The Perfect Gift for Authors is Free!

By Carolyn Howard Johnson     The Perfect (Very Frugal!) Gift for Authors Books. Or course you knew I’d say that. We all owe a debt to the publishing industry and its sidekick, the indies. And probably most of us single out at least a couple of people on our holiday lists to give a book to. But how many of us have an author on our holiday list? Isn’t there something you could give an author—even one you don’t know personally? Even if you have a serious holiday budget you must stick to. The holidays are a time to let your spirit of giving overcome any reticence you may have about contacting a favorite author. I promise you, there is no gift greater for authors than hearing from a reader. Well, OK. There is one. That is when a reader writes a review for a book without being prompted to do so. So drop a note to an author, or write a review of that author’s book and post it on a blog or on one of the online bookstores. It’s free and it’s a full-of-love gift. And here are the easy to do steps to make sure your author gets full benefit of your generous (yes, it is!) gift! Write your review. Write your review. Google your author’s name and go to his or her Web site. You should find a contact feature, perhaps on the About the Author page. Copy your review and then paste it into an e-mail with a quick personal message to the author. Alternatively, you could post your review on your blog. If you do, let your author know with a thank you note and then use that same link to promote your post on Twitter, Facebook, and any other social networks you belong to. Once you have done this, it becomes easy. If you can, do it one more time with another author, preferably one who writes in a different genre. You have plenty of time before the big December rush! If giving a review doesn’t get you into the holiday spirit, maybe this will: You are contributing to an industry that provides you with something you love—books! ------ Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Now in its second edition,  Bookbaby calls her The Frugal Book Promoter a classic.  She is also the author of a novel and several books of poetry including her most recent, Imperfect Echoes. Her agent is shopping her memoir and second novel.  She admits to carrying a pen and notebook wherever she goes and to preferring reading a good newspaper to watching the news.