How to Help Authors Pre-Pub and Beyond

Hi everyone! My name is Emma and I am assisting Jenn this summer as she prepares for the publication of Forgive Me Not. Both as Jenn’s assistant and as an avid reader, I have often wondered what the best ways to help authors were. Luckily, there were a number of resources available online that allowed me to compile a list! While this is by no means an exhaustive summary, it should help you out if you’ve ever had the same question.

Ways to Help Authors Pre-Pub and Beyond…

• Purchase: Most important…buy the book. Pre-orders help a lot and even after sales are important for hardcovers and paperbacks. Any and all sales help and it’s great to support indie bookstores that contribute to the community. If you can purchase, pick whichever means works best for you. Giveaways are also great because there’s potential to get copies to readers who may not have access. 

• Libraries: Alternatively, you can request a copy from your local library or donate a copy to your library. Book circulation can help with local awards and may encourage more purchases through the library system.

• Media: If you have ties to media, this is a superb way to help. Authors may not have reach outside of their region or could use wider visibility. Podcasts, radio, digital or print spaces help a lot with visibility as part of promotions. Book lists, essays, interviews, reviews, are just some of the typical ways books get attention. These may be book-specific spaces, but book themes can resonate on various platforms and reach listeners (aka potential readers). 

• Virtual Parties: Consider attending or hosting a virtual (or in-person) pre-order party. These events can include readings, activities, or games to help promote the book. Another route is a launch party that is less formal and more fun where you can connect with readers and collaborate with other authors to brainstorm new ideas to celebrate. 

• Social Media: Follow the author on social media: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, BlueSky, or wherever else we may be and share their content. If authors share graphics it can be helpful to amplify on the day of publication and thereafter.

• Reviews: Post the books online—and write a review! Many factors go into book sales, but word-of-mouth can be a driving factor. Posting a review of the book to Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, or your preferred social media channel goes a long way and helps raise the book’s profile in searches. 

• Mailing Lists: Join mailing lists from authors and publishers that interest you, which may be the easiest way to get updates versus social media posts. Mailing lists send news, like upcoming releases, right to your inbox. 

• Award Nominations: Winning or being nominated for an award can make a huge difference for an author. While the majority of well-known literary awards are not open to reader nominations or voting, the ones that are depend on your participation and can help bring visibility to audiences that may not have been aware of your book. (Goodreads, Shimmy Awards, Eisner, are just some up for voting or nominations.)  

• Schools: School connections can be incredibly helpful, especially in the kidlit market. If you are an educator or have connections to any schools or work with programs that do author visits, ask if there is potential for a book event. Universities are also great for potential adoptions. Authors can coordinate with their School & Library teams and collaborating with department heads and program directors can be a great connection.

• Readings/Events: Reading series or other events, especially ones that sell copies. Does their book also fit with an event you’re planning or a panel you’re proposing? Are you part of a festival that can help support an author or connect them with new readers? Is there a talk or conference where their book or presence may make a splash? Is this an event where books may be sold? If so it may be helpful to add to sales or negotiate fees versus sales for a speaking engagement. (Keep in mind many authors do pay for their own travels. It may be worth checking with an author on whether they’ll receive support or you can provide this for an appearance.)

• Swag: If you’re the visually creative type, creating swag like postcards or fan art or stickers or other goodies, can help as a pre-order perk for the author to incite interest. 

• Partnerships: Are there thematic elements that may work with a company or organization to package the book or bring an author in as a speaker? Would a local BIPOC-owned winery help make a cocktail and collaborate on promotion? Are their organizations that work with communities depicted in the book and may engage with it that you can plan a learning event around? 

• Book Clubs/Reading Groups: If you’re part of an active bookclub consider nominating the book to discuss, especially in paperback since those sales are helpful and books tend to get less publicity/marketing, if any, for the paperback that comes out after a hardcover.

Research Doesn't End When You Leave School....

Recently I've been getting asked advice by friends about writing and grad school and getting published and such, inquiring for others as well as themselves. So I figured I'd add to the bevy of information posted online about getting published, finding an agent or graduate school or critique partner and so on. This isn't on how to write or keep writing but this is on that other aspect that some fail to grasp which is the effort outside of writing but in how to have your work seen. And the sole answer to that is: Research.

At AWP in Boston this month I was at an agent panel, one of several that was packed by emerging writers seeking advice and guidance. The Q&A got a bit repetitive depending on which panel(s) you went to but the same message could not be relayed enough it seems, which is: do your research.

One writer actually told the panel that it seemed too arduous to research agents. One of the agents on the panel was actually quite nice, but also very serious when he said, "If you're expecting me to spend what could be up to 20 hours to read and consider your manuscript, the least you can do is make sure it's worth my time which means taking the time to do research on what I'm looking for."

Well said.

It's amazing how many times I've heard, seen, and also experienced rejected based on the fact that one did not do their research.

I know, it seems like after writing and editing, critiquing and reviewing that your job should be done. You would like to think that any agent who is a fan of books would like ALL writing. But, as any reader knows it's all subjective, it's just hard to consider this when it comes to our own work. When others say they enjoy your work it's hard to take when you expose it to others and hope they'll enjoy it too. But there are ways to save yourself from this. One of them is to, yup, as repetitive as it sounds: do your research.

Researching literary agents is a MUST. There are so many agents these days and the list is growing. With publishers downsizing editors may transition to agent roles. Each agent has specific requirements when it comes to their growing list and if you write literary fiction and Agent A wants commercial it is a waste of both yours and the agent's time to send them your coming-of-age novel.

What can be harder is if you write literary fiction and an agent takes that, but how do you know yours is right for him/her? Publishers Marketplace, the agency website, Writers Digest even does spotlights on agents, and there are regularly listings of books sold (editor, author, and agent attached), as well as the acknowledgment pages of books you enjoy. If your book is on international characters and you see that an agent seems to like historical book based in North America only perhaps he/she may not be right. If the agent likes nonfiction and you're writing a memoir make sure the agent includes memoir in their growing list. Some agents have blogs, many are on Twitter. An agent I follow, Pam van Hylckama of Foreword Literary may do #tenqueries. In #tenqueries Pam notes why she will or won't accept a query and many times it's because she's been queried for projects she does not represent and of course bad query letters but that's a whole other blog post. This is super helpful for aspiring writers to know what agents they may want to query are looking for and who they represent.

In regards to literary magazines I cannot praise Duotrope enough as a resource. I've been using it for years and it's now a paid service ($50/year) but if you're actively searching for lit mags and trying to send out pieces, track them, and get a sense of what genres lit mags take as well as their submission periods Duotrope is invaluable. From there you can check out archived issues if a magazine may have it online to see if their work is a fit and potentially submit or keep them in mind for something in the future.

The same research you'd put into residencies, graduate school, undergrad, conferences, and so forth. You research costs, what people may have thought about them, what you can get out of the program and who is teaching. All of these things are important to ensure you get the most out of any experience and most importantly do not waste your time or others. Somethings are a shot in the dark and it may or may not work out in your favor. But at least if you did a bit of preparation beforehand you can avoid many blows.