*We are assuming, of course, that you actually like said author's stuff and feel, well, rather fannish about it and would like very much to see him or her make the New York Times Bestseller List. Don't try the following steps if you aren't in love with the fiction. At worst, it's unethical; at best, it will leave you feeling vaguely dissatisfied and probably won't help the author all that much anyway.

1. Send fan mail.
Nothing motivates a writer to keep going quite so much as knowing that someone out there is waiting for the next book. If you've read something that changed your life, broadened your perspectives, or gave you a good laugh, take time to say thank you.

Seriously. Authors pour their blood, sweat and tears into their writing. Fan mail refills the reservoirs.

2. Signal Boost when appropriate.
Did your favorite author just win a big award? Do an interview? Write a particularly insightful blog post? If something made you smile or think, wow, cool, then take time to blog about it or share the link or even just call your family over to the computer screen to take a look.

(Do NOT slavishly retweet every banal comment your favorite author makes on twitter. That is called spam, and nobody likes it.)

3. Review their stuff.
Indie authors love reviews.

Most online retailers allow customers to write reviews about their purchases. You can also review on GoodReads or on your personal blog. The biggest enemy of an indie author is obscurity, so if you can help your favorite author's work stand out from the crowd, you'll be doing him or her a big favor.

When writing reviews, don't just say, "This was awesome!" or "This sucked!" (even if it's true). Take time to write several well-thought-out paragraphs. Say what you liked and what you didn't like. The more honest and specific you are in your reviews, the more useful they will be to potential buyers.

4. Recommend your favorite author when your friends get an e-reader.
It's an amazing phenomenon. The instant someone acquires e-reader -- a kindle, a nook, an ipod, whatever -- he or she begins craving books for that device. The trouble is, e-books by big name authors cost a lot of money. Almost as much as a hard cover edition. Ouch!

So help your friends out: Recommend your favorite indie author. Indie books are cheap -- between 99 cents and 5 dollars per book, generally -- and while some indie books do have editing problems, the ones you recommend to your friends won't. So your friends get cheap books, your favorite authors get new readers, and you get the satisfying knowledge that you've made the world a better place.

Cool, huh?

5. Time your Purchases Strategically.
Ok, well, since we assume you're already a fan of this author, you probably own most of their backlist. What about new books? Is there a way to make your purchase more helpful?

As it turns out, there is. Big online retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble use sales data to decide which books get displayed to customers who are browsing. They track books that have sold a lot of copies in the past few days and display the books with the best running tally in their "customers who bought this book also bought..." links. The closer together a book's sales are, the higher it jumps in the rankings, and the more likely it is to get attention from new readers.

So: Time your purchases so that you buy when the book is on the upswing. Release day is a good bet. So are days when the book was featured on a really good review site, or when it's getting 'buzz' in online conversations. Buy when other people are buying, and your purchase may help your favorite author jump into the "top 100" rankings.