I know that this is a drum much beaten, but there really is no better way of showing your support for an author than by leaving a review.
As the indie writing culture continues to develop, and strengthen its place in the writing structure (and in the term Indie I include self published writers, for the sake of not having to write it individually every time), the importance of effective advertising is becoming even more evident.
A lot of writers, myself included, do not have a big budget to operate on. Personally speaking, I don’t even have the disposable income to run a $5 Facebook promotion without seriously having to rebudget the family groceries for the week ahead.
Using Facebook groups and blogs is good. Social Media is a growing beast and has a reach that offers more than enough potential readers to justify the free postings and link shouts. But, it does get boring after a while.
It gets boring for the author, as all the time spent link dropping for those one of two sales, is time taken away from writing. It 
also gets boring for the readers and those using social media. Your homepages / timelines, etc. get filled with adverts and after a while you become numb to them. Trust me, as a writer the last thing we want is for you to stop paying our adverts any attention.
So what can we do? What other options are there once we cut down on our link jamming sessions and cannot afford a PR to do the work for us? Well, that is where you come in. Yes, you, and you there, I see you reading on your iphone. You can all help your favourite authors (obviosuly that’s me) by leaving a review, not just on Amazon, but goodreads, and your blog (should you have one). Tell your friends, tell that weird looking old man on the bus. If you like something, review it and pass on the knowledge.
Word of mouth and good reviews are the most effective way of marketing a book. It doens’t cost a thing, it takes next to no time and will make a writer’s day.
Official Site of Alex Laybourne - Author 
Yes there isn’t much of this anymore
Reblogged this on Spookymrsgreen's Blog.
Well said Alex! I feel like a broken record, constantly asking people to leave reviews…
Reblogged this on Author P.S. Bartlett.
Thank you 🙂
Reblogged this on Shirley McLain and commented:
Hey girl, I enjoyed reading this very truthful blog. I know all about that limited income. I hate the PR work that goes along with my book because I don’t have time to write at all. I’m either on the social sites are looking for someone to do reviews for the book. What I hate is the sites that do reviews but will only do traditionally published books. There are a lot of excellent books they miss out on because of their short sightedness. Oh well enough of my soapbox. Great blog and I have reblogged it. Have a blessed afternoon.
Thank you for the reblog, I really appreciate it, and yor kind words on my post. I agree that the traditionally published only book review sites are a real pain. Best of luck with your writing. Have a wonderful day.
Reblogged this on theowlladyblog.
You are right, it doesn’t take much effort to write a review of a book, yet even now, so many readers never even think about doing it. Although I would question the effect of a review on book sales…I don’t really think readers pay too much attention to reviews anymore, the ‘look inside’ or sample feature is a much better indication of the book’s quality… but the review is still a great way for a reader to connect with an author and provide valuable feedback, even if it’s not as positive as the author might like. if you’ve had a bad day, no one has bought your book in a month, but then someone leaves a review saying how much they loved the story you created, then it suddenly makes it all seem worthwhile!