Help your favorite authors

It's a tough, strange time in book publishing, and readers need to help their favorite authors as much as possible to make sure they keep writing.

How do you support authors? By buying their books, obviously, but it also helps a lot if you post favorable reviews of the books on Amazon, Goodreads and other such sites. Mention the author's books to friends and relatives and on social media. Encourage your local libraries and bookstores to carry the books.

With literally millions of new books crowding the market, it's all about getting the word out about the authors we love. The more readers the author accumulates, the better the chances that the publisher stays happy and the author can continue to write for a living.

Another way to help is to preorder books that you're anticipating. Publishers look at those early sales with a critical eye, and base marketing decisions on them, so it's important that readers show that they're looking forward to the next book.

Which brings me -- ahem! -- to my latest title writing as Max Austin. DUKE CITY DESPERADO comes out June 9 from Alibi, the new mystery imprint at Random House, but it's available for preorder now. Only $2.99, everywhere e-books are sold.

DUKE CITY DESPERADO is a rollicking thriller about two idiots who try to rob a drive-thru bank and what subsequently happens to them. While there are some cross-over characters from the other Duke City novels, DESPERADO works as a standalone. I guarantee that you'll get a kick out of it.