Hey there, fellow readers, and welcome to a quick guide featuring 4 amazing ways you can support your favorite authors (including indies!) without spending a dime.

Every time I have for you is super simple, and you can do them all anywhere, anytime. Because we love our indie authors, don’t we?

Check out the full guide in the video below (it also features my new puppy Ellie, who’s full of cuteness to share with you, too!).

VIDEO: Tips to Support Authors for Free

Plus, here’s an additional breakdown on each of our main tips.

1. Check Out Library Books

You may already know that checking out library books from local libraries is a great free way to read… but did you know that this actually supports (and sometimes pays!) authors as well?

It’s totally a win-win situation for readers and authors. You get to read for free, and authors get paid! Here’s how it works…

When you check-out books through a library’s digital/online platform (like Libby or hoopla, although there are many more apps!), your library actually pays the author you’re borrowing from on your behalf. It varies by app, as hoopla is one that pays authors every time you borrow a book, and Libby is one that pays a one-time buy fee for you to read a book time and time again, but each library app does ensure authors are compensated for their work.

Read more: Why Readers (and Authors) Love “hoopla”

Alternatively, if your library does not offer an online selection, you can always request the library buy a copy or two of your favorite author’s books. That way, that author still gets paid and the library can share his/her work with your community!

2. Get Freebies from Authors

A lot of authors, especially indie authors, like to offer what we call “freebies” for their readers, especially readers who, say, sign up for an email list. These freebies can be anything from a free e-book to behind-the-scenes looks at how that author writes your favorite books.

And, let me break down this fourth wall here for a second… because I, the person typing/speaking to you right now, am an indie author who offers this as well!

I always like to offer a free e-book and audiobook copy of the first book in my hit YA series to readers, whether you’re a new reader (hey, nice to meet you!), or you’ve read some of my other work before. Either way, this is just my way of reaching out to you and saying, you know, here’s a free way to read my work, and I hope you enjoy it.

Getting freebies from authors supports authors because it shows us how interested you are in our work. It motivates us!

3. Browse Author Websites

Checking out your favorite author’s website does two things: one, it helps show that author that they have readers actively looking at their work online, and two, it increases the website “foot traffic” that the author is getting. Now, that may not make a whole lot of sense to you, if you don’t know much about the mechanics of the web, but know that it’s a very good thing for authors!

Authors usually have access to their personal website statistics, and they can see how many people have viewed their websites each day. When they see a lot of views, it’s another motivating factor—they’ll want to keep writing and sharing work with readers!

Now, here’s a bonus tip: search for, and then click on, your favorite author’s website from a search engine, like Google. This actually helps that author tremendously (and it only take a few seconds from you), but here’s how…

Search engines like to “promote” websites that get clicked on a lot. And, after you search for an author’s name (like Kari Lynn M.), clicking on the author’s official website (like KariLynnM.com) tells that search engine that that website is worth clicking on. The search engine, like Google, will then show that website in other searches that other people look for, which makes that author’s website even more visible.

And, best of all, you can do this as many times as you’d like, and it will help authors each and every time at no cost to you. Pretty cool, right?

4. Share Authors on Socials

Now, here’s a tip that you’ve probably heard of before: share and talk about your favorite authors on social media, and this will promote those authors for free!

You can tweet about an author, make a post on Insta featuring an author’s book, or even chat about an author in a TikTok video. Whatever you do, just be sure to mention the author by name so that others will know who you’re talking about—then let the social media sharing take over!

Authors are sure to thank you when you do this, too, because it does help them become noticed by a larger audience. So, just take a minute or two to create a post!

We all like to support our indie authors, but, we get it, it’s difficult when you don’t have the means to buy their work directly. Instead, or in addition to buying their books, try these tips and help promote those authors to others for free!

And happy reading…

–Kari