Morning my friends! It’s a cool Saturday morning here. I live in Washington State and our weather tends to be temperamental. Well it is certainly that today! It’s cool and cloudy. This is summer, right? I’m sure the sun will come out tomorrow….or the next day….or sometime next week! Before I dive into my to-do list for the day and work, I wanted to make a hopefully “quick” note. I say hopefully because, well, I tend to talk a lot. Oh you know that already? (HA! I think I’m rather funny today!) Ok….I’ll just get to it!
Did you know that you, as a reader matter within the whole big bubble that is filled with bibliophiles and storytellers? Yes, really YOU are! Your love and passion for reading is just one part of that massive bubble. If you think about it, how often do you read? How many books do you read in a day, week, month or year? For me personally, I’m nearly halfway to my goal for the year already. I have been a binge reader for 30+ years and I can’t remember a time where a story didn’t help me in some way, shape or form. Because of that, I have so much respect for the creative process and the storytellers for what they do. As you should as well! If they did not write their tales, would your life be different? Would NOT reading feel the same? For me, no it would not.
So now that you know YOU matter within the big bubble, let me throw this out to you. YOU add to that bubble even more when you support an author. It’s not just when you purchase a book from your favorite retailer. It’s when you repost something on social media, say thank you to them, leave a note to make them smile. It’s about how YOU feel when you do things that spreads the support further. Think about it, when someone smiles at you, gives you a compliment or says thank you, how does that feel? It usually adds a tiny bit (if not more) sunshine to your day no matter what.
There is yet another way YOU can show support. Yes, It’s true! Reviews are one of the biggest ways to show that support. When you’ve finished a book and whether you liked it or not, take five minutes out of your day and log into the interwebs and find where the author sells their amazing stories. Find the book, scroll down past the description and click on “Write a customer review”. Leave a star rating, and a line or two or five or more (if you’re like me) and give your thoughts about the book. Be honest in your review but I can’t express this enough, be tactful. I’ve seen too many reviews where someone was just a complete freaking butt nugget about it. How the holy macaroni does it help ANYONE if you’re rude and lack tact or even maturity? It doesn’t. It’s hurtful to the author, the fans, other reviewers and in essence you. As I was writing this out all I could think of was the things our parents teach us. “Treat others how you want to be treated”. It’s true. Put yourself in their shoes...hell anyone's shoes and think about how you would feel. I know, it might seem like I’m talking down to ya’ll or even to a child. I’m not, I’m just trying to reiterate the obvious.
You can leave reviews on retail site for the author as well as Goodreads. Hell even stop by their social media and say thanks for the awesome read. Show them appreciation at least for the time and effort it takes to fulfill the creative process and those pages.
Below you’ll see a graphic on how reviews help an author. Please take a peek at it and even save it and repost to your social media. Or you can even share the link to this post. You may think your opinion is insignificant when it comes to reviews. It’s not at all. I know a lot of authors who take time to read the reviews, even comment or send a thank you.
Life is short, add a little sunshine to someone's day.
Note: The graphic is not mine, I take no credit for it!
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