Emerging Writers: How you can help

george2006I will probably never be a best-selling author. I might not ever be published by one of the big publishing houses. That’s okay. I’d like to have an audience for my work, but that’s not very much in my control. All I can do is write and do what I can to reach readers. Which means I am exactly like thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of emerging writers who struggle to be published and read. If you’re one of those writers, this post is aimed at you.

There sure are a lot of books being published, aren’t there? Too many to keep up with. And the more I hang around writers, the more writers I know who have books coming out. I can’t read them all. But I can read some of them, and so can you. I can’t buy them all, either (although I buy more than I can read), but I can buy some of them. I can’t do full length reviews of every book I read. I don’t have that kind of time. But what I can do–and you can too–is do ratings and brief reviews on Goodreads and Amazon.com. It only takes a few minutes, and it is greatly appreciated by authors.

That’s it. Pretty simple.

1. From time to time, or more often, buy a book by an emerging writer.

2. Read the book.

3. Write a review on a blog–yours or someone else’s–or on Goodreads or on Amazon.com.

(P.S. The image is of an emerging cicada–the mid-Atlantic is seeing one of the 17-year broods at the moment.)

About the author

I am the author of three novels--THE LAST BIRD OF PARADISE, OLIVER'S TRAVELS, and THE SHAMAN OF TURTLE VALLEY--and three story collections--IN AN UNCHARTED COUNTRY, HOUSE OF THE ANCIENTS AND OTHER STORIES, and WHAT THE ZHANG BOYS KNOW, winner of the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction. I am also the co-founder and former editor of Prime Number Magazine and the editor of the award-winning anthology series EVERYWHERE STORIES: SHORT FICTION FROM A SMALL PLANET.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.