This is the twelfth post in a series of 12 ways to help authors (and your writing) by reading.
This can be another form of “buying,” but I see it as a little different.
Consider giving a book:
- to all ages.
- books for all occasions.
- books as love notes.
As a parent to a toddler, I get invited to birthday parties. If I know about them in advance, I’ll buy books at writer’s conferences and get them signed by the author as a personal gift for the birthday boy or girl. I’ve noticed these gifts aren’t a favorite. They don’t make noise or have parts to be lost. One can hope they bring joy at a quieter time after the birthday cake and decorations are long gone. My son isn’t old enough to mind at the moment. So, until he protests — books will be our gift of choice.
Books make a nice hostess gift too. They can drink up the words later while relaxing.
Books make nice holiday gifts whether they have a religious theme or not. My son received a nice Easter Story book last year in a basket from his grandmother.
Books as love notes? You may have provided a book love note without realizing it. You give a book that touched you in some way. I enjoy sharing The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow. While sad, to me, it’s a book about living and worth giving to others.
Giving books obviously helps authors with sales, but the act also helps writers, who share a love for a book that touched her, moved her, or made her laugh out loud.
How do you give books?
Reading: I read the Queen of Reciprocity author and illustrator Katie Davis’ updated How to Promote Your Children’s Book: Tips, Tricks, and Secrets to Create a Bestseller. I bought the first edition back in 2012. A while back, she asked people to join her launch team … you know the drill read an advance copy and give an honest review. The book offers a ton of information for authors about to launch a book or for those of us not-yet-published. There are dozens of tips on how to get involved in the kid lit world, how to give back, and how to streamline some of your social media time. I say streamline social media time, because she shares information on how to use different sites like Twitter and Pinterest. This second edition is available March 25 on Amazon. There are tips on how to do things on your own and resources to find professionals to help you. There are a ton of links, so you may want to go easy with those. I’m a bit of a “squirrel” type personality, so I clicked through to a lot of them. One could easily take one or two chapters a day to study and complete the action items in preparation for a book release.
Thanks for following along with the Reader University 12-part series. This wasn’t intended as a reading challenge, but the series kept me focused on reading and helping authors. I’ve read more novels and nonfiction books over the last 12 weeks than I’ve read in the last two years. I participated in the adult reading program at my library by reading eight books. I have an official volunteer, “reading” project and a volunteer job at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference in April that will keep me busy. I anticipate reading will continue to be a focus of 2014!
If you missed any of the Reader University posts,
- I share why I’m doing Reader Universtiy here.
- My first post Reader University: Try
- My second post Reader University: Read
- My third post Reader University: Name
- My fourth post Reader University: Review
- My fifth post Reader University: Follow
- My sixth post Reader University: Learn
- My seventh post Reader University: Share
- My eighth post Reader University: Request
- My ninth post Reader University: Connect
- My tenth post Reader University: Travel
- My eleventh post Reader University: Buy
Books are my FAVORITE gifts–to both give and receive! Great post.
They are perfect Marty.
I love giving books. My son took it as a given, and therefore the books didn’t count as gifts. Gifts are toys and junk food. Sigh. I love getting books as gifts myself. 😉
I never thought about that part … expecting the books and then the toys and junk food. We’ll see what my kiddo does as he gets older.
This was a great series. Awesome advice. 🙂 I love this one. It fits in with BUY. 🙂
Thanks EriK!
I was a bookworm so I never minded being given books as gifts, so I don’t know if this counts. But the books my aunt and uncle (also bookworms) are some of the only gifts I remember being given! I like to gift books too. 😀
What a nice aunt and uncle! Interesting that those are some of the only gifts you remember. I love books as gifts too.
While checking out at Michael’s craft store this week, the cashier asked me if I wanted to donate a dollar for books for kids. But what was interesting is she had a box of kids classics that she then took a book out when I said yes. Thought that was a neat way to give books too. 🙂
Oh, that’s neat. I try to stay away from Michaels…. too many goodies there.
Great post. I am known as the book grandma in my family. I know that kids are so overwhelmed with toys and gadgets, that they rarely receive books as gifts. Fortunately, my granddaughter opens my gift of a stack of books and starts reading. But, I give them to friend’s childrens, adults and so on. With everyone having iPads or Kindles, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to give a book to adults. Our church always has a raffle at Christmas, and I put together a large book basket with a variety of books, many focused on social justice issues. They end up being the most popular bidded items. I’m also active in Books for Africa.
That’s awesome Patricia. A book basket for a raffle is a wonderful idea.
I have given to organizations that provide books for children. It warms my heart to do so.