by Alycia W. Morales     @AlyciaMorales

Jesus said that He came to serve, not to be served. Did you know that as a beginning writer, you can serve other writers? At first, you may wonder how, seeing that you are just getting started. You may not know a lot about the craft. You may not have a gigantic network. You may not have a book published. But that doesn’t mean you can’t help someone else, whether they are also a beginning writer or they have 50 published titles to their name.

The following are ten ways that as a writer, you can pay it forward, serving one another.

1. Host authors on your blog. Some will be willing to write a post for you. Others may be willing to answer interview questions. Most authors are more than happy to gain exposure with new audiences, and your readers may be just that. Be sure to share their bio, headshot, and offer to promote their newest release.
2. Visit the publishing houses’ websites and sign up to participate in blog tours. The house will send you notices each month about upcoming releases, and you’ll be able to select a book to read. Once you receive it, you will read it and leave a review on various bookstore sites like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and CBD. You’ll also post your review on your blog site. It’s a great way to get free reading material and help promote another author. Click here for Tyndale’s. Click here for Revell’s.
3. Join the Goodreads site and be sure to leave a review of each book you read. Did you know that you can pull your favorite quotes from the book and put them on the site? While you’re at it, mark a few of your favorites. Many authors also run contests on the site. It’s always a blessing to see that people participate in a contest to win your novel.
4. Start a local book club. What better way to give an author exposure than to have ten women buy their book and talk about it?
5. Do you know a particular author? Book launches are a huge part of their marketing plan. And each book launch requires a team of readers who are willing to go the extra mile for an author. As a member of a book launch team (or street team or dream team or whatever else the author and publisher wish to call it), you would be willing to blog about the book, leave reviews, share about the book on social media, distribute provided bookmarks to local bookstores, etc. Watch their blogs and Facebook pages for opportunities to join the team. Or, if you know them well enough, offer to be part of their next launch.
6. Word of mouth is always the best advertising. All of the above include word of mouth, but if you don’t want to go to those lengths, you can always simply tell your best friend what you’re reading and why you love it so much. I don’t know how many times I’ve done that and gained a handful of faithful new readers for my author friends.
7. Pray for each other. Every author faces adversity when they are writing. Whether it’s as simple as consistent interruptions while they’re writing at home, in the presence of family or it’s a spiritual attack on their health or finances or even their thought life while they’re writing, authors need warriors to back them with prayer.
8. Offer to assist an author. Don’t jump up in the middle of a class at a conference (or at the dinner table) and declare your loyalty and allegiance to them. Instead, wait for a moment when they’re obviously free and not surrounded by others and ask them if there’s anything you could do for them to make their life easier.
9. Join a local critique group and assist other authors in making their work shine, developing their craft, and finding those pesky pet words.
10. Offer (again, quietly) to serve them at a writers conference. Can you get them a cup of coffee? Can you help them carry their extra box of books to their classroom? Can you take their tray from the dinner table so they can get to their next class or finish the conversation they’re in the middle of? People take notice of people willing to serve them. Because a lot of people are out for their own good.

Remember, we are called to serve, not to be served. Whatever you do for someone else, try doing it without expecting anything in return. Just because. Out of love. Believe me, people can tell when you’re in it to win it and looking out for your best interests, hoping for the favor to be returned. And that’s the beauty of paying it forward. There’s nothing coming back at you other than the joy of knowing you’ve helped someone else. And it has to start somewhere, so why not be that starting point?

What other ways can you think of that authors can help one another? We’d love to hear your thoughts! [reminder]

Alycia W. Morales is an award-winning freelance editor and author. Her clients have won the Selah Award, BRMCWC Director’s Choice Award, and many others. Her writing has been published in Thriving Family magazine, Splickety Love, and several compilation books. She is a member of ACFW, the president of Cross n’ Pens critique group, and a BRMCWC Conference Assistant.

Alycia blogs at The Write Editing and Life. Inspired.

When she isn’t busy writing, editing, and reading, Alycia enjoys spending time with her husband and four children taking hikes in Upstate SC and NC, creating various crafts, coloring in adult coloring books, and watching TV.