Now, for a Review…

There are no two ways about it – reviews help sell books.  Writing a book requires not only passion for the project, but months or years of exhaustive research and sometimes traveling to the subject destination.  Then comes the hard part: the outline; the painstaking assembly of a hundred thousand words; (including punctuation and individual letters, this can add up to well over a million keyboard characters!); then there’s the dreaded edit, and re-edit, and re-edit, and re-edit…you get the picture.

So when you have the pleasure of reading a book you like, take a moment to acknowledge the author’s effort by posting a review on a site like Amazon,  Barnes and Noble or Goodreads.  Friends will gush about how much they loved my book.  When I thank them and say, “Great! Please post a short review so others will know that too,” they gasp and recoil like a vampire stumbling onto a garlic patch.  “But I’m not a writer,” they wail.  “What do you think I am…a New York Times critic?” (I wish!) No, I don’t think anything of the sort.  But seeing as you just told me the things you liked about my book, all you have to do is type that into a couple of sentences and submit it! Even if it’s just a few positive comments, a review is the ultimate way you can show an author respect for his or her labor of love. And please don’t forget to recommend the book to your friends who like to read!