Supporting your fellow authors – Guest Post by Craig Boyack…

Posted on by Chris The Story Reading Ape

I’m so honored to be invited back for another lap at The Storyreading Ape’s blog. Chris is a huge supporter of independent authors, and that’s kind of the topic of this post.

When we start off, we tend to write in solitude. The dream is to quietly slip a book onto Amazon or iBooks and wake up to an exploding email box. Reality doesn’t work that way. There’s so much competition out there it’s hard to get noticed even with a quality product.

We soon find out that we need friends if we’re going to make a run at success. This blog is one that all authors should get familiar with. There are others out there, and you’re going to need several avenues.

It doesn’t take long to figure out that self publishing isn’t the new gold rush. Oh sure, the stories are out there, but their best purpose is to motivate us to keep trying. Most of us spend some serious cash to bring our books to market. With editing, cover art, paid promotions, and more, breaking even isn’t a bad goal these days.

The good news is that we can accomplish more together than we can alone. I believe in paying it forward. It works like this; I host plenty of blog tours, cover reveals, and even reblog release announcements from time to time. I share things from my friends across several forms of social media daily.

I know that eventually I’ll need places to talk about my next release, and if I help authors out they might be there when I ask. I have blog followers, you have blog followers, add them up and we gain a larger footprint.

I use one of my original characters as a spokesmodel these days, and have for a few years now. Lisa Burton, the robot girl, is expanding her footprint and I decided to share that success in 2016. I started something called Lisa Burton Radio.

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The radio posts are simple blog interviews, but with characters from your books. Last year, Lisa interviewed dark lords, ghosts, heroines, heroes, and even a dog. Lisa interviewed a couple of popular web-comic characters, and one that has a couple of movies. We have a great time, and the posts are pretty popular. This is my way of paying it forward. I want to keep this going, and Lisa needs guests. This is an open invitation to promote your books on my blog by taking advantage of a character interview.

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HERE’s a link where you can get more information and it includes my contact info.

I have a new idea brewing called Dear Lisa. I’d like to turn her radio show into something where she answers questions from listeners/readers. These would be more occasional than the interviews, but also bring something fresh to the posts. I hope to have a couple of writing related questions, and something off-the-wall in each post. Then I’d like to have a sponsor to advertise, and that’s the point of these posts. This allows cover artists, editors, blog tour companies, and more to take advantage of Lisa’s popularity too. This is a work in progress, but if you’d like to be a sponsor, or to ask a question, use the same link above to contact me. I don’t charge a thing, and this is another attempt to pay it forward. Maybe a sponsor like Chris Graham cover art services…just saying.

Supporting your fellow authors can be a small thing too. WordPress blogs include social media sharing buttons. It takes about a second to tweet out one of your friend’s promotions. Look at the bottom of this post, and you’ll see Chris’ sharing buttons. A second or two of effort, and I add my followers to Chris’ followers, to your followers etc. That’s how it gets done these days.

When I see someone supporting me, I always click on their profile. If they have a pinned tweet, I try to re-tweet it to my followers. Seems more productive and shows a bit more gratitude than clicking on the little heart.

My experience is that when I ask for beta readers, blog friends to help tour my books, or sites to post a cover reveal, I get a pretty good response. I believe it’s because I paid it forward when they needed help.

What are you doing to support your fellow and favorite authors?

Craig Boyack.

Blog – Twitter –  Facebook  –  Goodreads

Amazon:

USA  –  UK  –  CA  –  AUS

89 thoughts on “Supporting your fellow authors – Guest Post by Craig Boyack…”

  3. Gee, if I didn’t love you guys already, this post would do it for me. Until I actually finish a few of my [non-fiction/brain-based self help] books, I don’t have anything to promote but the help I offer for free on ADDandSoMuchMORE.com – but I have been bowled over by the support of the writing community. The coaching community could take a page from ANY of your books! Loved this post – it was heart-cockles warming.
    xx,
    mgh
    (Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMore dot com)
    – ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder –
    “It takes a village to educate a world!”

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Thanks, Madelyn. I suppose it only lends itself to fiction, but I’ve hosted a couple that were true stories with a fictional character in them. The names were changed, etc. Doubt it would work on a self help book.

      Liked by 2 people

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      • I can’t figure out how – so if you can’t either, I guess that means I’ll have to enjoy my place among the crowd cheering on the parade.

        As the song goes:
        “Every actor’s gotta’ attract applause
        those are the laws —
        they want to be a liked a bit.

        So when the house lights dim,
        give me a call.
        And I’ll be there giving my all . . .
        If I liked it I will show it,
        cheer it loud so you will know it.

        How can you have a parade without a crowd.”

        Keep up the good work, Craig.
        xx,
        mgh

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

  5. Everything I can, Craig. Everything I can. Right now I’m hosting a daily prompt to help bloggers meet other bloggers. All comes down to the same thing, right? 🙂
    I’m very interested in your interviews. I hope to have a new novel coming out this spring and I have the perfect character for you. He’s a magician and an incubus all wrapped up in one. I’ll be over to see you soon. Thanks for the opportunity! 😀

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

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