By Rachel A. Brune
As the summer grinds on, I’m hard at work on the third volume in the Rick Keller series—available from the Literary Underworld! My secret agent werewolf and his partners are back on another mission, and I’ve been burning through my stash of index cards trying to figure out the twists and turns of middle section of the book.
And so, because I’m supposed to be writing, I’m instead surfing my reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, refreshing my author page, and generally doing lots of things other than writing, including reading a rotating selection of books from the local library.
I picked up my phone to mark my latest book as “read” on Goodreads (gotta make that annual Goodreads challenge!) and dashed off a quick review. And it made me think—will this writer see this review? If I really like the book, should I post something on social media? Should I recommend that book? How can I let people know I really liked it?
After thinking about it—and yes, procrastinating a little more from Rick and friends, I have come up with this list of five different—and maybe somewhat unusual—ways that readers can show some love to their favorite authors.
And hey—they don’t even have to be your favorite authors – if you read their book and liked it, share the love! (I’ve gotta confess—these are all on my writer bucket list.)
- Place their work on your body via tattoo art. If you’re into decorating your body with art, use a favorite quote, character, or object from a book as an excuse to get more ink! Not a fan of written quotes and how they look? Take the quote to your favorite tattoo artist (I’m a big fan of James Tuck) and ask them to use it as inspiration for an original piece. (Obviously don’t do this one if you’re not allowed to get a tattoo for parental, legal, health, or religious reasons.) Literary tattoos make great conversation pieces, and you’ll be supporting not just one but two creative people!
- Make some fan art. As a reader, I love seeing other people’s takes on a book I’ve read and enjoyed. I especially love it when a writer will post (with permission) pictures of fan art they’ve received. These may range from basic pencil or crayon sketches all the way to professional-level drawings, but the one thing they all have in common is a shared love of the writer’s world that they are expressing authentically. Sometimes the characters depicted in the art look exactly as I’d imagined in my head—and sometimes they don’t. That’s all part of the fun of it!
- Pick their book for your book club. Don’t have a book club? Start one! All joking aside, this is a great way to find people with whom you can schmooze about the books you enjoy over a nice snack and beverage. Not only that, but you’re helping an author find a wider audience, and that is a magical thing. If you reach out to them, the author might even be available to attend your book club meeting and answer your questions about their work, either in person or via Zoom. At the very least, they will appreciate the gesture.
- Write a poem praising them. The more complicated in terms of meter and rhyme the better! There exists a long literary tradition of praising someone by writing a poem (the technical term is, coincidentally enough, “praise poem”). Channel your inner chaotic good Bard and share your love of a writer’s writing by writing them some writing about their writing!
- And of course, give them a review, subscribe to their newsletter, and follow their public platform! Every writer I know spends a lot of time trying to figure out how to communicate with the people who enjoy their work. Whether it’s a website blog, social media account, or newsletter, authors love to hear from the folks who have read and enjoyed their work. Let’s face it—this is a hard business to gain financial fortune; many of us really appreciate the messages from our fans that feed our souls in between royalty checks. And if you’ve followed a single writer online, you already know how much reviews mean to writers (and their publishers!)
So there you have it! Five different ways you can show authors some love. Maybe one of these will be perfect for the book you’re reading now. What’s that? You are in need of a book to read? Not to worry—check out one of the Literary Underworld’s nearly 200 titles—and if you end up getting some new ink, or hosting a book club, or want to send us some fan art, then drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you!
Rachel A. Brune graduated from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts in May 2000, and was immediately plunged into the low-stakes world of entry-level executive assistantship. Her unexpected journey out of that world and into the military is chronicled in her self-published book Echoes and Premonitions. Rachel served five years as a combat journalist, including two tours in Iraq, and a brief stint as a columnist for her hometown newspaper. After her second tour, she attended graduate school at the University at Albany in NY, where she earned her M.A. in political communication, and her commission as a second lieutenant in the military police corps.
Although her day job has taken in her in many strange, often twisted directions, Rachel continues to write and publish short fiction. She released her first novel, Soft Target, in early 2013, and other books have followed. In addition to writing, she is the founder and chief editor at Crone Girls Press and edits the Falstaff Dread line of horror fiction at Falstaff Books.