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…”

  1. I’m newer to the blog world, mainly because an agent told me I needed a platform. I am currently working on building a following. Never thought about reblogging or sharing-not because I haven’t enjoyed blogs but because it hasn’t been on my radar screen. Your blog is very enlightening and has opened my eyes to the bigger community available through blogging. Thank you for the post!

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  2. I always share the posts I read; it’s the least I can do since I can’t reblog due to my site being a resource blog. I love this community, and wish I could do more. Excellent post, Craig. Thanks, oh, great furry one. 😀

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  3. Hi Lisa, My name is Amie Fish and I wouldl simply love to be on your radio show, as I’m going to need all the support I can get. I am currently suing that awful Lucinda E Clarke for putting me through hell. Fist she sent me to Africa, then she had me filming the most gruesome stuff and then if that wasn’t enough, she thought up this civil war and I was thrown in prison – and that was only in the first book. She’s now writing book 4 and I dread to think what she’s going to put me through in this one. So please, if you have space on your show I would love to hear from you. Unfortunately you will have to contact me via her email address, as she refuses to let me have my own, but I read all her mail and I will be sure to see it. It’s about time our book characters stood up against these vicious authors, don’t you agree?

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  6. Sharing anything is a beautiful thing, and without all the helpful people I have met since I began to blog and write, I wouldn’t be where I am now. I try to share whenever I can, as I know it helps…

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    • I appreciate you for that. It’s important to provide outlets for authors to reach new viewers. Talking about my own books gets old eventually, and my readers wouldn’t put up with a constant barrage of that either. I get new material for my blog, and authors get to reach a new audience.

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  8. Great post and I love Lisa Burton radio. Every author should take advantage of your offer (if only to keep me amused—JK) I do enjoy the show and your many diverse guests. A “Dear Lisa” feature is a great idea (which you are always rich with) and I already have a question in mind…from Richard Noggin. Are you accepting “Dear Abby”-like questions? Can the questions be from other book characters? Or were you anticipating authors/general public? He’s really struggling with his working relationship with Brandi in this new book. Perhaps Lisa could give him some advice on working relationships and friendships. The ones you two have are grand.

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  9. Reblogged this on S.K. Nicholls and commented:
    Looking for unique ways to market your book? C.S. Boyack and his spokesperson, Lisa Burton, are waiting to assist you. They need guests from your books to their radio show and questions for a new feature blog, “Dear Lisa”. Have a look and drop Craig a line.

    Liked by 2 people

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