact with readers, so if you see an author doing a Facebook live (check out Kelly Chripczuk’s page for great live events of the spiritual variety, for example) or participating in a virtual book festival like this one that I’m part of this Saturday. Show up, ask a question, give your support. It all matters.
- Send the authors you love a note. Write out a thank you card if you have physical addresses for writers in your life, or find an author’s email online and send them a quick word of thanks. These tiny things matter so much, especially in these lonely days
Be well, friends, and if you have other suggestions for how we can support each other – and how I can support you – please comment below. I’d LOVE to hear!!
*Note, if you can’t write just now, don’t pressure yourself to do it. The weight of what we’re all living through is heavy. Be gentle and kind to yourself. Your words will come when you can carry them well.
Recently, I moved the writing community I coordinate over to a new, focused space that is all our own. There, we share weekly goals for our writing lives, we ask questions about resources or quandaries, we encourage one another, and we commiserate together when the writing life is hard. Plus, each Monday, I write a note just for the members of that community and inspired by our conversations there.
If you’d like to join us, we’d love to have you. Membership is $2.99 a month, but if that’s a financial hardship for you, please let me know. I have one scholarship available from a generous member.
You can get all the details about the community and join us here.
We’d love to see you there.