To Review or Not To Review.......??

As a new Author (I know, one day I'll stop mentioning this) it is seemingly very hard to get people to find your book let alone read it. This is where the reviews matter more than the actual sale of the book. If you have a good review it encourages others to read it with more confidence than one that apparently nobody else has read. I myself am guilty of being review shy. When faced with the question either at the end of a book or via e mail to, "Review this purchase" a thousand thoughts instantly go through my mind. I start to worry about it as I hover over the keyboard. What if people don't like what I have to say, what if I spell something wrong and am ridiculed throughout cyber space, what if some mad stalker gets my web details and steals my identity?? The list of worries are endless and now I have anxiety which I didn't have 2 minutes ago. As I ponder this life changing question luckily the kettle boils and the moment is gone. The thought of a cup of tea is a much more attractive proposition. Clicking out of the webpage I am saved for another day.

What I am now coming to realise is that it is not just us Authors that crave reviews. Speaking to a lovely man who came to fix my cooker - when nobody else would - he asked me to give him a review on his website. When sitting in my dentists chair she also asked me to review her website so that prospective customers could be reassurred that she wasn't a mad sadist disguised as a professional doing a job.

For all of those people out there that are brave enough to leave a review I cannot tell you how much the recipient appreciates it. My favourite review so far from one of my books, The Diary Of Madison Brown, (shameless plug) It is from one of my American readers, Voracious Reader. I do not know her but I love her. She has now reviewed two of my books and I was bowled over that she took the time to do so. The thought that somebody actually loved my books enough to take time out of her day to comment on them makes writing it completely worthwhile. I may never meet her but I will never forget that first review from a genuine reader.

Now I must go to work but later on I will share my favourite review with you - not for a book incidentally. This person had 417 comments on a review that she wrote and it is hilarious.

I have now discovered a new passion, trawling through reviews in search of a good laugh!