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When one of your writer friends publishes a new book, there are some simple ways to help them out.

• Pre-order the book. The publishing world is fickle. The metrics that determine what is popular, what is a best-seller, what is ordered, what isn’t… it’s a constant battle of algorithms and sales numbers. And there are a ton of writers out there with way more clout than your friend who happens to have self-published a book. But if your friend’s book is getting a lot of interest from the public, maybe it’ll be caught by someone with the power to make decisions. And that all starts with pre-orders. Whether the book is self-published, or professionally published, or small press, or academic, if your friend has a book coming out, pre-order it. First of all, it’ll get your friend off your back when you’re asked if you bought a copy, and second, it’ll help increase sales numbers. Always a plus.
• Review the book. I don’t know if this is still true, but a few years ago I read an article where Amazon’s search results algorithm heavily penalizes books with only a few reviews if those reviews aren’t four- or five-stars. I’ve also read that five reviews (or possibly “more than five”; I can’t recall) will bump up the book as well. So if you liked the book, review it on Amazon, GoodReads, and anywhere else you can. Give it a good review, and try to write a couple of paragraphs about it. If you were given an advance copy, mention that (it’s only fair to give full disclosure). Also, in your review, try to reinforce the message of the cover copy. If it’s a book about vampires, talk about the vampires. If it’s a book about dogs, talk about the dogs. You get the idea. The review should be relevant.
• Don’t review the book if you didn’t like it. When writers send you their books, they’re not looking for universal approval and admiration. Not every book is liked by everyone. They want an honest opinion of their work. And you can be critical about parts of the story, or the pacing, or the characterization; constructive criticism helps writers get better. But don’t review the book if you didn’t like it or have a lot of criticism about it. Sure, it may be honest if you say “three stars, didn’t like X and Y, loved Z”, but that three-or-fewer-star review will shove the book down in the Amazon algorithm, and maybe other algorithms too. Instead, talk directly to your writer friend. We want to know. Trust me.
• Help out on social media. There’s so much noise on social media these days that finding any signal is virtually impossible. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. When your writer friend posts about the book, share that post and say something about it. Just sharing without comment doesn’t necessarily positively affect the post’s score in the algorithm; comments are important. And from what I’ve read Facebook likes to push up posts with emoji in them, so swallow your pride and throw some emoji in there. It won’t kill you. However, speaking of Facebook, be judicious about liking the post, especially if you’re related to the author. Be proud; be thrilled; share the post and comment on it. But authors’ moms need to hold off on that like button, because the Facebook algorithm automatically decides that any post where your mom was the first to like it is directed at the family, and it won’t surface as highly.
• Buy the book. Let’s be realistic here for a moment: if someone you know and like is publishing a book and posting about it on social media, of course you’re going to like the post. You might even share it. And that’s fine. But one year I kept track of likes and shares for one of my sci-fi novels over on Facebook. Forty-six likes, about a dozen shares… and seven sales. So much for people saying they bought it. Just be honest, okay? Either buy the book like you say you’re going to, or don’t buy it and say “I’m not really interested in that particular book, but congratulations on publishing it.” Sales are important, but the most important thing by far is honesty. So tell the truth. Don’t protect your writer friends’ feelings by inflating their expectations. (And by the way, most of us don’t do it for the money. We do it because we want people to read our words.)