Welcome to Tip of the Week! The goal here is to just provide tips and tricks and everything in between about helping authors. They will be super short posts, but hopefully help you out!
Today I want to talk for just a brief moment about reaching out to authors. Some of us are more apt to do this than others, but let me tell you that reaching out to them can do so much! Harm and good honestly, but I would never encourage someone to reach out to an author in a negative way, so let’s keep it positive.
Before we get started I do want to mention one thing. When you go about reaching out to an author, never try to contact them personally (unless you are friends/family). Stick to their website, or their author social media channels. Not only is this the right thing to do, it shows that you respect them, their privacy and their time.
Prayer
Authors need our prayers, and lots of them! They have deadlines to meet, sometimes multiple deadlines. But they also have real lives and I think we forget that! So it’s important to pray for authors as often as we can. If the Lord brings a specific author to mind, go ahead and pray for them, and then let the author know! It doesn’t have to be a long winded note – just a simple “Hey, I’m praying for you today” note. That can provide such encouragement!
How Their Book Touched Your Life
If you recently read a book and it just touched you in ways that maybe don’t belong in a review, or would make a review long winded, reach out to the author. Tell them exactly how the book spoke to your heart. If it’s something personal and you don’t want to share all the details, that is totally fine! But do share something with them. Authors put a lot of heart and soul into their books. Some may never know the impact they have in the world, but if we can show them once in awhile, I think that would really encourage them.
Respond to Newsletters
Newsletters take a lot of time for authors to do, like we discussed last week. Many authors will ask a question of their readers in their newsletter. I encourage you to respond with an answer! That’s what they want you to do. It’s a good way to reach out to them. Just yesterday I responded to an author’s newsletter by commenting on how cute their grandchild was. It wasn’t much, but just a little something that shows them I took the time to read what they had to say.
I’m not saying you need to respond to every newsletter. I don’t – it would take me like all day lol. But here and there I think it’s a good practice. And so far most authors have been so grateful for the response.
Commenting on Social Media and Blogs
It’s so easy for us to read a blog post and then go onto the next thing. It’s so easy for us to like a picture and then scroll to the next one. Authors appreciate it when we comment on things. Not only does it open discussion, it shows that we took more than a moment to see what they are up to. Plus it helps their algorithms, so there’s that lol. But truly – don’t just click and go onto the next. This year strive to comment when you can.
While You’re Reading Their Book
Okay, so this last one is a little tricky. Reach out to the author while you are reading their book. This could be over a funny part, a romantic part, a part that touched you, whatever. But here’s the thing – I really only recommend doing this with authors you already have a relationship with. This feels a tad more personal I guess then the others? And maybe there are authors that won’t mind. I guess it might be trial and error.
Anyways, my point to this – some authors love chatting with readers about their books, and some honestly don’t. So you may have to ask ahead of time. I have done this more than once with some authors and it has been so fun! The back and forth with them has been rewarding for me and them. Never anything negative, just sharing all the fun stuff.
Have you ever reached out to an author before? What other ways can you recommend reaching out to an author with words of encouragement?
All great advice! Thanks for posting this.