This week is Random Acts of Kindness week. This is a principle I not only believe in, but follow through. I have made regular 'Random Acts of Kindness' to people in my author / book community and it is now an embedded part of who I am - it really does become a natural way of living after a very short time.
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Often it's the smallest acts of kindness that hold the greatest
power. |
I try to do one significant monthly act, which is often a monetary gift to someone in need or a care package for someone who is feeling the presence of the black-dog, and a smaller daily act, which is often an investment of time or skill. My Fangirl Friday posts are a small part of this belief.
Sometimes, those folks know it is me behind the gift of money, time, sharing, cheerleading, kindness packages, etc, and sometimes they don't. People often find it difficult to ask for help and even more difficult to accept it when it's offered. It's not about rough riding people's dignity or displacing the delicate power balance between two individuals. There's an art to giving, but it's one easily learned.
Now, I know there are some cynics who say there is no such thing as a pure act of random kindness because it makes the giver feel good about themselves - which is a good point, but let's reframe that, in our book community there are plenty of incidences of folks getting all the feels for themselves over being total barstools! Trolling, nasty-reviewing, knocking down other authors, books, bloggers, has become sadly commonplace, and it sometimes feels like we can't get through a day with out some kind of negative drama unfolding.
Kindness is powerful; it's transformative - it has the capacity to literally change lives - and sometimes it's the smallest acts that have the greatest power.
THE 10 ACTS OF KINDNESS CHALLENGE
1) Leave an honest, encouraging review for an author who has under 50 reviews on Amazon.
2) Post on your Facebook timeline, a copy of the book you are reading, tell your friends why you're enjoying it, why they should read it, and tag the author.
3) Head to an author's website and drop an encouraging message into their contact box.
4) Buy a book from an indie who you don't know anything about.
5) Create a fan picture / bookselfie of an author's book and post it on instagram, Facebook etc and tag them.
6) Like an author's Facebook page and write them an introductory message - just say hi.
7) Take $5 and download 5 random ebooks in a genre you love from the bottom of the rankings. (Rankings aren't all about quality, they're a lot to do with exposure - there are some hidden gems lurking in the bottom of the Amazon ranking pool)
8) Create a piece of fan art, photography, colouring, crafting, painting, sketching and post it to their timeline -- I can't tell you how joyful this makes an author.
9) Buy a ticket for a book signing - someone who is starting out and doesn't already have a thousand fans queuing to see them. It's soul destroying to put yourself out there and no one show up. (#BeenThere)
10) For goodness sake, if your friend or family member has written and published a book, buy it - it doesn't matter if it's your kind of book or not - you don't have to read it!
You'd shout them a coffee, a beer or a birthday card - so shout them a book sale. Rankings matter and especially on launch days. Every sale makes a huge difference to Amazon rankings and how much exposure that book will go on to get --- and who knows, you might even enjoy it.
So - this is quite a lot to do in the remaining days of RAK week - but hey, I've always encouraged the healthy breaking of rules -- feel free to do any of these at any point throughout the year. The universe will thank you, and so will the book community xxx
