Reviews

They're in: from across the country and across the pond, folks are leaving favorable comments and 4-to-5 star ratings on Amazon for the short story reprints I've offered this past month. "Fool's Gold" has garnered the most by far, and it's selling the best out of the bunch. Coincidence? I think not.

I know I'm more likely to purchase an item that has received a few favorable reviews—and no, I don't mean the fake kind. Those are fairly easy to spot, and apparently, they're easy to come by, too. There are sites where you can pay 5 bucks to have somebody write a 5-star review for anything you're selling on Amazon. Kind of crass if you ask me, not to mention unethical.

But wait a minute. Isn't all fair in love and advertising? Not for my stories it ain't. I plan to earn my burrito money the hard way, the patient way. And with kind souls like Anthony Rapino, Siobhan Gallagher, and Simon Kewin writing reviews and giving this unknown writer a shot at making many more sales, I'm already halfway toward paying off that font I bought for the cover of "Fool's Gold"!

All this to say, every review and "like" on Amazon is much-appreciated, and I do my best to return the favor whenever I can. This online community might seem like a mutual admiration society at times, but I don't see any harm in it. What's the alternative? We view each other as competition and fight tooth-and-nail to out-market one another? That doesn't help anybody, especially when the majority of our readers are fellow writers anyway. We're all in this together.

So to conclude, I offer the following: Reviewers Welcome.