Happy Valentine’s Day! I can’t help thinking of love and goodwill on this day, and since we chat about writing here, let’s extend that to include the love for our fellow writers. What can you do to help another writer?

Give Them Links and Shout Outs

Show your favorite writer some love by linking to their articles and blog posts. Back links are a great way to increase your search engine juice, and quality links are hard to come by. You don’t need to let someone know you linked to them, but if you can, that’s great too.

Or mention a book that you’ve recently enjoyed by your fellow writer. Link to it, talk about it, and tell your own readers why you enjoyed it. Getting noticed for our books and articles is difficult in today’s crowded marketing world, so if you can help out a writer this way he or she is sure to appreciate it.

Mention Them on Social Networking

We have a lot of options with social networking today, so use them to showcase other writers! Never assume that giving someone else some marketing love will hurt your own marketing efforts. Give your favorite writer (or two, or three) shout outs on:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Stumbleupon
• Pinterest
• Digg
• Etc!

Buy Their Books

I know, times are rough and we can’t always afford to buy our friend’s books. I try. Even if the book is in a genre you don’t like, get it and give them a boost in sales. Hopefully they’ll reciprocate. If not, you’re still doing good to the writing world as a whole.

Give Them Reviews

Reviews are so hard to come by, and the rules seem to change with places like Amazon – so do your fellow author a favor and give them a review if you liked their book. It only takes a few minutes, but it can go miles toward goodwill and book sales.

Image: Sira Anamwong / FreeDigitalPhotos.net