I recently came across a fantastic article by Anne R. Allen: “Amazon Reader Reviews: 12 Things Everybody and His Grandmother Needs to Know.” It has a rather long introduction, but the excellent meat of the article is well worth reading and passing along, especially to the readers you know.
“If you’ve got favorite writers who aren’t superstars, they can use your help, right now—whether they’re with a small press, indie, or even published by the Big Six. The demise of bookstores and print book reviews means online reviews can make or break a new title. If you see a book hanging out there in cyberspace with only a couple of reviews—or none—remember that with just a few minutes of your time, you can jumpstart that writer’s career.”
As the author points out, the power you have as a reader is useful at other book-selling or social-cataloguing sites (like Goodreads or LibraryThing) as well. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read the article and flex your reviewer muscle!
And speaking of things that want reviewing, let me take a moment to indulge in shameless self promotion. While I am chipping away at editing a novel, I have two short fantasies now available on Amazon: Dragonlace, and In the Mirror. You can practice your new-found reviewing powers on them! Woohoo!
My wonderful family gave me a Kindle Fire for my birthday, and I’m already lovin’ it. My darling daughters have succeeded in tempting me to play Words With Friends, which I’d carefully avoided up to now on the grounds that it would entice me away from working on my writing. I need not have feared. Games are incredibly slow, which makes me laugh and shake my head, but you know what? I’m thrilled that they want to play with their mom. Go ahead, give that next word careful consideration. It’s something all of us should do, playing games or not.
However, the real reason I wanted an e-reader was (can you guess?) so that I could more comfortably read my growing collection of e-books. Reading them on my laptop was okay, but getting cozy with the machine—no matter how much I love it—is tricky. And warm. While I do find the Fire a little on the heavy side, it’s still easier to manage than a weighty computer. So my first challenge (after the word game) was to choose which e-book to start with. Should I do it alphabetically by book? Author? Date of purchase? Purdiness of cover? Email reminded me of a review I owed, so that ended my dilemma—until I finish this book, anyway!
So many good things to read! I am considering adding some reviews to my blogging; what do you think? Interested? Not? Let me know!
In the meantime, here are some blog articles worth checking out:
- The Successful Author Blog – Is It a Myth? at FictionGroupie
- Not Writing Enough? 5 Tips for Disorganized, Distracted Writers by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen
- Are Your Flashbacks Flashy or Flabby? by K. M. Weiland
- Editor Phobia, by Muffy Morrigan