Toot Your Own Horn Before Someone Else Uses it as a Spittoon

Once in a while a reader reviews your book and makes you feel like Queen of the World.

A 5 Star Review of 97

Once I published my book and realized that people needed to review it in order to give new readers an idea of what to expect, I took stock in how I reviewed others' works.

I have reviewed books off and on over the years, particularly if the book was so amazing that I had to share it.  A couple times I have reviewed a book that was so poorly done I felt I should warn buyers. But now that I have something out there and under public scrutiny, I'm much more considerate.

For example, I recently read and reviewed a book that I strongly suspected was written by a middle school age child. Ironically, the grammar and spelling were virtually flawless, but there were some kind of big plot problems and novice errors. I had to think carefully about how I presented the review.

Some folks even adhere to the concept that if you didn't like it, just don't review it. I can see that as a valid strategy. However in this case, if it really was a young writer, I was hoping to give some helpful advice...not to stifle his budding creativity, but to encourage him to improve AND to keep writing.

I hope that as the reviews come in for 97, that I will take the criticism and use it to improve my writing. But for now I'm in the mood to bask.