Methods To Support Authors You Like (While Still Boycotting Amazon)

So, I wanted to start this week's post off with an apology. My last installment about how you could support authors by using the Kindle Unlimited platform while still hurting Amazon's bottom line was based on some faulty information on my part, and I took it down before it had a chance to spread any further than it already had. I know we are all trying to ensure our money doesn't go to causes and companies we don't want to support, and I didn't want to give anyone incorrect information.

That's also why this week I wanted to put together a follow-up for all the things you can do to support authors who may be facing hardships as more folks turn their backs on Amazon as a distribution platform. And while not all of these will apply to every author out there, there should be something on the list you can do to keep the writers in your life fed and sheltered so they can keep working hard on the next story for you and all your fellow readers!

And I may not have even covered all your options here!

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

Option #1: Buy Somewhere Else

This seems obvious, but sometimes we get so narrowly focused on our normal shopping patterns that we forget there are still traditional bookstores out on the market. So if there is an author you want to support, but you're not going to Amazon, make sure you try alternative dealers. For example, my books Old Soldiers, Marked Territory, and Painted Cats are all available at Barnes and Noble, and you can get hold of them for about the same price if you've been meaning to check them out for yourself!

This goes for any merch your favorite authors put out that isn't just books. Whether it's tee shirts, stickers, hoodies, or something else, if they're selling through a site you aren't boycotting, consider grabbing an item or two to tide you (and your favorite writer) over.

Option #2: Buy In-Person

Most authors who have signing events, or who come to conventions, will have books on-hand for you to buy. This isn't news to most folks, but the major advantage of hand sales is that authors get to keep a majority of the value of the sale, rather than a bookstore gobbling it up to give them a pittance. So if an author in question is going to be at an event you're attending, or just somewhere local, consider showing up to get your copy... and for bonus points, hand them cash to cut down on charge fees!

Option #3: Support Their Free Work

While a lot of us write books, we also produce a lot of extra stuff as well. So if the authors you like put out podcasts, blogs, free short fictions on websites like Vocal, or if they run a YouTube channel, make sure that you consume and support those things as well! This has the added benefit that you're saving money, getting a bunch of extra things to enjoy, and the author you like is still getting paid at the end of the day.

For the record, folks can find a ton of free fiction of mine in my Vocal archive, and I've got audio dramas along with a lot of game-related stuff over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel... so subscribe to both of those if you haven't, and go through the archives when you've got time!

Option #4: Subscribe and Leave Tips

Very few of us actually depend on our book sales to handle 100% of our bills, and at this point in our lives a lot of authors have some kind of crowdfunding platform to help us cover our expenses. So in addition to following your favorite writers on all of their social media sites (Facebook, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and so on), and interacting with what they share there, take a moment to find out what crowdfunding websites we use. Some of us are on Patreon, some of us have Ko-Fi, some of us might even use Only Fans (we don't judge here), so find out where the creators you like are making things, and toss them a little support if you can! Even if it's just a few bucks a month, it makes a big difference if enough people do it!

Incidentally, you can find me on The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page, as well as on The Literary Mercenary's Ko-Fi, if you want to help me keep my records in the black.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

Overcoming The Bystander Effect is Important For Building Your Audience as a Creator

Imagine that you're drowning, flailing your arms and doing your best to shout for help. Would you rather have a crowded beach full of potential rescuers to come to your aid, or just one person who happened to be walking by in your time of need? While a lot of us might think that the former situation means you'd have more people to come help, it seems you're actually more likely to get help if there's one person around to throw you a line.

This is called the Bystander Effect, and it is a serious problem for creators of all kinds out there.

Don't worry, you've got this!

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Even Murder Can't Get People Off The Sidelines

One of the most famous examples of the Bystander Effect as pointed out by Psychology Today is the murder of Kitty Genovese. In 1964 this young woman was stabbed to death outside her apartment in broad daylight with dozens of witnesses. No one stepped up to stop the assault, or even to call the police; everyone watched, but no one did anything, and the killers walked away.

Why did this happen?

Anybody got a problem?

It's a complicated situation to be sure, but it also works as a great example of the Bystander Effect. The two major factors involved, according to Latane and Darley, are called diffusion of responsibility and social influence. Diffusion of responsibility can be described as, "Well surely somebody is going to help?" Because if you're alone, and someone is in trouble, you know it's down to you to help. If you're in a group of 30+ people, though, that responsibility doesn't feel quite so heavy on your own shoulders. Social influence refers to how we often look around and examine the behavior of others to see what's the appropriate thing to do in any given situation is. And if nobody else is helping, we feel like maybe we aren't supposed to help either. And even if we'd like to help, we have to overcome that inertia to be the ones to start the ball rolling.

This is where the Catch-22 for creators comes in. Because we need literally tens of thousands of people to step up and help us make our projects successful, but when you address large audiences to try to rally those numbers you get a lot of people all agreeing that somebody should help you, but nobody lifts a finger to actually assist you in hitting your goals.

Become an Atheist (A Parable)

There's a story about a holy man who said that God made everything, and one of his students asked, "If God made everything, then why did he make atheists?" The holy man smiled, and said that atheists existed to provide an example for everyone. For when an atheist gave someone food, shelter, and care, they did not do so because they believed that God would judge them, or because they needed to avoid hell, but because they saw a problem and chose to step up and fix it because it was the right thing to do.

So when you come across someone in need, do not pray for God to help them. Rather, in that moment, become an atheist, and be the help they need.

I got you, brother.

Something I would tack onto this is something known as Rule .303. I talked about this in Want To Get Your Character Involved in Plot? Remember Rule .303, but for those who've never come across it can be stated simply as, "If you have the means and the opportunity, that confers upon you the duty to help."

Once you get into the mindset of someone who wants to help creators you care about (whether they're making things you like, or they're fellows in the industry you want to support), you find out that there's actually a ton of stuff you can do... and a lot of it is actually free!

How You Can Help Today!

Take a moment and think about a creator whose work you enjoy. Whether they're an author, a podcaster, a YouTuber, a game designer, or any other kind of creator, ask what you're doing to support them.

If you have money:

- Buy their work (for yourself, or as a present).

- Become a patron on Patreon.

- Give them a tip on Ko-Fi (or any other tipping platform).

- Buy their merch (seriously, tee shirt proceeds are how a lot of folks pay their bills).

If you don't have money:

- Subscribe to their social media (algorithms decide who gets promoted based on follower count).

- Like, share, comment, and reblog to boost their signal (again, interaction persuades the algorithm).

- Review their work (particularly important for Amazon).

- Talk about them in groups (I call this "doom posting," where I big-up people's signals en masse).

- Consume their content (read articles, watch videos, listen to casts, etc. even if it's muted, because these numbers are what contributes to their paychecks).

If you made it this far and you'd like to help me, specifically, here's some things you can do!

- Follow My Facebook

- Check Out My LinkTree

- Subscribe to My Weekly Newsletter

- Subscribe to The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- Subscribe to My Daily Motion Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing!

If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Look For The Helpers (And Do Your Best To Be One)

If you were stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire and no way to change it, you might be in need of any kind of help you could get. Whether it was someone who had the right tools to stop and help you change it, somebody who offered you a ride to a garage, or just someone who handed you a bottle of water and let you use their cell phone to make a call, when you find yourself struggling what you need most is a hand up so you can get back on track and start moving forward again.

There will be some people who drive by and ignore you. There will be others who roll their eyes, and blame you for not being prepared (where's their jack, where's their spare tire, where's their lug wrench, why can't they handle this themselves, etc.). There will be some who outright mock you because they aren't broken down on the side of the road, and it provides them a moment of mean-spirited joy to kick you while you're down.

As Mr. Rogers said, look for the helpers when times get tough. And if you can, do your best to be one of said helpers.

That review really helped. Thanks, man.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Authors Aren't Self-Made (No Matter What You've Heard)

Without fail, whenever an author (or any creator, really) asks for help from their audience there's always one asshat in the back who sniggeringly replies that if they're asking for help maybe they shouldn't be doing this for a living. Which, honestly, has very big, "If you want a living wage, go get a better job!" vibes to it.

And just like everyone who's worked in food service, retail, and every other genuinely necessary job during this pandemic, I would like to raise a point here. Because if you are consuming the content someone makes, then you are directly benefiting from their efforts and energies. Whether you're reading their stories, checking out their guides, watching their videos, listening to their audio tracks... you are benefiting from them. The same way that you benefit from a server taking your order at a diner, or the cashier ringing you up at the grocery store. And a lot of the time creators are making stuff for free (this blog, for instance, has no paywall. Neither do the videos I've contributed to the Azukail Games YouTube channel over the past few months), or just asking for a couple of bucks to enjoy something that took between a few months and a few years for them to create.

And for a majority of creators, that doesn't pay the bills. Not because we aren't putting in the effort, and not because of quality (which is completely subject to audience taste), but because we don't have people giving us the hand up we need.

Because finding helpers is hard.

Seriously, take a drink friend. It's rough pitching on the con floor all day.

Creators are doing our best to create a good product, and to put it out in front of people. And with startlingly few exceptions (and those of which are usually based on accidents in the algorithm), we cannot force our vehicles to go under our own power. We need our audience to reach out, and help however they can.

I've been talking about this for a while, and those who would like to help but aren't sure what would make an impact should take a look at Why Your Likes, Shares, Reviews, and Follows Matter To Creators. It's not all-inclusive, but I tried to give people some insight as to how their actions can make a difference to those of us who make content for a living.

Doom Posting (My Way of Being a Helper)

I generally try to help my fellow creators as much as I can. If someone has an idea for a project, and I know a publisher who would be interested, I try to set them up together. If someone has a new release, I share it on my channels and try to drive some traffic their way (incidentally, if you haven't read the brilliant Team Murderhobo: Assemble from Clinton Boomer, you owe it to yourself to check it out). I host reviews on my blogs to try to give people shout-outs, and I mention folks wherever I can.

There is something else I've been doing recently that anyone out there can do as well, and which I would actively recommend if you really want to help out the creators whose work you care about.

I call it doom posting.

Clock's ticking. Time to help some sorry sons a' bitches!

What I do is I pick a platform (usually Reddit, but Facebook sometimes gets this treatment as well). I then pick a creator whose work I like, and who needs to reach a larger audience. I will then find as many groups and communities as I can (ones I'm a part of and new ones) just to share the content they've made and try to boost their signal. This can lead to me making two or three dozen posts at a time when a work appeals to a lot of groups I'm already part of, or only making half a dozen posts if it's a little more niche.

I call it doom posting because I know that no matter how many posts I personally make, I'm just one individual. So it feels sort of hopeless, kind of like doom scrolling. There's always the chance, though, that these posts reach fresh eyes, get new people interested, and that even making a post that seemed like an outside chance of being noticed could lead to a much-needed landslide of attention. And since I know that admins and moderators get on creators' asses for posting their own work (often banning us from groups if we attempt to do so), I'm happy to act as the cat's paw to share other people's work so they don't have to face that kind of backlash.

And since we're on the subject, in addition to Mr. Boomer's book, I'd also suggest some of the following places for you to check out if you want fresh, free content from talented creators!

- A Vox in The Void: A YouTube channel that does spine-chilling reads and performances of classic horror and sci-fi stories, as well as Warhammer 40K fiction (official and non), going through the archive will take you a while. Trust me, it's worth it... so go like and subscribe!

- Alice The Author: Alice Liddell is a talented author who works in romance, fantasy, RPGs, and more! Her channel is great for authors, aspiring authors, and even for Game Masters looking for occasional bits of inspiration. Could definitely use a boost in followers.

- Azukail Games: All right, I'm cheating with the third one. As folks know I've been contributing a lot of content to the Azukail Games YouTube channel, but I'm not the only name and face putting stuff up there. So come on by, find some stuff you think is cool, and subscribe to help us hit our goals! It takes 1k subs and 4k hours of watched content in the last year (or 11.5 hours a day), so we need all the help we can get.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing!

If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!